Split (2)

train · 145k rows

title stringlengths 6 301	keywords listlengths 0 23	messages listlengths 2 2
Expectation gaps, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of fresh graduates: Roles of graduates, higher learning institutions and employers	[ "Fresh graduates", "Job satisfaction", "Organizational commitment", "Expectation gaps", "Higher education", "Employers", "Malaysia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: College or university graduates come into the workplace with expectations that they will obtain satisfied, secure, and well-paying employment (Shelley, 1994) mainly based on what they have been taught in their formal education. However, employers seem to have a different idea where they have been found to have overly high expectations, including management experience, excellent grades, superior presentation and communication skills, positive attitude, and even expecting entry-level graduates to have done charity and volunteer work (Perrone and Vickers, 2003). Given the above, the graduates may face actual work situations that are totally different from what they had initially expected.Taken together, the conflict between the graduates' expectations and actual experiences may influence their satisfaction as well as their commitment to the organizations they serve. Facing such a situation, the graduates may try to alleviate these dissatisfactions by either adapting to the present company environment or seek alternatives elsewhere (Cotterman, 1991). It is therefore imperative for graduates to know employers' expectations in order to increase their marketability in the labor market. On the other hand, such awareness of graduates' abilities and preferences is considered equally critical on the part of the organization in order to craft effective recruitment strategies and address the employees' needs. In between the graduates and employers are the universities and colleges whose primary role is to prepare students for today's competitive employment market either as employees or entrepreneurs (Sewell and Pool, 2010). As such, a good grasp of students' and employers' expectations can inform the higher learning institutions on how the gaps can be effectively bridged.Although it is evident that variables such as organizational culture, leadership, communication, decision-making, team working, motivation, and development lead to job satisfaction and commitment, few research has been done on how these variables affect fresh graduates' satisfaction and commitment toward their jobs. Many of the available studies focused on employees as a whole rather than concentrating solely on fresh graduates. Furthermore, the relationship between unmet expectations (or expectation gaps) and job satisfaction and commitment of graduates was insufficiently addressed.This research is conducted in Malaysia, a fast developing country in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometers, the country is divided into 13 States and three federal territories (FT) in two regions, i.e. 11 States and two FTs on Peninsular Malaysia, and the other two States and 1 FT in East Malaysia separated by the South China Sea. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is one of the FTs on Peninsular Malaysia. In 2007, Malaysia was ranked the third largest economy in Southeast Asia and 29th largest economy in the world. In 2009, the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) was USD383.6 billion with the GDP per capita of USD14,900 (USA International Business Publications, 2008).The rapid economic growth has led to development in many other areas, which included the socio-economic aspect of education. In order to support the multi-sector economy in which the government is embarking, many institutions of higher learning were established particularly within the last ten years. As of December 2010, the Ministry of Higher Education's web site shows that there are 20 public universities and 48 private universities in Malaysia (www.mohe.gov.my). This is in contrast to the merely eight public universities, and no private university, prior to 2006. Complementing these universities are the 34 community colleges, 24 polytechnics, and more than 400 private colleges which are currently in operation (www.mohe.gov.my). While the rapid expansion is aimed at producing adequate knowledge workers to support Malaysia's economic growth, this has also resulted in the opposite. Wong (2010) reported that there are as many as 60,000 graduates who are currently still unemployed and that in 2009, there are between 80,000 and 100,000 unemployed fresh graduates. Among the main reasons cited were poor communication and problem-solving skills, lack of industrial training exposure, bad attitude, job-hopping, and lack of self-confidence (Graduan2U, 2010). Consequently, these are among the criteria emphasized by many employers. Although this issue has prompted the government to launch a number of talent development and employability schemes, supporting such a huge number of unemployed graduates remains a challenge given the scarce resources. As such, higher learning institutions, employers, and graduate themselves have more important roles to play to arrest this problem.It is against these backdrops that the current study attempts to fill these gaps by revealing the differences between what the fresh graduates expect and their actual experiences on the job, and the implications the expectation gaps had on the fresh graduates' job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Specifically, this paper intends to answer the following three main research questions:RQ1. What are the fresh graduates' preferences with regard to job and organizational characteristics?RQ2. To what extent are the employers satisfying the fresh graduates' expectations?RQ3. How do expectation gaps influence job satisfaction and organizational commitment of fresh graduates?Given the issues highlighted, our findings will be of remarkable value in terms of suggesting the roles that can be played by graduates, higher learning institutions, and employers to reduce the expectation gaps, and the eventual job satisfaction and commitment of fresh graduates.The next section reviews the literature on previous research conducted, followed by the methodology employed. Section 4 presents and discusses the results while section 5 forwards the implications before the paper is concluded in section 6.\nLiterature review: Graduates' expectations, satisfaction and commitment\nMethodology: The sample\nResults and discussion: The first analysis was to calculate the mean ratings for all items in the constructs (Table I). Two means were calculated for each item: the preference and the actual (experience). The preference and actual aggregate means for each variable and their Cronbach alpha values were also calculated. The aggregate means were derived by averaging the respective items' means under each construct. Accordingly, two Cronbach alpha coefficients were calculated for each variable. All of the coefficient values were greater than 0.80, indicating a reasonably good internal consistency of the measurement scales (Sekaran and Bougie, 2010). All aggregate means for preference in Table I are above 4 (except for team working), which reflect a relatively high preference of graduates on the variables examined. The aggregate means show that development receives the highest importance. This finding indicates that the graduates place a high priority to equip and improve themselves through their jobs via training. Job experience is expected to provide them the necessary knowledge and skills to perform well as well as to expose them to better career opportunities. Other variables such as motivation, organizational culture, decision making, leadership, and communication, which have aggregate means of higher than 4, are also deemed important by the graduates. On the other hand, team working is the least important in graduates' expectation. Considering themselves as rookies, inexperienced, they perceive that they have little to offer to the rest of the team members.As for actual experience, again development receives the highest mean. The exposures the graduates received from their new job, such as knowledge on product, customers and industry make them feel that they have learned significantly on their jobs. They regard the exposures as opportunities to improve themselves, as well as to apply their academic skills and knowledge on real business situations. As a result, the graduates regard themselves as been highly developed. On the other end, leadership is rated the lowest. Fresh graduates, being relatively inexperienced, are more hopeful that their supervisors adopt a \"telling\" approach to leadership as to provide them sufficient time to learn new things. Supervisors who are expecting that the graduates are knowledgeable and thus capable to perform their work independently are likely to adopt a more participative approach to leadership. This disparity in expectation will make the graduates disappointed with their supervisors' leadership. Furthermore, the graduates may be too acclimated to the academic methods of performance feedback (such as grades and honours) that they are often unprepared for the less structured workplace feedback (Holton, 1992).To what extent are the employers satisfying the fresh graduates' expectations? Judging by the results from Table I that none of the aggregate means for actual experience reaches 4 albeit 6 out of 7 aggregate means for preferences are above 4, the employers are not meeting the graduates' expectations. In order to confirm this belief, we perform paired-samples t-tests between the preference and actual experience ratings (Table II). The mean differences reflect the magnitude of graduates' expectation gaps: a higher value means a bigger expectation gap. The biggest expectation gap is in development and the smallest gap is team working. Interestingly, all of the expectation gaps are statistically significant, and thus confirm the belief that the employers are not satisfying the graduates' expectations.However, such a mismatch between what the graduates perceive as important and what they have experienced in the organization is expected. A recent study by Bhanugopan and Fish (2009) lent support to the findings where significant differences exist between students and employers in their perceptions of employability. This is not difficult to understand as graduates often feel a lack of control over their work where they see the perceived job situation as often very different from the realities (Van Maanen and Schein, 1979). Schein (1964) describes new graduates as seen by managers as overambitious and unrealistic in their expectations about advancement possibilities and gaining new responsibility. He states that the fresh graduates are also seen as too theoretical, naive and idealistic as well as immature and inexperienced. This also corroborates Holton's (1992) findings where he describes the graduates' first year on the job as horribly disappointing, stressful and disenchanting time. He goes on to explain that most managers feel the new graduates are ill prepared to deal with the realities of the professional life.Our final analysis is to identify the relationships between the expectations gaps and job satisfaction and organizational commitment of graduates. It is logical for us to expect a negative relationship between the expectation gaps and job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Table III presents the correlation tests of these variables.The results indicate that significant negative correlations exist between job satisfaction and expectation gap variables of communication, decision-making, and motivation. The overall expectation gap is also negatively correlated with job satisfaction. These findings indicate that fulfilling graduates' expectation is important to their job satisfaction. The results imply that meeting graduates' expectations with regard to communication, decision making and motivation are perhaps areas that organizations should focus on and that inability of organizations in addressing these aspects may have immediate impact on graduates' job satisfaction.Even though previous researchers found significant relationships between organizational culture, leadership, communication, decision-making, team working, motivation, and development with job satisfaction and organizational commitment, our findings indicate no significant relationship exists between expectation gap and organizational commitment. Even though job satisfaction and organizational commitment are both organizational-context attitudes, organizational commitment is wider in scope and a longer-term variable compared to job satisfaction. A graduate employee may be dissatisfied with his or her particular job and consider it a temporary condition, yet not be dissatisfied with the organization as a whole. Therefore, the brief employment term of graduates and their newly-found expectation gap may have impacted their job satisfaction but not to the extent of influencing their decision as whether to maintain membership in the organization.\nImplications for graduates, higher learning institutions and employers: The findings of this study have far reaching implications for the graduates, higher learning institutions, and employers of business organizations. In order to reduce the expectation gaps, we propose several actions (see Table IV) to be undertaken by graduates, higher learning institutions, and employers during two time periods: study and working. The study period refers to the time when the students begin to decide the academic programs that they want to enroll in colleges and universities until the time they graduate. On the other hand, the working period incorporate the times when the students have completed their studies at colleges and thus become graduates, job search, and start working.Study period\nConclusion and possible avenues for future research: This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge in terms of narrowing the research gap by examining the expectation gaps of fresh graduates in Malaysia. The novelty of this study is that it provides a holistic perspective of the list of expectation gaps and their effects on job satisfaction and commitment from the perspective of fresh graduates. The expectation gaps exist and therefore it is of paramount importance for the gaps to be efficiently and effectively addressed by the higher learning institutions, employers, and the graduates themselves rather than merely depending on government intervention. In this context, various measures suggested in this study can be taken as guidance to reduce the expectation gaps. Failure to do so will have severe effect on the graduates' job satisfaction, commitment, and more importantly, their performance.Due to the limitations of this study, the findings ought to be interpreted with care. First, the study was conducted on a relatively small sample in Malaysia and thus, limits the generalizability of the findings. A larger sample size on cross-cultural basis may yield different yet interesting results. Second, only seven variables that influence job satisfaction and commitment were included in this study. Job satisfaction has been operationalized as satisfaction with various facets of the job, but the number of facets can ranged from 5 (Hackman and Oldham, 1975) to 13 (McFarlin and Rice, 1991). As such, it is recommended that more job satisfaction-related factors are included in future studies. Third, this study was conducted on the fresh graduates regardless of the types of industry and company that they are working for. It is interesting to also match and compare the graduates' academic qualifications and the type of company or industry that they are working for so that we can better understand their job satisfaction and commitment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this research is to attempt to reveal the difference between what fresh graduates expect and their actual experiences pertaining to the working environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a set of self-administered questionnaires, data were collected from 128 graduates. They were asked to indicate their preferences on organizational culture, leadership, communication, decision making, team working, motivation, and development. Using the same dimensions, the respondents then reported their actual experiences, thus enabling gaps to be determined.\nFindings: - The results from paired-sample t-tests suggest that significant expectation gaps exist in all the areas surveyed. While communication, decision making and motivation are found to be significantly related to job satisfaction, none of the seven variables is found to be significantly correlated to organizational commitment.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study focuses only on a rather limited sample size of Malaysian graduates; therefore it cannot ensure generalization of results obtained.\nPractical implications: - The resulting expectation gaps, and their influence on the graduates' job satisfaction and organizational commitment, have implications for the important roles played by employers, higher learning institutions, and graduate themselves.\nOriginality/value: - This study makes significant contributions in three key areas. First, it is perhaps one of the earliest studies to comprehensively address the issue of expectation gaps using a myriad factors. Second, it is also one of the few that examines the influence of the expectation gaps on job satisfaction and commitment. Third, instead of focusing on employees as a whole, which has been the practice of prior research, this study concentrates only on fresh graduates who have been in the workforce for less than two years.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationships among ERP, supply chain orientation and operational performance: An analysis of structural equation modeling	[ "Operational performance", "ERP", "Supply chain orientation", "Resource-based view" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Full, effective, and integrated execution of a management system becomes obligatory to meet criteria such as speed, production with high capacity, high quality, low cost, and holding minimum inventory. In this context, competing without information technologies that contribute to the efficiency of enterprises by helping retailers with management of material, funds, and information flow throughout the whole production and distribution processes within supply chain management (SCM) became nearly impossible for enterprises. In the previous years, companies had begun improving their supply chain skills to gain competitive advantage by utilizing the information technology (IT) tools, as the present market conditions show that real competition is among supply chains rather than among firms (Christopher, 1992). As an inevitable result of this, information technologies became an inseparable part of competitive business strategies. Being one of the information technologies, enterprise resource planning (ERP) offers a structure that reconstructs processes of enterprises.\n2. Literature review and hypothesis: The RBV is used to construct the theoretical background of the model, which includes ERP practices, SCO, and OPER. In this section, each of the constructs is explained in a detailed way in order to clarify the structured model.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Sample and data procedure\n4. Analysis and results: By taking the theory-driven approach as a guide, the analytical framework is tested by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to assess the consistency among scale items (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993; Vinodh and Joy, 2012; Chan and Chong, 2013). In this study, the EFA and CFA are used to test the measurement model of the SCO and ERP practices.\n5. Discussion and managerial implications: SCO is the motivation of organizations to manage supply chain relations with their contractors, with concentration on supply chain activities inside a firm or willingness to be efficient and successful in supply chain operations throughout the firms' activities. To design an efficient supply chain, firms should be supply chain oriented. The SCO is a strategic capability, and it is one of the required factors to achieve competitive advantage (Hult et al., 2008; Juttner and Christopher, 2013; Hervani et al., 2005). However, SCO and SCM are not independent from each other, rather they are different from each other. The SCO is managed by an organization, whereas the SCM is shared in relationships between supply chain partners (Min et al., 2007).\n6. Conclusion: The aim of this research is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of ERP usage with the mediating effect of SCO on OPER. The study is based on survey and data collected from manufacturing companies. First, factors of latent variables were determined according to EFA, and then reliability and validity of these variables were evaluated with CFA. In the next step, unidimensionality was tested for three variables, and hypotheses were evaluated with the AMOS method. Since all of the three constructs get a higher value than 0.7 for both Cronbach's a and Dillon-Goldstein's r, they are considered unidimensional.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interactions among enterprise resource planning (ERP) practices, supply chain orientation (SCO), and operational performance (OPER) by forming a macro perspective based on a scientific foundation powered by a resource-based view.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to verify the underlying dimensions of SCO and ERP practices. The covariance-based structural equation modeling was employed to test the direct and indirect effects of SCO and ERP practices constructs on OPER.\nFindings: Results revealed that SCO has significant and positive effects on OPER, whereas ERP practices do not. Moreover, the indirect effect of ERP practices with the mediating effects of SCO is stronger than their direct effects. In addition, the origin of the ERP practices is found to be an important critical success factor.\nOriginality/value: Although much research has investigated the direct effect of ERP practices on performance, this study points out the importance of SCO in observing the stronger impacts of ERP practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Increasing employability: How human resource practices can increase employee learning and job-recruitment potential	[ "Engagement", "Learning", "Performance", "Motivation", "Employees", "Human resources" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In a rapidly changing business world, it is essential for individuals and organizations to be willing to be adaptable and flexible. Employability (the attributes of an employee to gain a new work within or outside of an organization) is an important factor - it can help to increase employee confidence, performance, and development, which in turn aids organizational outcomes. Employability helps employees deal with change, both in their daily work tasks and in adapting to larger organizational changes. It can be seen to be the responsibility of both the employee and employer, and can be measured in terms of self-reporting and supervisor evaluations - how likely they think they are to be able to get a new job inside or outside of the organization, and how successful their supervisor thinks they would be.\nRelationships between high-involvement human resource practices, employee learning, and employability: Liu (2018) investigated the relationship between HIHR practices and employability via employee learning. Five HIHR practices were outlined:\nInvestigating employability: Liu (2018) investigated these proposed hypotheses in two large companies in China. Dyads consisting of an employee and their supervisor were sent questionnaires investigating each item from the hypotheses. There were 288 dyads in the final sample.\nConclusion: The results from the study in general support the suggested hypotheses. If organizations recognize intrinsic employee needs, they can introduce and support HIHR practices which suggest trust and investment in employees. They recognize achievement and provide positive feedback, learning opportunities, training, and resources to increase the necessary skills; they allow autonomy through empowerment and sharing information. This leads to increased motivation, engagement, and proactive behaviors such as increased learning. Improved knowledge and skills lead to improved confidence and competence, which in turn raises both the employee's ratings and supervisor's ratings of employability. This motivational process is thus beneficial for improved outcomes and performance, both for the individual and the organization.\nComment: The review is based on \"High-involvement human resource practices, employee learning and employability\" by Liu, W. published in Career Development International.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Increasing employability is important for both individuals and organizations in a fast-paced and changing business world. Increased learning helps employees improve their skills, abilities, and knowledge, which in turn increases their competence and confidence, and increases their perception of their employability, as well as the perception of their supervisors. Organizations can invest in their employees by providing high-involvement human resource practices which encourage involvement, support, trust, and autonomy. This in turn increases positive learning behaviors, which leads to increased employability and thus improved outcomes for employees and the organization as a whole.\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" } ]
Supply chain design through QFD-based optimization	[ "Competitive strategy", "Supply chain strategy", "Quality function deployment", "Supply chain performance index", "Utility function", "Weighted Additive Model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Supply chain is a network of facilities that performs the functions of procurement of raw materials, transformation of raw materials into finished products and the distribution of the finished products to the customers. Supply chain management (SCM) is a set of synchronized decisions and activities utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, transporters, retailers and customers so that the right product or service is distributed at the right quantities, to the right time in order to minimize system-wide costs while satisfying customer service-level requirements (Zhang et al., 2011). SCM has emerged into practice during the 1990s and continues to be a focal point for making organizations more competitive in the global market. The primary objective of SCM is to fulfill customer needs through the efficient use of resources and facilities including transportation, distribution, inventory and work force. When the resources and capabilities of a firm are matching with the demands of the customers, a competitive strategy will be successful. Therefore, supply chain should support the competitive strategy of a firm. Supply chain design includes decisions regarding transportation, inventory, operating facilities, information flow in the supply chain to maximize the overall value generated. The value generated by a supply chain is the difference between what the final product is worth to the customer and the effort the supply chain expends in filling the customer's request. In the current competitive business environment, every firm needs to carry out the supply chain activities toward satisfying their customers. A supply chain design can be initiated only after the competitive strategy is decided. Supply chain design begins with the strategy that determine the nature of procurement of raw materials, transportation of materials to and from the company, manufacture of the product or operation to provide the service and distribution of the product to the customer along with any follow-up service (Chopra and Meindl, 2003). The supply chain has to be designed to support the strategic objectives of the firm. Therefore, it is essential for the firms to focus on aligning competitive and supply chain strategies.\n2. QFD-based optimization methodology for supply chain design: In order to maximize the prospective value generated by a supply chain, it is essential to understand the relationship between competitive and supply chain strategies (Durga Prasad et al., 2012). The proposed QFD-based optimization methodology for supply chain design is shown in Figure 1, provides a path for aligning the competitive strategy with supply chain strategy. Different authors employed different terminology for customer requirements and engineering characteristics in QFD. In this paper competitive strategy and supply chain strategy (supply chain design objectives) are used instead of customer requirements and engineering characteristics, respectively. Swing method (Kim, 1997) is employed to obtain the relationship coefficients between the elements of competitive and supply chain strategies. This method assess the decision-makers' options on the relationship coefficients accurately and systematically than the conventional relationship rating scale used in HOQ (Kovach and Cho, 2008). Locasio and Thurston (1994) have demonstrated the application of multi-attribute utility theory to HOQ for generating quantitative values that can be used in design. In utility analysis, the designer is asked to express preferences between attributes and among values of the attributes independently. This information is then used to determine the worth of an alternative as a combination of performance attributes. Utility theory allows the designer to emphasize preferences in certain attributes (Kirschman and Fadel, 1997). Utility analysis helps a decision maker in making real valued function that encodes the decision maker's preference for all possible outcomes (Scott, 2004). Though there are different forms of utility functions namely linear, quadratic, logarithmic, power, exponential, but exponential form of utility function is widely considered (Yang et al., 2003). A set of single utility functions of exponential form are established in this paper for mapping from the levels of supply chain design objectives into the satisfaction level of the elements of competitive strategy. The satisfaction level of the each element of competitive strategy and the inter-relationship values in HOQ are used to define SCP index. Since the supply chain design is a multi-objective optimization problem, a weighted-additive model is developed to obtain the optimum values of the supply chain design objectives. The method of formation of tree structure of weights in NBI technique is applied to generate weight structure, which is used in establishing weighted-additive model. Finally, supply chain activities are planned corresponding to higher value of SCP index.\n3. Illustrative example: In the present days refrigerators are becoming the common item for house hold use, vendor shops, hotels, motels, offices, laboratories, hospitals, chemists and druggists' shops, etc. In India, refrigerators have the highest aspirational value of all consumer durables, with the exception of televisions. This accounts for the high growth rate of the refrigerator market. Domestic refrigerators are manufactured in different sizes to meet the needs of various groups of people. The supply chain network is structured to supply various parts of the domestic refrigerators of different models considered in this example shown in Table I for assembly and transport the refrigerators to the different customer zones.\n4. Conclusions: In the present competitive market scenario, the success of any product depends on the effective integration of firms' competitive strategy with the supply chain strategy. In order to achieve strategic fit, a firm has to understand the customer needs and that helps to set competitive strategy. The competitive strategy examines the way in which a firm can compete more effectively to reinforce its market position. Then the supply chain strategy has to be designed in aligning with the competitive strategy to meet the highest satisfaction of the customer. In this paper QFD-based optimization method is employed to design a supply chain with a view to achieve a strategic fit between competitive strategy and supply chain strategy. The QFD-based optimization helps to make trade-offs between multiple objectives from customers' perspective. The methodology finds optimal supply chain design objective values, which would maximize SCP. It provides an approach to reflect customers' preferences and designers' thoughts in to the supply chain planning decisions. From the management perspective, the research paves the way for the managers to establish a supply chain with customer focus to achieve good competitive advantage. The performance of a supply chain is an essential element for effective planning and decision making, which can be viewed in terms of qualitative and quantitative measures such as customer satisfaction, flexibility, supply chain network cost, inventory cost, etc. In the present work, the SCP index is computed using QFD and utility-based optimization. The SCP index provides a concise means for the managers to take the decision on choosing the optimum set of supply chain design objectives to satisfy the competitive strategy. Once competitive strategy is defined, a firm must focus on preservation of its competitive advantages through delivering the best value to its customers. Conjoint analysis may be carried out as further research to estimate the customer preferences for setting up the competitive strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a methodology to design a supply chain with a view to achieve a strategic fit between competitive and supply chain strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Quality function deployment (QFD)-based optimization methodology is employed to design a supply chain for a product through aligning the competitive and supply chain strategies. Normal boundary intersection (NBI) method is adopted to obtain optimal weights of the supply chain design objectives. Weighted additive model is developed for multi-objective optimization. Utility-based attribute function, which structure the relationship between the elements of competitive and supply chain strategies is established. The utility functions and the information contained in the House of Quality (HOQ) of QFD are used to define the supply chain performance (SCP).\nFindings: SCP index is computed using the set of supply chain design objectives obtained by solving the weighted additive model. On the basis of SCP index, the supply chain activities are planned accordingly. An illustrative example is presented in this paper to describe the QFD-based optimization methodology for designing a supply chain.\nOriginality/value: QFD-based optimization is a novel approach to design a supply chain with a focus on aligning competitive and supply chain strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Internet innovation for external relations in the Balearic hotel industry	[ "Spain", "Tourism", "Seasonality", "Internet; Business‐to‐business marketing", "Managers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of the tourism lodging firms' innovation through the use of internet in their relationships with external agents. In order to accomplish this objective, the authors have conducted a survey in the Balearic Islands, which is one of the most popular resorts of Spain and one of the top leading tourism destinations of the world, with more than 11 million visitors per year (WTO, 2003).The tourism industry continues to be one of the most dynamic sectors in the global economy (WTO, 2003), and in countries such as Spain, provides an average of a 12 percent of its GDP (IET, 2003). In the case of the Balearic Islands this percentage is even higher, 28 percent (CRE, 2004). Hence, maintaining and improving the competitiveness of the tourism sector is essential to the world's global economy and especially in the case of those economies largely based on tourism. This competitiveness largely depends on the amount and quality of the innovations implemented by firms of the sector, especially new information and communication technologies and those associated with the internet (Camison, 2000).These technologies are of special value in the tourism sector due to the widespread use of traditional distribution channels involving relationships between the lodging industry and the tour operators and travel agencies that may improve with the information and communication technologies use (Bastakis et al., 2004). Its use may also improve the relationships of the lodging industry with the remaining external agents such as public administration or final consumers. In this respect, it has been considered of interest to include the study of the factors affecting internet innovation for those purposes and analyze whether the factors affecting one type of relationship differ from the rest.The reason why this work focuses on the lodging industry instead of being settled in the broader tourism sector, stems from the fact that, since there is a large heterogeneity in the innovation adoption process among sectors (Amable and Palombarini, 1998; European Communities, 2004) and because there is a large heterogeneity among firms in the tourism sector, (Tremblay, 1998), it seems reasonable to focus exclusively on the tourism lodging sector which is homogeneous and large enough to deserve a specific survey.Empirical evidences show that there are substantial differences among companies in innovating with information and communication technologies such as internet (Garau, 2004; Wei et al., 2001). In order to explore these differences, we have considered the effect of certain determinants in internet innovation identified in the literature review (Aragon-Correa and Cordon-Pozo, 2005). These determinants include: the size of the establishments, the fact that the lodging operates as part of chain or vertically integrated, the number of months that the establishment remain open, and finally manager's attitudes and opinions towards internet innovation. The final goal of this paper is therefore, to map the effect of the determining factors of internet innovation with respect to the firms' relationships with other businesses (B2B), clients (B2C), and administrations (B2A).On the basis of empirical evidence extracted from a representative sample of tourism lodging establishments in the Balearic Islands, discrete choice econometric models will be estimated and will enable the identification of the factors that promote or hinder internet innovation in relationships with, others businesses, clients and public administrations. This approach represents an advance over the studies that have been conducted to date, which are generally descriptive and partial and do not integrate different explanatory variables (e.g. Abella et al., 2004; Ma et al., 2003).The paper starts with a discussion on the theoretical framework, presents the model to be contrasted empirically using the data and the methodology explained in the third section. It then addresses the findings in the fourth section and finally presents the conclusions and the managerial implications that can be drawn from the research conducted.\nTheoretical framework: Information and communication technology innovation in tourism and lodging\nMethodology: Sample\nData analysis: The factors that affect probability in decisions concerning internet innovation in the three dimensions established - B2C, B2B and B2A - have been determined by estimating binary election probit models for each one of these dimensions. The results indicate the factors that increase (reduce) the expected probability of an establishment's decision to innovate, applying internet in each one of these three relationships.Nevertheless, for a better quantitative approximation of the effect each explanatory variable has on the probability of internet innovation in each relationship, marginal effects that allow changes in each of the three relationships to be compared are calculated. Marginal effects quantify the influence of the factors obtained when reporting on the changes in the expected probability of dependent variables when explanatory variables change - continuous variables infinitesimally and the binary variables discretely - from their average value.The general specification of the model subjected to empirical contrast in each one of the three relationships to be innovated applying internet is shown below: Equation 1 when sub-index j refers to the hotel establishment; PL is the continuous variable that reflects the natural logarithm of the beds available at each establishment (size); IND and GR are the binary variables that reflect whether an establishment operates independently on the market or as part of a vertically-integrated group; ST, seasonality, which reflects the average period each establishment stays open in terms of number of months; ACT encompasses the set of variables that reflects managerial attitudes to the internet; CV encompasses the set of control variables; ej is a random perturbation whose differences in the innovate or not alternative, (e1-e0), are independent and equally distributed according to normal standard distribution.\nResults: The results of the econometric estimations and marginal effects are presented in Table IV and Table V.The models estimated are useful in explaining decisions regarding internet innovation in the three categories analyzed, as the joint effect of the explanatory variables on the dependent variable is statistically significant (Prob>chi2=0) in all of the categories. Significantly, non-null coefficients indicate that the variables referred to cause an increase (decrease) in the expected probability expected of the endogen in question in each model estimated.The results indicate that type of tourism lodging affects the expected probability of internet innovation in B2C and B2A, although in a different sense: apartments are less prone to use the internet in relationships with consumers and more likely to use it in their relationships with administrations.The coefficients of the explanatory CATEGORY, FACTOR 4 and FACTOR 7 variables, which are significantly non-null and positive in the third estimated model, show that operating on the market in a higher category and with managerial attitudes of awareness of the changes caused by the internet and its financial repercussions on investments has a positive effect on internet innovation in B2A. Similarly, the availability of a hotel's own web site and a proactive managerial attitude towards internet use in purchasing positively affects internet innovation in B2B - positive significance of the WEB and FACTOR 4 coefficients in the second estimation - while offering internet access from guestrooms positively affects its use in B2C - positive significance of the INTROOM coefficient in the first estimation.It was found that the variable that maps size - estimated coefficients significantly different from zero and positive in the first and last models - has a positive impact on B2C and B2A.Seasonality affects the three categories of internet use analyzed, although not in the same sense: significant NMONTHS coefficients in the three models with positive values in B2C and B2B and a negative sign in B2A. The different sign in B2A indicates that remaining open for a longer period increases the expected probability of internet use in B2C and B2B and decreases the probability of its use in B2A.The coefficient of the variable that reflects managerial attitudes of awareness of the staff's scant technological training - FACTOR 2 - is significantly non-null and negative in the second and third models and shows that the sensation of incapacitation has a negative impact on B2B and B2A decisions. It also notes that while a proactive commercial attitude towards the internet increases the expected probability of decisions concerning B2C and B2B, the awareness of the lack of joint actions at the destination level decreases it - positive significance of the FACTOR 3 coefficient and negative for FACTOR 5 in the estimations of these decisions concerning use.The lack of significance in the remaining estimated coefficients prevents confirmation of the variables' effect on each internet use. Nonetheless, the results obtained empirically support some of the effects of the explanatory variables in each category of internet innovation, which may be summarized for each one.The factors that lead to increasing the probability of internet innovation in B2C are: hotels, self-catering hotels, rural tourism establishments or non-apartments; larger establishments, in terms of number of beds offered; lower seasonality, measured in terms of months per year an establishment remains open; establishments that offer clients internet access service from guestrooms; and characteristically proactive managerial attitudes towards the commercial aspects of the internet and unconcern towards joint actions at the destination level.The factors that lead to increasing the probability of internet innovation in B2B are: lower seasonality measured in terms of months per year an establishment remains open; the availability of its own web site; and characteristically unconcerned managerial attitudes about the staff's scant technological training or joint actions at the destination level and proactive attitudes towards the commercialization and purchasing aspects of the internet.The factors that lead to increasing the probability of internet innovation in B2A are: apartments; category; larger size in terms of number of beds offered; greater seasonality measured in terms of months per year an establishment remains open; and managerial attitudes characterized by the awareness of change caused by the internet and its financial repercussions on investments, as well as by unconcern for joint actions at the destination level.Nevertheless, a quantitative comparison is required for an empirical contrast between the types of application that are more affected by factors that are determinants in more than one type of application. Calculating the marginal effects of the estimated coefficient (Table V) reveals an increase (decrease) in the probability expected of the endogens when explanatory variables change - infinitesimally in continuous variables and discretely in binary variables - from their average values. They therefore enable the three relationships analyzed and the explanatory variables in each one of them to be compared.The changes in the expected probability of each internet innovation which derive from changes in the average values of their explanatory variables are quantitatively comparable when their scales of measure are the same. We will then be able to graduate the marginal effects of the binaries and comment on the rest individually in each use while the marginal effects of each explanatory variable can be compared among the different uses.As an example, internet access offered from guestrooms is the binary variable with the greatest marginal effect on B2C, as establishments that initiate this offer increase the probability of internet use in B2C by 25.04 percent.Seasonality has a quantitative impact, which is similar in the three cases when comparing uses, except that in the case of B2A, when the number of months per year an establishment stays open increases, probability decreases by 3 percent, instead of increasing.\nManagerial implications: The results obtained allow the joint effect of the determinants considered to be contrasted and establish three of the four hypotheses. Likewise, we can draw some conclusions and implications that may help managers, who should strive to maintain the competitiveness of tourist destinations, make decisions.Regarding the first hypothesis, the positive effect of size on internet use in B2C and B2A relationships was contrasted. This finding may suggest the need to implement specific policies aimed at smaller establishments, which encourage the use of new technologies that generate and maintain competitiveness. On the other hand, the non-contrast of the effect of size on B2B may perhaps be explained by the fact that internet use in these types of relationships largely depends on implementation by other firms dealt with. This therefore implies the need for administrations to adopt a vision that is not solely and exclusively restricted to tourism lodging establishments, but rather to the tourist cluster in which they operate as a whole.As for the hypothesis on the influence of seasonality on the establishment internet innovation, the positive effect that the number of months an establishment remains open has on B2C and B2B relationships has been contrasted. It therefore indicates the appropriateness of internet use in order to improve the seasonal distribution of tourist flows in tourism lodgings. Consequently, it states the unavoidable need for managers in tourist destinations to encourage the development and use of these technological tools and to include them in their strategic de-seasonalisation plans, which on the other hand, are usually one of the main challenges facing traditional tourism destinations in the Mediterranean.As for the hypothesis on managerial opinions and attitudes, its influence on internet innovation has been contrasted. Specifically Factor 2, i.e. the awareness of the scant preparation of human resources for implementing the internet, negatively affects B2B and B2A, which underscores the importance of training in the processes of adopting technological innovations. Factor 3, a proactive commercial attitude to the internet, has a positive impact on B2C and B2B, while Factor 1, a proactive attitude to the internet in making purchases, positively affects B2B. These results clearly reflect the importance of attitudes in the use of these technologies. On the other hand, the salience of Factor 5's negative influence, which refers to the need for joint actions at the destination level in B2C and B2B, can also be envisaged. This observation demonstrates, once again, the special relevance of measures addressed to incorporate to the informational era, some operators of the industry that often doubt of its own capacity to compete on the internet. This will make unavoidable for destinations the need to establish communication plans addressed to the businesses that transmit and raise their awareness of the possibilities the internet generates.The second hypothesis' non them-contrast of the positive influence of belonging to a group or chain may be due to the competitive response of independent establishments, which consists in counteracting their commercial disadvantage through the use of new communication and information technologies.Finally, it appears plausible to derive from these conclusions the need for managers in tourist destinations to become proactive towards disseminating innovations based on new communication and information technologies. These action plans should not be limited to policies aimed exclusively at establishments, but rather should also include cross-action policies that affect all the actors in a destination, such as training, encouraging cooperation among firms and improvement of support infrastructures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to unveil and discuss the importance of factors determining the internet innovation for external relations in the lodging industry. These external relations include those with customers, other businesses and administrations (B2C, B2B, B2A)\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Empirical evidence extracted from a sample of tourism lodging establishments in the Balearic Islands has been used to unveil the determining factors of internet innovation in the lodging industry. The lodging industry has been chosen in order to preserve a certain internal homogeneity since it has been shown previously that the innovation adoption process differs across economic sectors. The factors affecting internet innovation in external relations arise from the estimation of the discrete choice econometric models that represent these firms' decisions.\nFindings: - It was found that certain factors increase the probability that the lodging industry innovates through the use of internet for external relations, i.e. larger establishments, lower seasonality - months per year an establishment remains open; and positive managerial attitudes towards the internet, all have a positive relationship with internet innovation.\nPractical implications: - Competitiveness of tourism destinations depends on the innovation abilities of its firms. Government and tourism managers should foster the factors that affect them positively. To this extent, some practical implications can be extracted: first, the need for governments to implement specific policies aimed at smaller establishments, since those are the ones that have more difficulties bridging the technological innovation process; second, the need for administrations to adopt a global vision that includes the whole tourist destination; third, the appropriateness of internet innovation in order to improve the seasonal distribution of tourist flows, which is one of the common weaknesses of the tourism sector; and finally, the need to address managers in order to increase their awareness with respect of the usefulness of information and communication technology innovation, and encourage a proactive posture towards it.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contributes to a better understanding of the innovation determinants in service sectors and specifically in the lodging industry. Apart from traditional factors that affect internet innovation, such as size of the establishment, number of months opening, etc., the paper includes and measures the effect of managers' attitudes and opinions towards internet innovation. Finally, the findings obtained may suggest certain guidelines to help tourism destination managers to address their competitiveness policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Crossing the boundary between physical and digital: the role of boundary objects	[ "Boundary objects", "Business relationships", "Interaction", "Coordination", "Digitalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Digitalization is one of the most important phenomena that characterize the last decade - not only in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets but in business-to-business (B2B) as well (Ramaswamy and Ozcan, 2015). The use of digital technologies is changing companies' business models, providing new revenue and value-producing opportunities (Gensler and Liu-Thompkins, 2013). We refer in particular to digital technologies for connectivity, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, along with those technologies that are driving the transition from digital to \"real,\" such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), augmented reality, robotics, and machine-to-machine interactions.\n2. Coordinating business relationships through boundary objects: Social construction is a social and epistemological theoretical approach that analyzes phenomena in social contexts (Burr, 2003). Instead of seeing reality as a given external object to be discovered, social construction scholars aim to understand the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the creation of the perceived social reality, and how people engage in interaction and social practices. People create a common and shared reality as a social construction (Berger and Luckmann, 1991), where sense-giving and sense-making generate an understanding of how social actors shape a meaningful social world (Giddens, 1984). The emphasis is therefore on processes rather than on outcomes (Burr, 2003).\n3. Space dimension of interaction: The position in space affects the resources mobilized, the activities that are performed, and the intensity of interaction among actors (Hakansson et al., 2009, p. 38). Scholars in the IMP' s stream of research, in particular, have stressed that actors, activities, and resources are bound to the time and space of business interactions (Snehota and Hakansson, 1995; Halinen et al., 2012). The space dimension affects the multiplicity of actors involved, the difficulties in delimiting the boundaries of the spacial interaction and the unpredictability of the consequences arising from it (Hakansson et al., 2009). In networks, a continuous configuration and reconfiguration of activity patterns occurs based on interdependency in space and increasing specialization over time (Gadde et al., 2003).\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Research approach\n5. Case studies: 5.1 SalesForce.com\n6. Discussion: 6.1 Contribution to theory on boundary objects\n7. Conclusions and implications for research and practice: This paper has revealed the importance of boundary objects to cross the boundary between physical and digital contexts. In particular, we have found that, once business relationships occurs across physical and digital, the well-grounded functions of boundary objects - transferring, translating, and transforming - can be further specified. The functions we identified are simplification and stories transfer (for transfer); socializing concepts and contextualize knowledge (for translating); engage in a broader experience and boosting creativity (for transforming).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Digitalization is one of the most important phenomena that characterize the last decade - not only in business-to-consumer markets but also in business-to-business as well. The advent of digital technologies has multiplied the number and type of touchpoints between actors, thus generating new spaces of interaction where cross-boundary movements are frequent and traverse physical and digital contexts. All these elements, in turn, produce a higher need for coordination in business relationships. By using the concept of boundary objects, the purpose of this paper is to understand the main functions of boundary objects to coordinate business relationships across digital and physical contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical research is based on two case studies where the role of boundary objects is particularly emphasized: Salesforce.com and 3DiTALY. 27 qualitative interviews with key referents have been carried out. To analyze data, the authors applied a constructionist perspective based on Carlile's (2004) framework of transferring, translating and transforming knowledge across boundaries.\nFindings: The study will identify six functions that boundary objects play in coordinating business relationships across physical and digital contexts. It will also show the relevance of a mental network space of shared understanding to enable changes in the relational network space.\nPractical implications: This study makes concrete the abstract idea of boundary objects. Therefore, it sheds light on the opportunity of managing strategically boundary objects in order to improve their effectiveness in digital environments.\nOriginality/value: The study will contribute to IMP research on b-to-b relationships by showing that, in digital contexts, boundary objects are key to coordinate interaction in space and cross-boundary movements. The study will show that once considering a digital context, the traditional functions of boundary objects in terms of transfer, translation, and transformation can be further declined into sub-functions. The study will also provide important managerial implications on how boundary objects can be strategically used by companies to increase the effectiveness of their business relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
CSR governance innovation: standard competition-collaboration dynamic	[ "Governance", "Corporate social responsibility", "Sustainability", "Institutional dynamics", "Standard-setting", "Standardization cycle" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past several decades, we have seen how a series of global CSR international accountability standards have emerged within the context of global corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR)[1], creating what Waddock (2008) identifies as a \"new institutional global CSR infrastructure.\" Among these standards, there are a set of multi-industry standards with a global scope (Jamali, 2010): the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ISO 26000, SA8000, the Ethical Trading Initiative, the AA1000 standards series, and the Carbon Disclosure Project. These standards are global in scope because they can be applied to a wide range of industries and across different organizations and markets (Gilbert et al., 2011). In addition to these, we also find industry-specific standards applied to concrete markets or industries, such as the Equator Principles, the Rainforest Alliance, the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, and the International Cocoa Initiative, among many others. There are many examples in different industries such as the coffee, cocoa, textile, banking, forestry, marine and agricultural industries, to name just a few (Leipziger and Webb, 2007; Reinecke et al., 2012).\nCorporate sustainability and responsibility governance: CSR fulfills the primary characteristics that Pattberg (2007, p. 52) attributes to private governance. Firstly, private governance focuses on the development of regulations and standards over spaces of structural private exchange, not spontaneous behavior such as market interaction (Cutler et al., 1999; Held and McGrew, 2002; Hewson and Sinclair, 1999). In this respect, after a decade of standard-setting, CSR has become a governance space. Secondly, private governance includes institutionalization processes and frameworks (which go beyond mere collaboration between the actors involved; they have also served to build new institutional dynamics, organizations and platforms (Koenig-Archibugi, 2002, Reinecke et al., 2012). Thirdly, private governance can potentially organize political decision-making, standard-setting and the implementation of spaces and mechanisms equivalent to those of public mechanisms as regards their functions (Detomasi, 2007).\nCSR standardization cycle: the study of CSR multi-industry standards: Based on our classification of CSR standards, we focus our research on a specific type of standard: multi-industry standards with a global scope. Jamali (2010) has described these as \"foundation standards\", while Rasche (2010) calls them \"principle-based standards\". We describe them as \"principle-based multi-industry standards\" as they seek to define the basic principles and values for the foundation of CSR rules that are applicable, in general, to all companies in every industry. They focus on principles, reporting and processes. Consequently, they can be adopted by any company in any market and industry. These standards provide rules, principles and guidelines and an independent set of monitoring systems transversally for all companies and businesses to promote CSR. They can also provide principles, certification and reporting guidelines. Included among this type of standard we find UNGC, GRI, ISO 26000, and SA8000.\nData and methodology: Qualitative case studies are useful to understand emerging phenomena within their contexts (Stake, 1995; Yin, 1994). Our case study aims to identify the competition-collaboration dynamic through narrative. The source of our data is based on 13 semi-structured interviews with GRI creators, members of its Secretariat and of Board of Directors. We carried out these interviews in 2008. We combine the data obtained with a textual analysis of all three standards' key documents. We studied their archival data, publicly available information from standard-setters, their own reports, media websites and annual reports, documents, journal publications and other reports. We also studied other official GRI and UNGC documents. We compared these with academic papers mostly focusing on CSR governance, CSR standard-setting and institutional theory.\nGlobal Reporting Initiative: Setting and design\nFindings and outcomes: The convergence dynamic among the three CSR standards reveals the emergence of a \"meta-standardization process\" created out of this competitive-collaboration dynamic between the three CSR standards. Reinicke et al. (2012) previously analyzed this type of \"meta-standardization process\" in the coffee industry, where CSR standards had also adopted a meta-standardization process, but based on the market logic.\nConclusion and further research: This section aims to synthesize the outcomes of our research by highlighting distinctive aspects of analytical framework proposed to study CSR accountability standards, including our analysis framework and matrix, and the analysis of the case study and the growing convergence between global scope CSR multi-industry standards. Empirically, the CSR standards matrix shows how the CSR infrastructure (Waddock, 2008) is characterized by a high degree of diversity and complexity. Our matrix further reveals how there are many standards from different sectors and industries. Despite the fact that the most important and well-known standards are global in scope, most standards focus on a specific sector or industry. Our matrix also shows how different platforms and networks promote these standards and that many involve their stakeholders in the decision-making process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper presents an analytical framework to understand the complex CSR accountability standard architecture, studying the CSR standardization cycle through the organizational studies perspective. It has two main aims: to discuss the theoretical approach to CSR governance, proposing a matrix to classify international CSR accountability standards; and to study the CSR multi-industry standardization cycle (setting and design, diffusion and implementation), creating an analytical framework to understand the innovative dynamics adopted through CSR standard-setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on empirical research on global CSR multi-industry standards and the emergence of a regulatory dynamic based on competition-collaboration. The paper's arguments stem from a case study of the Global Reporting Initiative and its inter-linkage and convergence with the UN Global Compact and ISO 26000. The author analyzes this case based on the global governance and institutional dynamics of regulation research.\nFindings: Based on the study of CSR standards, the paper presents an analytical framework with various elements to analyze CSR accountability standards: scope, type of actors, performance type and mechanisms and type of legitimacy and monitoring strategies. Second, the paper advances the study of emerging inter-linkages between GRI, UNGC and ISO 26000 and analyzes the emergence of a meta-standardization process generated by the competition-collaboration dynamic.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research is needed to focus on the role of agency and different stakeholders on the meta-standardization process. Other research has to focus on the institutional logic and the multi-level analysis of the convergence between CSR standards and the self-regulation advanced process. In this respect, this research serves to demonstrate the leading innovative role adopted by private actors (mostly companies) in developing private standard setting for global governance.\nOriginality/value: The value of this paper is its analysis of the main convergence dynamic adopted by the most popular, global-scope CSR multi-industry standards, GRI, UNGC and ISO 26000. The findings show how this standardization cycle helps a new collaborative governance dynamic to emerge based on the adoption of private standard-setting. The paper is also useful for practitioners, helping them understand the growing convergence among CSR multi-industry standards, and how the convergence of sustainability reporting processes is advancing towards the integration and drafting of homogeneous guidelines with the prevalence of the GRI model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The emotional dimensions of metaphors of change	[ "Qualitative", "Organizational change", "Emotions", "Metaphors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Scholars in organization studies have explored the use of metaphor by unpacking its nature (Cornelissen, 2005); by creating their own metaphors in developing theories of abstract organizational phenomena (Morgan, 2006; Spicer and Alvesson, 2011); by analyzing the rhetoric used by leaders (Tourish and Hargie, 2012) and by examining the expressions used by diverse organizational actors (Riad, 2011).\nLiterature review: The nature of the metaphor\nMethod: As part of a wider study of emotional responses to organizational change I interviewed 24 people in Auckland, New Zealand. They discussed many types of change in different industries, organizations and functional departments. Of the 17 managers interviewed 13 were at senior level, two in middle management and two at first level. There were 13 male and 11 female participants, comprising two Maori, three Pacific Islanders, three Asians and 16 Whites. Ages varied from approximately 30 to 60.\nFindings and discussion: For each category of metaphor found below headings are provided that represent the meanings I read into the participants' remarks. Table I shows the main categories developed, the specific metaphors contained in each, the number of times they were used and the emotions reported or inferred. Given that context is crucial, both to the emotion experienced and the metaphor used, some detail is provided on several of the participants' change experiences. The literature engaged in this section relates to the themes of the categories rather than to the concept of the metaphor.\nConclusions: The findings reveal that the participants in the study frequently resorted to metaphors to explicate their experiences and that these metaphors have affective dimensions that are mostly negative. A number of these metaphors, such as the rollercoaster and grief cycle, have become part of the vocabulary of organizational life, as academic and practitioner literature has shown. Other metaphors are images used by the participants to graphically reconstruct the impact of change. The study has therefore addressed a gap in the literature by revealing the widespread use of affect-laden metaphors across multiple organizational sites, hierarchical levels and types of change. Prior empirical studies of metaphors of change have produced central themes relevant to specific organizational contexts, like Barner's (2008) dark tower and Eilam and Shamir's (2005) chain-gang of prisoners. A contribution of the current study is the revelation of the widespread use of emotion-laden metaphors in different types of organizational change contexts and the identification of common themes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Participants in organizational change use metaphors in discourse as a means of sense making, since they provide insight into ways of thinking and feeling about organizational change that are not as easily or as graphically captured by more conventional language. Although change is often emotional the affective elements of metaphors of change have been under-studied. Thus the purpose of this paper is to examine the emotional content of metaphors that participants use to describe their experiences in various change contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 24 people in different industries, organizations, functional departments and hierarchical levels were interviewed on their experiences of change and their affective reactions. Evidence was sought of the use of metaphors to portray emotional responses.\nFindings: Participants used many metaphors of which the most prevalent were those relating to the rollercoaster and grief cycle. Other categories emerged from the meanings that underlay the metaphors and revealed a spectrum of emotions experienced during change.\nResearch limitations/implications: As figures of speech it is axiomatic that metaphors cannot be taken literally. Further research needs to discover what actors believe their metaphors mean and to take account of cultural differences.\nPractical implications: Exploring the emotional meanings embedded in metaphors used by change actors will enable managers to create effective messages and to understand others' responses to change.\nOriginality/value: Since most empirical articles on affective metaphors of change investigate single organizations or industries, this paper contributes to the literature by reporting on change experiences in different organizational contexts and by identifying categories of metaphorical expressions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hospital leadership perspectives on the contributions of Ronald McDonald Houses: Results from an international survey	[ "Surveys", "Hospital management", "Patient-focused care", "Children" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Operating under the guidance of Ronald McDonald House Charities(r), there are 329 Ronald McDonald Houses(r) (RMHs) worldwide in 52 countries. The primary goal of the RMH program is to provide a \"home-away-from-home\" for families of critically ill hospitalized children so that they can be near their child at little to no cost (Ronald McDonald House Charities, 2013). A primary goal of this non-profit charity is to promote \"family integrity\" during a child's hospitalization. As such, the RMH program allows family members, including siblings, to remain together and to have frequent interactions with the hospitalized child and his/her clinical caregivers.\n2. The potential role of RMHs in family-centered care: relevant theory and literature: 2.a. Conceptual models of family-centered care\n3. Methods: In order to document the perspectives of hospital executives and managers regarding the contributions of RMHs to some of their core aims, we designed and implemented an internet-based self-administered survey. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the George Washington University Institutional Review Board.\n4. Results: A total of 530 people responded to the survey and agreed to participate, including 19 people who completed the survey in Spanish; the survey response rate was 54.5 percent. Preliminary results from the first wave of surveys returned (35 percent) and the final results were compared, with strikingly similar findings for all survey questions. This suggests that the perspectives and opinions of those completing the survey right away were the same as those who completed it later after one or more reminders.\n5. Discussion: There is an international movement in pediatric hospitals toward family-centered care (Foster et al., 2010; Kuo et al., 2012; Joint Commission, 2010). This represents a significant shift from a limited focus on the biomedical and therapeutic needs of a child to a more comprehensive and shared view of a child in the context of his/her family. RMHs, in their partnership with hospitals, strive to advance the vision of family-centered health care.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe an international survey of hospital executives and administrators' perspectives on the contributions of their affiliation with a Ronald McDonald House (RMH) as an example of accommodation in family-centered care to the hospital's mission, operations and patient experience.\nDesign/methodology/approach: RMHs worldwide provided the names and e-mail addresses of the people holding key leadership positions in their main hospital partner, who in turn were invited to complete an internet-based survey (530 participants; response rate of 54.5 percent).\nFindings: Hospital leaders reported very positive opinions about the contributions of their RMHs affiliation to their ability to serve seriously ill children and their families. This included such important outcomes as increasing family integrity and family participation in care decisions; and decreasing psychosocial stress and hospital social work resource burdens associated with lodging, food, transportation and sibling support. Hospital chief executive offices (CEOs) and medical directors reported very strong and positive opinions regarding the value-added of their RMHs affiliation in many areas, including enhanced marketing of hospital specialty services and reduced length of stay.\nResearch limitations/implications: Survey response bias is a limitation, although the results are still useful in terms of identifying multiple ways in which RMHs are perceived as contributing to hospitals' operations and provision of family-centered care.\nPractical implications: Overall, the results suggest that, internationally, hospital leaders believe that RMHs play a key and valued role in their provision of family-centered care to seriously ill children and their families.\nSocial implications: Family accommodation is more than the simple provision of lodging and plays an integral role how hospitals approach family-centered care.\nOriginality/value: This international study contributes to the general literature on the role of family accommodation in hospitals' provision of family-centered care and the specific and very sparse literature on RMHs in particular.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Nurses' understandings of suitable footwear for older people	[ "Falls", "Footwear", "Guidelines", "Nursing homes", "Older people", "Shoes", "Nurses", "Elderly people" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One person 65 years or older dies every five hours owing to falls (Help the aged Policy Statement, 2007). Non-fatal falls impair functioning, increase dependency on nursing services, reduce patient autonomy and increase fear of further falls (Kallin et al., 2004). Falls in older people are caused by many factors, including: age-related muscle weakness; balance and mobility impediments; cognitive impairment; medication side-effects and reduced visual and hearing acuity (Hosseini and Hosseini, 2008). To complicate the picture, an estimated 64 per cent of nursing home residents have dementia (Alzheimer's Society, 2009), which progressively reduces intellect, sensory ability, memory and consequently ability to negotiate the environment (Varcolis, 2000). Alzheimer's disease inhibits a person's capacity to judge depth and distance between objects (Parsons and Cantley, 2001). Relationships between biomechanical properties of shoes worn in healthy older adults (>65 years) and fall risks are addressed in the literature (Barton et al., 2009; Jessup, 2007; Koepsell et al., 2004; Menant et al., 2008a; Sherrington and Menz, 2003). Selecting appropriate footwear for older people in care homes is a relatively autonomous component of the nurses' role, which may lead to inappropriate or even hazardous decisions that may increase falls. Falls prevention in older people is relevant nationally and internationally, having engaged wide-ranging attention (e.g. BGS, 2001; Iowa Geriatric Education Centre, 2010; NICE, 2004; PSTF(US), 1996).\nWhat constitutes suitable footwear for older people in care homes?: Several research reports describe what constitutes suitable footwear for older people. For example, high heels optimise fall risks (Tencer et al., 2004; Menant et al., 2008b) but few older people elect to wear them (Koepsell et al., 2004; Sherrington and Menz, 2003). Koepsell et al. (2004) compared biomechanical measurements of shoes worn by older people who had experienced a fall (n=327) and a matched control group who had not (n=327). L ateral stability, foot position and shoe/surface interface were measured. Findings showed that greater heel height is associated with increased falls risk (p=0.03), as is reduced the sole's contact area (p=0.005). Koepsell et al. (2004) recommends that shoes with low heels and large contact area are worn by older people to reduce falls, e.g. Oxford type shoe, trainers/sneakers, boots and high-collar shoes.\nResearch question and method: No national or international survey to date has assessed nurses' knowledge in this arena. Consequently, it seemed reasonable to explore registered nurses' understandings of what constitutes suitable footwear for older people and the links with fall prevention (our main research question) with a view to developing guidelines, so we carried out an exploratory descriptive qualitative survey.\nFindings: Guidelines knowledge and appropriate footwear assessment tools\nDiscussion: Our study has limitations, e.g. it is unknown whether respondents represent all nurses, so our findings are restricted by the small sample. Nonetheless, respondents showed variable understandings of what constitutes safe footwear for older people in care homes and the links with fall prevention. The most salient finding was missing guidelines to advise nurses about footwear and foot care. This implies a dependence on nurses' knowledge, which in our study proved to be sketchy. Evidence supports that the most effective falls-prevention strategies are multi-factorial interventions that target identified risk factors (Iowa Geriatric Education Centre, 2010). The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all 75 years and older are counselled about specific measures to prevent falls (PSTF, 1996). The American Geriatrics Society, the British Geriatrics Society and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons released joint evidence-based guidelines for this purpose (BGS, 2001).\nConclusion and recommendations: Our study substantiates that some registered nurses have erratic understandings of what constitutes safe footwear for older people in their care and that nurses have sketchy knowledge of footwear and falls prevention relationships. To reduce falls, educators and managers must ensure that nurses working with older people are well informed about features that constitute safe footwear and their links with falls prevention. Even though biomechanical properties have been clearly linked with falls risk, guidelines to advise nurse educators specifically about what to teach student nurses in relation to shoe features haven't been developed. Providing a guideline to direct educators about appropriate foot care/wear for older people may work towards reducing future falls statistics. To effect reduction, we formulated 11 key points to guide nurse educators about appropriate foot care/wear:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into nurses' understandings of what constitutes suitable footwear for older people in care homes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory descriptive qualitative survey was carried out of 20 registered nurses employed in six Scottish care homes for older people. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire that included five open-ended questions. Content analysis was used to theme footwear perceptions.\nFindings: Participants had several views about what encompasses safe footwear; some were erroneous. The link between inappropriate footwear and falls was recognised by 80 per cent of respondents, but some were unclear about the features that effect or inhibit safety. No UK or international standardised guidelines were identified that advise nurses about appropriate footwear for older people.\nPractical implications: It is unknown whether respondents represent the nurse population because findings are restricted by a small sample size. Nonetheless, the group showed variable understanding of what constitutes safe footwear for older people and links with fall prevention. Improved nurse-education about what comprises safe footwear and the links with falls prevention in older people is required. Structured guidelines to direct nurse educators about what to teach student nurses about appropriate footwear for older people may work towards reducing falls.\nOriginality/value: No guidelines to direct nurses about appropriate footwear for older people in care homes have been written. Key points have been developed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value of internships for professional careers in the built environment sector in Singapore	[ "Careers", "Singapore", "Students", "Construction industry", "Internships", "Built environment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internships are important and beneficial to students because relevant knowledge, competencies and experiences can be acquired (Knemeyer and Murphy, 2002), even before they graduate and join the industry. In addition to developing valuable new skills and practical know-how, internships are a chance for students to explore their interests and decide which career path they would like to embark on (Coco, 2000).\nLiterature review: Background of internships\nGap in knowledge: The review of literature shows that there is substantial research on internships. Some of these did not address the value of internships (Knouse et al., 1999; Edward Beck and Halim, 2008). There is also a gap in knowledge from the perspective of the employers in the BE sector. Hitherto, it is not known if internship is valued by them, and whether it would increase a fresh graduates' employability. Fieldwork was therefore carried out to fill this knowledge gap. The research questions, in the context of professional careers in the BE sector, are set out below:\nResearch method: The fieldwork involved three phases: questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. The questionnaire survey was a quantitative research. Qualitative research was conducted through in-depth interviews with industry professionals who have at least 20 years of experience in the construction sector to validate the findings of the survey. A focus group session was conducted with professionals in the BE sector to brainstorm on recommendations to internship.\nSample characteristics: Initially, 80 questionnaires were emailed out and only 20 responses were received. Because of the low response rate, convenience and snowball sampling was carried out. This yielded an additional 86 questionnaires. Of the 166 questionnaires sent out, 106 usable questionnaires were received, giving a response rate of 63.8 per cent.\nResults: The first objective of this study was to examine the perceptions of professionals in the BE sector about undergraduate internship programmes. Table VI shows the respondents' views of internships for undergraduates. It was found that students benefit from internships as they have the opportunity to interact with seasoned professionals in the industry, develop problem-solving skills and improve their communication skills. Two key benefits of internships for employers are with regards to selecting and hiring of candidates for the company and using interns as a temporary labour source.\nDiscussion on BE professionals' perceptions of internships: The results show that internship brings a host of advantages to both students and employers participating in these programmes. These benefits are discussed below. Arising from this, there is a strong case for making internships compulsory for undergraduates. The relevance of internships for BE careers from industry practitioners' perspective is also examined.\nDiscussion on relevance of internships for BE careers: Respondents were asked the likelihood of hiring a fresh graduate who had interned in the company (P21) on a four-point Likert scale, where 1=very likely and 4=very unlikely. The mean was 1.189 and the one sample t-test results shows t=-21.249 and p=0.000. It is concluded that employers are significantly likely to hire fresh graduates who had interned in their firms previously. This is consistent with Willison's (2012) finding that up to 30 per cent of a company's new hire could be its ex-interns.\nRecommendations: The third objective of the study is to recommend ways to improve the internship programme to meet the demands of the BE sector. The recommendations below are derived from findings from the fieldwork.\nLimitations: The study has several limitations. While 106 responses were received, the first limitation is that these are confined to only five professions in the BE sector in Singapore. Future studies could cover these other professions like mechanical and electrical engineers. Another approach could be to focus on one profession and do an in-depth study on internship and its value to a career in the BE sector.\nConclusion: It is important to understand if internships increase the employability of fresh graduates so that internship programmes can be improved for the benefit of undergraduates. Using a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion, professionals' views of internships was collected and analysed, and recommendations for improving internship programmes were made.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the value of internships for professional careers in the built environment (BE) sector from the perspective of industry practitioners. It examines the perceptions of practitioners about internship and explores the relevance of internships for professional careers in the sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methods used were questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. The study focussed on careers such as architects, civil engineers, facility managers, project managers and quantity surveyors.\nFindings: It was found that quantity surveyors and civil engineers value internship the most and are more likely to hire those who interned with them. Project managers also value internships but to a lesser extent. Facility managers and architects value internship the least and are also least likely to offer positions to their ex-interns. It is not conclusive whether internships are absolutely necessary to increase undergraduates' employability upon their graduation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to only five professions and focused on the perceptions of professionals and not the interns or academic supervisors.\nPractical implications: Recommendations are made to improve internship programmes in the BE sector. These include making internships compulsory for students who intend to pursue civil engineering and quantity surveying careers and extending the duration of internships to six months.\nOriginality/value: The views of professionals in the BE sector are uncovered. Tertiary institutions can use the findings to improve their internship programmes and their students' employability upon graduation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding and addressing bullying in the workplace	[ "Bullying", "Assertiveness", "Workplace", "Psychology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nUnderstanding bullying: Bullying is a destructive phenomenon wherever it occurs and within the workplace it can cause major disruption to the performance of an organisation. The impact of bullying behaviour on people - be it generalised or specific, intentional or unintentional, verbal or non-verbal - is always devastating. There are people who have had one experience of being bullied and recall the memory vividly. They often live in fear of a recurrence of the experience even when they are in a different job, have a different line manager and different colleagues. For many people the experience of being bullied happens over a period of time and is accumulative. They live in a state of fear at work, fear going into work, and fear exposing their experience in case it makes things worse. It impacts hugely on all areas of their lives, on their wellbeing, on friends and family. Very often the person feels isolated and isolates themselves further from others, their social life dwindles and their sense of who they are is diminished to such an extent that they become depressed and unwell. Symptoms include headaches, anxiety and panic attacks, sleeplessness, self-medication through a range of different drugs and alcohol, loss of appetite or over-eating, lashing out unexpectedly at others.The impact on organisations of bullying behaviour are numerous ranging from people taking time off work due to stress-related illnesses; a high attrition of talented employees to a lack of engagement, effectiveness and productivity. The recent problems experienced at the opening of Heathrow, Terminal 5 were linked to low morale at BA. A recent BA employee survey reported that nearly 30 per cent of employees claim they have been bullied. (Will Hutton, The Observer, 30.03.08).The reporting of individual cases of bullying in the media are rare and usually high profile involving big companies in the UK, often financial or legal firms in the City. The majority of cases of bullying are never reported - to anyone - because of people's fear of incurring further exclusion and isolation.So what is bullying? Essentially it is about behaviours which are perceived by people on the receiving end to be undermining of who they are and what they are doing. Most bullying behaviours serve to undermine someone personally, even when it is actually being directed at their actions. Its impact can undermine otherwise confident people: the behaviour hooks into people's feelings of being shamed and generates a sense that there is something fundamentally wrong with them. People who are the target of bullying behaviour come to think of themselves as fundamentally flawed, regardless of whether the bullying behaviours are directed not at them, but their actions. It is often mistakenly assumed that people who are bullied are already lacking in confidence, making them open to it and this cannot be further from the truth.Bullying behaviour can be directed towards groups of people or specifically at an individual. The result is that, no matter what they do, the bullying continues leading to them being typecast and stereotyped - and no longer seen or heard for who they really are. It is frequently assumed by people being bullied that they must have done something to provoke it and so try desperately hard to change their own behaviour to stop being targeted. They take the blame and seek to find ways of appeasing their tormentors - usually to no avail. For an individual subjected to bullying behaviour the focus is usually on particular aspects of their behaviour and actions or personality. Repeated in this way many times is when bullying becomes harassment. Whether the target is a general group or a specific person they often feel powerless to confront it or to report the bullying for fear of further recriminations.Whether the bullying behaviour is verbal or non-verbal, or both, the impact on the receiving end is for people to feel that they do not belong, that they do not have the right to be. Bullying behaviour can be verbally or non-verbally expressed. Snide and sarcastic comments are the most common verbal forms. Others include a denial of something having been said when asked or using humour that makes fun of an individual. One of the most powerful verbal bullying behaviours is excluding someone repeatedly - for example by speaking to other people asking how someone is, but not directly asking them or by inviting everyone else in an office group for a meal or drink but excluding one individual or small group.Increasingly too new technologies can become platforms for bullying behaviour, by e-mail or text messaging. Someone may be omitted from a group email, or information about a person may be sent to a group of people. Non-verbal bullying behaviour is similarly excluding, such as never making eye contact, never shaking their hand or avoiding any contact with them.People who use bullying behaviour can be aware of what they are doing and do so with an intention that is best described as vindictive: to humiliate, isolate, hurt and shame others. Equally there are people who are entirely unaware that their behaviour is bullying; they are insensitive to the impact their actions have on others and are genuinely surprised when they receive feedback on how their behaviour is perceived and experienced.\nAddressing bullying: One of the most effective ways of addressing bullying is the Corporate Ombuds Service. The Corporate Ombuds Service is a confidential, neutral and informal service offered by some organisations for employees to use if and when they are experiencing a workplace issue such as bullying, discrimination or harassment. Users of the service are encouraged to explore their issues and their options as to courses of action that they may want to take or indeed not take. Having a service such as this, dedicated to people's wellbeing in the workplace provides employees with a resource that complements other services provided by most large organisations. The service is in addition to the support provided by line managers, HR professionals and colleagues and is unique in that it is entirely confidential, neutral and informal. It is a place where issues and concerns can be shared \"off the record\", the very being able to talk about the experience is for most people empowering and helps to rebuild their confidence which is likely to have been eroded through the experience of bullying and harassment. One of the huge benefits to organisations of providing a Corporate Ombuds Service is that the providers of the service usually give feedback in the form of emerging themes and, or recurring issues directly to the CEO. Such feedback always protects the anonymity of users of the service. This gives the CEO and the organisation an opportunity to address the issue and concerns. It demonstrates to all employees that bullying behaviour is not tolerated and is taken seriously at the highest level.Organisations that provide Corporate Ombuds Services are in the minority; the majority of organisations have anti-bullying policies which state explicitly what is construed as bullying behaviour and that such behaviours are not tolerated. Policies however are not enough to eliminate bullying behaviour. Whilst everyone knows that bullying is unacceptable many people \"get away with it\" because there is an implicit acceptance which can be communicated explicitly when someone regularly bullies and, or harasses others and is allowed to continue because \"they get results\" and \"do a good job\". Bullying behaviour can go unchecked when there is a lack of awareness of values and beliefs that implicitly imply that it is okay to make fun of certain groups of people, to exclude them and to speak derogatively about them in conversation. Such groups of people are those who are regularly harassed and discriminated against.A target group is a group of people who have been harassed and discriminated against - for a very long time by what can be called a \"non-target\" group, frequently a numerical majority. The main targets are black or non- white people; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex people; older people; working class, Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic. If you are a member of one of these target groups then it is likely that at one time or another you will have experienced being bullied or discriminated against. The main non-target groups originating bullying behaviour are: white people; men; heterosexuals; upper class; Gentiles, Christians and Protestants. Underpinning their behaviour is fear: fear of \"the other\", and most importantly fear of the unknown, in particular of difference. Underlying all bullying, harassment and discrimination is a fear of difference coupled with a fear of the unknown.The challenge and opportunity for organisations is to help people raise their awareness of how our attitudes, values and beliefs underlie our behaviour which intentionally or unintentionally has a negative impact on others, and can be seen by them as humiliating, shaming and isolating. Organisations need to challenge and support people in raising their awareness and, where necessary, to change their behaviour and to be more assertive and inclusive of difference. As soon as people feel threatened by groups or individuals that are different they set themselves apart from them. This works both ways so that members of both target and non-target groups set themselves apart from each other paving the way for bullying, harassment, discrimination and recriminations. As well as providing people with opportunities, as many organisations do, for people to meet with other members of a group with which they feel a natural affinity it is also important to provide forums in which people can share their experiences with people from different groups. Through witnessing and engaging in dialogue with each other people gain a deeper understanding of their own and each other's behaviours and to reflect on the values and beliefs which underpin them. With this new understanding and compassion for each other people are encouraged and motivated to change their behaviour. Performance measures and reviews need to incorporate the goals of the organisation which in turn need to reflect these behaviours of assertiveness and inclusivity. There are huge business opportunities for doing this, not least because we live and work in a diverse society in which all people have a right to belong and to feel safe.Unless bullying behaviours are addressed by schools and in the workplace as part of learning about difference then such behaviours will continue to blight people's lives. The first experience for many people of being bullied is in their families, extended families and at school. People recall being \"picked on\", \"being left out\" and being called names. Sometimes the office environment is likened to the school playground. Recent research suggests that homophobic bullying is on the increase in schools. Making diversity awareness a part of everyone's education both at school and in the workplace is key to developing organisations in which everyone is responsible and accountable for behaviour that is respecting and valuing of difference on a day to day to basis. Key to the success of understanding our differences and similarities are business leaders and senior educationalists leading the way through their own assertive behaviour and aligning the people agenda with the strategic goals of the organisation. Furthermore to ensure that all employees realise the importance and seriousness of working with difference that they are given opportunities to explore their differences and to learn from each other's experiences - and of course to appreciate our similarities, our humanness.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to better understand bullying behaviours in the workplace and how these behaviours can be addressed as part of an ongoing and integral approach to diversity through building bigger and more assertive relationships in which there is greater awareness and understanding of each other - our differences and similarities\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A psychological approach is taken in order to better understand the phenomena of bullying and the kinds of interventions that can facilitate individuals, groups and organisations in becoming more inclusive and assertive\nFindings: - Incidents of bullying behaviour in organisations towards people most typically are directed at individuals from the very groups of people who are regularly targeted for bullying simply for being different from the majority and not because of something that they have done or not done\nOriginality/value: - A deeper understanding of the dynamics of bullying behaviour in organisations leading to suggestions as to how organisations can promote attitudes, values and behaviours that are inclusive and allowing of difference.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identification of maintenance improvement potential using OEE assessment	[ "Manufacturing", "Overall equipment effectiveness", "Maintenance", "Production service and maintenance systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Current productivity and equipment utilization are generally low within the manufacturing industry. As an indicator, the average overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) has earlier been reported to be around 50 per cent (Ingemansson, 2004; GoodSolutions, 2012) while world-class figures are widely argued to be around 85 per cent, (e.g. Blanchard, 1997). In fact, Parida et al. (2014) argue that the largest problem that exists in industry today is low OEE, being 15-25 per cent below the targeted level. Direct machine failures are naturally a major reason, but on a production systems level the rippling effects (e.g. blocked and idle states) are substantial. It is easy to see the related economic losses, but the negative impacts on ecologic sustainability cannot be neglected. In fact, studies have shown that 30 per cent of the energy consumption in industry is wasted on machines in repair, idle, and stand-by states (Skoogh et al., 2011).\n2. Frame of reference: The theoretical frameworks within maintenance and OEE and how this is related to productivity and production system efficiency are presented in this chapter.\n3. Methodology: The empirical findings presented in this paper were based on OEE data collected from 98 different companies in over 50 industrial workshops in Sweden between 2006 and 2012. The participants were first educated and trained in how to collect data and perform an OEE assessment. Then the participants were asked to select the bottleneck in their production system and perform an OEE assessment based on a data collection time ranging from one to five weeks. A total of 124 OEE calculations were made originally. However, certain calculations lacked data on all OEE components. For example, one OEE calculation did not have data on utilization but directly presented the operational efficiency data. Therefore, the OEE calculations which had data on all components alone were considered. After discarding this poor data, a total of 94 OEE calculations were finally selected for analysis.\n4. Results: The results chapter presents the gathered OEE data from 98 companies and also quantifies the various components used for the calculation of OEE. Additionally, Monte-Carlo simulation results are presented identifying the level of impact of components on OEE.\n5. Discussion: The discussion chapter presents the mapping of empirical OEE findings compared with industrial maintenance practices and the identified maintenance improvement potentials based on quantified OEE values and various production losses.\n6. Conclusions: This study analyzed 94 empirical data sets from the manufacturing industry between 2006 and 2012 and found the average OEE to be 51.5 per cent. This means that the utilization of current production resources is low, which in turn leads to insufficient productivity and resource efficiency. These facts are problematic for current production in terms of economic and ecologic sustainability. In addition, low OEE figures are challenging for the expected increase of digitalization in production, where factories will be substantially more autonomous that today (compare concepts such as Industrie 4.0).\n7. Future research: Maintenance organizations in the manufacturing industry will face several major challenges during the coming decades, especially in relation to increased digitalization in manufacturing. This paper highlights the problem that the traditional maintenance field has not developed and delivered improvements for a long time. OEE figures are the same as almost two decades ago. In addition to that, it can be assumed that the production environment will progress even faster in a near future because of the introduction of cyber-physical systems. Therefore it is crucial for future research activities to assist maintenance and manufacturing organizations to achieve a higher overall productivity and efficiency of the production system. The following fields need to develop rapidly:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify maintenance improvement potentials using an overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) assessment within the manufacturing industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper assesses empirical OEE data gathered from 98 Swedish companies between 2006 and 2012. Further analysis using Monte-Carlo simulations were performed in order to study how each OEE component impacts the overall OEE.\nFindings: The paper quantifies the various equipment losses in OEE, as well as the factors availability, utilization, speed, quality, and planned stop time. From the empirical findings, operational efficiency losses are found to have the largest impact on OEE followed by availability losses. Based on the results, improvement potentials and future trends for maintenance are identified, including a systems view and an extended scope of maintenance.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides detailed insights about the state of equipment effectiveness in terms of OEE in the manufacturing industry. Further, the results show how individual OEE components impact overall productivity and efficiency of the production system. This paper contributes with the identification of improvement potentials that are necessary for both practitioners and academics to understand the new direction in which maintenance needs to move. The authors argue for a service-oriented organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workplace internet leisure and employees' productivity: The mediating role of employee satisfaction	[ "Employee productivity", "Employee satisfaction", "Job demand-resource model", "Workplace autonomy orientation", "Workplace internet leisure", "Workplace internet leisure policies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Contemporary organisations must use the internet to meet the needs and challenges of the workplace, to respond rapidly to ever-changing consumers' requests, and to compete effectively and efficiently in the global environment. The internet has helped organisations by transforming the workplace into a universal network and by achieving a competitive advantage over those who are not using it (Baturay and Toker, 2015; Chong et al., 2018; Hsu and Yen, 2016). The internet has assisted organisations and their employees by increasing productivity, enhancing performance, improving communication, strengthening the image and reaching customers in every corner of the world (Koay, 2018). As a result, the use of the internet in the workplace has become a crucial matter for employees, supervisors and managers (Cao et al., 2016). Nevertheless, the use of the internet in the workplace provides workers novel ways to engage in non-work-related activities, which can have adverse effect on the workplace (Lara et al., 2006; Qiaolei, 2014).\n2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses development: 2.1 Job demands-resources model\n3. Research method: 3.1 Data collection and procedures\n4. Analysis and findings: 4.1 Descriptive analysis of the study variables\n5. Discussion: The main objectives of this study are to examine the relationship between WIL, WILP, workplace autonomy orientation, employees' satisfaction and employees' productivity in the banking sector in Malaysia; we also seek also to investigate the mediating effect of employees' satisfaction between WIL, WILP, WAO and employees' productivity. To achieve these objectives, a theoretical model was developed and tested empirically based on SDT, the JD-R model, social exchange theory and procedural justice theory. Overall, the findings of this research reveal that all hypotheses are supported by the data and are in line with the expected direction.\n6. Theoretical and managerial implications: From a theoretical point of view, this research contributes significantly to the existing body of knowledge. First, this research has challenged the prevalent propositions that WIP is undesirable workplace behaviour and can decrease the productivity of employees. Particularly, this research has demonstrated through theoretical and statistical evidence that moderate use of WIP can exert a positive effect on employees' satisfaction and eventually increase their productivity. Therefore, WIP should not be seen as negative behaviour in the workplace, but rather as a form of unofficial break. Second, this is a comparatively new study that has hypothesised ES as a mediating variable between WIL, WILP, WAO and EP. This helps to explain how an organisation can translate WIL, WILP and WAO into high productivity by elevating employees' satisfaction. Third, based on the JD-R model, this study has integrated aspects of the psychological contract in terms of WIL and WAO, and aspects of the social contract in terms of WILP; we used these together to predict their combined effect on employees' satisfaction and their productivity. Past studies have tested these variables independently. Consequently, combining WIL, WILP and WAO in one study has reflected a better and more comprehensive picture of the antecedents of workplace outcomes. Fourth, most past studies related to WIL were conducted in the Western context and found inconsistent results. As confirmed in this study, the outcomes of the investigation in a non-Western context can be different from those in developed countries. For example, in this study, WIL, WILP and WAO exert positive and significant effects on ES which contrasts with the findings reported in the developed country context. Fifth, this study has successfully combined theories developed in the Western context (i.e. SDT, the JD-R model, social exchange theory and procedural justice theory) to support and explain the conceptual framework that was developed in the non-Western context of Malaysia. In doing so, this study provides a new avenue for future studies to further explain and predict the effect of WIL, WILP and WOA on other attitudinal and behavioural variables in the workplace.\n7. Conclusion and future directions: This study claims that human capital is considered to be one of the most important aspects in a company's survival. Hence, the well-being and level of happiness of the employees should be taken seriously. WIL and WAO are psychological contracts, while workplace internet policy is a social contract that runs parallel to them in shaping the level of happiness and well-being for an employee.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is an on-going debate about the role of workplace internet leisure (WIL) and whether it is a vice or virtue. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of WIL on workplace outcome variables such as employee satisfaction (ES) and employee productivity in the Malaysian context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that yielded 282 responses. Partial least square technique using SmartPLS-3 was used to test the study hypotheses.\nFindings: Findings reveal that workplace WIL, workplace WIL policy and workplace autonomy orientation (WAO) affect employees' satisfaction. Additionally, the mediating role of ES was found to be significant.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study are valuable for both managers and policy makers. These results can benefit the managers of conventional banks in Malaysia to decide how to enhance employees' satisfaction and productivity by focusing on the key drivers such as WIL, workplace internet leisure policy (WILP) and WAO.\nOriginality/value: This is a pioneering study which suggests that moderate use of WIL can have a positive and significant effect on workplace outcome variables. Moreover, this study theorised ES as a mediating variable; this helps to explain how organisations can transform workplace resources in term of internet leisure, WILP and WAO into high productivity by elevating employees' satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Women leaders and organizational diversity: their critical role in promoting diversity in organizations	[ "Diversity", "Leadership", "Women leaders" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Women leaders outperform male leaders on many key leadership competencies. A recent study (Zenger and Folkman, 2012)[1] found that women were rated higher by their peers, subordinates, and bosses in 12 of the 16 competencies measured by the evaluation. The two areas with the highest differentials in ratings between women and men were \"taking initiative,\" and \"driving for results\"; both are typically considered masculine competencies. Some other areas in which women outperform men are - inspiring and motivating others, building relationships, collaboration and teamwork, listening to others, integrity and honesty, and championing change (Business Week, 2000). Interestingly, the higher the level in the hierarchy, the greater the degree of outperformance by women (a full 10 percentile points at top management level).\nDiversity: With increasing levels of globalization in the world, the attendant movement of people across countries, and other socio-economic changes such as more women in the workforce, diversity (on many dimensions) is an urgent issue in organizations. It is important for organizations to manage their diverse employees by creating an inclusive environment to get the best from everyone. It is important for them to manage their diverse employees by creating an inclusive environment to get the best from all.\nDiversity and women leaders: Research and the experience of top management has shown that the benefits of diversity will be captured only if organizations create an environment in which everyone feels safe to express themselves and bring their personal experiences and knowledge to bear on the organization's tasks. Leaders play a very important role in establishing a culture where everyone can be heard and feel safe in sharing and airing novel ideas. Leaders themselves need to be able to engage with people who have these differences in ideas and perspectives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of women leaders in enhancing and managing diversity in organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach of this paper is to combine the findings of two fields of research, namely, effectiveness of women leaders, and organizational diversity, and propose that women leaders have a critical role to play in enhancing organizational diversity and its effectiveness.\nFindings: The main findings of the paper are that women leaders outperform their male counterparts in many of the necessary skills and competencies required to create democratic and inclusive organizations. Their leadership style is also best suited to effectively manage and take advantage of diversity in organizations.\nPractical implications: Women leaders can create a very significant impact on creating inclusive environments in which diversity is valued and on organizational performance overall. Thus, it is imperative for firms to overcome gender bias and create meritocracies in which women leaders can be hired, retained, and promoted.\nSocial implications: Societies need to create grassroots change where perceptions of women in the workplace change.\nOriginality/value: The study creates a connection between two bodies of literature: one that explores the effectiveness of women leaders on leadership competencies and the second that looks at diversity in organizations, and how organizations can take advantage of this diversity. It shows that women leaders are well suited to promote and manage diversity in organizations by virtue of their skills and leadership style.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International terrorism and threats to security: Implications for organizations and management	[ "Terrorism", "Organizational culture", "State security", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The events of 9/11 will likely have effects that will last a long time. International terrorism had existed for years before that date and include a previous attack on the World Trade Center, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, the attacks on the US military base in Saudi Arabia, and the attacks on the two US embassies in Africa. In addition there have been successful terrorist attacks in Spain and Bali, among other countries. The destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City however stands out as a critical event. It happened on US soil, was the largest terrorist attack, cost over 3,000 lives and destroyed a symbol of American capitalism and commerce.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to review research findings on the effects of a variety of disasters, including the events of 9/11, on the general public and members of organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A literature search was undertaken. Three areas were targeted: impact on public attitudes and morale, on organizations and human resource management, and on organizational resilience.\nFindings: - Four conclusions were drawn. First, disasters such as 9/11 have immediate negative effects on emotions and behaviors. Second, with the passage of time these effects dissipate for most people. Third, organizations directly affected by 9/11 immediately stopped functioning. Fourth, fortunately many of these firms bounced back surprisingly quickly.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Relatively little research has been conducted on the effects of 9/11, limiting our understanding of it.\nPractical implications: - The people in these resilient firms, those more directly affected by the terrorist attacks, made the difference. Human resource management practices and cultural values already in place were the key factors in bringing about a speedy recovery. These factors can also be developed in other organizations as a precaution.\nOriginality/value: - This paper explores important yet still under-researched areas of management and organizational responses to terrorism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social evaluations of restaurant managers: The effects on frontline employees' job attitudes and turnover intentions	[ "Organizational commitment", "Managers", "Job satisfaction", "Turnover intentions", "Casual dining restaurants", "Warmth and competence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Full service restaurants, which represent sit-down eateries in which food is served directly to the customers' table, include family dining, casual dining and fine dining restaurants (National Restaurant Association [NRA], 2010). Of these three segments, casual dining restaurant owners and managers cite the recruitment and retention of employees as one of their most significant operational challenges (NRA, 2015). In fact, 23 per cent of casual dining restaurant operators in the USA mention that the recruitment and retention of employees represents a significant obstacle, even more so than attracting new customers or bringing back repeat customers (NRA, 2015). As a result, hospitality researchers have a duty to resolve some of the recruitment and retention concerns that casual dining restaurant operators face and to try to reduce the disproportionate turnover rates that inflict the restaurant industry (Tews et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Warmth and competence perceptions\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 Exploratory factor analysis\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the effects of restaurant managers' warmth and competence on employees' turnover intentions mediated by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study aims to enhance existing literature related to the influence of social perceptions that casual dining restaurant employees may adopt regarding their restaurant managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data came from 781 employees of a large US-based casual dining restaurant franchise group that owned 43 restaurants. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed, followed by multilevel path and post hoc mediation analyses, to assess the effects of the proposed model.\nFindings: Results demonstrated that managers' warmth and competence represented a single factor, instead of two distinct constructs, thus contradicting several sociopsychological studies. Moreover, managers' warmth and competence had an indirect influence on employees' turnover intentions through both job satisfaction and organizational commitment.\nPractical implications: Knowing that employees develop improved job attitudes and lower turnover intentions when they evaluate their managers as warm and competent individuals, restaurant operators should focus on both of these social characteristics when designing interviewing processes, management training, and performance appraisal programs.\nOriginality/value: By studying a casual dining restaurant franchise group that operates a single brand, thus minimizing variation in policies and procedures, this paper fulfills an identified need to examine two fundamental social dimensions that people often use in professional settings, and which have not been vastly studied in organizational behavior or hospitality literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New aspects of research to assess and manage critical incidents in service encounters: Teleological actions, interactive interface and perceptual gaps	[ "Service recovery", "Critical incidents", "Service provider", "Services", "Airline", "Negative emotions", "Teleological", "Service receiver", "Transformative", "Airport" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Many service contexts are characterized by a high level of competition. New customers are costly and difficult to gain, while losing customers can be can cause major problems and even impact upon the survival of the firm (Oliver, 1999). According to the service profit-chain literature, loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. The profitability of service providers thus depends partly on loyalty (Heskett et al., 1994). The imperatives of competition imply that clients who engage in repeat purchases are a vital resource for service providers (Miller et al., 2000). In consequence, managing the outcome of service encounters effectively improves customer satisfaction and raises repurchasing intentions (Bitner, 1990; Edvardsson, 1992, 1998; Edvardsson and Ross, 2001).\nLiterature review: The negative short-term interactions in many service encounters may explain why service receivers often switch service providers (Edvardsson and Ross, 2001). The outcomes of critical incidents vary between service encounters (Petzer et al., 2012) and previous studies have identified a variety of aspects of negative encounters. A conceptual framework for managing negative service encounters provides valuable insights (Aggarwal et al., 2005) into assessing the causes and outcomes of critical incidents in service settings. However, because of the intangibility of the criteria, it is difficult to assess and manage critical incidents in actual service encounters (Hirschman, 1970; Singh, 1988).\nMethodology: This study applied a qualitative approach to the application of teleological actions for assessing and managing critical incidents that cause negative emotions in service encounters. Consideration was also given to the teleological outcome of perceptual congruence and discord between service providers and service receivers.\nEmpirical findings and analysis: As shown in Table III, the empirical findings indicate that there is not necessarily any congruence between the perceptions of service providers (the airline front-line staff) and those of service receivers (the airline passengers) on how to assess and manage a critical incident occurring in a service encounter. Yet, the interactive interface between a service provider and a service receiver is crucial in assessing and managing critical incidents. Accordingly, perceptual discord between them may occur and cause the service encounter to deteriorate with unsatisfactory results for both parties.\nImplications: Delivery failures are inevitable in the interactions between service providers and service receivers (Kau and Loh, 2006; Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008). These negative critical incidents may influence and reduce the overall satisfaction of service receivers (Bitner, 1992; Casado-Diaz et al., 2007; Dutta et al., 2007; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000; Zeithaml et al., 1993) and have a negative effect on business profitability (Heskett et al., 1994). An understanding of the service recovery process is therefore fundamental (Del Rio-Lanza et al., 2009; Varela-Neira et al., 2008, 2010) to achieving customer loyalty. A service provider should therefore promote mechanisms that make it easier for front-line staff to inform the managers in charge about service failures and critical incidents. The service provider should create a protocol of guidance and direction for front-line staff to follow when the same or similar critical incidents occur repeatedly, but this should not be totally inflexible.\nLimitations: This study, like any other, suffers from some limitations. The findings may not be generalizable, as they are based upon a qualitative approach through non-probability and purposeful sampling (convenience and judgemental). Nevertheless, there should be a certain universal application of the teleological perspective in other negative service encounters. Furthermore, this study is limited to negative service encounters, while positive ones are unexplored. This study was also limited to a specific critical incident (baggage delays at airports) in the airline industry, so that other similar (and different) critical incidents in the same or other service settings require further exploration. These limitations of course provide opportunities for further research and the conceptual framework and empirical findings complement existing theory.\nConclusions: When exploring and investigating service quality, one must take into account the specific characteristics of the services, as well as the processes of service creation, that may result in a divergence between the desired and the expected service (Berry et al., 1985; Bouranta et al., 2009; Parasuraman et al., 1988). When such divergences are negative beyond normal service receiver expectations, a critical incident arises, causing the service receiver to be dissatisfied and possibly severely (Bitner, 1990; Edvardsson, 1992, 1998). Negative service encounters caused by bad experiences with the service affect the emotional responses of service receivers (Varela-Neira et al., 2008), who might even go so far as to sever their relationship with the company (Edvardsson and Ross, 2001).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The objective of this paper is to describe the teleological actions needed to assess and manage critical incidents that cause negative emotions in service encounters. Teleological actions are movements into the future that are believed to be move either towards a predictable/known or unpredictable/unknown state or condition. The authors distinguish between, define and apply three categories: transformative - ad hoc and present-based actions; formative - pre-determined and past-based actions; and rationalist - goal-directed and future-based actions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative study, based upon a two-phase approach applying convenience and judgemental sampling, was used. Focussing on one teleological theory, a process of abductive matching was applied throughout the study. Abductive matching refers to recurring themes, patterns and categories that are uncovered through the iterative processes of analysis. The teleological framework structured and guided the data collection and empirical observations.\nFindings: Seen through the perspective of teleological actions, the study enhances our understanding of the manner in which critical incidents generate negative emotions in service encounters. Through the same perspective, the investigation also reveals that the outcome of a negative service encounter depends upon the interactive interface between service provider and service receiver.\nResearch limitations/implications: The teleological actions between service providers and service receivers in negative service encounters appear to be mediators between cause-and-effect on the one hand (critical incident and negative emotions) and a perceptual gap on the other (outcome of negative service encounter). The teleological perspective also provides numerous opportunities for further research in this area.\nPractical implications: Managers should strive to understand the teleological actions potentially undertaken by service receivers, so that they can deal with the teleological actions of their front-line staff accordingly. The interactive interface between a service provider and a service receiver is crucial in assessing and managing critical incidents.\nOriginality/value: Based on teleological actions, the investigation provides both a valuable and complementary contribution on assessing and managing critical incidents and the negative emotions that are often triggered in the service-encounter interface between a service provider and a service receiver. Providers also need to educate their staff on what can occur and on how to react appropriately.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Total productive maintenance and manufacturing performance improvement	[ "Total productive maintenance", "Maintenance organization", "Manufacturing performance improvement", "Top management leadership", "TPM implementation initiatives", "Traditional maintenance initiatives" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Rapid changes in business demands in today's economic environment have redirected as well as steered manufacturing organisations towards being highly effective and efficient in all aspects. The evolution in manufacturing is unavoidable - driven by industrial globalisation, shorten product life cycle, higher customers' expectation of quality and services, and increasing manufacturing cost. These external and internal elements have a direct impact in contributing to manufacturing organisations moving towards being more flexible, responsive, and innovative in order to sustain the growth of its business in the global markets (Ahuja and Khamba, 2008a; Davis and Heineke, 2005; Liker, 2004; Sekine and Arai, 1998; Yusuff, 2004). Thus, global business competitiveness heavily emphasised on the manufacturing organisation's ability to strategically operate in a highly effective and efficient manufacturing environment by focussing on the lowest possible cost structure, better resources utilisation for higher productivity, supreme quality, and reliability in product delivery to meet customers' expectation (Nakajima, 1988).\n2. Theory and hypotheses: 2.1 Overview of TPM in Malaysia\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Site and subjects\n4. Results: 4.1 EFA\n5. Discussion and implications: It has been observed from the research findings that TPM implementation success factors - top management leadership and maintenance organisation, traditional maintenance initiatives and effective TPM implementation initiatives have a significant positive correlation with the Malaysian manufacturing organisations performance indicators. The effective implementation of these three factors is expected to have a significant effect on the improvement of manufacturing performance which is measured by organisational achievement, productivity, quality, cost, delivery, safety and morale. This finding is consistent with Ahuja and Khamba's (2006) findings in the Indian manufacturing sector where TPM improves manufacturing performance. This finding also supported Yamashina (1995) and Nakajima's (1988) findings that TPM implementation initiatives transform Japanese manufacturing sector into world class manufacturers with high level of efficiency and effectiveness to compete with others. This enables manufacturers to operate in a profitable condition. Thus, the success or failure on turning around Malaysian manufacturing into a profitable organisation while maintaining its competitiveness relies on these three main strategies.\n6. Conclusion: Globalisation and technological advancement have resulted in a highly competitive global manufacturing landscape. Based on the fitness concept of survival, only the best, effective and efficient manufacturers are able to survive and excel in this competitive environment. For sustainability, Malaysian manufacturing organisations have to strategise proactively to compete globally. TPM has been introduced among other initiatives to help manufacturing organisations endure the challenges ahead. To provide further insight on TPM, this study examines the impact of TPM implementation initiatives on manufacturing performance improvement in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. The findings from this study supplement empirical evidence that TPM implementation initiatives improve manufacturing performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the multidimensionality of total productive maintenance (TPM) and its relationship with manufacturing performance improvement in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. Specifically, this study evaluates the contribution of each TPM success factors in improving manufacturing performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from 89 employees who participated in the survey were used to test the proposed research framework. A structured questionnaire adopted from Ahuja and Khamba (2006) was used to assess the Malaysian context.\nFindings: The analytical results reveal that traditional maintenance initiatives and TPM implementation initiatives significantly affect manufacturing performance, but not top management leadership and maintenance organisation. Top management roles and commitment are critical in the early stage to determine the master plan and initiate the implementation of the whole programme. However, traditional maintenance and TPM implementation initiatives gradually enable engagement, proper planning, right execution and continuous improvement, ultimately improving the manufacturing performance indicators significantly. The findings further unveil that TPM is not sustainable in Malaysia's manufacturing organisations in the long run.\nPractical implications: This analysis is vital for senior managers of manufacturing organisations that have implemented TPM or are considering introducing TPM in their organisations.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by examining beyond the introduction and stabilisation phase of TPM to provide an insight of whether TPM is sustainable in the long run.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A counter-intuitive view of the deductive research process: Clockwise versus anti-clockwise approaches	[ "Research methods", "Research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The author addresses some concerns of the commonly applied deductive research process in scholarly research endeavours. The paper is based upon the author's previous experiences in research endeavours (as editor, reviewer and author) and his numerous interactions with scholars at workshops and seminars worldwide, all dedicated to different aspects of the research process. This paper should be seen as addressing a debatable subject where there is no \"right\" or \"wrong\", but one which hopefully will stimulate and/or provoke a certain degree of afterthought and reflection.The author contends that the scholarly research process may be approached in a different manner to that so often described in literature, doctoral curriculums, workshops, seminars or other forms of scholarly knowledge arenas (Booth et al., 2003; Day, 1996; Lester and Lester, 2005; Rozakis, 1999). The objective is to describe a counter-intuitive view of the deductive research process. An applied approach to the research process is presented and discussed.\nDeductive and clockwise research process: Research endeavours originate from a specific problem. They may be either scholarly- or practitioner-oriented, or both. Furthermore, the research problem underpins the whole research process, which may be seen as consisting of four elements:1. idea;2. support;3. implication; and4. contribution.They are illustrated in Figure 1 and discussed in the following paragraphs.Traditionally, the research process starts with an idea that is developed and made explicit through the research objective. One or several research questions are formulated that are supposed to contribute to the fulfilment of the research objective. Support of the idea is gathered as part of the research process. Initially, it is based upon research literature. It is followed by the empirical data collection. Implications are articulated that are theoretical and/or managerial. Finally, the contribution of the research process is outlined. Conclusions are drawn and suggestions for further research are usually provided. The research process re-connects to where it all started, thereby completing the circle.The illustrated deductive approach of the research process shown in Figure 1 is commonly exercised in contemporary research endeavours. The author contends that is may not always be appropriate or beneficial to apply it strictly to any given research endeavour. A strict application may be counter-productive to the outcome of the research process and affect the expected outcome of the scholarly effort. In fact, it may increase unnecessarily the risk-taking to involved stakeholders.\nCounter-intuitive and anti-clockwise research process: So what could be done to reduce the risk of the research process? Potentially, the illustrated research process in Figure 1 performed anti-clockwise (i.e. rather than clockwise) may reveal pitfalls or fatal flaws in the intended research process before to much effort (i.e. time and resources) have been invested. In other words, applying a counter-intuitive approach to the research process may generate increased accuracy and minimise the risk-taking involved in any research endeavour to all involved stakeholders. The counter-intuitive and anti-clockwise approach of the research process is illustrated in Figure 2.The counter-intuitive, or anti-clockwise, research process starts with the idea as in the deductive and clockwise research process, but it is not developed and made explicit through the research objective or the research questions. On the contrary, it reverses the order of the elements of the research process to examine expected contributions, implications and support. \"Expected\" does not necessarily mean that the expected outcome of the elements becomes real or observed so long as the research process is still performed as intended. It should be seen as a benchmark that can be used to determine the suitability and relevance of the intended research process. Furthermore, it may provide a basis to evaluate the likelihood of achieving valuable and successful outcome. The following paragraphs take a look into each element in reversed order of the research process.Contribution - conclusions and suggestions for further research\nConcluding thoughts: The author contends that the counter-intuitive approach illustrated (i.e. its being an anti-clockwise rather than clockwise research process) may uncover pitfalls and flaws in research endeavours at an early stage of an intended research process. It is important that the four elements (i.e. idea, support, implications and contribution) are thought through properly in detail before too much investment of time and resources, as well as intellectual effort, have been made in order to avoid frustration and discontent among involved stakeholders.Consequently, a research process often requires a significant scholarly investment in terms of time and resources. In addition, the intellectual effort invested should not be forgotten. The involved stakeholders are exposed to the risk that the research endeavour does not generate the expected outcome, caused by failures in either of the elements of idea, support, implication and or contribution. The author contends that it is therefore essential to dedicate and pay attention to the intended research process as a whole before actually committing oneself to it.Preferably, one should be able to proceed both clockwise and anti-clockwise through the different stages of the intended research process to verify that all elements are expected to be affirmative and linked properly together. Primarily, it is an intellectual and screening procedure exercise that may crystallise weaknesses and strengths as well as threats and opportunities of an intended research endeavour and its underlying research process.As indicated previously, the research problem underpins the whole research process, which may be seen as consisting of four subsequent elements: idea, support, implication and contribution. The author has proposed that these elements should be approach the opposite way, where the idea initiates the counter-intuitive approach, but instead of formulating the research objective(s) and the research question(s) at the beginning of the research process, the beginning is to articulate the expected contributions, followed by the expected implications. The expected support is examined and finally the research question(s) and the research objective(s) are determined. Once done, the clockwise approach of the research process would follow if the expected outcome of each element in the ant-clockwise approach has been affirmative.The author hopes that the presented counter-intuitive view of the research process will assist scholars (e.g. junior faculty and doctoral students) in their efforts to perform research endeavours. Most importantly, the author hopes that the approach provided may increase the probability of successful outcomes and the effectiveness of research endeavours by finding inspiration and support using the counter-intuitive view proposed. Most senior scholars have been taught the clockwise approach of the research process in doctoral studies and thereafter learned through scholarly research endeavours. Some have experienced unfavourable outcomes and felt resignation. Therefore, the author urges researchers to consider the pros and cons of the intended research process before engaging fully in the research endeavour. It may be a stimulating intellectual exercise that potentially provides valuable insights and experiences. It may also lead to spin-off research endeavours. In sum, scrutinize the intended research process, turn it upside-down, inside-out, revise and refine it and then go ahead with it if it still appears promising. In other words, go counter-intuitive in your research endeavours!\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The objective of this paper is to describe a counter-intuitive view of the deductive research process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper should be seen as addressing a debatable subject where there is no \"right\" or \"wrong\", but one which hopefully will stimulate and/or provoke a certain degree of afterthought and reflection. An applied approach to the research process is presented and discussed.\nFindings: - The paper contends that the counter-intuitive approach illustrated may uncover pitfalls and flaws in research endeavours at an early stage of an intended research process.\nResearch limitations/implications: - It is important that the four elements of idea, support, implications, and contribution are thought through properly in detail before too much investment in time and resources, as well as intellectual effort, has been made, in order to avoid frustration and discontent among involved stakeholders.\nPractical implications: - The paper contends that it is essential to dedicate and pay attention to the intended research process as a whole before actually going through with it.\nOriginality/value: - It is hoped that the presented counter-intuitive view of the deductive research process will assist scholars (e.g. junior faculty and doctoral students) in their efforts to perform research endeavours.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Attitudinal and behavioral consequences of work-family conflict and family-work conflict: Does gender matter?	[ "Family", "Role conflicts", "Employee attitudes", "Gender", "Hotels", "Turkey" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In an era of intense competitive pressures, dwindling resources and discerning customers, service organizations including hotels, the setting of this study, realize that attaining customer satisfaction through delivery of quality services is a key to their survival and success. Accordingly, hotel executives engage in multi-pronged actions ranging from innovative marketing and operational strategies to pointed competitive analyses to better serve their customers and improve their profitability (Kashyap and Bojanic, 2000; Yasin and Yavas, 2001; Yavas and Babakus, 2005). Astute hotel executives also recognize that no strategy aimed at motivating, satisfying and retaining external customers can be considered complete unless it includes programs for reaching and winning over internal customers. To such executives, retention of motivated, satisfied and committed frontline employees who can consistently deliver high-service quality is as important to business success as customer satisfaction and retention (Bowen and Ford, 2004; Kotler et al., 2006).This is not surprising as frontline employees in service organizations, whether they actually render the service or simply interact with customers face-to-face or voice-to-voice, are the main actors in the delivery of service quality (Bettencourt and Brown, 2003; Bettencourt and Gwinner, 1996). However, frontline employees are often underpaid, typically work long hours, irregular schedules and carry heavy workloads (Babin and Boles, 1998; Singh, 2000). These coupled with dramatic changes in today's social (e.g. entry of more women to the workforce and rise in the number of dual-career couples; increased responsibilities to care for older, infirm parents/relatives) and economic conditions (e.g. downsizing resulting in \"lean and mean\" organizations necessitating the surviving employees to work even longer hours) give rise to heightened conflicts between work and family roles (Halpern, 2005; Posig and Kickul, 2004).The difficulties frontline employees experience in balancing the demands of their multiple roles result in poor morale and can impact their performance and commitment. Such employees can become emotionally exhausted and think of leaving their organization (Boles et al., 1997; Karatepe, 2006). These adverse consequences can indeed become quite costly. Emotional exhaustion undermines frontline employees' performance and hinders effective customer service (Babakus et al., 1999; Cropanzano et al., 2003; Wright and Cropanzano, 1998). Employees with intentions to leave may reduce their productivity prior to quitting (Halpern, 2005). Furthermore, the costs of actual turnovers (e.g. recruitment and training of additional staff, overtime payments to existing staff to alleviate shortages, disrupted service, increased turnover among remaining staff who feel pressured and overworked) can reach exorbitant proportions (Frank et al., 2004; Hendrie, 2004).Purpose\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: Figure 1 shows the conceptual model guiding our study. Based on extant literature, we contend that interrole conflicts emanating from the demands of the two universal domains of adult life, work and family, lead to emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, we posit that employees experiencing work-family and family-work conflicts become poor performers and think of leaving their organization. Our model also proposes that emotional exhaustion results in poor job performance and a higher propensity to leave the organization. Hence, the key underlying premise of our model is that work-family conflict and family-work conflict impact the two critical job outcomes of performance and turnover intentions both directly as well as indirectly through the mediating role of emotional exhaustion.In addition, we contend that there may be gender-based differences in the relationships depicted in our model. Thus, we examine the moderating role of gender on the relationships between work-family conflict and family-work conflict, and emotional exhaustion and job outcomes. We also examine the role of gender as a moderator of the relationships between emotional exhaustion and job outcomes. As shown in Figure 1, we include age, education, tenure, marital status, and the number of children as control variables in our conceptual model since they may influence the key constructs and confound the relationships posited in the model.Consequences of work-family conflict and family-work conflict\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Measurement results\nDiscussion: By using a sample of frontline hotel employees in Turkey as its setting, this study developed and tested a model to investigate the effects of work-family conflict and family-work conflict, and emotional exhaustion on two organizationally valued job outcomes, job performance and turnover intentions. Also examined in the study was the role of gender as a moderator of the relationships in the model. Several observations emerge from our findings.First, the results clearly suggest that our overall model is viable. Indeed, of the eight overall hypotheses we tested, six received support from the data. Consonant with the results reported in other studies (Bacharach et al., 1991; Boles et al., 1997; Mauno and Kinnunen, 1999), our study shows that employees facing conflicts originating from their work (family) and family (work) roles become emotionally exhausted. Likewise, similar to the results reported by Boyar et al. (2003), our results demonstrate that both work-family conflict and family-work conflict are significant predictors of frontline employees' turnover intentions. Our results also mirror image Karatepe's (2006) findings and show that emotional exhaustion is at the root of frontline employees' turnover intentions.One unexpected result in our study pertains to the relationship between work-family conflict and job performance. Contrary to our predictions, work-family conflict seems to trigger frontline employees' job performance. One plausible explanation for this unexpected finding may be based on van Dyne et al.'s (2002) argument that people who experience interpersonal conflict and tension at work tend to focus on their work activities more to shield themselves from further tension and to be able to reach higher levels of performance. An alternative explanation to this unexpected finding can be offered in light of the insignificant role of emotional exhaustion in mediating the relationship between work-family conflict and job performance. Two types of countervailing effects may be operating on work-family conflict - job performance relationship at the same time. These are a eustress-type (positive/functional) effect and a distress-type (negative/dysfunctional) effect (Singh et al., 1994). These opposite effects may act simultaneously to reduce the total effect of work-family conflict on job performance. Conceivably, here the eustress-type (positive/functional) may be the more dominant component in affecting job performance. It is possible that the distress-type (negative/dysfunctional) effect of work-family conflict on job performance does not kick in until emotional exhaustion experienced by frontline employees exceeds a certain threshold. Whatever the explanation may be, certainly the relationship between work-family conflict and job performance is more complicated than expected and deserves further attention.Second, when the results are viewed from the perspective of the simultaneous effects of the two forms of interrole conflict, it appears that both work-family conflict and family-work conflict have detrimental impacts on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. However, the effects of work-family conflict and family-work conflict on job performance are different. As noted before, while work-family conflict depicts a positive relationship with job performance, family-work conflict has a detrimental impact on job performance. These results corroborate that work-family and family-work conflicts are distinct but conceptually related concepts (Netemeyer et al., 1996). In many cases, not being mutually exclusive, they have spillover effects and exert the same type of impact on an outcome. Yet, in other cases, as demonstrated in a study of interrelationships of work-family conflict and family-work conflict with work satisfaction (Boles et al., 2001), work-family conflict and family-work conflict do not necessarily yield the same impact on the outcome measure (i.e. work satisfaction).An explanation for such a differential impact comes from Netemeyer et al. (2005) who argue that when employees are cognizant of the potential for a particular form of conflict to affect the outcome (e.g. job performance), they may engage in processes and behaviors that partially compensate for the effect. Given this explanation, it may be surmised that employees surveyed here are more cognizant of the potential impact of work-family conflict on their job performance. But not being equally cognizant of the potential for family-work conflict to affect their job performance, they may not engage in cognitive processes or behaviors that could reduce the effect.Third, unlike the bulk of the studies which examined interrole conflicts and related issues in developed countries, our study was conducted in Turkey. When our results are compared to the results of studies conducted in the North American - European axis, a number of similarities are apparent. For example, our results pertaining to the positive relationship between work-family conflict and emotional exhaustion are congruent with Boles et al.'s (1997) research in the USA, and Mauno and Kinnunen's (1999) study in Finland. Likewise, our findings concerning the effect of family-work conflict on emotional exhaustion parallels the results reported in Posig and Kickul's (2004) US-based study. Similarly, our results pertaining to the impact of family-work conflict on job performance is consonant with Frone et al.'s (1997) study in the USA. Also our findings regarding the effects of work-family conflict and family-work conflict on turnover intentions are consistent with those of Boyar et al. (2003) who conducted their study in the USA. These results, on one hand, suggest that research findings derived from western countries are generalizable into a different cultural setting and, on the other hand, lend credence to Aycan and Eskin's (2005) observation (based on Barnett and Hyde's (2001) expansionist theory) that as traditional gender roles continue to expand and change globally, a convergence of findings in work-family research takes place cross-culturally.Fourth, on the basis of our results, the answer to the fundamental question we asked, \"Does gender matter?\" appears to be yes. Indeed, of the eight gender-related linkages we proposed in our study, five proved to be significant. Thus, at the aggregate level, gender does moderate a majority of the relationships in our model. However, in two cases, the differences between male and female employees are contrary to our predictions. Hence, three of our hypotheses receive support from our data while the other two are not tenable.We offer a speculative explanation as to why the positive relationships between work-family conflict and job performance and between family-work conflict and turnover intentions are weaker among female employees. These may be rooted in the fast pace of change in the work and family roles of men and especially women in Turkey. As Yavas et al. (1999) write, while the Turkish society is male-dominated and males are the primary breadwinners, changes enacted in the Turkish Civil Law in the 1990s have accelerated the transition in the status of Turkish women from that of traditional housewife to equal partner. The changes on the legislative front have picked up momentum in the last couple of years as Turkey enters formal negotiations with the European Union to be a full-fledged member and makes its laws compatible with those of member European countries.Perhaps, even more important is the fact that these days Turkish women are economically active. Many are no longer \"stay-at-home\" moms waiting for their husbands to return to the nest. As Aycan and Eskin (2005) discuss, Turkish women especially in urban metropolitan areas (such as Ankara, the location of our study) join the workforce in increasing numbers. With the increasing involvement of women in the workforce, cultural values and norms with respect to gender roles are undergoing a rapid change in Turkey. Recently, women are more involved in work outside the home and men, slowly but surely, assume more of the household responsibilities and tasks that were traditionally considered as women's. In such a milieu, Turkish men and women alike are trying to adapt to the modern gender role norms (Aycan and Eskin, 2005) and a \"blurring\" of traditional gender role distinctions is taking place.It appears that this trend toward the \"blurring\" of traditional gender roles and the Turkish women's desire to succeed in the full-time workforce, despite experiencing significantly higher conflict between work and family roles, may have caused the unexpected findings. It is also likely that, as discussed in the gender role theory, despite being more prone to the dysfunctional effects of work-family conflict than men (Grandey et al., 2005), women expect such an interference between work and family domains more so than men. It should also be remembered that frontline service jobs, as interaction-oriented positions, fit better the relationship-valuing and nurturing nature of the female gender (Putrevu, 2001). Furthermore, as a testament to the context-specific changes taking place in role expectations for men and women, women nowadays value certain masculine-stereotyped job attributes as highly or more highly than men (Konrad et al., 2000). In addition, in today's uncertain work environment, women may be more likely than men to seek job security (Konrad et al., 2000). Consequently, compared with men, women may be in a better position to cope with and control the dysfunctional effects of conflicts emanating from work and family domains on their job performance and turnover intentions.Implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a conceptual model to examine the effects of work-family conflict, family-work conflict, and emotional exhaustion on job performance and turnover intentions. The paper also aims to investigate the role of gender as a moderator of the posited relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A sample of frontline hotel employees in Turkey serves as the study setting. Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires. A total of 723 usable responses were obtained.\nFindings: - The results show that employees facing conflicts originating from their work (family) and family (work) roles become emotionally exhausted. These two forms of interrole conflicts are also significant predictors of frontline employees' turnover intentions. Gender moderates several of the relationships proposed in this paper.\nPractical implications: - Turkish hotels will benefit from establishing a family-supportive work environment to lessen the detrimental impact of conflicts in the work-family interface on frontline employees' emotional exhaustion and job outcomes. A dual (i.e. gender-specific) approach appears to hold promise in managing frontline employees.\nOriginality/value: - When these results are compared to the results of studies conducted in western countries, a number of similarities become evident. These similarities broadly suggest that research findings derived from western countries are generalizable into a culturally different setting, and support the premise that as traditional gender roles continue to expand and change, a convergence of findings in work-family research takes place cross-culturally.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Good governance and crime rates in Malaysia	[ "Malaysia", "Good governance", "Crime", "ARDL", "Small sample" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not a long-run relationship exists between good governance and crime rates in Malaysia. In the economic literature, numerous studies suggest a positive relationship between poor government, and crime rates. Poor government is generally defined in terms of government corruption and poor enforcement laws for property rights. These studies also suggest that poor government leads to a reduction in economic growth (Jalilian et al., 2006; Pellegrini and Gerlagh, 2004; Mauro, 1995; Aidt et al., 2008; Abe and Wilson, 2008; Blackburn and Forgues-Puccio, 2009).\nLiterature review: Recent studies have been investigating the role of governance in affecting economic growth. The consensus is that if a positive relationship between economic growth and good governance exists, there is a negative relationship between good governance and crime (Neumayer, 2003; Andres and Asongu, 2013; Asongu and Oasis, 2013).\nData, methodology and model: For the purpose of this study, data on crime rates are extracted from the Yearbook of Statistics published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, for the years 1996-2009.\nEmpirical results: In this section, we present the results. Table II describes an interesting relationship between crime rates and governance in Malaysia for 1996 and 2009. There are three types of crime and six governance indicators (for its quality).\nConclusion: In this study we investigated whether or not a long-run relationship exists between good governance and crime rates in Malaysia. We considered three categories of crime rates - total crime, violent and property crimes; and six measures of good governance (i.e. indicators), for the period 1996-2009. The six governance indicators are voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to relate the quality of governance with crime in Malaysia. The study also identifies the best good governance tool to fight against crime in Malaysia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses time-series data on crime rates and six measures of governance: voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. In this study the authors employed the popular autoregressive distributed lagged modeling approach to estimate the long-run model of crime and governance.\nFindings: The authors test the hypothesis that good governance lowers crime rates (total crime, violent and property crimes). The results suggest a negative relationship between crime rates and good governance in Malaysia. This suggests that good governance reduces crime rates in Malaysia.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations of this study is the short time-series used in the analysis which is from 1996 to 2009.\nPractical implications: This study provides evidence that the practice of good governance, for example, lower corruption, good policing and judicial system can mitigate crime in Malaysia.\nSocial implications: The implementation of good governance will protect property right of individuals, business sector and the society as a whole, and this will enhance prosperity of a nation.\nOriginality/value: This study provide the first empirical evidence that linking between crime and good governance in Malaysia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A new approach to small business training: community based education	[ "Small enterprises", "Human resource management", "Training", "Recruitment", "Retention", "Learning methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small business is a vital sector within the social and economic fabric of today's society, increasingly contributing to economic stability and employment on a local, national and international basis (ABS, 2004; Cassell et al., 2002; Culkin and Smith, 2000; Halley and Guilhorn, 1996; Nolan, 2002; Peacock, 2004; Rowden, 2002; Storey, 2004). As this business sector is clearly globally important, it is critical to understand why the current training and learning approaches offered to small business do not appear to be succeeding and why it seems to be so hard to engage with this sector of the business community.There is significant evidence that small business owner-managers are competent in their field yet lack managerial skills (Bacon et al., 1996; Walker and Webster, 2006). Management competency is perceived as vital for business survival and growth (Hornsby and Kuratko, 1990) yet small business owner-managers are reluctant to attend formal training (Barry and Milner, 2003; Billett, 2001; Darch and Lucas, 2002; Matlay, 2000; Storey, 1994, 2004). Current skill shortages and low unemployment in Australia have created even greater competition in the labour market both to attract and keep good staff (CPA Australia, 2004; Shortage on skills not labour, 2007). In a competitive climate it is critical for those business owners who lack certain management competences, in particular human resource management competencies, to acquire them. Therefore, the aim of this study was to address both the stated and perceived barriers to training participation experienced by small business owner-managers so that the benefits of human resource management training were more accessible.It was expected that if the barriers to attending training could be overcome, then small business owner-managers would be more likely to participate in the training, particularly if it was community based. It is argued here that this approach would increase their competency in a key management tenet, that being human resource management and more importantly, embed that knowledge into their business. As a consequence of achieving these outcomes, both personal and business benefits would be attained.To test these assumptions a community based education (CBE) approach was utilised. This approach involved the learning being based in the participant's community, focusing on the learning needs of the participant and not tied to institutional requirements. This approach enabled the participant to focus on the learning and not be overwhelmed by the provider, with the focus on transfer of power to the user and it is their appraisal which is given priority (Brookfield, 2005). By identifying an approach which can both attract small business owner-managers to training and increase their levels of competency, it is possible to make an important contribution to a vital sector within the Australian community, that being small business.\nBackground: Management competence and training in small business\nAim of the research: The aim of the research was to test a CBE approach to determine whether it could engage small business owner-managers in training and improve their competency in a specific management skill, that being human resource management. Thus, two research propositions were formulated:P1. Barriers to small business participation in training can be addressed through a CBE approach.P2. That a CBE approach to delivering a management skills development program will provide the participants with relevant new skills and competences in that management issue (human resource management).\nMethod: To test the effectiveness of this approach, Kirkpatrick's (1998) model of evaluation was used to gather data from participating small business owner-managers. Assessments were made at four stages of the training program.Design\nResults and discussion: The collected data at each stage of the program is presented to demonstrate the process used to evaluate the CBE approach and show the outcomes achieved by the participants.Pre-program evaluation\nThe learning environment: An important issue in the CBE approach is that adult learning requires consideration of the physical and holistic environment. This environment relates to the facilities, group dynamics, program delivery and content. In addition to evaluating the learning environment provided in this program, the participants were asked to compare this program with other training they had experienced.The facilities and the location where the workshops were held were described as being very comfortable, at a convenient location relative to their business and well set up for training. These external issues are important given the known reluctance of small business owners to participate in training and highlight the importance of making them feel comfortable. In addition, group dynamics were explored to identify other factors that may have facilitated learning that had not been apparent from the evaluation sheets. Comments were positive from all of the participants, for example:There was quite a variety of businesses so I felt unique. Very good interaction and friendly. People wanted to learn and network. I felt comfortable to join in (P6).Overall, four factors had the most positive influence on their learning:1. having owner-managers from a variety of businesses attending;2. the course content;3. the instructor's style and knowledge of small business; and4. the opportunity to engage in the discussions.The program content and the delivery method were well received by the participants who found it was practical, interesting and applicable to small business. In addition, they liked having their questions answered with a specific response, and a facilitator whose style suited their needs. The only negative comments about the content were related to time where a few participants felt that the course could have been longer.Because of the positive group dynamics the participants felt that other learning occurred which was not necessarily related to the program content. This perception is demonstrated in the following comments:Having other small business people there was great there was a synergy of understanding and learning that was incidental to the work going on. Got interaction because of that and things I never dreamt of started coming up and that was really interesting (P3).When comparing this program with other learning experiences the participants indicated that this program had greater capacity to meet their needs due to its practical and small business focus. An illustrative comment follows:Most of my previous training had been sitting in class and getting given information. This was more beneficial, to be able to communicate and talk to others from small businesses. I've also done some home based learning but I missed the one-on-one element and found it difficult to have to assimilate on my own. The important sections for small business were singled out and we were not given an information overload like at other courses (P12).\nPractical implementation: The participants' reaction to the program was positive with some expressing excitement about the level of learning they felt they had achieved and others confirming that they now knew they were \"on the right track\". The comment outlined below is typical and shows that the participants achieved more than they originally expected:I initially went as I wanted to employ someone and thought it would help. Now I am aware that there was some information I had no idea about like selecting an employee for their personality which you can't teach, whereas skills you can. I don't feel so daunted by employing staff now. I think that everybody should do it; it has made me a more confident boss (P4).As the following comment shows over the two months since the training, participants had made considerable progress in implementing what they had learnt:The advertising part was good and was a priority for us. I came back and visited how we do ours and we have reworded them and made them stand out a bit more. After thinking about what would attract us to coming to work for this company we used keywords that needed to be in the ad. Now the reaction has been very positive. I've also implemented job descriptions and interview processes straight away. The course also strengthened my understanding of providing training to employees and what each generation wants out of a job. Already I'm re-using the manual for job ads and job descriptions. Other aspects will come in over time (P10).By this time the participants also acknowledged that there was more to learn about effective staff management and that the course had had a positive effect on their motivation to learn:The course gave me motivation to do more things. Usually being in small business and in isolation you get in a rut and handle things as they happen. It made me realise the importance of re-visiting and remembering things and the tools that you have got to use. So, I use the manual as a resource and I will continue to use it in the future. I am also going to study externally to improve my skills and knowledge so that I remain up to date. That's how I've decided to challenge myself and take the next step (P9).\nReflection: The process of personal reflection met with their need to be able to assimilate information in their own time and in their own way and to \"repackage\" the learning for their business. This illustrative comment provides evidence of this:The course gives you the reminder to reflect and makes you look at your business. The information learnt in the course is still in the forefront of my mind because it has many elements of what I want to achieve now. The manual is still open because I'm thinking about the course. It's got heaps of different stuff in it (P1).To the majority of participants obtaining feedback from the facilitator was also of benefit both during and after the course.\nChanged management practices: Significant changes in their management style encompassing both their own personal practices as well as their management of staff were evident. These workplace changes led to a better work environment for all concerned as outlined in the following quote:Definitely my management style has changed. The way I handle the other staff member now has made a big difference (P11).Importantly, the effects of participating in the program were also viewed not only as having an effect on business survival but also on growth:I think the business will survive and grow because I feel a lot more confident now about employing people and managing them. The course will help create competitive advantage in the future as we employ people. I now see the variety of work I can offer to an employee as an asset. The customers have commented about improvements in the staff, so everyone is happy. The course has made me more business focussed. It reminded me that I hadn't spoken to clients as much as I used to. Mind jogs help viability (P2).Six month post-program evaluation\nConclusion: The results reinforce the key assertions of a CBE approach which allows the training needs to be identified within the community, provides audience-specific content and a democratic learning environment. The increased competence and confidence achieved by the small business owner-managers from participating in the human resource management program support the work of Brookfield (2005) and Knowles et al.(2005) who advocated that the role of diagnosing learning needs should come from the community, not an institution. The success of this approach, also reflects Friere's (1993) view of democratic learning as facilitative, and challenges the use of traditional methods of imparting knowledge to small business owner-managers by emphasising the need for educators' to address small business training based on the needs of the learner.By acknowledging the participant as an adult learner, the CBE approach allowed the individual to be given both the opportunity to learn and control of their learning. This is consistent with Brookfield's (2005) view of power centred in the learner. In addition, the small business owner-managers' learnt in collaborative groups as advocated by Brookfield (2005) and through common reflection, dialogue and action, learning was stimulated and knowledge acquired that met the learner's needs (Friere, 1993). Finally, by not evaluating the learner, constraints associated with power processes vested in formal institutions and instructors were removed to allow true dialogue as advocated by Burgoyne and Jackson (1997).The results have reinforced the key assertions of this approach for educating owner-managers of small business, particularly in regard to human resource management. The need for educators' to address small business training based on the needs of the owner-manager, and not by traditional methods of imparting knowledge, is advocated. The benefits gained including increased competence and confidence, among the small business owner-managers are valuable assets for the individual, the small business and the community. This approach if implemented elsewhere could also encourage other small business owner-managers to engage in training, and benefit from a CBE approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show that most small business owner-managers are technically competent in their area of business activity however they do not always have equal managerial competence. For example, deficiency in human resource management competence may lead to difficulties in attracting, retaining or leading staff. These factors are critical to businesses that aspire to any kind of growth. Part of the problem relates to a lack of participation by small business owner-mangers in formal management skills development due to the perceived time and financial costs required. Therefore a new approach to training and learning is needed, one which overcomes the barriers and takes education to the small business community.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A community based education (CBE) approach is examined to determine whether this design is effective in addressing the reported barriers to training faced by small business owner-managers.\nFindings: - Evaluation of the CBE approach has shown that when small business owner-managers participate in a dedicated management skills program, important gains are made that contribute to their personal and business development. These benefits can have lasting effects both on the business and the community in which it operates.\nOriginality/value: - Small business is an important sector for both economic and social outcomes. Without sufficient management competencies small businesses are more likely to fail. Therefore, the development of an approach to management training that can both engage small business owner-managers and achieve positive benefits for the individual, and the business is of enormous value. This research provides evidence of an approach that has achieved these goals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Use of Balanced Experiential Inquiry to build ethical strength in the workplace	[ "Business ethics", "Managers", "Decision making", "Experiential learning", "Training", "Desired moral approbation", "Ethical decision making", "Management ethics education and training" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The voluntary doing of what is wrong may result either from ignorance of what is right or from unwillingness to do what is right (Browne, 1945).\nEthical performance: Most ethics education programs do not frame ethics as a choice for action (Kidder, 2005). Rather, the focus has been on compliance with formal regulations. Such regulatory controls and their enforcement do little to develop an employee's desire to act ethically. In fact, regulations may impede ethical behavior because of a perceived need to rule-bend to achieve timely task completion (Sekerka and Zolin, 2007). Threats, punishment, and surveillance, typically at the core of control functions, can also undermine ethical performance. These pressures interfere with managers' internal control and \"tend to result in extrinsic motivation or task disengagement, both of which have adverse effects on performance-related outcomes\" (Kashdan and Fincham, 2004, p. 484). Prior research suggests that an ability to control one's own outcomes (Rotter, 1966), directly affects moral decision making (Trevino and Youngblood, 1990), and may influence ethical behavior (Granitz, 2003). Thus, it is useful for organizations to promote managers' internal locus of control (Ryan, 1982; Ashkanasy et al., 2006).According to Rest's (1986) moral decision-making model, as a person proceeds toward moral action, they must move from the desire to act to the decision to act. As people choose to act (or not), they frequently consider evaluations from themselves and others. The amount of external approval people need can influence their desire to act (Jones and Ryan, 1997; Ryan and Riordan, 2000). Referred to as desired moral approbation (DMA), such considerations are particularly influential in social contexts such as workplace environments, as DMA impacts peoples' decision-making trajectories (Ryan and Ciavarella, 2000). The ability to proceed without external praise, or despite criticism, is an important factor in building efficacy toward choosing moral action.\nPractice for adult learners: While managers need opportunities to practice ethical decision making with time to reflect on their experiences, the common approach to ethics education is to teach policies via rote content delivered online (Sekerka, 2009). Such learning may enhance compliance, but it does little to cultivate ownership of ethical issues or a desire to pursue right action. Because ethical challenges can be distressing or potentially threatening, people need practice sharing how they effectively navigate them and time to reflect on what promotes or deters their willingness to act ethically.Insights from adult learning theory suggest that managers need an alternative approach to learn how to respond effectively when faced with ethical dilemmas. Adult learning theorists advanced the concept of andragogy (cf. Knowles, 1968), which Knowles (1980, p. 43) defines as the \"art and science of helping adults learn.\" We believe that such an approach is important for managerial ethics education. While the scope of adult learning theory is vast, the core assumptions underlying andragogy create a framework from which administrators can build more effective ethics training programs. Summarizing Knowles, Merriam (2001, p. 5) defines the adult learner as someone with:(1) an independent self-concept and who can direct his or her own learning;(2) an accumulated reservoir of life experiences that is a rich resource for learning;(3) learning needs closely related to changing social roles;(4) a problem-centered focus, interested in immediate application of knowledge; and(5) the motivation to learn by internal rather than external factors.This list provides the design features of an effective learning venue for today's managers. To effectively explore the ethical decision-making process, managers need to help direct their learning by reflecting on content that is meaningful to them and applicable to their daily work. In short, personal experiences need to become the text upon which managers reflect and build their learning.The idea of putting one's experience at the center of learning is not new. Echoing well-known learning theorists (e.g. Lindeman, 1927), Brookfield (1996, p. 377) said, \"the belief that adult teaching should be grounded in adults' experiences, and that these experiences represent a valuable resource, is currently cited as crucial by adult educators of every conceivable ideological hue.\" Kolb's (1984, p. 41) classic experiential theory proposes that \"knowledge is created through the transformation of experience\" through a four-step process including a concrete experience, reflection, abstract conceptualization, and actively experimenting with new behaviors. Laditka and Houck (2006) demonstrated how experiential approaches in teaching ethics are particularly effective, stimulating interest, and understanding across cultures (Sanyal, 2000). Furthermore, when group discourse is fostered during learning, participants engage in shared sensemaking (Weick, 1995). Studies examining best practices in ethics education also support the use of collective learning spaces (Sekerka, 2009). As people explore what is important to them, they are better able to examine what contributes to their thinking and behaviors.\nBEI: BEI provides managers with an opportunity to collaboratively practice their ethical decision-making processes (Sekerka and Godwin, 2010), thus helping to increase capacity for ethical performance. Table I summarizes how each phase of BEI relates to the principles of adult learning and the experiential learning cycle. Unlike traditional ethics programs that use generic cases for discussion, BEI uses stories from participants' own workplace experiences. While creating an atmosphere for conversational learning through group discussion, BEI begins with personal introspection (Baker et al., 2005).The notion of balance is core to BEI, which weaves together both diagnostic (deficit-based) and appreciative (strength-based) techniques (Sekerka et al., 2006, 2009). BEI invites the sharing of past stories and the honoring of both positive and negative aspects of managers' handling of past ethical issues. Balance is further embedded in BEI as sessions encourage participants to seek balance between their individual perceptions and the group's dialogue regarding what constitutes a moral response. As explored in BEI, ethical decision making also requires balancing rationality, emotions, and morality with situational factors and external demands. In considering both positive and negative experiences, along with personal strengths and weaknesses, BEI helps employees directly address tensions produced by such dichotomies.\nCultivating desire to act ethically: Engagement in BEI helps managers examine the origins of their own decisions and behaviors. Although moral action is prompted by both internal and external motivations (Ashkanasy et al., 2006; Jones and Ryan, 1997), an organization's overdependence on rewards or punishments can reduce moral action to a transactional exchange (Tenbrunsel, 1998). Organizations need to support and build managers' personal responsibility for ethical behaviors by encouraging them to be interested in their own ethical strengths.DMA, representing influences that come from self and others to promote (or curtail) the decision to proceed with moral action, is defined as \"differences in the amount of approval that individuals require from themselves or others in order to proceed with moral actions without discomfort\" (Jones and Ryan, 1997, p. 449). Managers must understand how their internal scripts and perceptions of external evaluations influence their desires to act ethically. Such understanding relates to the idea of moral identity (Hardy and Carlo, 2005) and reflects how one's internal view of self serves as a source for moral motivation. According to Lapsley and Narvaez (2004), a moral person is someone \"for whom moral constructs are chronically accessible and easily activated for social information processing\" (p. 200). Accessibility to one's moral scripts may be difficult when moral action requires a person to overcome perceived risks to self. For example, concerns about being ostracized, shunned, or having to endure damage to one's reputation (Sekerka and Zolin, 2007).Assuming a person believes oneself to be of good character (i.e. positive moral identity), less reliance on external evaluations and more emphasis on internal evaluations can increase desire to move toward moral action. Activities encouraging reflection and dialogue can help people understand their past actions, building confidence for future successes (i.e. self-efficacy). Because reflection in BEI elevates an internally driven responsibility for ethical decision making, participation in BEI is expected to increase the saliency of self and decrease the saliency of others:H1a. Individuals engaging in BEI will experience increased need for approval from self in deciding to proceed with moral action.H1b. Individuals engaging in BEI will experience decreased need for approval from others in deciding to proceed with moral action.\nAccounting for emotions: Engaging in moral action has long been viewed as having an affective component (Etzioni, 1988). Brain imaging research has shown that response times in moral decision making are indeed influenced by emotional responses (Greene et al., 2001). Yet, little is known about specific factors that modulate emotions in the decision-making process. Some argue that ethical challenges vary to the extent that emotional processing is involved (Greene et al., 2001). Others contend that the ethical decision-making process is laden with prefactual emotions (what one anticipates feeling if one proceeds with a moral response), which can move a person toward or away from the desire to engage in ethical action (Sekerka and Bagozzi, 2007).Although revisiting past ethical challenges can rekindle negative emotions, BEI's reflective examination of previous encounters can help people achieve a sense of control. Because BEI is designed to empower people regarding their future actions, the process is expected to beneficially impact participants' emotions. Ethical challenges typically present situations that are undesirable, based upon perceived risks. Therefore, we express this favorable emotional impact as a reduction in negativity:H2. Individuals engaging in BEI will experience decreased negative emotions.\nThe study: Sample and methods\nResults[2]: Changes resulting from engagement in BEI are summarized in Table II. For each scale, a test for homogeneity across groups produced a non-significant result (smallest p=0.133). Hence, the impact of BEI did not vary appreciably across groups.DMA\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Managers' willingness to proceed with right action can be diminished by the need for approval and feeling the negative emotions that often accompany ethical challenges. This paper seeks to describe Balanced Experiential Inquiry (BEI), a learning activity designed to help managers develop sustained moral performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using their past experiences for reflective learning, managers engage in BEI to understand what promotes and curtails their ability to respond to ethical issues.\nFindings: - A field study showed that managers engaging in BEI perceived less need for praise from others and experienced a reduction in negative emotions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future research evaluating BEI should use a control group, diverse sample, and a longitudinal design that tracks outcomes over time.\nPractical implications: - Application of BEI is a promising mechanism to help organizations bolster managers' internal desires to stay on an ethical decision-making path.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that shared reflection and dialogue are needed to help foster responsibility and build ethical strength in organizational settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ischemic stroke: clinical pathway impact	[ "Stroke", "Clinical governance", "Clinical pathway", "Appropriateness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cerebrovascular diseases are Italy's second leading mortality cause (ISTAT, 2014). About 200,000 strokes occur each year in Italy; 80 percent are new episodes. Epidemiological data indicate standardized annual stroke incidence rates ranging from 175/100,000 to 360/100,000 in males and from 130/100,000 to 273/100,000 in females, representing a significant workload in the Italian national healthcare system (Sacco et al., 2011). The stroke prevalence in the elderly Italian population, aged 65-84 at 6.5 percent, is slightly higher in men (7.4 percent) than women (5.9 percent) (ISS, 2018). About 80 percent of cases correspond to acute ischemic strokes (Soler and Ruiz, 2010), a condition usually resulting from a narrowed or clogged brain artery, most commonly an internal carotids branch (Rugarli, 2015). Ischemic stroke affects mainly patients over 70 years, more often men than women (Gensini et al., 2016).\nResearch design, setting and participants: We used a retrospective observational study in an Italian teaching hospital, with approximately 75,000 annual Emergency Department (ED) admissions, investigating the clinical pathway for acute ischemic stroke impact, implemented in 2014, comparing volume, process and outcome indicators from performance data before and after the clinical pathway implementation. The clinical pathway is a clinical management tool formulated by applying ischemic stroke care evidence-based medicine (EBM), aiming to act on individual specific health problems, to reduce patient care variability and therefore increase assistance and service quality. The clinical pathway is conceptualized as a guiding framework leaving room for individualization in the patient physician interaction, described as individualized standardization by Ansmann and Pfaff (2018). The clinical pathway can be seen as a tool for hospital staff to structure and organize patient-centered treatment and care, and to ensure equality in health care. The clinical pathway doesn't provide one-size-fits-all approach. It is an approach where the patient is in the decision-making process center. Each single action has to be answered with an individual patient needs decision (Figure 1).\nResults: Between January 1 and December 31, 2013, 483 stroke patients (261 males and 222 females) were admitted. Between January 1 to December 31, 2015, 526 patients (280 males and 246 female (p=0.798)). The average age in the 2013 sample was 71.3 years (SD 14.3) compared to 73.9 years (SD 14.2) in 2015 with statistical significant similarity (p=0.002). Average stay (LOS) was 9.9 days (SD 9.0) in 2013, compared to 11.7 in 2015 (SD 12.7) (Table II).\nDiscussion: We investigated acute ischemic stroke clinical pathway implementation in an Italian teaching hospital, which showed positive effect on patient management. In particular, clinical pathway application led to increased, timely and more appropriate patient access from the ED to specialized wards such as SaNU, from 61.9 to 76.6 percent, which can be associated, for example, with an increased ability to appropriately admit patients with stroke or TIA to specialized wards. No differences in both 30-day mortality and readmission rate were shown.\nLimitations: Our study has several limitations. It is a single-center observational study, with a relative small sample size, in which association between exposure and outcome was described, without determining direct causation. Anyway, the choice for a pre-post retrospective observational study design has already been successfully applied in other studies (Murri et al., 2016). Likewise, in this study it was considered most suitable to evaluate the likely improvements in acute ischemic stroke patient management and to reveal patient flow changes after clinical pathway implementation for 6-12 months (Panella et al., 2003). It is not possible to conclude that the clinical pathway by itself led to a better outcome. Furthermore, content validity could be improved by adding: a qualitative indicator; and the patient's perspective, to assess improvements from multiple angles.\nConclusions: Our research confirms positive care quality after the clinical pathway for acute ischemic stroke was implemented. Even in time-dependent pathways, standardized protocol application for acute management (e.g. in-hospital phase) and multidisciplinary and integrated care adoption can optimize all acute stroke pathway steps, thus increasing prompt and adequate interventions and possibly influencing stroke patient outcomes. Therefore, the clinical pathway can be an effective method to guarantee evidence-based clinical guideline provision for acute ischemic stroke patients. Crucially, this approach requires a multidisciplinary coalition and a bottom-up strategy for implementation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A clinical pathway for patients with acute ischemic stroke was implemented in 2014 by one Italian teaching hospital multidisciplinary team. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether this clinical pathway had a positive effect on patient management by comparing performance data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Volume, process and outcome indicators were analyzed in a pre-post retrospective observational study. Patients' (admitted in 2013 and 2015) medical records with International Classification of Diseases, ICD-9 code 433.x (precerebral artery occlusion and stenosis), 434.x (cerebral artery occlusion) and 435.x (transient cerebral ischemia) and registered correctly according to hospital guidelines were included.\nFindings: An increase context-sensitive in-patient numbers with more severe cerebrovascular events and an increase in patient transfers from the Stroke to Neurology Unit within three days (70 percent, p=0.25) were noted. Clinical pathway implementation led to an increase in patient flow from the Emergency Department to dedicated specialized wards such as the Stroke and Neurology Unit (23.7 percent, p<0.001). Results revealed no statistically significant decrease in readmission rates within 30 days (5.7 percent, p=0.85) and no statistically significant differences in 30-day mortality.\nResearch limitations/implications: The pre-post retrospective observational study design was considered suitable to evaluate likely changes in patient flow after clinical pathway implementation, even though this design comes with limitations, describing only associations between exposure and outcome.\nOriginality/value: Clinical pathway implementation showed an overall positive effect on patient management and service efficiency owing to the standardized application in time-dependent protocols and multidisciplinary/integrated care implementation, which improved all phases in acute ischemic stroke care.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Herbert Simon's bounded rationality: Its historical evolution in management and cross-fertilizing contribution	[ "Management history", "Management research", "Bounded rationality", "Cross-fertilization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Simon (1947) in his watershed work The Administrative Behaviour strongly questioned the concept of perfect rationality that dominated both common and scientific knowledge until the middle of the twentieth century. According to classical and neoclassical economists, a rational individual has unlimited cognitive capabilities, and his choice of behaviour is focused on maximizing his own expected utility (Walras, 1883). On the contrary, Simon, influenced by the works of positivist psychologists such as Freud and by Barnard's (1938) fallacious man, highlighted the innate biological and rational bounds that let individuals deviate from the rational behaviour of classical economic models (Simon, 1955, 1956; March and Simon, 1958). Simon's redefinition of human rationality, commonly known as bounded rationality, recalibrated the whole scientific literature concerned with human reasoning, including the management field and its later history (Kalantari, 2010; Kerr, 2007, 2011).\n1947 onwards: Herbert Simon and the \"bounded rationality\" concept: Prior to Simon's doctoral thesis in 1947, the dominant idea of complete rationality came from the adoption of normative methods to the study of economic decisions, which postulated rules as to how people ought to make choices. The resultant man - also called homo economicus (Walras, 1883) - chooses alternatives in a decision task according to a simple norm: maximizing his own expected utility. For example, a consumer who has to decide how to allocate his own US$20 daily budget will choose the option that maximizes his satisfaction. From this traditional conceptualization of individual rationality, other normative approaches were later derived such as the game theory (Von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1944). In particular, game theorists, assuming perfect rational individuals act to obtain the best possible payoff (i.e. the satisfaction in pursuing a strategy), tried to model cooperation and conflict mechanisms occurring among competing parties. This approach was subsequently applied to economics and management to explain the equilibria reached in conflictual or cooperative business situations. For example, the well-known prisoner's dilemma was used to explain firms' behaviour in oligopolies. Two firms, with equal market shares and high prices for their products, have to make a decision on their future pricing strategy with no opportunity to communicate. According to game theory, the two firms usually choose not to cooperate but to pursue self-interested strategies (lowering prices), even if the cooperation strategy (maintaining high prices) would be more beneficial for both. The incongruity of the firms' behaviour is given by their supposed perfect rationality, which pushes firms towards self-interested preferences.\n1960s-1970s: understanding the psychological determinants of bounded rationality: Prior to Simon, philosophers typically believed in the power of odds to explain what rationality is (Kyburg, 1961; Skyrms, 1975). Indeed, according to Kyburg (1961, p. 200), chance tells us \"what we ought to believe will happen; what is rational to expect\". People, in practice, assign degrees of belief, which are the degrees of confidence in the truth of a proposition, to different statements, in the form of probabilities. However, this conceptualization was subsequently questioned with the spread of Simon's bounded rationality; Kyburg (1978) himself later wondered if when we ask a person to report the odds representing his degrees of belief, we have any certainty if these degrees adhere to his calculus of probabilities or not. In practice, if we ask an Italian CEO of a small biotech firm to identify the probability of his company to increase by 20 per cent its market share in the next five years, we do not know if his declared 60 per cent chance in reaching the goal is based on rigid calculus or on random estimation.\n1960s-1970s: reformulating rationality in management theory: Under the influence of the bounded rationality concept, and the advancements made in the psychological field, during the 1970s, a re-examination occurred on how humans behave within organizations. Notably, Good (1962) elaborated a theory of rationality, suggesting that the impossibility of complete human rationality in organizations comes from unconscious psychological events and external forces that determine human decisions and their consistency. As Good stated \"A conscious man can be only more or less consistent; in other words, there are degrees of consistency or of rationality\" (Good, 1962; p. 385). In particular, the theory of rationality suggests that when a fast decision is needed, such as responding to a competitor statement, managers should be highly consistent with their previous choices; however, when managers have much more time to think about a decision, they should attach expected utilities to preferences. In this latter case, managers are usually inconsistent with their previous actions because of the better fit of a more considered choice.\n1980s-1990s: the branching-out of bounded rationality studies: In 1980, Simon (1980, p. 73) pointed out three substantive areas that could contribute to further development of his concept of bounded rationality:\n1980-1990: bounded rationality in management theories - new models and new applications: Since the behavioural theory of the firm in the 1960s, scholars placed increasing emphasis on the role of coalitions and group rationality, generating new approaches to the study on how organizations make decisions. One of the well-known theories in this direction was the upper echelons theory of Hambrick and Mason (1984). This theory aimed at demonstrating that organizational outcomes, firm's strategic choices and related performance levels could be predicted by looking at the background (i.e. socio-demographic) characteristics, cognitive base and personal values of top managers. Through this, the bounded rationality of managers is regarded as the product of these three predictors, because they work as \"a screen between the situation and the eventual perception of it\" (Hambrick and Mason, 1984; p. 195). In practice, what the top manager perceives is different from the real situation because he has an innate, biased perception. In consequence, the top manager makes a strategic decision that is boundedly rational in its roots. For example, Bantel and Jackson (1989) conducted an empirical analysis of the top management teams of 199 banks to test the hypothesis - if the level of attention to innovation changes according to top managers' characteristics. The two scholars found that teams, in which top managers were well-educated and diverse in terms of work experience, paid greater attention to innovation than top management teams in which executives had low education and were similar in their working background. In this case, the level of education and the heterogeneity in job experience had a distortional, but positive, influence on their firm's level of innovation.\n2000s - onwards: the brain-mind revolution: At the beginning of the new millennium, previous findings on the right-left brain theories of the 1980s were deepened by cognitive scholars with the aim of mapping human rationality and finding its levers. In particular, Stanovich and West (2002) and Kahneman (2003) defined human cognitive functioning as occurring in two different systems of our mind. Notably, these scholars discovered that mental operations that are spontaneous, fast and automatic are associated with \"System 1\" of our mind, while the mental operations of \"System 2\" are \"more likely to be consciously monitored and deliberately controlled\" (Kahneman, 2003, p. 698). The outputs of the two systems are also different: System 1 generates impressions of a perceived and considered object's characteristics, while System 2 elaborates complex judgments.\n2000s - onwards: present and future of managerial studies on bounded rationality: The theorization of heuristics and cognitive traps from the 1970s to the 1990s started cross-fertilizing during the 2000s. In particular, studies in this era were mainly concerned with the reduction of cognitive errors of managers and the first theorization of the behavioural approach for organizations. A specific management tool to reduce cognitive biases was first proposed by Kahneman et al. (2011). Starting from the assumption that the mind works according to Systems 1 and 2 (Kahneman, 2003), a checklist of 12 questions, each one linked to a precise cognitive distortion, was developed. Thanks to this tool, a third person may recognize - through his own System 2 - the unconscious distortions of participants' System 1 that have affected the decision-making process. The rationale behind this tool and other developed instruments to reduce biases (Klein, 2007), lies in the adoption of a \"vigilant mindset\" (Zhang et al., 2015), considered as a main step towards bias-free organizations (Gardiner, 2016). Although the adoption of a behavioural approach to organizations and strategy was previously claimed by Ansoff (1987), but, onlyPowell et al. (2011) offered it as a first formal conceptualization of a behavioural strategy paradigm and of its field. Specifically, in the Powell et al. (2011, p. 1371) field-positioning paper, this new stream was seminally identified as merging the \"cognitive and social psychology with strategic management theory and practice\". From that, the use of the behavioural approach to look at four main challenges in the study of rationality in organizations was proposed:\nDiscussion and implications for future research: This study sought to delineate how the bounded rationality concept has evolved in an interdisciplinary manner over the past seven decades; and offer historically informed recommendations to bounded rationality researchers in management that may illuminate the way forward. This section aims to tackle this second point.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the historical advancements attained on the bounded rationality concept in management research, considering the key influencing discoveries in related fields. Understanding the cross-fertilization that has occurred is the first step to go beyond the current knowledge on bounded rationality and to face its challenges.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The adopted method is historical. This research approach helps to explain the evolution of a widespread concept in a scientific field and, particularly, to identify the parallel influencing advancements made in related domains.\nFindings: Investigation of the irrational forces of human reasoning is at the centre of today's research agenda on rationality in organizations, claiming to be an extension of the original bounded rationality concept. In this regard, scholars should commit themselves to build a more holistic approach to the investigation of human rationality, conjointly applying socio-biological and behavioural perspectives to explain the real behaviour of people in organizations and society. This reconnection will also help to overcome the inner limits of some \"fashion of the month\" streams that have yet to demonstrate their contribution.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that offers an overall historical evolution of the bounded rationality concept which considers both management research and developments in related fields. The historically educed lessons learned are at the basis of the concluding recommendations for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The power of e-commerce: Does e-commerce enhance the impact of loyalty programs on hotel operating performance?	[ "Information technology", "Hotels", "E-commerce", "Operating performance", "Loyalty program" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The competitive nature of the business environment requires companies to adopt strategies that highlight their core objectives, and properly allocate resources in a way that maximizes their core strengths (Hemmington et al., 2018). In today's information technology (IT)-focused environment, consumers are better informed than at any other time (Srinivasan et al., 2002). In the race to achieve sustainable competitive advantages, firms are motivated to implement technological capabilities into their strategic initiatives because it is widely believed that technological capabilities are one of the most critical competencies for firm growth (Ortega, 2010). For example, by decreasing response times to consumer requests, maintaining a database of consumer preferences, and targeting specific customer segments with customized product offerings, e-commerce capabilities can enhance customer loyalty and drive repeat visits (Hua, 2016). Despite the ease of switching that the internet and e-commerce provide to consumers, a well-designed online platform can generate competitive advantages for a firm over both its online and offline competitors (Yang et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 E-commerce in the hospitality industry\n3. Methodology: This study extended the model in Hua et al. (2015) by assessing the interaction between e-commerce and loyalty programs. A sample of 1,569 hotels from the year 2006 to 2015 were collected from CBRE, resulting in a total of 15,690 observations.\n4. Results: Table I illustrates various sample characteristics. For instance, hotel size spanned from 41 to 2,860 rooms, averaging 198 rooms. Hotels also spent an average of $258, 904 (with a maximum of $4,804,111) every year on loyalty program expenses. Sensitivity tests showed that trimming negative numbers (usually as a result of prior period accounting adjustments) did not influence the results of the current study. Hotels' expenses on e-commerce reached the top of $864,798 a year with an average of $8,603 (sensitivity tests similar to the ones carried out for loyalty program expenses showed robust test results). Rooms' revenue also varied widely from $365,797 to $236,039,939 with an average of $6,872,489 (the findings were also robust for the trimmed samples at 99 and 95 percentiles, respectively).\n5. Conclusions and discussions: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to offer empirical insights on how investing in e-commerce capabilities affects the relationship between loyalty programs and hotel operating performance so as to aid in identifying proper resource allocation strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study extended the model in Hua et al. (2015) by testing the interaction of e-commerce and loyalty programs.\nFindings: The findings illustrate that proper allocation of company financial resources to e-commerce initiatives can help improve the impact of loyalty programs on hotel operating performance.\nPractical implications: The results of this study illustrate that hotel performance can be improved by the synergy between loyalty program and e-commerce initiatives. Thus, hotel managers and owners can use results from this study to improve the efficiency of their asset allocation strategies, with five practical implications offered.\nOriginality/value: Theoretically, this study adapted and extended an integrative model of hotel operating performance (Hua et al., 2015) by identifying critical factors that elucidate the variance in firm performance. In addition, the moderating role of e-commerce provides a new conceptualization of information technology. Practically, this study makes several important contributions as well.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate entrepreneurship and debt financing: evidence from the GCC countries	[ "Entrepreneurship", "Managerial inefficiency", "Debt financing", "Stochastic frontier approach", "Entrepreneurialism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is well known in finance literature that bank debt and other sources of private debt play an important role in providing valuable source of financing for small enterprises (Berger and Udell, 1998). However, acquiring debt financing is difficult for privately held small firms due to both information asymmetry and agency problems. The extant literature suggests mechanisms such as signaling, screening, bonding, monitoring, and relationship lending for mitigating the agency and information asymmetry problems that small enterprises have to endure (refer to Harris and Raviv, 1990; Petersen and Rajan, 1994; Berger and Udell, 1995; Bosse, 2009). This is further supported by Chua et al. (2011) who argue that family involvement enhances the venture's ability to obtain financing by virtue of the family's social capital.\n2. GCC financial markets: There are six Gulf countries in the region including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Close geographical proximity and similar kind of corporate regulations, economic and social conditions make these countries comparable. Located in the Arabian Gulf, the GCC countries are growing rapidly in recent years due to constant reforms in corporate policies and fast development in infrastructures and technologies[4]. Over the past decade, these countries have shifted their development priority from resource-based economic model to private sector-focussed and production-oriented economic model. As International Monetary Fund (see Khamis and Senhadji, 2010) record shows, the GCC countries achieved an average growth of 6.6 percent a year during the period 2003-2008. Within this stream of economic development, the non-oil sector of the GCC countries grew from 4.8 percent in 1997-2002 to 7.3 percent in 2003-2008. In addition, total public and private sector investments increased by more than eightfold from $300 billion in 2004 to $2.5 trillion at the end of 2008[5]. Bank credit significantly increased during the 2004-2008 period to finance this large volume of fixed investments. Statistics show that the real average credit to the private sector grew at approximately 23 percent a year and the fraction of private sector credit to non-oil GDP increased to approximately 122 percent by the end of 2008. On the contrary, the GCC stock markets started trading in a more regulated environment in the mid-1980s. Among them, the oldest stock market is the Kuwait Stock Exchange (inaugurated in 1983), and the youngest market is the UAE Stock Exchanges (both Abu Dhabi and Dubai Stock Exchanges were inaugurated in 2000)[6]. While all the GCC stock markets witnessed a remarkable growth over the period 2002-2007 (686 percent over seven years), the market capitalization significantly declined from US$1.07 trillion in 2007 to US$560 billion in 2008 (refer to S&P, 2008), indicating that the stock markets in the GCC countries are extremely volatile. Further, several studies find that stock markets in the GCC countries are still weak-form efficient (see Asiri, 2008; Smith, 2007; Squalli, 2006). To avoid inefficient market pricing of stocks and potential liquidity risks, most of the GCC firms significantly rely on debt financing for potential investments.\n3. Proxy measure of intrapreneurship: Pinchot and Pinchot (1978) define intrapreneurship as \"free market entrepreneurship within the corporate organization.\" They argue that entrepreneurial activity within a large corporation can be introduced by creating new technology, new products, and new services. Therefore, intrapreneurship introduces avenues to maximize revenues of a firm. Further, Cunningham and Lischeron (1991) suggest that intrapreneurial activities focus on four areas in business including strategic redirection, avoidance of organizational duplication, product development, and operational efficiency. Therefore, an increase in operational inefficiency indicates low level of intrapreneurial initiatives taken by the management of the organization. To be consistent with both concepts on new revenue generation and efficiency, we choose to estimate an optimal revenue function given labor costs, operating expenses, and existing physical infrastructure of an organization[7]. The deviation of actual revenue of a firm from its optimal level of revenue can be incurred due to both systematic (e.g. industry-specific shock) and firm-specific disturbances. By estimating a revenue frontier function, we retrieve such firm-specific error, which we believe is the result of the lack of proper intrapreneurial practices by the management of a firm. We define this particular error term as managerial inefficiency in the rest of the paper. We assume that a lack of intrapreneurship causes firm's actual revenues to deviate from their potential level of earnings given the existing cost structure and physical infrastructure of the firm, and this fraction of total disturbance can be estimated by calculating the magnitude of managerial inefficiency from a revenue frontier function. While, for publicly listed firms, Tobin's Q is widely used to evaluate firm performance, we consider accounting-based revenue function instead of market-based valuation function since the equity markets in the GCC countries are still weak-form efficient (refer to Abdmoulah, 2010), and therefore market valuation of stocks may not truly reflect the actual performance of GCC firms. In contrast, all GCC countries have already adopted the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for preparing corporate financial statements, and thus the financial reporting is comparable across all publicly listed firms in the GCC. Accordingly, by comparing the accounting treatments for inventory and the valuation of firm's assets among the GCC countries, Abdallah (2008) further confirms that the Gulf countries follow similar IFRS across borders. Further, Al-Shammari et al. (2008) find that public firms in the GCC countries are increasingly complying with the international accounting standards, suggesting that financial information of GCC firms can be used as a reliable source to estimate firms' actual performances.\n4. Data and methodology: 4.1 Sample\n5. Empirical results and discussion: 5.1 Estimation of managerial inefficiency\n6. Conclusion: After interviewing nearly 300 entrepreneurs worldwide, Ernst & Young concludes 82 percent of its respondents strongly agreed that the ability to innovativeness in management process is a critical component for the growth of an organization[13]. We believe that such initiative would enable firms to penetrate into financial markets. We develop our hypothesis based on this logic and posit that increase in intrapreneurial activities within the organization increases the level of debt financing. To substantiate this relationship, we construct a proxy variable for intrapreneurship based on its definition in general. Extant literature on entrepreneurship suggests that intrapreneurship leads to firm efficiency and allows firms to maximize their revenues. To be consistent with this, we construct a revenue frontier model and estimate the level of inefficiency that can be reduced by increasing managerial intrapreneurship. We term this estimate as \"managerial inefficiency\" as this firm-specific problem, which causes the actual revenues of business entities to deviate from their potential earnings, results from management's failure to introduce new strategies and techniques in place - so-called the slack in their intrapreneurship. We posit that increased intrapreneurial activities within an organization will reduce managerial inefficiency and improve firm performance, which will allow them to borrow more from debt markets. Hence, there should have a positive (negative) relationship between managerial efficiency (inefficiency) and total debt financing. In other words, high level of intrapreneurship is a prerequisite for increasing debt financing. By using both simultaneous and fixed firm-effect panel regression methods, we indeed find supporting evidence in the paper. This finding has an important implication for family-owned, but publicly listed, firms in those markets where debt financing is the most critical source of financing due to relatively young and inefficient equity markets. Accordingly, we choose some emerging firms from the GCC countries, and recommend such firms to emphasize on building entrepreneurship in management activities to strengthen their relationship with banks and other financial institutions in order to remain competitive with their foreign counterparts in more developed countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries have recently given tremendous emphasis to corporate entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the lack of entrepreneurship in publicly listed GCC firms affects their ability to acquire debt financing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using stochastic frontier approach, the paper estimates an optimal revenue function given labor costs, operating expenses, and existing physical infrastructure of an organization. The paper estimates the difference between the optimal and actual level of firm revenues from a revenue frontier function, which can be partially resulted from managerial inefficiency due to the lack of corporate entrepreneurship. The paper uses fixed-effect panel regression and simultaneous equations system to determine the effect of such inefficiency on firms' debt financing.\nFindings: The main finding is that as entrepreneurial activities increase, firms' ability to borrow from banks also increases. Results also indicate that increased borrowing improves internal governance practices and indirectly compel the management to become more efficient.\nResearch limitations/implications: Results exhibit how improving entrepreneurship affects firms' access to external financing when the financial markets are underdeveloped and are plagued with information asymmetry and agency problems.\nPractical implications: The paper provides insights for policy makers in the GCC and other emerging countries where entrepreneurial activities are becoming a priority.\nOriginality/value: The paper develops a new proxy measure of entrepreneurship in public firms and advances our knowledge about the importance of entrepreneurship in finance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Alternate beeline diagramming method network analysis for interdependent design entities	[ "Design", "Design management", "Methodology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In general, the design phase of any construction project has multiple entities. In this paper, entity is a generic term used to represent either teams, components, activities or parameters. For instance, the entity breakdown structure for a typical highway design is seen in Figure 1. Here, teams, components and activities are the higher level entities while parameters are the lower level entities. The parameters are the primary information carriers and hence at this level, direction of information flow alone takes place. Therefore, planning for any higher level entity is challenging as compared to the parameter level.\nBackground: Interdependency vs iteration\nResearch methodology: The methodology adopted for the present study is shown in Figure 4. Initially, a pilot study is carried out for three weeks in addition to extensive literature review. The purpose of the pilot study (highway design and other design projects not documented in this paper) is to bring out a generic BDM network that can replicate any design. An alternate methodology for BDM network analysis is derived through Willis (1986) methodology and test cases. A pattern for criticality is traced from the test cases. Subsequently, equations for forward pass, backward pass and float are derived. Two case studies - four-lane highway design and six-storey building design are used for illustration. Extensive data collection is done over a period of six and two months, respectively for the two cases through semi-structured interviews, discussions and frequent interactions with the participating design teams. Finally, a MATLAB prototype tool is developed to perform the BDM network analysis. The proposed concept is reviewed with the experts for refinements.\nProposed solution: BDM representation\nApplication 1 - highway design case: The proposed BDM methodology is applied to the design phase of a four-lane highway project as seen in Figure 7. Typically, a four-lane highway project lasts for three to four years wherein design phase alone progresses for more than one year. The primary reason attributed to this fact is that most of the parameters are calculated on need basis throughout the project progress.\nApplication 2 - building design case: As mentioned earlier in the methodology, the proposed concept is also applied to a six-storey structural steel office building design as seen in Figure 10. The details of the building design case are presented in Table VII. The two entities - designers and activities involved in the building design are listed in Table VIII. In this case, designers and activities are the higher and lower level entities, respectively. The resulting BDM network analysis is shown in Figure 11. This application revealed that higher level design entities have several two-way information exchanges which required the proposed BDM network analysis to model and estimate the interdependency between them.\nResults: Application with highway design case (with three teams HD, SD and HY) revealed that the sequence of critical parameters are high flood levels and low water levels-Linear waterway, number and length of spans-Structures improvement and embankment slopes-River cross-sections as seen in Figure 9. The total design duration excluding iteration and rework has been found to be 249 days. Here, all the three teams are partially critical. With all the ten participating teams (HD, SD, PD, TR, GE, HY, TS, SI, TI and VE), the total design duration was determined as 357 days. The sequence of critical parameters for the ten teams was terrain conditions-carriageway width-design load-details of subgrade-bituminous mix for overlay. The teams such as TS, HD, SD and PD are found to be partially critical while the teams such as TI, TR, SI, VE, GE and HY are non-critical.\nComparison with standard BDM analysis: The methodological difference with the existing BDM network and the proposed BDM was already discussed in the solution section. This section presents the applicability of the proposed network analysis done with the two case applications. The proposed network analysis is found appropriate for design phase that have multiple two-way information exchanges or beelines. However, construction projects have workflows and thus most often are non-preemptive. Additionally, the construction phase does not have numerous two-way information exchanges as compared to the design phase.\nDiscussions: In both the case studies, the design teams have been very cooperative in developing an information-intensive BDM network. Till date, industry practitioners have been using techniques such as bar charts and PDM owing to its simplicity. Engineers were appreciative of the BDM network as it has resemblance to bar charts/PDM and at the same time can store huge data for analysis.\nLimitations: While the proposed network analysis is verified using several combinations of two-way multiple linkages, it is found that certain combinations of sub-entity duration and linkages yield unexpected results. For instance, let us consider the two critical activities \"flooring work\" and \"furniture work\" as shown in Figure 12. FL1, FL2 and FU1, FU2, FU3, FU4 are the sub-activities for the flooring and furniture work, respectively. It is observed in the figure that all these sub-activities have zero float and, hence, the activity is considered complete critical. Comparing the sub-activities duration between the three linkages reveals that FU2 and FL2 are not critical. As the start/end events are determined as critical, the corresponding sub-activities are recognized as critical mimicking a situation of concurrent criticality for flooring and furniture work. This situation is similar to \"Activity-on-Arrow\" network analysis that focuses on events rather than activities. Under this circumstance of concurrent criticality, individual sub-entities should also be verified for identifying the correct critical path.\nConclusions: Planning for design phase in a construction project is more complex especially with the participation of numerous higher level entities such as teams, components and activities that have multiple two-way information exchanges. Representing these multiple linkages and their analysis involving all the entity relationships is a challenge. This study has highlighted the salient features of interdependency, iteration, overlaps and multiple information exchanges along with their interconnectivities. An attempt is made to explore and investigate an alternate network analysis for BDM to determine the partial critical entities that is more appropriate for planning a design phase. Applications with the highway design and the building design cases proved that the concept is generic with limitations as elaborated in the earlier section.\nScope for future work: The proposed BDM network analysis is developed for a single project only. In reality, multiple projects are executed in a design office wherein the teams are required to work in parallel on all these projects. Utilizing the float values of the sub-teams, the designers can also plan for multiple projects. Integrated planning for multiple projects is definitely a scope for future work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The design phase is generally characterized with two-way multiple information exchanges/overlaps between the interdependent entities. In this paper, entity is a generic term to represent teams, components, activities or parameters. Existing approaches can either capture a single overlap or lack practical application in representing multiple overlaps. The beeline diagraming method (BDM) network is efficient in representing multiple overlaps for construction projects. However, it considers any entity as indivisible and cannot distinguish partial criticality of entities. In reality, the design phase in any construction project is driven by need basis and often has numerous interruptions. Hence, there is a need to develop an alternate network analysis for BDM for interruptible execution. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A pilot study is conducted to formulate the hypothetical examples. Subsequently, these hypothetical BDM examples are analyzed to trace a pattern for criticality. This pattern study along with the existing precedence diagramming method network analysis enabled to derive new equations for forward pass, backward pass and float. Finally, the proposed concepts are applied to two design cases and reviewed with the design experts.\nFindings: The proposed network analysis for BDM is efficient for interruptible entity execution.\nPractical implications: The proposed BDM network is an information-intensive network that enables the design participants to view the project holistically. Application to two distinct cases emphasizes that the concept is generic and can be applied to any project that is characterized with beelines.\nOriginality/value: An alternate network analysis for BDM is investigated for interruptible entity execution. This study also clarifies the related concepts - interdependency, iteration, overlaps and multiple information exchanges/linkages.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions of productivity among Swiss hotel managers: a few steps forward?	[ "Hotels", "Productive capacity", "Perception", "Service levels", "Switzerland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This article explores issues of productivity within a sample of Swiss de luxe hotels. Over the past two decades, the hotel industry in Switzerland has had to address significant staff recruitment problems. Many hotels have found it difficult to recruit personnel who meet managers' requirements, and staff turnover is often high. Moreover, staff costs are also high, in 2002 on average nearly 40 per cent of unit budget. There is thus pressure across the board to control and improve labour productivity in the Swiss hotel industry. Our exploratory fieldwork conducted during 2002 in Geneva and Lausanne, outlines managers' perceptions of productivity. It describes the views of a sample of (ten male) senior managers and human resources manager's of several 4 and 5-star hotels. Although our initial fieldwork theme relates to productivity, other secondary people management themes are also addressed, including: labour productivity, supervision, staff selection, service quality and operational training. This is a qualitative fieldwork study. Essentially, our work examines the proposition that for hospitality professionals productivity enhancement is, in practice, a vague concept. What is interesting, however, is that the more effort individual unit managers put into understanding productivity management, the more \"distant\" the concept apparently becomes to them. Arguably, Swiss hotel managers confuse productivity with profitability, and therefore the recognition of people management as a vital element in the successful operation of a hotel is low. Our exploratory fieldwork draws attention to this situation, and suggests ways of making the concepts described above more relevant to hospitality managers.\nLiterature: The literature review asks: In order to enhance productivity in deluxe Swiss hotels, what factors are relevant for managers? At first glance, the concept of productivity per se is not complicated. A Swiss study of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) defines productivity as \"value-added output divided by the active working population\". But, there are problems with macro-level measurements, specifically when figures fail to account for part-time work, self-employment, intermediaries and sub-contractors. On the other hand, a productivity measure of full-time employees taken over ten years allows comparisons between different economies and sectors. Regarding hospitality, one author notes that the hotel sector worldwide (at macro level) exhibits low levels of productivity, and others outline similar characteristics of UK hotels. This is generalized to a Swiss setting and forms the starting point of our fieldwork. Traditionally, the \"functional\" training and education of hotel managers encourages a \"being there\" operations/tasking style - discouraging the building of concepts, reflection and planning. This corroborates findings that industrial production techniques are too seldom adapted to hotel settings. Clearly, there is a neglect, and perhaps a lack of understanding, of operations management techniques and their positive impact on productivity in hotels.It is our aim to cast light upon this apparent paradox by drawing upon a fieldwork sample. This raises a number of questions: to what extent do the general characteristics of this productivity paradox differ from the labour-related characteristics of the Swiss hotel sample? Do Swiss hotel managers perceive productivity enhancement and labour productivity concepts as being of strategic importance? Do these filter down to operational levels? What impact is there on management practices? Some authors suggest using substitution data, thus separating controllable, tangible aspects of service from unverifiable, intangible aspects of productivity. This allows hotel managers to focus attention on measuring controllable and tangible aspects of productivity. While hotel services and products are intangible and difficult to measure, the task is not impossible. In order to measure hotel service and productivity appropriately, the need is for a service classification system. One author suggests key elements of classification as: intensity of work, the degree of employee contact and interaction with customers, and the degree of service measured/adaptability of the service compared to the performance of individual workers. It has been stressed that in choosing service productivity measurement techniques, managers must take into account ratios of customer interaction, and the complexity of inputs and outputs which determine service and output. But what factors impact directly upon managers' perceptions of a hotel's overall level of productivity? Witt and Witt (1989, p. 2) see this as depending on the type of service offered, the size of the establishment, its classification, the services on offer, the volume of turnover, wages levels, the amount of staff training undertaken, IT. applications etc. This framework omits quality of service as perceived by paying customers/guests and the perceptions of internal customers/employees - presumably these perceptions have a bearing upon productivity in intangible ways. Some authors see hotel service sector work as labour intensive, frequently individually processed, dependent on working with emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1998); there is sometimes an intellectual role performed by professionals, or a craft task impossible to mechanize/automate. Lee-Ross and Ingold (1994) identify the link between the employee's multi-skilling and productivity improvements. Staff training and development are thus seen as key inputs of productivity enhancement. The question therefore arises: Do Swiss hotels managers perceive this to be the case?In the context of our paper, perception is identified as a conscious mental awareness and an interpretation of a sensory stimulus. Perception either provides a cultural framework for awareness or can serve to filter out possibilities from it. Thus, while perception as such may be an individual mental activity, perceptions in general are shaped by the culture and values within which the individual - in this case the hotel manager - functions. If significant numbers of Swiss hotel mangers hold an \"impression\" that productivity concepts are impractical, is it surprising that conceptual thinking is rejected, both at an individual level and at a collective, value-forming level? It follows that one must approach discussion of perceptions with prudence. The project fieldwork aims to cast light on a primary issue: that senior Swiss hotel managers do not fully grasp the concept of productivity measurement as a useful working tool. Furthermore, we suggest that the Swiss hospitality industry must urgently review the way it approaches the recruitment of human resources, in particular in view of the difficulties of finding staff who \"fit\" operational requirements. Essentially, the fieldwork asks serious questions about productivity, it describes managers' perceptions of the processes involved, and comments on HR practices of Swiss hotels located around Geneva and Lausanne.\nMethod and findings: Given that the primary aims of the fieldwork are to describe managers' perceptions of productivity from a sample of Swiss hotels, we decided to use evaluative interviewing as the most appropriate methodology to gain the necessary insights into the segment under study. A series of interviews were therefore undertaken with managers of luxury hotels in the vicinity of Geneva and Lausanne. A set of 20 closed questions and ten open-ended questions was designed to elicit views on topics related to productivity and to provide an opportunity for the hotel managers to reflect on HR themes. Several interviewees of the manager sample, at the operational level, confirm the hypothesis that productivity is largely ignored by employees and their departmental managers. Indeed, Manager (2), for instance, perceives productivity and profitability as such similar notions that they are conceptually indistinguishable. Conversely, enhanced productivity is seldom accompanied by increased profitability as the link to stronger sales or greater worker effort is not automatic. Three managers (nos. 3, 4, 6 and 10) implied that in their hotels the concept of productivity is under-used. Manager (3), for example, said: \"...I am not very comfortable with the term productivity... because one is not in a workshop or on an assembly line ... \" In his view, hotel service is fundamentally about \"regarding the more delicate, intangible aspects ... \" of the function. Manager (3) of the survey thus interprets (intangible) \"service\" as being difficult to measure, and therefore believes it has to be counted within other, more tangible measurements of productivity. For Manager (1), productivity is not the same as performance. He perceives it as a complex relationship of time spent, work input and managing the various processes that contribute to customer satisfaction. In contrast, Manager (3) establishes a relationship between quality and \"speed\", producing the ratio which helps to determine the level of productivity: Thus: \"Productivity is the speed required for high-quality service ... \" Once again, we observe that this is an incomplete (and conceptually weak) definition of productivity. Manager (4) describes productivity as a relationship existing between the work performed and the remuneration which the hotel pays the employee for doing it. According to one manager, labour productivity is \"...what each employee produces, compared to what he or she is paid ... \" In his view, quality of service is not seen as relevant to productivity enhancement measurements. Manager (5) perceived productivity as: \"... gross revenue divided by the number of working employees...\" Here, productivity is summarized in financial criteria. Perhaps, the perceptions of Manager (6) are closer to that of Manager (5), in whose view productivity is: \"...a relationship between what people produce and what we pay them\". There are, however, marked differences between the opinions expressed: whereas Manager (5) divides total sales by the number of employees, for Manager (6) productivity is seen as a means of: \"...checking if wages correspond to the work performed ... \" This viewpoint may be explained by the supervision/people management roles which hotel managers routinely perform as part of their jobs. Thus, monitoring of the payroll (a tangible factor) is seen as a key element in measuring productivity and possibly enhancing it. In contrast, Manager (6) seems to be unsure what the term \"labour productivity\" covers. For Manager (7), perceptions of productivity exist as a visible relationship between total sales and provision of services to customers. This manager emphasizes a direct relationship between what customers pay for (tangible) and what they receive as service (intangible), in return for cash (tangible). The practical purpose of the concept of productivity, in this manager's view, is to make the price paid correspond to the quality of the services rendered. In other words, there must be a balance of the tangible and the intangible, at the level of production, guest service and customer satisfaction. The question is therefore: is this notion, or working hypothesis, of productivity, which stresses the overriding importance of the quality/price ratio in operational decision- making, really tenable? Manager (8) arguably displays a deeper understanding of productivity and/or people management. In his view, it is: \"...the relationship between the number of employees and total sales turnover ... \" His view is similar to that of Manager (5), who believes that productivity enhancement is primarily a financial issue, and that productivity is also: \"...the quality of service perceived by the customers ... \" For this hotel manager, productivity and its enhancement is a function of quality. Such a viewpoint is similar to that of some authors, who suggest that the delivery of guest service is not only a function of quantity and volume, but is also shaped by guests' expectations of excellence: this is never no more so than in that segment of the Swiss hotel market which is classified as de luxe, and which represents the focus of this brief fieldwork project.\nConclusion: The results suggest that our understanding takes a few steps forward. We found that our sample of Swiss hotel managers, at the luxury level, perceive productivity as a distinctly vague concept, because in practical terms it allows them to draw selectively from a wide range of possible ideas and practices which can enhance efficiency. While this is an understandable reaction to the daily pressures of meeting guests' expectations of high quality service and operating within the tight financial constraints of a highly competitive market, the managers still appear to be reluctant to accept any concept of increasing productivity which may have practical applications. To some extent, it may be possible to build on and expand what is already there. Our interviewees describe productivity as a function of tangible results, such as services delivered to guests (e.g. drinks and meals), and intangible qualities, such as their personal appreciations of service delivery by the staff. Managers routinely use input - output ratios as estimates of the efficiency of resource allocation, whereby hotel performance is judged by a criterion of the balance of revenue generated to resources spent. The fieldwork suggests this occurs when productivity enhancement depends on the way people are managed, e.g. as a result of training and staff development, cost reduction and associated strategies. The productivity paradox identified by the literature emerges from our study. Senior managers are found to believe that increasing productivity necessarily decreases customer service, because fewer \"point-of-service\" staff will be available. Thus, attempts to enhance staff productivity may result in a decrease in customer service: this is contrary to the essence of luxury hotel profitability, which is perceived to be the prompt availability of excellent service from a plentiful supply of willing and able staff. Hotel managers may wish to ponder the idea that enhancing productivity is more than a matter of simply cutting staff costs.Our interviews' perceptions of productivity raises two questions: if productivity is so difficult to measure, then why bother? How can concepts help managers to apply workable solutions to their hotels? We suggest the following: first, measures such as input/output ratios allow individual hotels to compare their performance with competitors. Further, they help managers to monitor the performance of individual departments and teams. Measurements of productivity at the unit level can generate valuable information for planning purposes. Finally, integrating a practical, operational approach to running a hotel with a theoretical perspective might help to audit internal management processes, such as assessing individual performance in light of business objectives.The present study is exploratory, and on a small scale, restricted to the area of Geneva and Lausanne. It springs from a concern that some Swiss hotels may be in danger of performing less well than they should, and of the serious consequences this may have, given the importance of the hospitality industry in Switzerland, for the national economy. The watchwords for productivity enhancement are sensitivity, flexibility and willingness to try. Paradoxically, hotel managers perceive that their drive to control labour costs and so boost productivity has in practice had the negative effect of reducing the staff resources available to attend to guests. What emerges from our interviews is essentially that productivity is an attitude of mind: a matter of perceptions, frames of reference, and intangible properties. The essence of productivity enhancement is knowing how to do things better. Are productivity and profitability not so far apart then, after all?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore managers' perceptions of labour productivity within a sample of de luxe hotels located in Switzerland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The exploratory, qualitative fieldwork outlines managers' perceptions of labour productivity. It describes the views of a sample of ten male, senior managers and human resources managers, of several 4- and 5-star hotels.\nFindings: - The emerging findings highlight the fact that managers perceive productivity as a vague concept. Pessimistically, the harder managers try to understand it, the more nebulous such a notion appears to them.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a small exploratory study of managers' perceptions of labour productivity based on interviews drawn from hotels near Geneva and Lausanne.\nPractical implications: - The fieldwork draws attention to this situation and suggests ways to make concepts of productivity more relevant to hospitality managers.\nOriginality/value: - Essentially, the work examines the proposition that for hoteliers productivity enhancement in hospitality is, in practice, a vague concept. It is interesting that, apparently, the more effort individual units managers put into an understanding/perception of productivity management, the further the concept recedes. Arguably, Swiss hotel managers tend to confuse productivity with profitability: as such recognition of the management of people as a vital element in successful hotel management is low. What emerges from the interviews is that productivity seems to be essentially an attitude of mind, a question of perceptions, frames of reference, intangible properties: that the essence of productivity enhancement is how to do things better. Are productivity and profitability perhaps not so far apart, after all ?\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of organisational context on the failure of key and strategic account management programmes	[ "Organisations", "Accounts management", "Key accounts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: Anecdotal evidence suggests that a substantial number of key and strategic account management (K/SAM) programmes fail. This paper explores some of the contextual reasons for the failure. It will discuss how organisational context impacts the implementation and effective operation of key or strategic customer relationship management programmes in business-to-business markets. Because this focus has not been fully explored in the literature, the emphasis here is the management of K/SAM programmes as a whole, not the management of individual relationships.\nAntecedents in the literature: Elements of organisational context\nResearch: why KAM/SAM/GAM programmes (still) fail?: Data collection\nResults: From an initial reading of the literature, two broad categories of factors were identified as elements of organisational context: what might be called the formal or \"hard\" elements supporting K/SAM programmes; and the \"soft\", more informal and partly cultural elements that \"moderate\" or \"intervene\" in implementation. This is an important distinction, as we suggest that companies often give more time to implementing new strategies, structures, systems and processes than they do to removing barriers to their implementation.\nA model of the elements of organisational context in K/SAM failure: Clearly, these elements are linked together, and a model that represented the linkages between them could be valuable in understanding K/SAM failure (and success). The model in Figure 1 suggests that strategy should proscribe the formal elements of the organisation, i.e. structure and systems/processes, which is standard textbook theory. As K/SAM is itself a strategy, then it should drive appropriate structures and systems/processes to support the manifestation of the K/SAM programme in terms of activities and outcomes.\nDiscussion: Formal versus informal elements\nImplications for managers: The responsibility for the success or failure of K/SAM initiatives rests with senior managers and the messages to them appear clear:\nConclusions: It would be risky to draw over-strong conclusions from this exploratory study. The method used does not permit objective selection of participants and does not include checks on whether their comments relate to K/SAM programmes that are actually failing (although setting general and useable criteria for failure would be problematic anyway). However, it is reasonable to assume that the comments are derived from respondents with real and relevant experience, and therefore that they do allow some tentative observations to be made, which may be tested in future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore some of the contextual reasons for the failure of key or strategic account management (K/SAM) programmes. It will discuss how organisational context impacts the implementation and effective operation of such programmes in business-to-business markets. The paper looks at the issues affecting K/SAM programmes rather than the management of individual relationships.Organisational context shapes the work environment (Rice 2005, Porter and McGloghlin, 2006): it is comprised of those elements that drive behaviour and facilitate or impede management processes (Goodman and Haisley, 2007). The literature prescribes a wide range of contextual elements conducive to K/SAM processes, but is less expansive on the subject of elements that may cause K/SAM programmes to disappoint.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This work in-progress paper takes an inductive approach to material provided by surveys of K/SAM communities and their discussions in LinkedIn special interest groups or similar forums to develop a model to give structure to the organisational context issues which may be responsible for K/SAM failure.\nFindings: From an initial reading of the literature, two broad categories of factors were identified as elements of organizational context: what might be called the formal or \"hard\" elements supporting K/SAM programmes and the \"soft\", more informal and partly cultural elements that \"moderate\" or \"intervene\" in implementation. A model is developed to illustrate the linkages between organizational elements in K/SAM.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although a pilot study, we believe that valuable insights into KAM failure are provided by the study. The next stage will include a co-operative inquiry approach based on this data, in which participants will actively validate and develop the model by exploring it within their organisations.\nPractical implications: The paper draws out a number of significant implications for managers.\nOriginality/value: The existing context within which attempts are made to implement K/SAM have received little attention and often are ignored or remain \"unspoken\". This paper addresses those important issues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From ISO/IEC27001:2013 and ISO/IEC27002:2013 to GDPR compliance controls	[ "Compliance", "General data protection regulation", "Data protection controls", "Security controls", "ISO/IEC 270013A2013", "ISO/IEC 270023A2013" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The ubiquitous presence of information technology in people's daily routine poses challenges regarding the protection of the information they share. Social media, fora, instant messaging, mobile applications and e-commerce activities are some of the most popular technologies that heavily rely on personal data being collected and exchanged, for the provision of respective services. Personal data that people share online, exchanged on a broad scale, constitute one of the driving forces of modern enterprises (Spiekermann et al., 2015). Personal data protection legislation attempts to regulate to the uncontrollable use of such data by governments, enterprises, etc. However, different national laws have substantially different characteristics (Palmieri, 2019), allowing organisations to take advantage of blurred territories of legislation and proceed with the exploitation and processing of such data. Up to May 2018, European Union (EU) Member States applied national privacy laws, following the (Directive 95/46/EC). With the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (hereafter, GDPR or Regulation), the EU adopted a unified privacy law, aiming to protect and regulate the massive usage of personal data of European citizens.\n2. Challenges in personal data protection in the general data protection regulation era: Through the GDPR, EU regulators aim to enforce significant changes on the way that organisations process data subjects' personal information. Even though these changes are expected to promote the privacy of the data subjects, they pose significant challenges for organisations to make considerable shifts on their information technology, culture, business processes, and generally the way they function. Some of these challenges have been documented by organisations, academic papers or by European Commission reports, highlighting the particular aspects of the GDPR that pose these challenges.\n3. From information security controls to personal data protection controls: ISO 27001 provisions good practices for information security management, risk management and taking security measures, within the context of an ISMS while ISO 27002 provides a list of controls and good practices that can be used as guides when selecting and implementing measures to achieve information security. Juxtaposing ISO 27001 and the GDPR we have identified that, though they adopt different perspectives, both focus on the minimisation of risk realised by data breaches. ISO 27001 focuses on reducing risks to information security by compelling organisations to produce ISMS that are continuously maintained and improved. GDPR aims at the preservation of privacy of individuals, providing them with rights against organisations that process their personal data. GDPR also promotes accountability, by placing clear data protection responsibilities to organisations processing such data. Accountability lies on the implementation of appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk (GDPR/Article 32).\n4. Additional general data protection regulation compliance controls: GDPR consists of 11 chapters, analysed in 99 articles. Each chapter corresponds to a thematic area and contains about 10 articles, that cover all aspects of each theme. In the above section, we captured the common ground between the 14 control modules of ISO27001 and the GDPR. However, there are still some actions described in the GDPR that are not covered by this ISO. This section presents the remaining necessary actions (requirements) that the Regulation describes as necessary for the protection of naturals' persons personal data. When an ISO27001 certified organisation addresses all the additional actions described in this study, this should mean that they are compliant with the GDPR.\n5. Conclusions: The GDPR provisions numerous settings and controls focussed on the management and the protection of such data. Many of these controls are also provisioned in ISO 27001, ISO 27002 and other \"ISO27k\" standards. Thus, organisations that currently have developed an ISMS are likely to satisfy many of the GDPR requirements already, needing a few adjustments to be made. Other organisations might decide to apply an ISMS as a general framework for the management of the personal data of data subjects that they process, in the context of:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to identify the controls provisioned in ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 27002:2013 that need to be extended to adequately meet, data protection requirements set by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); it also indicates security management actions an organisation needs to perform to fulfil GDPR requirements. Thus, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 compliant organisations, can use this paper as a basis for extending the already existing security control modules towards data protection; and as guidance for reaching compliance with the regulation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study has followed a two-step approach; first, synergies between ISO/IEC 27001:2013 modules and GDPR requirements were identified, by analysing all 14 control modules of the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and proposing the appropriate actions towards the satisfaction of data protection requirements. Second, this paper identified GDPR requirements not addressed by ISO/IEC 27001:2013.\nFindings: The findings of this work include the identification of the common ground between the security controls that ISO/IEC 27001:2013 includes and the requirements that the GDPR imposes; the actions that need to be performed based on these security controls to adequately meet the data protection requirements that the GDPR imposes; and the identification of the remaining actions an ISO/IEC 27001 compliant organisation needs to perform to be able to adhere with the GDPR.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a gap analysis and a further steps identification regarding the additional actions that need to be performed to allow an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified organisation to be compliant with the GDPR.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
LMX differentiation, diversity, and group performance: Evidence for curvilinear and interaction effects	[ "Gender diversity", "Age diversity", "Education-level diversity", "Group performance", "LMX differentiation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The basic premise of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is that leaders develop different types of relationships with their members, such that they have high-quality exchanges with some members and low-quality exchanges with others (Dansereau et al., 1975). LMX serves as an important conduit through which job resources and social supports flow (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995) and thus has a significant impact on members' career-related outcomes such as performance, promotion and turnover (Agarwal et al., 2012; Liden et al., 1997; Liu et al., 2013; Schyns et al., 2007). Early LMX research focused primarily on LMX processes at the individual level, but later studies have emphasized the effects of LMX processes at the group level on individual and group performance (e.g. Gerstner and Day, 1997; Liden et al., 1997).\nTheoretical backgrounds and hypotheses: Underlying processes of LMX differentiation\nMethods: Sample and procedure\nResults: Table I presents the means, standard deviations and correlations of variables.\nDiscussion: In the current study, we addressed the issue of inconsistency in theoretical perspectives regarding the effects of LMX differentiation by suggesting the possibility of an inverted U-shaped relationship between LMX differentiation and group performance. The results of the multiple hierarchical regression analysis supported our hypotheses, demonstrating that LMX differentiation positively affects group performance up to a certain point, beyond which it has negative effects on group performance. We also found that this relationship is moderated by some types of diversity. As suggested by the hypothesis, gender and age diversity negatively moderated the relationship between LMX differentiation and group performance. However, education-level diversity had no significant interaction effect. One possible explanation for this result is that the nature of education level differs from that of other demographic variables such as age and gender. In this study, we presumed that education-level diversity would have same effects as age and gender diversity because it also is categorized into demographic diversity. However, while age and gender are relatively stable personal characteristics, educational level is unfixed and can be developed by individuals' intentions and efforts. Thus, the impacts of education-level diversity may differ from those of age and gender diversity (Bell et al., 2011). Another explanation is that formal education-level diversity may not capture the actual difference in education-level among group members. There are plentiful opportunities for continuing education and training such as in-house education programs, on-the-job training and computer-based training programs. Regardless of formal education level, group members can develop their skills and knowledge by using such training opportunities. Thus, the effect of education-level diversity may differ from our expectation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The impact of leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation on group performance has been considered ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to resolve this ambiguity by theorizing and examining a curvilinear relationship between LMX differentiation and group performance, and the moderating effects of group diversity on this relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were drawn from 63 work groups (consisting of 322 members and 63 group leaders) selected from 27 technology service companies in South Korea. Group members rated their perceived LMX quality, while the human resource (HR) directors of each company assessed group performance.\nFindings: The results showed that LMX differentiation had an inverted U-shaped relationship with group performance and that gender diversity and age diversity negatively moderated that relationship. However, the interaction between LMX differentiation and education-level diversity was not significant.\nOriginality/value: This study extends extant research by addressing the inconsistency among theoretical perspectives on the effects of LMX differentiation. This study transcends earlier research by considering the complex process of LMX differentiation, such as the curvilinear relationship between LMX differentiation and group performance, and the moderating effects of group diversity on that relationship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Values, motivation, commitment, performance and rewards: analysis model	[ "Performance", "Commitment", "Motivation", "Value added", "Rewards", "Values" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The changes in society arising from the globalization process bring fragility of the individual in the face of the organizations, which increasingly search for competitive results. One of the challenges is to obtain organizational commitment of human capital (Kaplan and Norton, 1997; Gracioli et al., 2012; Keelwalatenna and Premaratne, 2013).\n2. Theoretical framework: The theoretical basis for purposes of this study encompasses the concepts of value, motivation, commitment and reward, with a view to the validation of a hypothetical structural model that allows to identify the way that employees shall, individually, combine these crucial factors to their professional performance.\n3. Method: The survey was cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative. The sample of individuals corresponding to three different countries, with information collected from a sample of 406 respondents and from a convenience sample of two companies, one company in the oil and gas sector, surveyed in Mexico and the USA, and the other company in the electronics industry, researched in Brazil.\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Brazil\n5. Conclusions: Therefore, in general, the research allowed the verification of the association between constructs motivation, commitment, performance and reward, excluding the construct values. However, by defining each country, we found the association of the construct values with motivation in Mexico, thereby demonstrating a better balance of the proposed hypothetical structural model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how construct values, motivation, commitment, performance and reward are associated with professionals from different countries, from the framework of a hypothetical structural model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The survey was cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative. The sample of individuals corresponding to three different countries, with information collected from a sample of 406 respondents, and from a convenience sample of two companies, one company in the oil and gas sector, surveyed in Mexico and the USA, and the other company in the electronics industry, researched in Brazil.\nFindings: Thus, the association of the construct values with motivation in Mexico, demonstrated a better balance of the proposed hypothetical structural model. The study identified six groups (clusters) of different individuals according to values, and also, its associative relationship according to the variables of the proposed hypothetical structural model. The identification of each cluster was possible, according to the variables of the hypothetical structural model, and the groups with greater proximity between Mexico and USA were very similar, mostly because US companies have many Mexicans in their staff.\nResearch limitations/implications: Therefore, it is understood that the approach used in this work could eventually be replicated in other regions to seek confirmations and/or contradictions of the results, contributing to future studies to relate such constructs.\nPractical implications: It is expected that this work can stimulate others that aim to explore the hypothetical structural model in more countries or organizations in order to understand the influence of the constructs in or ganizational management, enabling people management area to be more effective in conducting relevant management processes for each organization.\nOriginality/value: The proposed model has shown that organizational management allowed the verification of the association between constructs motivation, commitment, performance and reward, excluding the construct values.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How to go from strategy to results? Institutionalising BPM governance within organisations	[ "Organisational design", "Business process management", "BPM governance", "BPM unit", "Process owners" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Business processes enable strategy execution by transcending an organisation's standard departmental boundaries (Hernaus, 2011). They provide the necessary cross-functional coordination and represent a value-driven part of business. Leading companies have already recognised the sustainability of the business process management (BPM) philosophy and invested significantly in building their BPM capabilities (e.g. Towers and Schurter, 2005; Antonucci and Goeke, 2011). While numerous process efforts and intertwined BPM initiatives undertaken certainly make a performance difference and lead to higher process maturity, they also increase organisational complexity and require greater managerial attention. Thus, BPM governance has become an important boardroom agenda item, calling for continuous efforts throughout the organisation.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: BPM initiatives and outcomes\nResearch methodology: Sample\nResults: Hypothesis 1\nDiscussion and conclusion: BPM governance is a highly relevant yet still inappropriately addressed organisational issue (e.g. Markus and Jacobson, 2010; Niehaves et al., 2011). From the practical viewpoint, the attention of management, including their time, effort and resources for continuous BPM, is required to reach the upmost process maturity levels (e.g. Roglinger et al., 2012). While it is not easy for organisations to commit to (Harmon and Wolf, 2014), both strategic and organisational commitment to BPM are particularly necessary if executives want to translate their strategy into desired results through cross-functional processes. From the empirical viewpoint, existing scholarly literature does not provide a large amount of empirical evidence on BPM governance practices. While Roeser and Kern (2015) reported increased general interest in studying the impact of BPM on a dependent variable, their literature review revealed that the majority of papers has a broad research scope and is primarily focused on financial performance outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how business process management (BPM) is incorporated within organisational structure. The authors demonstrate how a strategic interest in BPM and formal responsibilities for BPM activities shape the efficiency, quality and agility of BPM initiatives. By conducting field research, useful empirical insights were drawn about the necessary conditions for ensuring the success of BPM initiatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey of BPM adoption practices was conducted among private- and public-sector organisations with more than 50 employees. A cross-national sample of 60 Croatian and 51 Slovenian companies is analysed by applying a subsampling strategy and using inferential statistics methods.\nFindings: The study clearly shows how particular structural decisions can foster the operational excellence of BPM initiatives. Formal process roles and specialised BPM units were recognised as important drivers of organisational success. In addition, how strategic support and related structural choices create a synergistic effect and make process efforts worthwhile is explained.\nPractical implications: The research findings offer useful benchmarking of current BPM practices. The developed BPM commitment matrix represents a simple tool for self-assessment. Its path-dependent logic provides guidelines for improving the outcomes of BPM governance in general, and BPM initiatives specifically.\nOriginality/value: The paper extends previous research by showing the performance effects of several BPM governance practices. The results clearly suggest that the best outcomes of BPM initiatives were achieved by organisations that had introduced a strategic approach to BPM, along with having defined a centralised BPM responsibility and assigned decentralised process ownership roles.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Validating and expanding a framework of a triple bottom line dominant logic for business sustainability through time and across contexts	[ "Sustainability", "Spain", "Business", "Sustainable development goals", "Triple bottom line approach", "UN 2030 agenda" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to Ramus (2002) and Guest (2010), business activities are exerting a severe influence on the world economy, the communities that people form part of as well as the physical environment they inhabit. The effect of these business activities is furthermore bolstered by environmental changes, economic challenges, social unrest and inequality between people (Ramus, 2002; Guest, 2010).\n2. Research relevance: The business context varies between one industry and another, as well as between countries and continents. It is therefore useful to retest the TBL dominant logic for BS in another industrial sample and country, so as to verify the validity of the framework. Svensson et al. (2016a) encourage others to verify their findings in other business contexts, as it is important to validate previous studies across contexts and through time, in order to build valid and reliable theory (Hair et al., 2010).\n3. A framework of triple bottom line dominant logic for business sustainability: 3.1 Reasons to validate and further develop the framework\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Dimensions and items\n5. Empirical findings: 5.1 Sample characteristics\n6. Research implications: This study generates a series of research implications relevant and valuable to other researchers in the field of BS. In fact, it provides opportunities for further research efforts to develop the framework in connection to BS.\n7. Managerial implications: A number of managerial implications may be distilled from the empirical findings of the present study. There are rare attempts to develop frameworks for BS that have been empirically tested and retested successfully across contexts providing substantiation for universal applicability.\n8. Conclusions and suggestions for the future: This study makes two valuable and relevant contributions to the theory generation of a framework:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to validate or refute the previous empirical findings of a TBL dominant logic for business sustainability and to expand the TBL dominant logic for business sustainability with additional dimensions and items. The study aims to provide bottom-up-based multi-dimensional framework in relation to the sustainable development goals (SDG) of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Key corporate informants in top Spanish companies were requested to participate in the study. A total of 89 usable questionnaires were returned, generating an initial response rate of 42.4%.\nFindings: A framework for a TBL-dominant logic in the context of business sustainability has been empirically tested successfully across contexts and through time, thus providing substantiation for universal applicability.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides a relevant and important substantiation for validity and reliability across contexts and through time. It is important in research to establish a theoretical framework at the corporate level for business sustainability in connection with SDGs. This study is not without its limitations, but offers opportunities for further research.\nPractical implications: The framework provides practitioners with a foundation to assess their efforts at business sustainability, taking into account a broad selection of aspects across environmental, social and economic elements that contribute to SDGs.\nOriginality/value: This study makes two relevant and valuable contributions to developing a framework of TBL dominant logic for business sustainability, namely, validation and expansion. It offers also multiple opportunities for both research and practice to assess business sustainability efforts across environmental, social and economic aspects in relation to SDGs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An analysis of restrictive mechanisms on director behavior regarding corporate philanthropy in China	[ "China", "Corporate philanthropy", "Regulations", "Director duty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the 2012 Charity Report issued by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs (Xinhuanet, 2013), the total amount of charitable contributions in 2012 nationwide was Y=81.7bn, of which Y=47.4bn came from corporate contributions. This constituted 58 per cent of the total contribution, indicating that corporate donations are responsible for the majority of charity income in China. One benefit of these corporate donations is that these relieve the pressure on the government during situations such as natural disasters and mitigate some of the public's financial difficulties. Corporate contributions also enable companies to partially fulfill their corporate social responsibility through philanthropic activity (Carroll, 2004).\nThe theoretical foundation of restrictive mechanisms on director behavior in corporate philanthropy: According to the traditional company profit maximization principle, shareholder interests come first, and directors have a fiduciary responsibility toward shareholders. Donating company property, for example, would appear to be contrary to the interests of the company, and therefore, corporate philanthropy was initially not legally recognized.\nThe legal dilemma of restrictive mechanisms on director behavior in corporate philanthropy in China: There are three main forms of corporate philanthropy in China:\nThe determination behavior of the board of directors in corporate philanthropy: Many scholars from China believe that philanthropy is the best way for a corporation to fulfill its social responsibility and return favors to the society (Li, 2011). Furthermore, a good corporate philanthropy policy is considered as a part of the role of an effective manager. Companies engaged in charitable donations tend to increase social welfare and promote the awareness of mutual public interests. Improper donations, however, may cause problems to the governance of a company and chaos in its routine business practice.\nEnhancing restrictions on board of directors' duty in corporate philanthropy: In the situation in China, the purpose of restrictions on the board of directors' duty in corporate philanthropy is to ensure that the board members are fulfilling their duty. This is to assure the interests of the company and guarantee maximum benefits to shareholders. To better serve this purpose, company laws in all countries have constraints on the board of directors' obligations toward the company. Civil law countries assert that the relationship between a company and its board of directors is on a commissioned contract basis, which suggests mutual trust between both parties. Therefore, the board of directors is appointed by the company to help deal with company management. Common law countries, such as China, consider the trust in the relationship between board of directors and the company to be of crucial significance. The board of directors' trustee function requires it to be fully responsible for company management. Despite the different descriptions about the relationship between the board of directors and the company in the two legal systems, the very fact that board members are trusted and appointed by the company does not change. The requirement of the board of directors embodies the duty of loyalty and good management obligations. According to the 148th stipulation of the Chinese Company Law, the board of directors shall abide by the national laws, administrative regulations and the articles of company associations. They are bound to the duty of loyalty and diligence obligations. This provides evidence for the argument that board members should give priority to their duty of loyalty and comply with their faithful obligations in corporate philanthropy.\nThe diligence obligation of directors in corporate philanthropy: Board directors shall not take advantage of their position in the company for any individual benefits or convenience\nConclusions: The great variety of business and economic situations has made corporate philanthropy a very complex issue. In the case of China, economic development has brought about a number of social changes over the past decades. Many Chinese companies have become involved in philanthropy, as companies have become more established and the stage of primary capital accumulation has passed (Kelen, 2001; Xin, 2014).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Currently, in China, the governance structure of modern companies gives directors great powers to pursue profits. However, little attention is paid to the undertaking of corporate philanthropic activities. Therefore, rules on directors' behavior in terms of corporate philanthropy are urgently needed to resolve the conflict between philanthropy and profits. This paper aims to discuss the main purpose of corporate philanthropy behavior in China, namely, the promotion of the company, and to analyze the theoretical mechanism for placing restrictions on directors' behavior. The concepts and details of directors' duty of loyalty and duty of diligence are also discussed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper addresses the theoretical framework for the restriction of director behavior in corporate philanthropy in China, explains the legal dilemma for the current situation and analyzes the problems associated with the determination of board directors' behavior.\nFindings: It is concluded that board members should give priority to their duty of loyalty and comply with their faithful obligations in corporate philanthropy. They should also fulfill their diligence obligations and not cause inconvenience and trouble for the company.\nResearch limitations/implications: Corporate philanthropy is well known as a beneficial activity to both the company and society. It not only helps to establish a good image of the company, which is in line with the interests of the shareholders and creditors, but also contributes to the development of social welfare. It is a topic worthy of deep discussion.\nPractical implications: It is still very difficult to establish non-profit organizations because of stringent conditions on registration, organization and funding in China. Therefore, there are a limited number of independent non-governmental charitable organizations in China. Most charitable organizations have charitable expertise and government ties. Corporate philanthropy is a problem closely related to governmental administration and legal system renovation.\nSocial implications: Recently, a young girl related to the Red Cross Society of China was found guilty and arrested. This scandal has made people lose their confidence in philanthropy and has caused another round of intense discussion online. Corporate philanthropy is the focus of criticism because individuals with power gain benefits by taking advantage of their position. It is a very challenging issue for the Chinese society as to how to restore the reputation of philanthropy.\nOriginality/value: This paper points out the weakness in the current legal system as a restrictive mechanism to supervise the board directors' behaviors in China. It analyzes the corporate philanthropy issue from the national level and highlights the significance of supervising governmental administration and corporate management through the improvement of the legal system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An object-oriented approach for building a flexible supply chain model	[ "Supply chain management", "Flexibility", "Uncertainty management", "Object‐oriented methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Nowadays, the business environment of an enterprise is very dynamic and, sometimes, unstable. Emerging market trends, such as short product life cycles, mass customization, and increasing industry competitors as well as unexpected events require companies to respond quickly and smoothly for these changes. In addition, many companies have begun to realize how delicate supply chains can be. Recent events such as package carrier strikes, hurricanes and \"the blizzard of the century\" have proven that any number of circumstances beyond a company's control could cripple its ability to move and manage raw materials and finished goods (Gardner, 2002).In these uncertain market environments, the ability of a company to react quickly to changes in external needs becomes not only a competitive advantage but a survival factor. Unfortunately, traditional modeling approaches have some limitations to meet these demands due to their inherent static properties. Although we can find the near-optimal models for a specific system constructed by one of the traditional modeling methodologies, the value of the near-optimality in the model is easily compromised due to unstable market environments. Furthermore, in this case, the near-optimality of the model can cause a waste of time and money when a model needs to be frequently rebuilt or modified to adapt to its environment. To meet these requirements, the business model of a company should have \"flexibility\" and \"adaptability\" instead of simply the traditional optimality of the model. From this point of view, an object-oriented modeling approach could be a proper way to solve the problem.But pure object-oriented models still have limitations to fully meet the dynamic and complex market requirements, and many researchers in this field have indicated the potential weaknesses. To overcome these limitations, many researchers have tried to integrate the rule-based paradigm into pure object-oriented model, because the two paradigms appear to have complementary strengths and weaknesses (Table I) (Biema et al., 1990) and they can be combined synergistically. From this point of view, promoting the explicit capture of business rules in object-oriented methods will certainly help in adapting systems to the changing world.This paper regards a supply chain as an integrated model of several business views and proposes a framework for building a flexible supply chain business model under the object-oriented paradigm as one of the feasible solutions for the current requirements.Basically, the framework proposed in this paper consists of two phases, phase I (five view models) and phase II (integrating business rules) and has iterative characteristic to adapt the model to dynamic market environment. To describe the framework, Unified Modeling Language (UML) is adopted, because it has been set as an object-oriented modeling standard by Object Management Group (OMG)[1] since 1997 and many software vendors have supported this specification. In addition, the supply chain model described in this paper partially uses Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model of Supply Chain Council (Stewart, 1997; Supply Chain Council, 2002).The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes an object-oriented paradigm and its fundamental characteristics. In its subsection, the evolution of object-oriented methodologies and UML is briefly explained. Section 3 provides the literature review for several supply chain modeling approaches and business rules under the object-oriented paradigm. In Section 4, the main procedure for the modeling framework suggested in this paper is illustrated and Section 5 presents a sample application using the proposed framework. Finally, the conclusions are summarized in Section 6.\n2 Object-oriented paradigm and its fundamental characteristics: The object-oriented paradigm started from software design and programming, and has steadily grown since 1960s. It was later adapted to model the enterprise due to several benefits, such as reusability and ease of expanding functionality.2.1 Class and object\n3 Literature review: supply chain modeling approaches and business rules: 3.1 Traditional taxonomy of supply chain models\n4 The framework for building a flexible supply chain business model: Designing a dynamic and complex system like a supply chain requires the use of multiple views. Each view focuses on a particular aspect of the system and is described through a number of diagrams. Eriksson and Penker (2000) said \"designing a business model is very much like assembling a jigsaw puzzle\".The framework proposed in this paper consists of two phases (Figure 5). Phase I presents the methodology for designing an object-oriented supply chain business model with five views. This phase has partially adopted the business architecture and UML extensions suggested by Eriksson and Penker (2000). In phase II, business rules are integrated into the object-oriented models to give the model more flexibility and adaptability.4.1 Phase I: five view models\n5 A sample application: In this chapter, \"company A\" with a generic manufacturing supply chain is considered as a target system to apply this design methodology. This company is assumed to use contract-based for-hire-carrier (3PL provider) management as its delivery system. This company is aiming to own a flexible supply chain business model to meet the dynamic customer demands resulting from several changing factors.Among several functional domains in supply chain (Figure 5), the \"Deliver\" domain is selected to illustrate this application in detail. To draw UML diagrams and their extensions in each stage of the framework, \"Together ControlCenter\" (ver. 6.0) and \"Enterprise Architect\" (ver. 3.60) is used.5.1 Phase I: five view models\n6 Conclusions: In this paper, a modeling framework for designing flexible supply chain business model using an object-oriented approach has been proposed. Traditional system modeling approaches have some limitations to meet the dynamic and uncertain market demands, because inherently the traditional approaches have static properties. This could cause excess time and money to be spent when a model needs to be frequently rebuilt or modified. Furthermore, the cycle time for re-modeling a system must be reduced and the flexibility of the model must be increased for successful implementation of a supply chain business model versus the traditional modeling goal of optimality by traditional modeling approaches.The modeling approach based on the object-oriented paradigm as presented in this paper can be a proper and timely solution for current demands. Although the object-oriented paradigm was originally created for designing and programming software, it has been widely recognized paradigm which also provides huge benefits for enterprise modeling, such as reusability and extensibility.Based on these inherent benefits of the object-oriented paradigm, the modeling approach proposed in this paper has following advantages. First, it can reduce the set-up time to remodel a system through the reusability of an object-oriented model. Second, it offers flexibility to the model because of its iterative characteristics with the scope of remodeling dependent on the size of change of the model when it is needed. Third, this framework integrates the business rules into the object-oriented paradigm to compensate potential weakness of the pure object-oriented models and UML. Fourth, this framework has used the de facto object-oriented modeling standard UML for building a supply chain model. Finally, the models developed through this framework are intuitive and easy for general users as well as system designers to understand. This makes it easier to maintain the model, which results in the dramatic saving of time and money for updating and re-building the model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to propose a framework for building a flexible supply chain business model using an object-oriented approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The proposed modeling framework has used the de facto object-oriented modeling standard, Unified Modeling Language (UML), for building a supply chain model. To compensate for the potential weakness of the pure object-oriented model and UML, the framework integrates business rules with its model.\nFindings: - This paper provides information about several sources, which are the bases of modeling a supply chain. The paper regards a supply chain as five view models with four business domains and each domain consists of functions, resources, processes, interactions and business rules.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A typical manufacturing supply chain is considered as a target system to apply this design methodology. The paper does not handle a real case study as an application example.\nOriginality/value: - This paper newly added the category of \"Business Process Reengineering (BPR)-driven\" models to the traditional taxonomy of supply chain models and proposed an object-oriented business model (OOBM) for a supply chain as one of the BPR-driven models. It is hoped that this modeling approach is highly usable and adds value to an analyst, practitioner, and designer in the field of supply chain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A customer engagement framework for a B2B context	[ "Customer equity", "Customer engagement", "Behavioural engagement", "Cognitive engagement", "Emotional engagement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customers are the most important asset for any firm; therefore, customer management research has evolved that displays its significant impact on the marketing discipline (Verhoef et al., 2010). There is a growing emphasis on customer centricity being considered as a critical issue for both academic researchers and marketing practitioners owing to the shift to customer-centric measures to evaluate effectiveness of marketing actions (Rust et al., 2004; Javornik and Mandelli, 2012; Pansari and Kumar, 2017).\nLiterature review: Customer engagement\nDiscussion: In summary, although several previous studies presented customer engagement as one of the most important emerging concepts in the marketing domain, the current paper contributes by applying the emerging literature of customer engagement in the B2B environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate conceptually the relationship between the customer's engagement and equity and to determine whether customer engagement could be positively enhanced by business-to-business (B2B) firms to maximize their customer equity, through examining the role of cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is built on the evolving marketing literature and proposes a comprehensive framework that uses a multidimensional conceptualization for the customer's engagement and equity constructs; examines the relationships between customer satisfaction, commitment, trust and involvement and customer engagement; and specifies the specific customer engagement dimensions - cognitive, emotional and behavioral - as key mediators of the engagement-equity relationship.\nFindings: This paper indicated that customer engagement is a multidimensional construct with three dimensions: cognitive, emotional or behavior engagement. Customer's satisfaction, commitment, trust and involvement would be regarded as antecedents to customer engagement, whereas customer equity would be regarded a consequence for customer engagement. In addition, this paper identified three drivers of customer equity - value, brand and relationship equities - based on reviewing the previous studies.\nOriginality/value: This paper integrates philosophies from previous marketing studies of customer relationship management and customer engagement and equity into a B2B environment in a more customer-centric approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competitive vs coopetitive strategies: lessons from professional sport leagues	[ "Human capital", "Competition", "Coopetition", "Consortium sourcing", "Professional sport", "Purchasing strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Usually associated with goods or services, purchasing strategies are used to improve a buying organization's competitive advantage. Researchers have not yet devoted sufficient effort to examining the purchasing strategies used by professional sport clubs. The economic reality of professional teams is clear: the most talented players are a rare resource, which cannot be duplicated; those key players are at the center of sport performance, but also one of the main contributors to the successful financial situation of clubs, including TV rights and products associated to the team. By examining professional football (soccer), we can see that, in Europe, the primary market of star players results in a continuous overbid process by the wealthiest clubs. Actually, one could say that purchasing strategies used for players are coherent with the human capital model as described by Becker (1964), including obtaining rare and difficult-to-imitate resources, an absolute requirement for any success-bound European business club.\n2. Conceptual clarification: Over the past 15 years, there has been more research about situations where competing organizations cooperated. According to Robert et al. (2009), based on the management literature, this is true as well for professional sports. In management, \"pooling\" - particularly in inter-organizational relationships, is a major research area focused on the efforts by independent entities to pool their resources to be more efficient. This approach has been around since the mid-1980s when pooling accompanied the operationalization of cooperative strategies and network structures. It was then a matter of \"vertical pooling\", where resources and complementary competences were \"assembled\" around a project where the organizations shared a common logistical chain.\n3. European model - the competitive balance: Simply said, professional football can be described by the contract between a player and its club. In Europe, club owners have rapidly understood that a player is a specific human capital, with some competences and abilities, including being able to adapt (or not) to a collectivity called a \"team\". As discussed by Becker (1964), any individual involved in an organization has productive capabilities based on general and specific knowledge. So, a football player has a know-how which is partly innate, partly acquired through training. The question is then to examine how professional players have succeeded over time to use this concept of human capital to their advantage. According to Gouguet and Primault (2002), in Europe, there are clearly three eras in the contractual relationship between clubs and players:\n4. North-American model - the coopetitive balance: The reality is very different in North America, where closed leagues constitute an economic cartel. Table II shows the main differences between sport models in Europe and in North America (Troelsen and Dejonghe, 2006). In North America, all clubs in the same league follow a collective strategy to develop and sell an attractive product, which allows them to generate more revenues. It is up to the league's Board of Directors (often made of one representative for each club) to make major decisions to avoid long-term dominance by a few clubs. This system, called draft, is described as follows by Bourg and Gouguet (2012, p. 63): \"The draft system provides exclusive rights on the new players entering the league from universities, minor leagues or leagues in other countries. Its main purpose is to make competitors even, but it also aims at limiting competition among clubs. The selection takes place in the reverse order of the previous year's ranking\". In other words, the worse off a team is at the end of a season, the better its position to acquire the best players available; as a result, the club might improve in the following years and surprise its fans by unexpected performances.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: Sports can be viewed from different angles: daily results, strategies used by the clubs during a given match, how a club gets revenues, brand marketing, etc. In this paper, we have chosen to look at sports with a neglected - albeit important - perspective, i.e. human capital management. More specifically, we have looked at how pooling could contribute to understand better the collective approach used by the North-American leagues for buying human capital called \"players\". Such a perspective sheds light on what's really at stake in competitive vs coopetitive strategies. The comparison between European and North-American leagues clearly shows two very different strategies: pure competition and coopetition, the latter clearly illustrating a successful cooperative purchasing. For at least the past 10 years, there has been a debate in the literature about the usefulness of pooling among competitors, and it is difficult to find suitable examples; North-American leagues are definitely a good example of such a situation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Over the past decades, analyses of the functioning of professional sport leagues have been done from various angles: economic, financial and sociological; in some cases, comparisons were made between North-American and European leagues. The purpose of this paper is to look at this reality from a different angle, i.e. human capital management, by showing how different the models from both continents are.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on an identification of the major elements associated to human capital management in professional sport leagues in North America and Europe, this paper compares competitive and coopetitive strategies using an original framework based on consortium sourcing and pooling dimensions.\nFindings: The paper underlines the benefits that North-American professional sport leagues get from acquiring players using a consortium sourcing perspective (coopetition). In Europe, the most powerful clubs use their financial resources to get the best players; as a result, it is always the same clubs with get the best results (competition). In the long run, the European approach might result in less attractiveness to TV viewers, and less revenues for TV networks.\nOriginality/value: This paper helps to understand the differences between professional sport leagues in North America and Europe; it also discusses the risk associated to the adoption, without any adjustment in the human capital management, in Europe of the North-American model based on a coopetitive perspective. This dimension is seldom mentioned in articles dealing with professional sport leagues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Entering the accounting profession: the operationalization of ethnicity-based discrimination	[ "Ethnicity", "Accounting profession", "Mechanisms", "Discrimination", "Bourdieu’s theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Ethnicity is a salient issue for the accounting profession, not only in New Zealand but in the profession in a number of other Commonwealth Countries; such salience is observed as part of a response to larger and ongoing influxes of ethnic minority migrants into these countries (Kim, 2004; James and Otsuka, 2009; Annisette and Trivedi, 2013). The purpose of the study is to investigate ethnicity-based discrimination when graduates attempt to enter the accounting profession in an urban accounting job market. This study focuses on uncovering and documenting experiences of discrimination for graduates aspiring to enter the accounting profession; and particularly, what are some decisive factors, as perceived by these graduates, when such discrimination operates. Incorporated into the analysis is the geographic clustering of (self-defined) ethnicities to more clearly identify drivers to such racial discrimination, a valuable approach when multiple ethnicities are part of such accounting research projects.\n2. Literature review: One key attribute of a profession lies with the criteria as to what determines entry into the profession, the \"gate-keeping\" (Larson, 1977; McDonald, 1985). Accounting, as a profession, has often been viewed as a set of competencies - special knowledge, skills and techniques - and people who possess such a set are thought to be suitable to \"do accounting\" (Larson, 1977). The elements of this set, as often identified by accounting scholars, include the skills and knowledge signified in accounting degrees (Kavanagh and Drennan, 2008; Chillas, 2010), language proficiency required for business communications (Gray, 2009; Sugianto and Johns, 2011); cultural competency for cross-cultural interactions at contemporary workplaces (Johns, 2010; Gray and Murray, 2011); personality traits for acquiring and retaining accounting clients (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998; Keneley and Jackling, 2011); IT skills for working with modern technologies (Oliver and Que, 1996; Velayutham and Perera, 2008); and other generic skills, such as critical thinking and teamwork, which are perceived only able to be acquired from work experience (Cheng et al., 2009; Tempone et al., 2012). Within language proficiency, oral proficiency is particularly important, in that it may determine not only whether an accounting graduate can be employed in accounting firms but also employed in a position to allow further career development (Gray, 2009).\n3. Bourdieu's theoretical framework: 3.1 Bourdieu's central notions and the importance of capital\n4. Research method and analytical analysis: 4.1 Data collection and validation\n5. Discrimination: illustrations of factors and processes: This section offers a number of interviewee comments ordered around three forms of capital: economic, cultural and social; ethnic minorities appear to be discriminated against in the New Zealand accounting job market due to a perceived lack of one or more of these capitals by each applicant. In this section, for the sake of authenticity, these narratives are presented in their original form - what was actually said by an interviewee - rather than in a grammatically correct form. Missing words may be added in parenthesis to reflect the meaning.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: Overall, this study alerts researchers who are developing studies where ethnicity may be anticipated to be an important element to appreciate that certain characteristics of ethnicity - such as country of origin and first language - have an enduring influence on life-experiences of each individual. Also, individuals have sufficient certainty of the utility or hindrances of certain capitals under their own control, many of which link explicitly to stereotypes they observe also impacting on their experiences. We conclude this study with a brief discussion of four different research aspects coming out of this project.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a Bourdieu-oriented study that investigates race discrimination when graduates of diverse ethnicities aspire to enter the accounting profession. This study illustrates the benefits of a careful and fine-grained operationalization of ethnicity for such a research project.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The cohort interviewed comprises 45 participants of 20 different ethnicities.\nFindings: From this interview data, it appears that employers mostly favour \"Pakeha\" New Zealanders (the non-Maori ethnic majority group, mostly of British origin); those who migrated from China and East Asia are the most disfavoured; between them are those of ethnic minorities brought up in New Zealand and those who migrated from the Indian subcontinent and South Asia. Underneath the experience of discrimination is the operationalization of ten subtle factors, and a range of strategies adopted to overcome such factors, as further described in this study.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings may permit stakeholders, including professional bodies, employers, aspirant accountants, vocational counsellors, and those who have interests in promoting equality and meritocracy in the accounting profession, to formulate effective rules and structures to combat discrimination. It may also inform those in other professions seeking to lessen ethnic discrimination, and wider society.\nOriginality/value: The study fills a gap in the accounting literature by elaborating on the mechanisms of how ethnic minorities are discriminated against. It confirms that discrimination is suffered not only by the most salient ethnic groups, but by graduates of \"Western\" universities, of many and diverse ethnicities, all of whom suffer being perceived as \"outsiders\".\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Store atmosphere in web retailing	[ "Electronic commerce", "Retailing", "Worldwide web", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Atmospherics in the conventional store attracts a lot of interest from academics who examine the impact of atmospheric cues on consumer behaviour (Gardner and Siomkos, 1986; Turley and Milliman, 2000). The transition from brick-and-mortar retailing to click-and-mortar environments raises considerations about the dynamics of this new business approach. Just like retailers provide important information through atmospherics in conventional stores, online retailers also provide an atmosphere via their web site, which can affect shoppers' image of and experience with the online store (Eroglu et al., 2000). Web atmospherics is \"the conscious designing of web environments to create positive effects in users in order to increase favourable consumer responses\" (Dailey, 2004, p. 796). Although online atmospherics research has only been in existence for nine years, there is empirical evidence of the impact of online atmosphere on various aspects of consumer behaviour. The goal of the present study is to propose a conceptual framework for studying online atmospheric effects on consumer behaviour; to accumulate, compose and present in a compact, structured and solid way the existing literature on online store atmosphere; and to identify research gaps and future research avenues.\nConceptual development: The development of an online cue typology is a first step toward understanding the nature and implications of this new retailing format. In the conventional store environment theory, Lewison (1994) developed a theoretical framework that supports that the retail store environment consists of three basic components:1. store image;2. store atmospherics; and3. store theatrics (Figure 1).However, the classifications of the traditional store's atmospheric qualities do not entirely apply to the online environment (Eroglu et al., 2000).Based on Lewison's (1994) framework, Vrechopoulos et al.'s (2004) adapted the conventional retail environment components to the corresponding determinants of the virtual retail environment. Specifically, they introduced the Virtual Component Presentation Framework (VCPF), which consists of three factors:1. virtual layout and design;2. virtual atmospherics; and3. virtual theatrics.In the current study, the Online Store Environment Framework (OSEF) is introduced, aiming at providing a comprehensive typology of the online store interface (Figure 2). It is proposed that the online store environment consists of four components:1. virtual layout and design;2. virtual atmospherics;3. virtual theatrics; and4. virtual social presence.That is, Vrechopoulos et al.'s (2004) framework is extended by adding the virtual social presence component, since although the physical presence of and interaction with other shoppers is not directly applicable online, it is indirectly indicated through the web counter and visitors' comments (Eroglu et al., 2001). Thus, the social presence component consists of the web counter, the comments from visitors and crowding.Based on the principles of environmental psychology, the S-O-R paradigm (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974) suggests that consumers' internal states mediate the relationship between the environmental stimulus and individual's responses. To that end, Mummalaneni (2005) proposes the S-O-R framework as a viable model for the investigation of online consumer behaviour. Specifically, the stimulus in the online context refers to the qualities of the online store environment. The organism part of the S-O-R model embodies consumers' affective and cognitive intermediary states. The behavioural outcomes can be classified as either approach or avoidance behaviours. Approach refers to those positive actions that bring the consumer \"closer\" to the online store, as opposed to avoidance. On the other hand, an online store that results in negative internal states will \"create a distance\" between the online consumer and the online interface, which will be reflected by a negative shopping outcome. Thus, we propose:P1. The online store environment influences shoppers' internal states of affect and cognition, which then affect their shopping behaviour (approach or avoidance).P2. Consumers' internal states (affect and cognition) mediate the relationship between the perceived online store environment and their shopping outcomes.In the proposed model (Figure 3) we posit that two individual characteristics moderate the relationship between the stimulus and the organism. The impact of the online store atmosphere on consumers' internal states is moderated by the degree of consumers' responsiveness to the online environment (i.e. consumers' tendency to behave based on the store's environment qualities) (Eroglu et al., 2003) and by their navigation strategy (i.e. goal attainment orientation, search or experiential orientation). Thus, we propose:P3. Consumer navigation strategy and atmospheric responsiveness, moderate the relationship between the perceived online store environment and online consumers' internal states.\nEmpirical research findings on online store atmosphere: Applying the conceptual framework, a desk research approach was followed towards recording the available empirical research findings on online store atmosphere. Specifically, a summary of 43 published empirical studies measuring the influence of online atmosphere and design factors on various aspects of consumer online behaviour is presented in this section. Table I refers to research published between 1999 and 2008. Discussion is structured based on the four components of the online store environment (Figure 2). In spite of the diversity in methodologies, the majority of these studies found some type of statistically significant relationship between the online atmosphere and consumer behaviour.Virtual layout and design\nResearch implications and future research issues: Nowadays, retailers spend a lot of money in order to create a pleasant store atmosphere that will contribute to positive shopping outcomes. Shopping nowadays is no more the synonym of the mere purchasing of products. Consumers are oriented toward the total product (Kotler, 1973-1974) and that includes, among other things, the place where the product is purchased or consumed. The shopping experience has to be transferred online too. Online shoppers are also seeking for the total product. Within the restricted computer interface the e-tailer should convey the feeling of being in a real store. In sum, one could infer from the accumulated evidence presented that the effective manipulation of the layout, atmospherics and theatrics is a strategic marketing tool that can contribute to the effectiveness and differentiation by determining consumers' internal states and their overall responses. The use of colour, layout, vividness, interactivity, animation, graphics and other atmospheric stimuli should not be coincidental, but the result of systematic and conscious design of online stores. E-tailers can entice consumers to visit their store, shape their attitudes towards the store (Childers et al., 2001; Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Fiore et al., 2005), enhance their satisfaction (Eroglu et al., 2003; McKinney, 2004; De Wulf et al., 2006; Zviran et al., 2006), strengthen their purchase intention (Liang and Lai, 2002; Van der Heijden and Verhagen, 2004; Richard, 2005) or urge them to recommend the store to others (Gorn et al., 2004). Table I may serve as a reference guide for researchers and practitioners who need a comprehensive reflection of the conceptual but mainly the empirical insights on online store atmospherics.This paper is not oriented toward presenting the online store atmosphere as a panacea of e-tailing. Overusing or misusing online store atmosphere may and can result in negative and totally undesirable effects. At the same time there are open research issues that will strengthen the contention that \"online store atmosphere does indeed make a difference\" (Eroglu et al., 2003, p. 148). In the case of click-and-mortar retailers, an interesting research path would be to examine how the atmosphere of the conventional store can influence consumers' perception of the atmosphere of the online store. Congruency of the brand and the online atmosphere and its effect should also be examined. Another future research issue concerns the effects of congruency between the four components of the online store environments as described in Figure 2. Two variables - music and crowding - that have attracted a lot of research interest in the traditional store are overlooked in studies of online atmospherics. Future studies may examine the effects of online crowding or the presence of other customers (that can be indicated through a web counter) on consumer satisfaction with the e-tailer. According to Eroglu et al. (2003), confidence in the retailer could also be a relevant outcome of effective manipulation of the online store atmosphere. The link between approach behaviour toward the online store and store loyalty should also be investigated.Technological capabilities offer to marketers the option of web site customization. This option applies for offering to each consumer a customized online atmosphere that fulfils his or her needs. The research question concerns the extent to which the consumer should have control over the customization options and to which extent the marketer should allow this customisation. The customisation and the manipulation of online store atmosphere is an easy task for e-marketers. The criteria and the guidelines (e.g. consumers' navigation strategy, consumers' atmospheric responsiveness, demographics, product category, etc.) that e-marketers will use in order to manipulate the online store atmosphere constitutes a constant challenge and existing knowledge as well as future research constitute fundamental contributors toward this direction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual framework for studying the effects of online store atmosphere on consumer behaviour and a compilation of empirical studies from the time when research on web atmospherics emerged in the literature in 1999 until today.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A desk research approach is followed in order to concentrate empirical research on the effects of online store atmosphere on consumer behaviour from top academic journals and conference proceedings through an interdisciplinary research approach (i.e. marketing and information systems literature).\nFindings: - Extant research is concentrated and presented in a structured way. Online store atmosphere influences various aspects of consumer behaviour online. However, there are many open research issues on the effects of online store atmosphere on consumer behaviour.\nOriginality/value: - The present study develops a parsimonious conceptual framework for studying the effects of online store atmosphere, summarises the knowledge on online store atmosphere in a structured and systematic manner, and identifies gaps and opportunities for advancing established knowledge. No single comprehensive collection of empirical research progress on online store atmosphere exists. The paper constitutes a valuable reference of compact information and future research suggestions for both academics and practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dual pillars of hotel restaurant food quality satisfaction and brand loyalty	[ "Brand equity", "Service quality", "Restaurants", "Brand loyalty", "Tourist satisfaction", "Hotel restaurant food quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Service quality has been progressively defined as the main element in service distinction (Baker and Magnini, 2016) that plays a key role in customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and profit in contrast to their rivals who are not concerned with their service quality. Looking at the services context and more specifically restaurant industry there is still limited empirical research for this claim. In the marketing literature, the brand is presented as a robust mechanism for the distinction of products. The increased competition between various restaurant companies with similar characteristics makes the brand a key differentiating factor (Callarisa et al., 2012; Harrington et al., 2017). However, there are a limited number of studies on the importance and role of restaurant brands (Callarisa et al., 2012; Hemsley-Brown and Alnawas, 2016; Kayaman and Arasli, 2007).\n2. Theoretical background and hypothesis development: Figure 1 presents the theoretical research framework developed for this study, which is established based on service quality research (Ekinci et al., 2008), brand equity model (Aaker, 1996) and consumer-based brand equity (Nam et al., 2011). According to Keller (1993), consumer-based brand equity refers to a favourable memory and unique brand association held by consumers. The model of Aaker (1992) mainly includes centres of brand equity, such as brand association, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand loyalty.\n3. Method: 3.1 Instrument design\n4. Results: In total, 400 paper-and-pencil questionnaires were distributed among tourists, of which 362 questionnaires were collected. Out of the 362 questionnaires, eight questionnaires were not properly completed. Thus for this study, 354 questionnaires were obtained with a response rate of 88.5 per cent. Table I presents the demographic characteristics of the respondents.\n5. Discussion: This study sought to investigate the influence of service quality elements, of physical quality and staff behaviour; and brand equity factors comprising brand quality, brand awareness and brand image on food quality satisfaction and to understand consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty in the restaurants in Malaysia. As discussed earlier, most of the previous studies examined tourist behavioural intention, satisfaction and loyalty (Lee et al., 2011) towards the combination of accommodation and restaurant services. Very few studies have examined the value that a brand creates for a restaurant business. Furthermore, very few previous studies have examined service quality and brand equity factors on food quality satisfaction and brand loyalty among local and international travellers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of service quality (physical quality and staff behaviour) and brand equity (brand quality, brand awareness and brand image) on hotel restaurant food quality satisfaction and brand loyalty among international and local travellers in Malaysia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 354 valid questionnaires were collected to assess the measurement and structural model for reflective latent constructs using the two steps of covariance-based structural equation modelling.\nFindings: The research findings suggest that while travellers' nationality moderates the path between physical quality, staff behaviour and brand image on food quality satisfaction, it does not moderate the relationship between brand quality and brand awareness on food quality satisfaction. This finding further suggests that towards enhancing service quality and brand equity on food quality satisfaction and brand loyalty, managers should understand the important distinctions between international and local travellers.\nOriginality/value: Previous studies have mostly examined the impact of brand equity and service quality towards tourist satisfaction and very few studies have examined the impact of restaurant service quality and brand equity on consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty specifically among international and local travellers. This is one of the first few studies providing empirical evidence and discussions in this area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The decision-making process of luxury fashion retail buyers in Greece	[ "Greece", "Decision making", "Designer apparel", "Fashion buying", "Fashion retailing", "Luxury fashion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite the recognition of retail buying as a strategic function upon which the success or failure of the retailer rests, the decision-making process for retail buying of luxury fashion brands is relatively unexplored, as much previous research focuses on own-brand buying within the mid-market fashion sector (e.g. Dandeo et al., 2004; Da Silva et al., 2002; Fairhurst and Fiorito, 1990). The Greek market provides a unique case opportunity to explore the decision-making process of luxury fashion retail buyers when selecting brands and collections. Notwithstanding its relatively small market size, the world's highest proportion of luxury branded fashion consumers are from Greece (ACNielsen, 2008).\nThe luxury fashion market: The luxury fashion market represents an important and increasing sector of worldwide retail (Husic and Cicic, 2009; Park et al., 2008). Okonkwo (2007, p. 3) described the luxury fashion industry as \"a global multi-billion dollar sector comprising a multitude of brands [...] like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes and Gucci [...] (that) are amongst the most valuable and influential in the world\". Despite the impact of the recent western recession in 2008-2009, sales have now recovered and surpassed previous figures (Verdict, 2010). Not only have the number of high net worth individuals, the archetypal asset-rich luxury consumers, increased year-on-year over the last decade, but additionally a new and younger luxury consumer segment has emerged: asset-poor mid-market consumers who are nevertheless aspirational and trade up selectively (\nThe nature of fashion retail buying: Retail buying can be defined as the decision-making process by which individuals in an organisation establish end consumer requirements for products and subsequently identify, evaluate and select among alternative brands and suppliers (Kincade et al., 2002). For a fashion retail brand, buyers select own-label product from a range of garment suppliers, while for independent fashion retailers, buyers select branded product from range of fashion brands. Sheth (1981) and Sternquist (1994) positioned retail buyers between consumers and industrial buyers in terms of the content and process of buying - they buy final products rather than components and usually work alone rather than in teams. However, in practice this no longer holds true as most fashion retailers organise their buying function into teams based around product categories, albeit smaller teams than would be found in industrial buying situations. Furthermore, mid-market fashion buyers typically engage in product development activities, supplier management and elements of overseas production management when producing own-brand ranges for fashion retailers (Bruce and Daly, 2006; Goworek, 2010). At mid-market level it is the retailer rather than the manufacturer who holds the balance of power in the relationship (Totakli et al., 2008; Jones, 2006; Hines and McGowan, 2005) and is therefore able to make price and style demands of suppliers.\nMethodology: The aim of the study was to explore the complexity of the phenomenon to gain an in-depth understanding rather than measure and extrapolate results; hence a qualitative case study approach was taken. This is an appropriate research method for theory building due to its relevance for progressing understanding on the decisions and behaviours of individuals and groups within organisations (Woodside and Wilson, 2003). Since the fashion industry has a social context and dimension, sociological research approaches such as phenomenology or ethnography provide a more holistic understanding of issues than scientific analysis (Jones, 2006). Therefore, an inductive approach was taken, using corporate interviews within a purposive sample of five luxury fashion retailers in Greece, and participant observation was additionally conducted in one of the companies.\nFindings: retail buying in the Greek luxury fashion industry: Key informants confirmed the dynamic nature of luxury fashion buying for the Greek market, despite its relatively small size and lack of fashion tourists compared to other European countries such as Italy, France and England. The recent creation of a new, younger consumer segment as a result of easier access to consumer credit and the launch of diffusion lines such as Miu Miu from Prada and D&G from Dolce et Gabbana, alongside the characteristics and lifestyle of Greek consumers and their appetite for conspicuous consumption by wearing luxury branded clothing, were considered key factors for the dynamic nature of the market:\nMerchandise requirements: Inter-organisational factors\nConclusion: The constructs in Sheth's (1981) model were found to be applicable to the Greek luxury fashion retail context in determining the selection of brand and product mix in independent boutiques. Discussion of the most relevant constructs now follows.\nTheoretical implications: The findings of the study suggest that despite the recognition of the buying function as a strategic contributor to the success of the company, there remains some validity in Ettenson and Wagner (1986, p. 42) notion of fashion buying as \"a mysterious, intuitive process\", at least where the decision was ultimately made by the owner-manager rather than the professional buyer. Buyers tended to favour the use of statistical analysis of historic sales figures as a means of reducing risk and improving forecasting precision, qualified by feedback from store managers and sales assistants to provide explanations for data patterns, thus disputing the idea that creativity is compromised by quantitative techniques (Aufreiter et al., 2003). In contrast, where the owner-manager had final sign-off on the selection, this was generally a more intuitive decision based on personal preferences, thus potentially less optimal in terms of achieving sell-through. The considerable investment in inventory required before each season means that sell-through to maximise return on investment is key to the financial stability of the retailer. Additionally, the democratisation of luxury can be seen via the rise of a new younger luxury fashion consumer who is more fashion-conscious and influenced by trends and price to a greater extent than the archetypical older luxury consumer, and represents an attractive yet challenging target market segment for retailers (\nLimitations and future research: Due to the exploratory nature of the study and its focus on the context of a particular geographical marketplace, the findings may not be generalised to other countries. Additionally, the research was carried out at the beginning of the economic recession period in Greece and before the impact of the government's austerity measures impacted widely upon citizens, leading to severe reining in of consumer spending due to widespread unemployment (Smith, 2012). With reduced consumer spending on non-essentials, the sustainability of the luxury reseller fashion sector becomes more uncertain and as these companies focus on survival, retailer buying practices may be modified from those discussed in this paper.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the decision-making process used by luxury fashion retail buyers in Greece in order to assess the applicability of Sheth's (1981) model to the selection of brands and collections by retail buyers in luxury fashion resellers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study takes an interpretive approach, utilising participant observation and semi-structured interviews with retail buyers in five luxury fashion reseller companies in Greece, which boasts the world's highest proportion of luxury fashion consumers. Qualitative data were analysed thematically according to the theoretical constructs in Sheth's (1981) model of merchandise buyer behaviour.\nFindings: Brand reputation, quality, appropriateness for the market and exclusive distribution were the most important criteria for supplier selection. For evaluating merchandise, the most important criteria were design, style, fashionability and quality. The most relevant influencer of decision making in supplier selection was the competitive structure in terms of the power balance between retailer and brand. For merchandise selection, the most relevant influencing factors were retailer size, management mentality, product positioning and type of decision (re-buy or new task).\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to the exploratory nature of the study and its focus on the context of a particular geographical marketplace, the findings may not be generalised to other countries.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides an insight into the decision-making practice of retail buyers in Greek luxury fashion retailers, where the buying task involves balancing the retailer's commercial interests with a more cultural role in terms of shaping fashion trends and generating PR and publicity for the retailer. The task is further complicated by the power imbalance between retailer and brand, enabling brands to impose limitations on the buyer's decision. Additionally, the combined influence of shortening product life cycles, increasing product variety and the emergence of a new and younger luxury fashion consumer requires a shift from intuitive to scientific, data-driven decision making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evolution of technology perceptions over time	[ "Behaviour change", "Technology adoption", "Consumer behaviour/choice/demand/empowerment/reviews/consumerism", "Technology acceptance model (TAM)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As the information society develops, differences emerge in the purposes of technology use and perceptions among users because learned behavioural models are dependent on the cultural contexts of living (Wallace et al., 2013; Shin, 2012). Mobile applications, online services, e-government and social media have gained ground as contact interfaces for daily-use services, meaning that all citizens must have a minimum ability to use computer-related devices. To maintain this ability, users must keep up to date, highlighting the importance of continuous learning at the individual level, which has become necessary for survival in this modern information society (Gripenberg, 2011). For instance, older people may use the internet to communicate with family and friends, perform routine tasks, such as banking or shopping, and to access information on health, community resources and a variety of other topics (Kilpelainen and Seppanen, 2014). However, aging user may experience reduced abilities to use and accept today's technology due to experimental, habitual, functional and cognitive hurdles common in older age (Hanson, 2011; Lin and Hsieh, 2012). To make technology useful and accessible to older adults, the research and design community must \"get to know the user\" by seeking to understand the needs, preferences and abilities of older people (Vroman et al., 2015). This makes time an important factor, as technological development in recent years has been rapid. Users currently aged 65 have different computer-related technology and application ability levels, and there is evidence for the reverse U-shaped behaviour of a person's self-rated ability to use new technology over their lifetime (e.g. Varma and Marler, 2013). In practice, the people adopting today's technologies will experience improved performance and continue using these technologies until further developments erode their capabilities, causing feelings of uncertainty during use.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses: 2.1. Behavioural and cognitive learning models\n3. Methods: 3.1. Sample and demographics\n4. Research model, key concepts and measurements: The computer-related concepts illustrated in Figure 1 were each measured using two items. Considering the target population and the data collection method, it was necessary to keep the measurement scales as short as possible to avoid frustrating and exhausting the respondents. All items were statements measured using a five-point Likert scale that ranged from complete disagreement to complete agreement.\n5. Results of the multi-group modelling: Table IV summarizes the modelling results. The model produced an excellent fit for the data, as indicated by the kh2 test, the normed fit index (NFI), the non-normed fit index (NNFI) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) (e.g. Hair et al., 1998; Kelloway, 1998). For each path, the standardized path coefficient was reported, including its level of significance. The first part of the table (the unrestricted model) gathers the results of the basic model estimated separately for both groups. The second part of the table (the restricted model) includes the results of the comparison of the path coefficients across the groups.\n6. Discussion and conclusions: The present study starts a new discussion on how time moderates the relationships of technology perceptions in behavioural models that have been used to predict behavioural intention. The purpose of this study was to analyse how an eight-year time gap changed users' perceptions of technology and the interrelations of factors influencing technology usage at the population level. Time was attached to the model developed to moderate the perceived behavioural control of computers. The empirical evidence of the study was gathered from two cross-sectional mail surveys conducted in 2004 and 2012 in southeast Finland, which included equal measurements for independent samples.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As the information society further develops, electronic services are created and physical distribution networks become sparse, it is important to analyse the determinants that inhibit or facilitate the ability to use these services. By focusing on the perceived behavioural control of computers, the purpose of this paper is to analyse how perceived physical restrictions, computer anxiety and ease of use influence the perceptions of control.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors examined older consumers (aged 60-79) in two cross-sectional studies conducted through mail surveys in 2004 and 2012. Randomized samples (n=1,000 in 2004 and n=3,000 in 2012) were drawn from the Finnish Population Register. The empirical research utilized structural equation modelling through multi-group analysis to explore the differences in the interrelationships between physical restrictions, computer anxiety, perceived ease of use and perceived behavioural control.\nFindings: The results indicate that perceived behavioural control is directly influenced by ease of use and indirectly influenced by physical restrictions and computer anxiety. The eight-year time gap moderated only the relationship between physical restrictions and ease of use. Development seems to have been favourable, and device-related restrictions do not decrease ease of use as much as previously reported.\nOriginality/value: The present study starts a new discussion on how time moderates the relationship of technology perceptions in behavioural models that have been used to predict behavioural intent.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does TeamSTEPPS affect psychological status?	[ "Stress", "Emergency care", "Education", "Teamwork", "Cardiopulmonary resuscitation", "Patient simulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Institute of Medicine released a quality improvement and patient safety report in 2000 (Kohn et al., 2000), which highlighted a need to establish training programs for healthcare teams and to adopt simulation-based training methods. Based on this proposal, staff at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in collaboration with the USA Department of Defense, released the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) program as the national standard for healthcare team training programs in the USA (King et al., 2008). Since then, the TeamSTEPPS program has been used in various settings. Simultaneously, simulation-based training has become widely incorporated into student and post-graduate education (Okuda et al., 2009), and the TeamSTEPPS program has been combined with simulation-based training. Under these circumstances, TeamSTEPPS program evaluators have used using various methods. Popular TeamSTEPPS program effects are based on questionnaire surveys and rating sheets, such as the Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire (T-TAQ) and the TeamSTEPPS Team Performance Observation Tool (TPOT). Validation studies, using these evaluation methods, have repeatedly reported favorable simulation-based training effects combined with the TeamSTEPPS program (Brock et al., 2013; Sawyer et al., 2013; Robertson et al., 2010). Though the TeamSTEPPS program is known to improve team performance, and consequently, leads to improved clinical performance, the program's influence on psychological stress has not been clarified (Schmutz and Manser, 2013). Studies examine the relationship between psychological stress and team performance (Driskell et al., 1999), and some report the relationship between psychological stress and clinical performance (LeBlanc, 2009; Hunziker et al., 2011; Bjorshol et al., 2011; LeBlanc et al., 2008). However, results are inconsistent, and only a few studies examine the interrelations among these three factors. Wetzel et al. (2011) evaluated stress management intervention for surgeons by measuring teamwork, stress and technical skills. Ghazali et al. (2016) suggested a study protocol that evaluated clinical performance, team performance and stress repeated simulation sessions. The literature on these three factors is poor, thus the interrelations has not been clarified. Autonomic nervous activity is a popular psychological stress indicator (Oken et al., 2015; Bosch et al., 2003), and salivary amylase level (Nater and Rohleder, 2009) and heart rate variability (HRV) (Thayer et al., 2012) are two popular indicators. We evaluated the team members' psychological stress levels during their participation in the TeamSTEPPS program by measuring these parameters.\nMethods: Definitions\nResults: Demographics and pre-training test\nDiscussion: Crew Resource Management (CRM) was first used in the aviation field in the late 1970s to improve non-technical skills, such as team training and was adapted to healthcare for medical error and patient safety training, eventually spreading to anesthesiology and surgery (Vincent, 2011). Given this background, accumulated evidence regarding team training in the medical field has been less than that available for other fields, and little is known about team training effect on psychological stress (LeBlanc, 2009). Therefore, we attempted to evaluate participants' psychological stress. The salivary amylase level and HRV were selected as physiological stress indicators. However, significant changes in these indicators were not observed, which suggests that the TeamSTEPPS program had no influence on the autonomic nervous activity, and we conclude that the TeamSTEPPS program improved team and clinical performance without increasing psychological stress. We had difficulty defining what an objective measurement or a subjective measurement was. Amylase and HRV are objective measurements, while T-TAQ (the questionnaire survey) is a subjective measurement. However, we could not classify TPOT and clinical performance as either objective or subjective measurement. Instead, we regard these measurements as subjective as they were evaluated based on human judgment. On the other hand, we consider these measurements as objective since they were blindly evaluated according to the checklist. We can classify these measures as mechanical/human or quantitative/qualitative, not objective/subjective. However, we felt that this discussion was meaningless because TPOT and clinical performance were evaluated blindly. We predicted that there was no difference between mechanical and human evaluation if human evaluation had been performed blinded.\nLimitations: Our study had limitations. First, participant numbers were limited, and we might not obtain definitive results. Second, we only measured two autonomic nervous activity indicators. In some physiology studies, the psychological stress profile is evaluated using a surface electromyogram (SEMG), electrodermal activity (EDA), skin temperature (TEMP), blood volume pulse (BVP), respiration (RESP) and an electroencephalogram (EEG). The indicators that we used might not have been appropriate for psychological stress evaluation. Future studies should use other indicators. Third, the blinding procedure might have been unreliable. The assessor who evaluated TPOT and clinical performance was not notified whether the group was a TeamSTEPPS attendance group. However, the assessor must have discovered it unconsciously during the evaluation; e.g., if items showed good results at early evaluation, then the assessor might identify the TeamSTEPPS attendance group at that time. Hence, selection bias can occur, which might improve the team's total score. Finally, the study protocol might have been problematic. Regarding salivary amylase level and HRV measurement, timing might have been inappropriate. Salivary amylase levels were measured only before and after the emergency care scenarios. Salivary amylase level changes in a short period (Takai et al., 2004); thus, we should measure this parameter more often throughout the simulation. As for HRV, participants were examined while in a standing position and could give oral instructions. Ideally, however, HRV should be measured while the subject is supine or sitting, keeping calm, as body position changes have an impact on HRV (Lipsitz et al., 1990; Pomeranz et al., 1985). In our study, since no change was observed in salivary amylase level or HRV, we concluded that autonomic nervous activity was not influenced by the TeamSTEPPS program. However, a larger and more sophisticated study is needed to confirm our results.\nConclusions and recommendations: We examined TeamSTEPPS program effects on psychological stress during CPR. The TeamSTEPPS program was thought to improve team and clinical performance without affecting autonomic nervous activity negatively. Although a larger and more sophisticated study is needed to confirm our results, we recommend that a simulation-based training should be combined with the TeamSTEPPS program.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) program is known to improve team and clinical performance, but the relationship to psychological stress has not been clarified. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate team performance, clinical performance and psychological stress simultaneously in a simulation-based training combined with or without the TeamSTEPPS program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This randomized, controlled, prospective pilot study was performed to reveal TeamSTEPPS impact on psychological stress. The course included an emergency care training course, the TeamSTEPPS program, and a scenario simulation. Ten medical student teams were randomly allocated two groups: a TeamSTEPPS group and a non-TeamSTEPPS group. Team performance, clinical performance and psychological stress were evaluated simultaneously in the course; i.e., questionnaire evaluation and an observational evaluation for team performance; an assessor's evaluation and a simulator's evaluation for clinical performance. Autonomic nervous activity, represented by salivary amylase levels and heart rate variability, were measured as psychological stress indicators.\nFindings: Team performance and clinical performance were significantly better in the TeamSTEPPS group, while psychological stress did not differ between the groups.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to examine the relationship between TeamSTEPPS and psychological stress. Although only preliminary conclusions can be drawn from this small-scale study, results suggest that the TeamSTEPPS program improved team and clinical performance without increasing psychological stress.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A Monte Carlo evaluation of non-parametric estimators of expected shortfall	[ "Ranking", "Simulation", "Expected shortfall", "Non-parametric estimates", "Performance profiles", "G11", "G17", "G28", "G32" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over decades, the value at risk (VaR) played a dominant role in quantifying asset and portfolio risks of commercial banks, insurance companies and non-financial firms (Basel Committee of Banking Supervision, 1996, 2004; Jorion, 2007; Danielsson, 2011). However, in recent years, the growing awareness of the measure's theoretical deficiencies has led researchers and practitioners to rethink its application. The VaR captures the loss that is not exceeded with a certain confidence level and thus naturally does not look at the loss we have to expect if a tail event occurs. In other words, it considers only the likelihood but not the size of large losses. Furthermore, it fails to account appropriately for portfolio risk diversification because it does not fulfill the important properties of subadditivity (Artzner et al., 1997, 1999) and convexity (Basak and Shapiro, 2001). In contrast, the expected shortfall (ES) does not suffer from such shortcomings because it is defined as the expected value of losses exceeding the VaR (Acerbi and Tasche, 2002a, 2002b; Tasche, 2002; Yamai and Yoshiba, 2005). Consequently, regulators have suggested phasing out the VaR and replacing it with the ES in the calculation of capital requirements of banks (Basel Committee of Banking Supervision, 2012). Moreover, the usage of ES in the construction and evaluation of stock, bond, commodity, currency and even bitcoin portfolios is on the rise (Harmantzis et al., 2006; Reboredo, 2013; Yao et al., 2013; Paraschiv et al., 2015; Degiannakis and Potamia, 2017; Stavroyiannis, 2018).\n2. Estimators of expected shortfall: 2.1 Preliminary definitions\n3. Simulation setup: 3.1 General design\n4. Results: 4.1 Basel framework\n5. Conclusion: Motivated by recent proposals to replace the VaR with the ES in the calculation of capital requirements and other portfolio management applications, we present a rich set of tables and figures which systematically compare the performance of popular non-parametric estimators of ES to each other, well-known parametric benchmarks and combinations of different ES estimators. This material allows researchers and risk managers to quickly look up the most suitable estimator for a specific distributional environment and decision problem.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Motivated by the growing importance of the expected shortfall in banking and finance, this study aims to compare the performance of popular non-parametric estimators of the expected shortfall (i.e. different variants of historical, outlier-adjusted and kernel methods) to each other, selected parametric benchmarks and estimates based on the idea of forecast combination.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Within a multidimensional simulation setup (spanned by different distributional settings, sample sizes and confidence levels), the authors rank the estimators based on classic error measures, as well as an innovative performance profile technique, which the authors adapt from the mathematical programming literature.\nFindings: The rich set of results supports academics and practitioners in the search for an answer to the question of which estimators are preferable under which circumstances. This is because no estimator or combination of estimators ranks first in all considered settings.\nOriginality/value: To the best of their knowledge, the authors are the first to provide a structured simulation-based comparison of non-parametric expected shortfall estimators, study the effects of estimator averaging and apply the mentioned profiling technique in risk management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing a fuzzy risk assessment model for guaranteed maximum price and target cost contracts in South Australia	[ "Risk assessment", "Fuzzy synthetic evaluation", "Guaranteed maximum price contracts", "South Australia", "Target cost contracts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The potential problems with the traditional procurement method are identified as causing confrontational working relationships between contracting parties. Different parties only tend to achieve their own individual objectives in the projects rather than the overall project objectives under such traditional procurement arrangement. Target cost contracts (TCC), which aim to align the commercial interests of both parties (e.g. clients and contractors) together to achieve win-win situation (Yeung et al., 2007), are considered to be one of the possible solutions to improve such adversarial relationships (Construction Industry Review Committee, 2001). However, this kind of contract is claimed to be better used in those projects with high risk (Wong, 2006). Venues for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Terminal 5 at the Heathrow Airport in London are famous examples of applying the New Engineering Contract with Option C (Target Cost with Activity Schedule). It was manifested that previous research studies on this procurement area mainly focus on their respective benefits and limitations (Davis and Stevenson, 2004; Chan et al., 2007), establishment of the gain-share/pain-share ratio (Broome and Perry, 2002; Badenfelt, 2008) and the like. However, few, if any, research studies have specifically focused on the risk assessment of TCC and guaranteed maximum price contracts (TCC/GMP).\nReview of previous studies: Concepts of TCC and GMP\nResearch methodology: Desktop search\nResearch results and discussions: Selection of KRFs by normalisation of combined mean score\nConclusions: This research study has established an objective, reliable and comprehensive risk assessment model for TCC/GMP construction projects in Australia by adopting a fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach. The development of this model has enhanced the understanding of project team members on implementing a successful TCC/GMP construction project. The model may help the industrial practitioners to measure, evaluate and mitigate the risk level of the projects based on objective evidence instead of subjective judgements. The research findings demonstrated that \"Physical risks\" is the most critical risk group associated with TCC/GMP schemes that places significant barriers for TCC/GMP projects to succeed in real practice. This may be attributed to the fact that common physical risk factors like inclement weather and unforeseeable ground conditions are severe risks within the construction industry worldwide, while under TCC/GMP schemes, the contractors are liable to any cost overruns, and the respondents would consider such risk to be a significant one.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to develop a fuzzy risk assessment model for construction projects procured with target cost contracts and guaranteed maximum price contracts (TCC/GMP) using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, based on an empirical questionnaire survey with relevant industrial practitioners in South Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 34 major risk factors inherent with TCC/GMP contracts were identified through an extensive literature review and a series of structured interviews. A questionnaire survey was then launched to solicit the opinions of industrial practitioners on risk assessment of such risk factors.\nFindings: The most important 14 key risk factors after the computation of normalised values were selected for undertaking fuzzy evaluation analysis. Five key risk groups (KRGs) were then generated in descending order of importance as: physical risks, lack of experience of contracting parties throughout TCC/GMP procurement process, design risks, contractual risks and delayed payment on contracts. These survey findings also revealed that physical risks may be the major hurdle to the success of TCC/GMP projects in South Australia.\nPractical implications: Although the fuzzy risk assessment model was developed for those new-build construction projects procured by TCC/GMP contracts in this paper, the same research methodology may be applied to other contracts within the wide spectrum of facilities management or building maintenance services under the target cost-based model. Therefore, the contribution from this paper could be extended to the discipline of facilities management as well.\nOriginality/value: An overall risk index associated with TCC/GMP construction projects and the risk indices of individual KRGs can be generated from the model for reference. An objective and a holistic assessment can be achieved. The model has provided a solid platform to measure, evaluate and reduce the risk levels of TCC/GMP projects based on objective evidence instead of subjective judgements. The research methodology could be replicated in other countries or regions to produce similar models for international comparisons, and the assessment of risk levels for different types of TCC/GMP projects (including new-build or maintenance) worldwide.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A systematic review of research on innovation in hospitality and tourism	[ "Competitiveness", "Innovation", "Tourism", "Bibliometric analysis", "Small firms", "Hospitality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In contemporary economies and during the current period of structural changes, the service sector has been gaining recognition, as it offers opportunities for growth and job creation. A strong dynamism in terms of innovation and employment growth can be seen in service businesses (Bogliacino et al., 2013). Consequently, the creation of new ideas and innovation should be properly stimulated and managed to address the success of the service sector. Many authors agree that innovation is a critical source of competitive advantage and consequently of performance in the current continuously changing environment (Dess and Picken, 2000; Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2011; Kyrgidou and Spyropoulou, 2013; Ngo and O'Cass, 2013; Tushman and O'Reilly, 1996). According to studies in the area of management, innovation capability is one of the most significant factors of a firm's performance (Cillo et al., 2010, Garcia-Morales et al., 2012; Kafourosa et al., 2008; Mone et al., 1998; Trunk Sirca et al., 2013). Some authors (Anderson et al., 2014; Bogers et al., 2010; Keupp et al., 2012; Peres et al., 2010; Prajogo and Sohal, 2001; Tang, 1998) mainly addressed innovation in manufacturing, while Carlborg et al. (2014) focused on innovation in the service industry.\nInnovation research: Schumpeter (1934) accurately defined innovation by dividing it into the following categories:\nInnovation in hospitality and tourism: Tourism has some key characteristics for developing new definitions and other typologies of innovation. The importance of innovation for tourism is multidimensional, as is the phenomenon of tourism itself. Innovative tourist products bring a high degree of added value. By increasing the capacity for innovation, a tourism supplier can become increasingly exclusive. Tourism destinations are forced to plan and implement innovative approaches to attract potential customers (Santos, 2014). In this way, a destination begins to offer experiences that have not previously been made available. This helps the providers to gain a unique advantage to clearly differentiate themselves from the competition.\nMethodology: Choosing a methodology\nBibliometric analysis: Methods of bibliometric analysis use quantitative information from bibliographic databases (e.g. Web of Science) to identify influential prior work. When scholars cite a particular article, it means that they find it useful. The bibliometric method of co-citation analysis draws on the citation data in the tourism innovation field to identify the structure of the theoretical foundations of the current literature. Thus, it is used in the collective judgement of the field to perform this analysis.\nDeduction: The last step of this analysis will be a detailed presentation of the 152 reviewed papers. Although a relatively small number of studies covered the same or similar topics, the examination of the 152 articles that were included in this systematic review brought out some key factors related to innovation. A detailed analysis of the reviewed studies led us to divide the papers into three groups: papers analysing the importance of innovation for firms, papers dealing with regional innovation and papers focusing on innovation in general. For each group, a set of variables related to innovation was developed. This framework forms the basis for the presentation and discussion of findings. The following part of the paper also demonstrates a fragmented area of innovation research with several totally different conclusions; this heterogeneity of innovation dimensions and the lack of interconnection thus constitute justification for this research.\nConclusions: This paper offers a review of the \"state of the issue\" regarding the existing studies about innovation in the tourism sector. Tourism innovation research has grown significantly in terms of diverse topics. However, to the authors' knowledge, no updated systematic reviews focusing on innovation in hospitality and tourism have been published recently. This study, consisting of a systematic review of academic literature, includes analyses of the international context, the methodology used, the points of view presented, the level of analysis (micro-level, macro-level and general level) and the type of innovation discussed in the paper. Reviewing the literature, it was found that, in their studies, many authors (Anderson et al., 2014; Bogers et al., 2010; Keupp et al., 2012; Peres et al., 2010; Prajogo and Sohal, 2001) mainly addressed innovation in manufacturing, while Carlborg et al. (2014) focused on innovation in the service industry. No contemporary systematic literature review in the field of innovation in the tourism industry was found. Thus, the present study represents an attempt to fill this gap. Traditional literature reviews have been frequently criticised for their usually subjective methodology and lack of relevance; with this in mind, specific principles of the systematic review methodology (Tranfield et al., 2003), which utilises a rigorous, replicable, scientific and transparent process (Cook et al., 1997) were applied.\nTheoretical implications: The theoretical significance of this paper is its presentation of a systematic review of the literature, different research approaches and perspectives on tourism innovation, through which it helps to enrich knowledge in the area of innovation in the tourism business. This study provides a solid theoretical basis for further research of innovation in tourism.\nPractical implications: Some suggestions and direct managerial implications can be summarised from this study. This study suggests that innovation in the hospitality and tourism industry has a positive influence on performance (including service quality and financial and market performance). For managers, as well as for other decision-makers, this reinforces the need to view innovation from a strategic point of view. All kinds of innovation should be viewed as a key part of the overall tourism firm's or destination's competitive strategy. Because of the dynamic changes in the tourism market and in customer demand, hospitality and tourism firms need to follow the changing modes to obtain a competitive position. Innovation may help managers at the firm and regional level to identify new opportunities and avoid competitive threats on the market. Thus, policymakers should seek to enhance the development of innovation in the tourism business. To encourage the innovative behaviour of firms and of tourism destinations, managers may need to facilitate the successful implementation of innovative processes.\nSuggestions for future research: This research can be advanced by developing and empirically testing the connections between factors influencing innovation and innovations outputs (e.g. firm performance). Including all these variables in a model would reveal the importance of particular determinants for innovation activity and innovation performance and, consequently, the impact of innovativeness on firm performance. For the continuation of the research, more studies with the aim of theory development are proposed. By introducing new theoretical ideas and theoretical models, more qualitative and inductive research would stimulate further work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the state of academic research on innovation in tourism. The authors present a systematic review of the literature, different research approaches and perspectives on tourism innovation; offer a synthesis of our findings and provide a discussion and proposals for future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Existing studies on innovation in hospitality and tourism (included in the Web of Knowledge database) were reviewed, and their limitations were identified. A procedure used in previous studies (Crossan and Apaydin, 2010; Tranfield et al., 2003; Becheikh et al., 2006) was applied. Moreover, aiming to reveal theoretical foundations of tourism innovation research and identify their structure, a bibliometric analysis was performed.\nFindings: This paper identifies 152 published papers that represent the major efforts in expanding the body of research on innovation in hospitality and tourism. The importance of innovation for business and regional competitiveness and success has been recognised by both researchers and practitioners. In the papers included in the sample of this paper, the authors identified a general consensus that much remains to be done in the development of the theory of innovation in tourism. Through bibliometric analysis, nine co-citation networks, or clusters, were retrieved by applying co-citation relations among the most cited authors. The examination of these nine clusters revealed some dominant themes that characterise the field.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors used three databases: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. While these databases may not include all relevant research, the authors, nonetheless, believe that by using a rigorous procedure in reviewing the literature systematically, they were able to reduce the probability of neglecting any information that would critically change the content of the present paper.\nPractical implications: The aim of this paper was to bring together the prior research with presently existing models that may be used in further research. For the continuation of the research, the authors propose additional studies with the aim of theory development. By introducing new theoretical ideas and theoretical models, more qualitative and inductive research would help to stimulate further work. As stated above, researchers could go further by undertaking quantitative methods to empirically verify the theoretically proposed models.\nOriginality/value: Since the last review (Hjalager, 2010) of past studies in tourism innovation, mostly focusing on studies up to 2009, tourism innovation research has grown noticeably in terms of diverse topics. In this paper's database, the year with the most publications was 2012 with 48 papers, followed by 2014 with 42 (by 19 September), 2010 and 2011 with 41 and 2009 with 29. To the authors' knowledge, no updated reviews focusing on innovation in tourism have been published recently. This study, consisting of a systematic review of academic literature, includes analyses of the international context, the methodology used, the points of view, the level of analysis (micro-level, macro-level and general level) and the type of innovation discussed in the paper. Moreover, the authors did not find any studies that used bibliometric analysis to identify the structure of the theoretical foundation of research in the area of innovation in tourism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Product advertising and viral stealth marketing in online videos: A description and comparison of comments on YouTube	[ "YouTube", "Brand recognition", "Online videos", "Product advertising", "Video based online marketing", "Viral stealth marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In March 2014, Wren, a woman's clothing and accessories brand, published an online video \"First Kiss\" which achieved 23 million views within three days (Visible Measures, 2014). In the video, strangers meet for the first time and are asked to kiss each other. The video can be categorized as a viral stealth video (VSV), as brand promotion within the video is very subtle. The name of the company is mentioned only in the video credits and description. After the video was published, the publisher's site traffic and sales multiplied (Marshall, 2014). Also in March 2014, a product advertising video (PAV) \"Samsung Galaxy S5 - Official Introduction\", directly promoting the smartphone S5, reached an audience of 23.8 million viewers within the first month (Visible Measures, 2014). Although very different with regard to product and brand promotion, both videos were very successful in reaching a large audience. This is the starting point of this study, which is concerned with the online perception of such popular videos and seeks to explore brand recognition as demonstrated in online comments. Therefore topics, attitudes toward the videos and the pragmatic intent of online comments on such videos will be investigated. The study is specifically focussed on the issue of whether there are differences with regard to the distinct video types of VSVs and PAVs.\n2. Videos as a means of social media marketing: Online video marketing can be defined as presenting marketing related messages with the help of online videos on the publisher's own website, or websites of third parties. In comparison with other types of advertising, online videos exhibit attributes that make them particularly suitable for viral marketing. Video engages audiences differently to image and text (Appiah, 2006). Videos exhibit a wide variety of communication codes, encompassing verbal and non-verbal communication. The storyline-based communication in videos is more immediate and versatile (Nottingham, 2012). Consequently, videos are much more apt to evoke emotions or explore complex issues than other media.\n3. Content analysis-based research in social media marketing: In order to build a basis for the research design, a short outline of content analysis-based research in social media marketing will be provided. An overview of related work reveals that there are plentiful investigations in the wider field of social media marketing. Many investigations focus on Twitter and Facebook. However, content analysis-based research on YouTube is rather scarce. The following review of studies in the field delivers an orientation of the present research on this issue. Thereby, content analysis-based research in social media marketing can be roughly categorized into two main subject areas: research on brand communication (strategies and its effects) and studies that analyze the communication behavior of users. Both themes are relevant for this investigation and therefore pertinent studies are included. In addition, seen from a methodological perspective, current research can be categorized into studies that (A) try to discover and infer the nature and function of communication artefacts (usually posts and comments), (B) investigations that aim to reveal specific patterns of communication (processes and attributes), and (C), studies that include and combine (A) and (B). The following overview is structured according to the mentioned categories (A)-(C):\n4. Research design: 4.1. Research question\n5. Analysis and results: The following analysis is structured as follows. First, an overview of the data set according to VSVs and PAVs segments is given, to provide insights into basic aspects of video perception and the resulting communication. On this basis, specific attributes and relations of brand perception are explored.\n6. Discussion and further research: Based on this research, how can one estimate the results and methodology of this investigation? What may be its wider utility?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the context of social media marketing, so called viral stealth videos (VSVs) often attract as much or even more attention than videos that directly advertise products (product advertising video (PAV)). However, beyond this, the product or brand-related impact of such videos is not so clear. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate brand perception of PAVs and VSVs in YouTube.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research design is based on an examination of comments of six VSVs and six PAVs on YouTube. Therefore, the content of 1,080 posts was analyzed to capture the topic, the attitude toward the video and the pragmatic intent of posts.\nFindings: Results indicate that there are strong differences with regard to users\nResearch limitations/implications: As a whole, the study is widely descriptive and of explorative value. Nevertheless, the research design can be estimated as a first step to measure the brand-related impact of online videos. Ideally, the data generated in the investigation should be combined with traffic and conversion data of the brands' websites to get an encompassing picture of the marketing related impact of the investigated online videos.\nPractical implications: Seen from a marketers' perspective, one can recommend PAVs over VSVs as there are hardly any brand-related impacts of VSVs visible in online communication. PAVs are perceived less positively but they are able to evoke brand awareness at least.\nOriginality/value: According to the authors' knowledge this investigation is one of only a few studies that analyzes real online communication in the context of video-based online marketing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical examination of the best practices to ensure manufacturing flexibility: Lean alignment	[ "Flexible manufacturing systems", "Lean production", "Best practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The North American nightly business news is full of reports of layoffs by struggling manufacturers, the negative impact of rising labour costs on manufacturers, the increasing costs and scarcity of raw materials. Such reports serve as a grim reminder that organizations are constantly surrounded by uncertainty from a wide variety of sources, ranging from demand and supply inconsistencies to machine breakdowns. To help adapt to such uncertainties and not be the focus of such bad news, organizations are investing in practices to improve the flexibility of their manufacturing facility (Boyle, 2006; Anand and Ward, 2004; Hutchison and Das, 2007) and supply chain (Stevenson and Spring, 2007). Manufacturing flexibility is the capability of a manufacturing system or facility to effectively address uncertainty from a wide variety of sources, yet continue to produce efficiently different products or product volumes of acceptable quality, cost, and timeframe. Investments in manufacturing flexibility enable organizations to better adapt to uncertainty, redefine or reduce uncertainty and competitive position, or bank the capability to address a perceived future uncertainty (Gerwin, 1993; Ketokivi, 2006).Recently, manufacturing managers have a wide variety of options for improving manufacturing flexibility, ranging from hard technology solutions, such as robotics and flexible manufacturing systems, to people focused options, such as cross-training, to external practices, such as outsourcing (Friedli, 2006). Given the wide variety of options, managers are faced with the challenge of choosing flexibility tools and techniques that adequately address uncertainty, yet are aligned with broader manufacturing goals, organizational strategies, and management philosophies, such as lean production.Lean is a management philosophy (Shah and Ward, 2007) focused on identifying and eliminating waste throughout a product's entire value stream, extending not only within the organization, but also along its entire supply chain network. Lean is achieved through a set of mutually reinforcing practices, including total quality management, continuous improvement, supplier management, integrative information systems, and effective human resource management. Lean results in improved output and quality levels, and achieves this using fewer resources, such as raw materials and employee effort. With international dominance across a multitude of industries, this philosophy of production originally developed for the Japanese auto industry, has proven its value far beyond its original industrial sector and geographic region. Recently, lean is applied to a wide variety of industries of varying sizes, ranging from global aerospace companies to small community hospitals.If the lean philosophy forms a large part of the organizational strategy, traditional flexibility techniques such as stockpiling parts or idle back-up machines on the shop floor, albeit excellent for achieving flexibility, are inconsistent with lean thinking. In such a case, these flexibility techniques may negatively impact other manufacturing goals such as waste reduction. So how are today's manufacturing organizations identifying and achieving the appropriate levels of manufacturing flexibility needed to face high levels of environmental uncertainty? And are the manufacturing flexibility practices, tools, and techniques chosen in-line with the broader organizational goal of lean production? This study examines these important questions through a number of research objectives. The specific objectives of this study are to identify the best practices managers use to improve the flexibility of their manufacturing facility and examine the relationship between these practices to boarder organizational philosophies such as lean, in order to develop a framework to ensure that flexibility improvements are in line with lean. To achieve these research objectives, we first review and synthesize the existing conceptual frameworks in the extant literature (Boyle, 2006; Olhager and West, 2002; Narain et al., 2000; Schmenner and Tatikonda, 2005) in order to identify the commonly cited best practices for improving manufacturing flexibility. The best practices are then presented to 169 North American manufacturing managers to gauge their value for improving flexibility and ensuring alignment with broader organizational strategies, such as lean. Next, the key flexibility tools and techniques that such managers are using, and the major organizational groups (e.g. functional areas outside of manufacturing, suppliers, customers) involved in flexibility decision making are identified. We then combine the above objectives to develop a framework to help managers ensure that the flexibility tools and techniques selected are better aligned with the goals of lean production.\n2 Improving manufacturing flexibility: Given the uncertainty faced by today's manufacturing organizations, it is not surprising that flexibility has been highlighted by both researchers and managers alike as a critical component of the manufacturing strategy and a competitive priority for organizations (Davies and Kochhar, 2002; Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2001; Ketokivi, 2006). Yet, the nightly business news highlights a common theme among many manufacturing companies; the challenge of achieving and sustaining acceptable levels of manufacturing flexibility. Reports ranging from fine-paper factories to consumer electronics have found that efforts at improving flexibility are often considered unsuccessful or disappointing (Zukin and Dalcol, 2000; Upton, 1995; Slack, 2005). This is not surprising, as improving and sustaining appropriate levels of manufacturing flexibility is a very challenging and complex task. This is due in a large part both the multidimensional nature of manufacturing flexibility (D'Souza and Williams, 2000; Vokurka and O'Leary-Kelly, 2000) and the lack of widely accepted and robust measurements (Koste et al., 2004). For example, manufacturing flexibility can exist at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels within the organization (Narain et al., 2000), is comprised of a wide variety of types, including machine, volume, and product, which can be measured in terms of potential, actual and required levels (Koste and Malhotra, 1999).Despite the multidimensional nature of flexibility and the lack of robust and widely accepted measures, various conceptual frameworks have been developed to assist managers with flexibility improvement efforts. With examples including Boyle (2006), Oke (2005), Schmenner and Tatikonda (2005), Olhager and West (2002), Narain et al. (2000), Abdel-Malek et al. (2000), Hitt et al. (1998), Nilsson and Nordahl (1995), Gerwin (1993), Suarez et al. (1991), Slack (1988) and Aaker and Mascarenhas (1984). Yet, none of these frameworks examine the flexibility - lean relationship in significant detail. And a review of the extant literature on lean failed to highlight studies addressing the manufacturing flexibility - lean relationship in significant detail. Despite not specifically addressing issues surrounding lean, the above-mentioned frameworks represent an adequate starting point for empirically testing best practices to ensure flexibility - lean alignment. Specifically, these frameworks highlight a number of commonalities, which may represents potential best practices for ensuring flexibility - lean alignment. Table I highlights similarities and differences between the flexibility implementation frameworks found in the extant literature.With a few exceptions, the need to examine the environmental dynamics is a key factor of all the frameworks. According to contingency theory, there has to be a fit between a company's structure and its environment (Drazin and van de Ven, 1985). This leads directly to the view that in uncertain and fast changing environments, organizations require the flexibility to make quick changes. In addition to environmental scanning, Slack (1988), Suarez et al. (1991), Gerwin (1993), Nilsson and Nordahl (1995), Hitt et al. (1998) and Narain et al. (2000) all highlight the need to examine various organizational strategies (e.g. competitive, manufacturing and marketing) when determining appropriate levels of flexibility. Many of these frameworks also suggest that flexibility is an effective means to address uncertainty, is only one dimension, or component, of a manufacturing strategy, and can improve business growth and financial performance (Swamidass and Newell, 1987; Upton, 1994; Vokurka and O'Leary-Kelly, 2000; Suarez et al., 1991; Slack, 1988).Regardless of the driving forces for flexibility improvements, the majority of frameworks highlight the need to identify required levels of flexibility for each flexibility type (e.g. volume, product and process). Methods to improve flexibility are usually linked to the goal of obtaining the required level of flexibility, thereby narrowing the gap between actual and required flexibility levels. Researchers state that action programs have to be put into place to overcome this flexibility gap, while Gerwin (1993), Abdel-Malek et al. (2000), Narain et al. (2000), Olhager and West (2002) and Schmenner and Tatikonda (2005) identify the need to periodically monitor this relationship to ensure that overtime the flexibility changes implemented continue to adequately address uncertainty.Various frameworks also cite the multidimensional nature of flexibility by suggesting that organizations need to consider actual and required levels of flexibility in terms of their range (i.e. ability to accommodate a large range on the dimension of change), mobility (i.e. transition penalties for moving within the range), and uniformity (i.e. extent that performance measures, such as quality, is invariant with the position occupied within the range) (Upton, 1994; Koste and Malhotra, 2000; Slack, 1987, 2005) and understand that manufacturing flexibility can occur at different organizational levels (i.e. strategic, tactical, and operational). Therefore, managers will need to prioritize the required manufacturing flexibility types; as sufficient resources may not exist to implement all the needed flexibility types at the required levels of range, uniformity, and mobility (Gerwin, 1993; Upton, 1994; Vokurka and O'Leary-Kelly, 2000; Narain et al., 2000). Examining the frameworks in Table I in further detail highlights a number of common practices which may also represent potential best practices to ensure manufacturing flexibility - lean alignment. These practices are presented in Table II.\n3 Research method and data analysis: 3.1 Tool development\n4 Discussion: It is very clear that manufacturing managers realize the importance of flexibility in their manufacturing operations. Organizations are investing in product, process, and volume flexibility for a variety of reasons; with representative examples from manufacturing managers including:Need to be able to react quickly to market changes. In our case it was driven by changing technology in the market. We were left in a bad situation when the product line profitability and volume went away and we did not have any new products in the pipeline to take its place.\n5 Conclusion: This research identifies the best practices, tools, and techniques for improving flexibility in manufacturing organizations, while ensuring that such efforts are inline with broader organizational goals, such a lean. This research makes a number of contributions important for researchers and practicing managers alike. For researchers, this study empirically test the best practices identified in the literature and in doing so provides empirical support for the frameworks developed in previous research studies (Olhager and West, 2002; Narain et al., 2000; Schmenner and Tatikonda, 2005). To practicing managers, this research highlights the practices, as well as corresponding tools and techniques, they should consider when improving flexibility in their manufacturing facility. In addition, for those organizations pursuing lean, this study indicates those practices that managers believe will help achieve both flexibility improvements and lean goals. Future research should further examine the relationship between these practices by developing and testing a structural equation model of these practices, and potential mediating (e.g. management commitment, organizational culture) and dependent variables (e.g. extent lean thinking, business performance).This research is focused on a specific set of industries (e.g. textile, plastics and machinery) and in a specific geographic area (i.e. North America). As a result, applying the findings to organizations outside of this industrial or geographic scope must be approached with caution. Future research is also needed to expand the study to include additional geographic areas and industries in order to develop a more holistic set of best practices and a more robust framework.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify the best practices managers use to improve manufacturing flexibility and ensure the tools and techniques selected for flexibility improvement are in line with broader organizational and manufacturing goals, such as lean production.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A number of best practices are identified based on a review and synthesis of the conceptual frameworks for improving manufacturing flexibility and are presented to North American manufacturing managers. Results of analyzing the data from 168 managers indicate the best practices, techniques, and major groups involved in improving flexibility.\nFindings: - Results support these best practices, with the most important practices being: incorporating the role of manufacturing flexibility into the manufacturing strategy; identifying the major potential sources of uncertainty faced by the manufacturing department; and identifying the general capability of the manufacturing department to address these potential sources of uncertainty. The results also indicate a growing preference to reducing sources of uncertainty, in addition to responding to it, as demonstrated by the use of lean tools and practices.\nOriginality/value: - This research empirically develops a framework linking manufacturing flexibility and lean decisions; and subsequently addressing an area under examined by the extant literature. In addition, this study empirically tests many of the best flexibility practices identified in the literature and in doing so provides some empirical support for the frameworks developed in previous studies. This research also highlights the practices, which managers should consider when attempting to improve flexibility in their manufacturing facility, while keeping in mind broader organizational strategies such as lean.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Beyond being present: learning-oriented leadership in the daily work of middle managers	[ "Leadership", "Learning", "Act of influence", "Indirect pedagogic intervention", "Middle manager" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"Beyond being present\" paraphrases the title of Hooijberg and colleagues' book Being There Even When You Are Not (Hooijberg et al., 2007) and relates to our interest in how managerial work can bring about learning conditions in an organisation. Work-integrated learning (Ellstrom, 2001) - i.e. learning that comes as an inherent part of one's daily work (Doos, 2007) - is a term used to describe informal learning that affords opportunities for development in corporations, as well as research questions that seek to understand how conditions for such learning are formed through managers' daily work. Eraut's empirical studies consistently show that most informal learning occurs \"as a by-product of normal working processes\" (Eraut, 2011, p. 186; originally italics). This oints to the importance of studying how conditions for learning processes may also be created when there is no explicit aim to facilitate learning. Following Eraut's (2011) classification of learning processes according to whether their principal intention is working or learning, our focus lies where the primary intention is working. Therefore, this paper is based on two basic assumptions: that, in their daily work, managers influence the learning conditions in the organisation by their forming of organisational and social structures (i.e. beyond face-to-face interaction), and that neither the influencer nor those being influenced are necessarily aware that they are engaged in learning processes.\n2. Previous research: In the literature about learning in organisations, there has, in recent times, been an emphasis on creating opportunities for learning through making the workplace a learning environment (Billett, 2004; Ellstrom, Ekholm, and Ellstrom, 2008; Illeris, 2004; Johansson, 2011). Previous research also points to the role of leadership in relation to the development of workplace learning environments (Agashae and Bratton, 2001; Amy, 2008). According to Yukl (2009), creating conditions for innovation and collective learning is one of the greatest challenges of leadership. Following Yukl, we define leadership as the:\n3. Learning theoretical point of departure: The theoretical foundation of this paper is the experiential learning theory (ELT) (Kolb, 1984). This theory is originally about individual learning. It has been used and developed in many studies of both individual learning and also of collective learning in teams and networks (Doos and Wilhelmson, 2011; Fejes and Andersson, 2009; Ohlsson, 2013) as well as organisational learning (Dixon, 1994; Doos et al., 2015). We find ELT useful in problematising and conceptualising informal learning processes. Following Ellstrom (2011, p. 105), we conceptualise learning in work \"contrary to much current research in this field\" [...] \"neither as a social process inseparable from work practices nor as a purely cognitive process\". Thus, there exists a significant body of research literature on informal learning at work that details how people learn when working individually and collectively.\n4. Method: The research behind this paper was part of a larger case study about organisational learning (Doos et al., 2015; Wilhelmson et al., 2013). The study was performed using qualitative methods and was done at a time of large-scale changes in the organisation's ways of working; these changes were caused by a perceived need among senior and middle management to improve the connectivity and flexibility of products as well as people, and better meet customer demands. Below, the choice of organisation and managers is explained, thereby addressing the issue of what this case represents (Yin, 1989). Also, the methods of data collection and analysis are described, and a brief contextualisation of the case study is provided to facilitate the reader's understanding of the findings.\n5. Findings: The middle managerial work at the unit included a number of tasks where the managers intended to influence the ways of working. By focusing on the managers' statements about how they acted to influence, empirically based categories of learning-oriented leadership were generated. A quote from one of the managers illustrates their overall ambition:\n6. Discussion: The aim of this paper is to contribute understanding about learning-oriented leadership as integrated in managers' daily work. In contrast to much previous research, our focus is not on direct face-to-face communication. Rather, our focus is to analyse managers' efforts to influence how work is carried out, using indirect pedagogic interventions (Doos and Ohlsson, 1999) as our analytical tool. With our emphasis on learning as experiential (Kolb, 1984), work-integrated (Ellstrom, 2001) and coming as an inherent part of one's daily work (Doos, 2007), the logical premise is that learning takes place as a by-product of action. Thus, it becomes relevant to understand how managerial work, when conceptualised as learning-oriented leadership, covers a repertoire of acts of influence that create different types of learning conditions. The use of the learning theory as a basis when analysing managers' stories has been decisive in expanding the understanding of learning-oriented leadership beyond communication with single individuals. Taking a different perspective creates another understanding that goes beyond the previous research, where beliefs about how to intentionally facilitate learning are the centre of attention (Beattie, 2006; Doornbos et al., 2004; Ellinger, 2005).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of learning-oriented leadership as being integrated in managers' daily work. The particular focus is on managers' efforts to change how work is carried out through indirect acts of influence. In their daily work, managers influence the organisation's learning conditions in ways that go beyond face-to-face interaction. Neither the influencer nor those influenced are necessarily aware that they are engaged in learning processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research was part of a larger case study. The data set comprised interviews with nine middle managers about ways of working during a period of organisational change. A learning-theoretical analysis model was used to categorise managerial acts of influence. The key concept concerned pedagogic interventions.\nFindings: Two qualitatively different routes for indirect influence were identified concerning social and organisational structures: one aligning, that narrows organisational members' discretion, and one freeing, that widens discretion. Alignment is built on fixed views of objectives and on control of their interpretation. The freeing of structures is built on confidence in emerging competence and involvement of others.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was limited to managers' descriptions in a specific context. An issue for future research is to see whether the identified categories of learning-oriented leadership are found in other organisations.\nPractical implications: The learning-oriented leadership categories cover a repertoire of acts of influence that create different learning conditions. These may be significant for the creation of a learning-conducive environment.\nOriginality/value: Managerial work that creates conducive conditions for learning does not need to be a specific task. Learning-oriented elements are inherent in aspects of managerial work, and managers' daily tasks can be understood as expressions of different kinds of pedagogic intervention.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Bridging the divide: Reflections on university-industry collaboration for the development of the graduate certificate in petroleum data management	[ "Information management", "Oil and gas", "Data management", "Professionalisation", "Distance learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The UK Energy Act (2016) recognises the need for management of petroleum data and increases the obligations and duties for licensees and \"other persons\" with respect to the stewardship and reporting of information and samples. Sanctions can now be enforced for non-compliance and these developments reflect an emerging global trend towards regulation. In response to this regulatory backdrop, the Petroleum Data Management (PDM) graduate certificate course was developed in collaboration between Common Data Access (CDA) which is currently a subsidiary of Oil and Gas UK and Robert Gordon University (RGU), Aberdeen. CDA facilitates the sharing of costs and benefits of collaboratively managing high-value oil and gas geotechnical data, primarily from their subsurface well and seismic data. As will be demonstrated in this paper, their scope and remit extends into the wider issues surrounding data management in the oil and gas industry. CDA operates on a membership basis, including most UK North Sea oil and gas operators, as well as service companies and universities.\nLiterature review: University-industry collaboration\nMethodology: The overall methodological approach of this paper is a case study of the course development of PDM. In keeping with case study methodologies, the paper draws on multiple strands of data collection including participant observation and analysis of documentation associated with the course development. A series of seven qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders. Interviewees were selected using a purposive sampling technique to get a range of perspectives. These included: a representative from CDA who were the project sponsors and main partners, the academic lead who was involved in establishing the course and taking it through validation before leaving to take up a role at another university, three interviewees were senior data management practitioners who had been involved with the course development in roles such as developing the competency framework and/or contributing course materials as subject matter experts. A further interview was conducted with a representative from oil and gas UK to give the wider industry perspective. A final interview was conducted with a graduate from the first cohort to get their views on the course and what impact, if any, it had on their professional practice. The semi-structured interviews included topics on: motivations to develop the course, interviewees' roles and reflections on the course development process, how the course content and learning outcomes were decided, what have been the main challenges and benefits, lessons learned and future development. Interviews ranged between 29 and 74 min and were recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed using the thematic \"framework\" analysis methodology first put forward by Ritchie and Spencer (cited in Srivastava and Thomson, 2009), the transparent process of which is suited to research such as this, in which the researchers' a priori awareness or experience of the case. The framework approach provides a sound tool for assessment of actions from the perspective of the people that they affect. This was evident, for example, in connection with the analysis around discussion of the value of data to the organisation and how, sometimes, that value was not recognised until later.\nFindings: Motivations for course development\nConclusions and lessons learned: This paper critically explored university-industry collaboration for supporting emerging professions by presenting an evaluation of the course development of the graduate certificate in PDM. As was demonstrated through the paper, this was ultimately a successful course development process in terms of: meeting the needs of industry, developing an effective curriculum and in the inclusion of industry subject matter experts in the course design and delivery. However, there were significant challenges throughout the course development process. The process was lengthy, involving two years of negotiations and preparatory work before the contract for course development was signed which was then followed by intensive course development before the course was launched in September 2016. Some of this could perhaps be accelerated for future course developments (especially if there is a pre-existing relationship with industry) it is important that this \"pre-development time\" is recognised as being valuable because it was a time of intense reflection and development of the core skills and competencies for the PDM profession and was building from a very limited knowledge base. The time spent on course development ensured that the course was closely aligned with the needs of industry and that this was embedded fully throughout the course. However, this protraction did expose recruitment to training budget reductions when the oil price fell. Universities interested in corporate collaboration could amend their commercial and regulatory processes to more efficiently exploit short and medium term corporate opportunities, as processes are sometimes not as agile as are claimed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the development of a new graduate certificate course in Petroleum Data Management. The course was developed in response to an identified gap in skills and training in data management that was perceived to be a substantial risk in terms of: industry sustainability, efficiency and potentially wider implications of safety as assets are transferred between operators and for decommissioning. The aim of this paper is to critically reflect on how academia and industry can work together to support emerging professions in information management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper draws on observations and interviews from key stakeholders involved in the course development.\nFindings: The course development process was ultimately successful but also challenging and lessons have been learned which will be of interest to the wider professional and academic body. These include: securing resources and industry engagement for course development, negotiating cultural differences between academic and industry and managing stakeholder relationships throughout the lifecycle of the course development.\nOriginality/value: The paper demonstrates the challenges and opportunities of developing a university course in collaboration with industry partners. Oil and gas exploration and production is a data-intensive industry but it was only relatively recently that attempts have been made to set industry standards and roles of \"data manager\" or \"data analyst\" have been created to manage these. This paper has wider implications for understanding the professionalisation of the nascent data management disciplines and contributes to the ongoing dialogue around the changing library and information science profession.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Multiple marketing plans: an analytical template	[ "Social equity", "External stakeholders", "Multiple marketing plan template", "Negative attribution", "Social networking systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The objective of this paper is to widen the scope of marketing plans beyond that of the traditionally targeted customer segment(s) and key players in the supply chain. Multiple marketing plans (MMPs) are needed due to the increasing complexity business networks as well as the need for an increased focus on stakeholders external to the firm and its supply chain network. The issues and examples raised here are mainly applicable to business-to-business (B2B) and industrial marketing practitioners.\n2. Literature review: The complexities of interacting with multiple partners have long been an issue of concern among marketers (Munksgaard et al., 2012; Ritter and Walter, 2003; Powell et al., 1996; Hakansson, 1989). The majority of work has focused on the coordination of partners within the supply chain, but related work has also been extended to directly targeted customers (Ford et al., 2002; Parolini, 1999; Norman and Ramirez, 1993).\n3. A template for multiple marketing plans: The model is designed to aid in structuring of both extant and potential marketing plans. The signs \"+, - and N/A\" which appear in the model are to be interpreted as follows:\n4. Marketing master plan: 4.1 Coordination and congruency\n5. Customers: 5.1 Final markets\n6. Supply chain partners: 6.1 Derived supply\n7. Adversarial stakeholders: 7.1 Negative attribution\n8. Media stakeholders: The role of media stakeholders is important because of their ability to present both positive and negative attribute positioning relevant to the agenda of the core network (Lessard, 2013). This consequently can influence perceptions among the public, political and legal stakeholders (Boxes 6, 7 and 8). Mass media is used here to describe both the traditional sources of broadcast and print as well as the more current forms of information access provided by hand-held devices, as the latter are now widely used to acquire information.\n9. Public stakeholders: 9.1 Target markets\n10. Political stakeholders: 10.1 Derived response\n11. Legal stakeholders: 11.1 Regulatory agencies\n12. Temporal parameters: 12.1 Market impact proxies\n13. Economic value to the core network: This variable builds on the long-established B2B concept of creating economic value to the customer and building a VCS within the core network (Partanen and Moller (2012). It also incorporates the long held principles of pro forma capital costing. Combining the these two concepts leads to the idea that hub firms must go beyond developing the case for creating economic value for themselves and the members of their core network. They must also incorporate an assessment of the potential losses that might develop with the emergence of adversarial stakeholders or the occurrence of a negative attribution event. As with pro forma capital costing, the potential costs of negative attribution must be subtracted from the potential benefits of value creation for the core network. Box 10 consequently assumes a positive impact for the hub firm and its internal network. Otherwise, the project proposal would presumably be rejected at the outset. When it comes to the macro network, potential impacts could be positive, negative or neutral (indicated by N/A). Weighing the internal network against the macro network effects results in a net contribution or loss associated with the proposal.\n14. Conclusions: Clearly much multivariate research is needed to substantiate many of the ideas suggested here. Time series work is needed to examine causality issues between the various stakeholder groups and how they influence each other. Antecedent variables need to be identified and examined through structural equation modeling techniques like Lisrel.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a template to guide practitioners in the creation of multiple marketing plans that are intended to target different groups of stakeholders - some of whom are supportive, others adversarial, namely, the business-to-business (B2B) marketer's agenda.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology involved a combination of purposeful sampling, real-time participatory observation, action research and secondary data analysis. The main method of this research is analytical and conceptual with the objective of identifying the diverse groups of stakeholders with whom business marketers must interact.\nFindings: In cases where multiple marketing plans were used for different stakeholder groups, B2B firms encountered lower levels of negative attribution from social network systems, mass media and subsequently public and governmental stakeholders.\nOriginality/value: This paper suggests the need for multiple marketing plans that target not only supportive customers but also neutral and adversarial stakeholders who represent a source of negative attribution because they have the potential to derail or even destroy the B2B firm's marketing agenda. It is suggested that practitioners must also address those stakeholders who distrust or even dislike their firm and its marketing objectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Methodology of technological evolution for three-dimensional printing	[ "3D printing", "Technology forecasting", "Patent document", "Statistical patent analysis", "Technological evolution" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Technology analysis is important for management of technology (MOT) fields such as R\n2. Research background: The technology of 3D printing creates 3D objects from digital design data (Stanic et al., 2012; UK IPO Patent Informatics Team, 2013). Using this technology, we can create an item cheaply using a 3D printer. Hence, this technology is very useful to diverse industries such as small quantity batch production. The ability to print in 3D is changing the paradigm of manufacturing processes, that is, the technology is replacing traditional manufacturing system (Gunther et al., 2014). Using a digital design, the 3D printer makes an object layer-by-layer using a mixture of inks, plastics, or metals. This process is more efficient and cheaper than traditional manufacturing. If we have a 3D printer, we can create necessary objects anywhere in the world. Therefore, understanding the future state of 3D printing technology and its technological evolution is important to the fields of MOT such as R\n3. Methodology of technology evolution for 3D printing: 3.1. Trend analysis\n4. Results: We collected patent documents related to 3D printing from the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), and State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO). In this paper, we retrieved the patent documents related to 3D printing technology from the FOCUST (2014) which is one of global patent search databases by using the following keywords.\n5. Conclusions: In this paper, we demonstrated a methodology for analyzing the technological evolution of 3D printing. Our research was based on quantitative patent analysis, and we used IPC codes from the retrieved patent documents related to 3D printing technology. We transformed the collected patents into a structured data set and applied time series trend analysis, association rules, and PCA to analyze the data set. From the results of technology analysis, we determined that most technologies for 3D computing depend on the technology of B29C. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines this technology as \"shaping or joining of plastics; shaping of substances in a plastic state, in general; after-treatment of the shaped products, e.g., repairing.\" However, the technologies of B41M and G03F were less related to the technology of B29C. In addition, according to WIPO, the technologies of B41M and G03F are \"printing, duplicating, marking, or copying processes; color printing\" and \"photomechanical production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g., for printing, for processing of semiconductor devices; materials therefore; originals therefor; apparatus specially adapted therefore.\" Hence, we should research theory and develop technology focussing on the B29C technology. Furthermore, there is less need to prioritize the B41M and G03F technologies. In addition, researchers and developers can use additional results from this paper.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: An increasing amount of attention is being paid to three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. The technology itself is based on diverse technologies such as laser beams and materials. Hence, 3D printing technology is a converging technology that produces 3D objects using a 3D printer. To become technologically competitive, many companies and nations are developing technologies for 3D printing. So to know its technological evolution is meaningful for developing 3D printing in the future. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To get technological competitiveness of 3D printing, the authors should know the most important and essential technology for 3D printing. An understanding of the technological evolution of 3D printing is needed to forecast its future technologies and build the R\nFindings: Using the proposed methodology, the authors show the technological analysis results of 3D printing and predict its future aspects. Though many and diverse technologies are developed and involved in 3D printing, the authors know only a few technologies take lead the technological evolution of 3D printing. In this paper, the authors find this evolution of technology management for 3D printing.\nPractical implications: If not all, most people would agree that 3D printing technology is one of the leading technologies to improve the quality of life. So, many companies have developed a number of technologies if they were related to 3D printing. But, most of them have not been considered practical. These were not effective research and development for 3D printing technology. In the study, the authors serve a methodology to select the specific technologies for practical used of 3D printing.\nOriginality/value: Diverse predictions for 3D printing technology have been introduced in many academic and industrial fields. Most of them were made by subjective approaches depended on the knowledge and experience of the experts concerning 3D printing technology. So, they could be fluctuated according to the congregated expert groups, and be unstable for efficient R\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using employee volunteering programs to develop leadership skills	[ "Employees", "Leadership", "United Kingdom", "Commercial services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nUsing employee volunteering programs to develop leadership skills: guidance for organizations: With the growing emphasis of CSR many companies are developing employee volunteering programs to link their employees with community groups and programs. Whilst many organizations recognize that employee volunteering projects are a developmental opportunity for their employees, most leave the learning to chance rather than supporting their employees to use the projects to consciously develop skills required in their roles at work.In 2004 a series of interviews were conducted with ten companies in a northern city in the UK who were involved in a local employee volunteering project coordinated by Business in the Community (a business-led charity whose 750+ organizational members are committed to improving their positive impact on society). Many of the projects supported by the scheme required manual skills such as re-decorating a community center or building a maze for a city farm. The actual technical skills involved in the projects were therefore very different to the daily work skills required by the white-collar organizations supplying the volunteers. Most projects involved teams of four to 15 volunteers and it became clear that the role of the team leader was critical in ensuring the successful outcome of the project. From the interviews and the subsequent work with two of the companies a structure to facilitate the use of the employee volunteering projects as a learning and development opportunity for new and existing team leaders started to develop (see Figure 1).\nSelection: The key to the success of the project was that the team leader needed to be committed to leading the project and did not feel coerced into the experience. This was achieved by seeking volunteers for the team leader roles or by asking managers if any members of their team would be interested. Some people seemed to need to be asked and would not automatically volunteer for the experience but if approached in a manner which indicated that it was a suggestion rather than direction they tended to gain from the experience. Any attempt to link employee volunteering to promotion criteria produced a cynical response to the overall program.\nBriefing: On the job learning is more likely to be productive if it is approached purposefully and undertaken consciously (Cunningham et al., 2004).There were two types of briefing required for employee volunteering projects to succeed. One was about handling the practicalities of the project such as recruitment of volunteers, fundraising, risk assessment and the logistics of providing materials and tools for the volunteers. This information was often provided in a written or on-line format and included points for discussion and reflection.The second type of briefing involved the team leader in dialogue about both their learning goals for the project and about their success measures. This was either in a small group or in a one to one discussion with their line manager or with a coach/facilitator. The format for the dialogue started with their existing experience of being a team leader and their experience of being led by others. The team leader then assessed their current skills in team leadership and from this created a vision of their reputation as a leader at the end of the project. The gap between the experience and the vision could be explored. From this the team leader chose to focus on particular areas that they wanted to consciously develop during the project. An example was an administrator who wanted to use a more consultative style with the team than she normally adopted in the high-pressure environment of her workplace. She recognized that she could be perceived as bossy and this was unlikely to maximize the discretionary effort of the volunteers for her project.\n360 feedback: During the planning stage the team leader approached a small number of the volunteers in their team to ask for their feedback at the end of the project. The team leader chose the areas that they wanted to get feedback on, this was often on their perceived \"skills gap\". This 360 feedback was very useful as a way of providing positive recognition of the contribution that the team leader had made. One team leader was a young graduate employee and was leading a team of more senior colleagues; their feedback about her reflective and empathic manner helped her to recognize for the first time a potential asset in her organizational role.\nLearning logs: Some team leaders found it helpful to review the experience either by using free form learning logs, an online blog or by using some prepared structured reflective questions; either online or in a paper format.\nReflective dialogue: At the end of the project a reflective dialogue session encouraged the team leader to review their contribution to the project and their role as a team leader. It was from this dialogue that many of the team leaders started to separate out their unique contribution to the project outcome. The dialogue encouraged the team leader to identify how their learning insights could be used to support their existing role. Sometimes team leaders began the dialogue by dismissing the relevancy of the project to their daily role. Careful questioning would often lead to some powerful insights. With one team leader this was the first time he was able to acknowledge that his advance planning and organizational skills were governed by an unrealistic level of optimism and that this proved to be a fundamental flaw in the project. He recognized that he either needed to address this issue or choose to make a sideways rather than an upwards move in the organization.\nDevelopment summary and plan: By writing a summary of the key points from the dialogue and the learning points the process was formalized and this increased its recognition within the organizations. The summary report was often incorporated into more formal review processes such as the organization's performance review.The development planning summary served as a prompt to the employee of further work based learning methods which they could use to develop their skills, for example planned observations, dialogues with other colleagues or the use of web based resources. For one team leader the project gave her insight into the demands of making formal presentations and she recognised the need to develop a style she felt more comfortable with. The development plan helped by pointing her in the direction of both resources but also people in her organization who might be able to assist her in this area.\nConclusion: Employee volunteering programs offer a potentially rich source of learning for team leaders and other volunteers. By creating a strategy and a structure for this employees have been encouraged to recognize the learning opportunities so that the volunteering experience has assisted in the development of their own leadership skills in addition to making a valid and useful contribution to the local community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to examine the use of employee volunteering programs to develop leadership skills.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study used a series of interviews carried out in ten companies in the north of the UK in 2004.\nFindings: - The paper finds that employee volunteering programs provide a potentially rich source of learning for team leaders and other volunteers. Such a strategy can encourage employees to recognize learning opportunities for their own leadership skills.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides valuable information on the development and use of employee volunteering programs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Defining a retailer's channel strategy applied to young consumers	[ "Channel configuration", "Channel integration", "Childrenswear", "Retail channel strategy", "Young consumer" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A retail channel strategy refers to the way the offer is made available to the consumer. The choice of a retail channel strategy continues to challenge companies facing the pressure of developing a sustained competitive advantage and that meet the difficulty of preserving product differentiation. In this context, the sales' method becomes the most important factor of success rather than the product being sold (Rackham, 2000). Retailers are particularly affected by this challenge because their economic model is focused on distribution activities. The norm that prevails since the 1990s is the simultaneous use by retailers of several marketing channels (Moriarty and Moran, 1990; Frazier, 1999; Easingwood and Coelho, 2003; Zhang et al., 2010). This trend is continuing to spread under the influence of new opportunities offered by the internet, mobile phones, social networks, etc. that expand the number of available channels. The choice of the type(s) and number of channels that are used defines the channel configurations which are therefore a strategic consideration for retailers.\nChannel configuration and integration: Selling channels\nRetail channel strategy framework: Following on from the above discussion, it appears that on the one hand different channel configurations could be found showing that retailers have taken different routes. On the other hand, even with two identical channels, such as store and web site corresponding to the same configuration, various strategies could be identified relating to varied level of integration. Thus as decisions about configuration, as well as decisions about integration could be considered as part of the retail channel strategy, we suggest to integrating the two themes of configuration and integration to develop a retail channel strategy model.\nYoung consumers in the retail channel strategy: Young consumers\nMethodology: To explore our conceptual framework, we carried out a qualitative study and adopted an external retailer perspective focusing on the aspects of different channels that are visible to the consumer (Steinfield et al., 2005; Andreini, 2009). This approach enables the analysis of each channel as an artefact that may be observed in multi-channel strategies (Muller-Lankenau et al., 2005). It also fits in with the \"line of visibility\", beyond which the organisation of a service company is visible by the customer (Shostack, 1982) justifying data collection at the customer/retailer interface.\nFindings and discussion: Channel configuration\nConclusion and managerial implications: The use of multiple distribution channels is the most widespread retail channel strategy employed today. However, key elements of this strategy are still to be explored. A conceptual framework has been proposed showing that channel configuration and integration take on the structural properties of multi-channel strategies. Channel child orientation is another strategic component for retailers selling products for children. The representation of cross-channel strategies in the retail of children's clothing revealed by our research illustrates the diversity of approaches in a different way. It combines channel configuration and integration, and includes all distribution channels thus providing a base for new research.\nLimitations and future research: The sample characteristics used for channels selection and the environment chosen are to some extend a limitation. Future efforts should increase the external visibility of the study by using a larger sample. This exploratory study provides marketing research with a contribution to a better understanding of the combined roles of configuration, integration and child orientation as part of a retail channel strategy. But the contribution would be increased by understanding the drivers of the key properties especially for the channel child orientation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach at defining a retail channel strategy applied to young consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a qualitative study that adopts the consumer perspective and employed an investiga-tive channel-scan approach based on two scenarios applied to 12 retailers selling childrenswear. The authors studied 139 flows between all the channels and explored the retailers' child orientation.\nFindings: The paper revealed that the channel configuration and integration of retailers showed a di-versity of approach leading us to distinguish eight different retail channel strategies. It also appears that there is limited evidence of a specific selling channels designed for children by retailers in selling products aimed at the child market.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study contributes to the retail marking literature by showing evidence of child orienta-tion in channel management. Nevertheless, the results show the need for future research to understand the causes and effects of channel child orientation and the way it contributes to the retail channel strategy.\nPractical implications: The findings have practical implications for retailers by providing a framework to help them in their decision-making regarding retail channel strategy. It also sheds new light on the con-tribution from young consumers in retail channel strategy.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of this paper is to explore the combined perspective of configuration and integration of the channel-to-market as part of the retail channel strategy. The paper also provides evidence of child orientation in retail channel strategy when retailers selling prod-ucts for children are concerned.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of empathy and listening of salespeople on relationship quality in the retail banking industry: The moderating role of felt stress	[ "Salesperson", "Empathy", "Bank", "Relationship quality", "Listening", "Felt stress" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Salespeople play a pivotal role in building and sustaining relationships with customers. This role is well established in the relationship marketing literature (Palmatier et al., 2006; Crosby et al., 1990). The salesperson's role in building and managing customer relationships is particularly important in the banking industry because of intense competition and complex nature of financial services (O'Loughlin et al., 2004). Tenuous relationships with customers in retail banking can have deleterious effects as evidenced in a recent survey by American Banker that found large banks in USA could lose up to \"$92 billion in deposits\" and \"$5.1 billion in profits\" as customers switch to smaller credit unions and banks (Zheng, 2013). In the banking industry, relationships are important because approximately 5 per cent of bank customers defect annually, and 35 per cent of bank customers have relationships with other banks (Aurier and N'Goala, 2010).\nConceptual and hypotheses development: Despite the fact theories of work-related stress may lack the consensus on what are the factors and the mechanisms that lead employees or individuals to feel stress, the majority of the theories (e.g. Person-Environment Fit Theory, Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), Job Demand-Control Theory and JDR Theory) assert that stress can negatively affect the psychological (affective/emotional and cognitive), psychosocial, wellbeing, physical and behavioural states of strains to individuals. Schuler (1980) provides comprehensive examples of the consequences or symptoms of stress. Some of those symptoms are: psychological (affective and cognitive), such as the expression of boredom, procrastination, inattentiveness and apathy; and organizational behaviours, such as low performance quality/quantity, lack of concern for others and low job involvement. Kjellberg et al. (2000) found that FS is positively related to psychological demands. Arnold et al. (2005) describes work-related stress as a force that pushes a physical or psychological element beyond its capability range, generating strain.\nMethodology: Measures and data collection\nResults: Measurement properties\nDiscussion: The study's aim was to examine the effects of salespeople's empathy and listening on RQ. Furthermore, the study examined how FS moderate the effects of salespeople's empathy and listening skills on RQ. Establishing enduring relationships with customers is crucial in the banking industry, due to its competitive nature and the willingness of customers to switch banks when they are dissatisfied (Zheng, 2013).\nManagerial implications: As the findings of this paper suggest, it is important for banks to hire salespeople who are known to be good listeners, more specifically, empathic listeners. When hiring new salespeople, banks' managers should make sure that they assess the empathy and listening levels of prospective employees. Managers can use as a pre-employment screening test, the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (Spreng et al., 2009) that assesses the empathy levels of applicants as well as the ILPS scale on salesperson listening (Castleberry et al., 1999). Also, items such as volunteering and social activities that applicants have on their resumes can serve as indicators of the \"other-orientation\" that applicants have which can be a proxy of their empathy level.\nLimitations and future research: The findings of our study are tempered with several limitations. This study examined only the effects of some salespeople's characteristics and behaviours on customers' perceptions of the RQ with the bank. Other variables, such as the services offered by the bank, may also affect customers' perceptions of the RQ with the bank. FS may also affect employees in the bank who are not salespeople, such as those who have direct or indirect effects on customers' perception of the RQ with bank. Customers may interact with the managers or may use the self-services offered by the banks which in return can affect customers' perceptions. All those variables may explain the remaining variance in RQ with the bank that was not explained in this study. This study examined only the effects of FS on salespeople's empathy and listening. The study did not differentiate between the kinds of stressors in the financial service sector (e.g. role ambiguity, customers' demands and work overload) and how different stressors can have different effects on salespeople. Podsakoff et al. (2007) stated \"Different types of stressors are associated with different affective and behavioural responses\" (p. 439). Previous studies tested the effects of different kinds of stressors; the findings of such research found that challenge stressors can have positive effects of job performance, and satisfaction, while the hindrance stressors have negative effects (e.g. LePine et al., 2004; Podsakoff et al., 2007). Another study found that high-stress employees can deliver better performance on tasks that require limited self-regulation than low-stress employees (Chan and Wan, 2012). Further research should also try to find the level of job stress that affect the different factors and what is the type of relationships (inverted-U, negative linear) stress have with respect to other factors (e.g. Jamal, 1985). Moreover, FS can also affect factors besides listening which are predictors of salespeople's performance, such as adaptive selling skills. Even though the listening scale we used is a well-known scale used in the sales literature, another limitation in this study is caused by the scale that we used to measure the salespersons' listening. Several items were deleted, especially in the evaluating dimension of listening due to low loadings, a problem that was also found when developing that scale (see, Ramsey and Sohi, 1997). Other listening scales may be used in future studies. In addition to that, the study failed to incorporate some control variables that might be important to better understand the relationships hypothesized, such as customer RQ with a salesperson and duration of the relationship the customer has with the bank.\nConclusion: In this paper, we examined the relationships between salespeople's empathy and listening and customers' RQ with the bank from the perspective of customers. Moreover, we examined how such relationships may be affected by FS in a job climate that has deleterious impacts in the financial service context. Our findings show that empathy and listening have positive indirect and direct effects on customers' RQ with the bank, respectively. In addition, findings show that under high FS condition, salespeople with high listening skills will have negative effects on their customers' RQ with the bank. We hope such findings will provide both practical and theoretical contributions to the literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between salespeople's empathy and listening behaviour and the relationship quality (RQ) customers have with their banks, taking into consideration the moderating effect of felt stress (FS) experienced by salespeople. The paper examines specific effects of FS on factors related to a salesperson's performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine the proposed model, responses from 150 customers were collected and matched with responses from 25 salespeople working at a major ba\nFindings: The results show that customers' perceptions of salespeople's listening behaviour mediate the relationship between customers' perception of salespeople's empathy and RQ with the bank. Moreover, the positive relationship between salespeople's empathy and salespeople's listening behaviour, and the positive relationship between salesperson's listening and customer's RQ with bank are attenuated by the salesperson's FS.\nOriginality/value: This paper examined the effects of the salesperson's empathy and listening behaviour on the quality of customer relationships with the bank. Moreover, dyadic data show that such effects are influenced by variables related to the bank's salespeople, such as FS. The findings show that under high FS conditions, salespeople with high listening skills will have negative effects on their customers' RQ with the bank.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influence of coping, self-esteem and social support on undergraduate students' emotional distress	[ "Australia", "Anxiety", "Behavioural change", "Adolescent health" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increased prevalence of emotional distress among university students compared with non-student counterparts has raised concerns in several countries (Bayram and Bilgel, 2008). In Australia, high levels of mental health issues among university students have become an issue for tertiary educators and society as a whole (Eisenberg et al., 2007). Students who experience academic pressure from an overload of examinations and assignments and the need to achieve satisfactory grades, and those with poor time management are more likely to develop emotional issues, thereby affecting their academic performance and well-being (Beiter et al., 2015; Kumaraswamy, 2013). There have been few studies of psychological issues in undergraduate students in Australian universities generally, with more studies of students in specific courses, such as medicine (Walter et al., 2013), nursing (Cleary et al., 2012) and law (Skead and Rogers, 2014). One study of 384 students attending a health service across two campuses at an urban university in Queensland showed that over 50 per cent of participants had high levels of emotional distress, with nearly 11 per cent reporting severe mental disorders (Stallman, 2008). These findings were confirmed in a larger study by the same author in 2009, with nearly 6,500 students from two Australian universities. Findings showed that approximately 85 per cent of students had elevated distress levels, with almost 20 per cent showing signs of severe mental illness and 65 per cent with mild to moderate symptoms. The proportion of students with high levels of distress was approximately twice that seen in general health service samples (Stallman and Schochet, 2009).\nMethods: Undergraduate students across faculties were recruited via announcements on the university's website in Semester 2, 2015 and Semester 1, 2016. They completed a battery of self-report questionnaires online. In semester 2, a total of 117 students completed all assessment items and there were 18 incomplete questionnaires, while in semester 1, there were 118 complete and 20 incomplete questionnaires.\nInstruments: Demographic information was collected and four self-administered questionnaires were used: Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Brief Cope Inventory (BCI) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES).\nData analysis: Percentages, means and standard deviations were calculated for all variables. Means and standard deviations for the four scales were presented across year levels and by semester. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparing non-parametric variables, and the samples from each semester were considered as being from one population, thereby allowing comparison of demographic variables between semesters 1 and 2. One-way ANOVA was performed to compare mean differences in two or more independent variables for continuous data, and this method was employed to compare emotional distress levels, social support coping strategies and self-esteem across year levels in each semester. Binary logistic regression was used to identify associations between predictor variables of self-esteem, social support and coping strategies and emotional distress, presented as Odds Ratios (ORs) and adjusted ORs with 95% CIs. ORs were used to determine the probability of particular exposed variables that may be a risk for particular outcomes, and/or predict the magnitude of relationships (risk/protective) between variables (Bland and Altman, 2000). ORs were adjusted for age, gender and year levels. Apart from demographic factors, sums of scores were divided into dichotomous data for all variables, with \"Normal\" and \"High\" scores being those below, or equal to and above the 75th percentile, respectively. Normal scores were considered as a reference for comparison with high levels for subcategories of each scale. There were no specific cut-off points for most assessments except for the DASS-21 scale, which determines normal levels of clinical symptoms as being below the 78th percentile (Lovibond and Lovibond, 2004). However, in this study the 75th percentile was used as the cut-off point because it was in the upper level of quartile and considered as the minimum cut-off for positive scoring scales (Barua et al., 2013). p-values below 0.05 were taken as statistically significant. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS, version 20 for Windows.\nResults: There were approximately equal numbers of male and female students in semester 2, but in semester 1 females outnumbered males by almost 9 to 1 (89.93 per cent vs 10.17 per cent). In semester 2, just over half of the respondents were under 20 years of age (53 per cent), while age distribution was more even in semester 1, with the largest group aged over 30 years (31 per cent). In semester 2, most respondents were in Year 1 (62 per cent), while in semester 1 the largest group was in Year 2 (50 per cent). All respondents in semester 1 were employed while 30 per cent of those in semester 2 were not employed. Nearly all respondents were from the Faculty of Sciences, comprising 100 per cent of those in semester 2 and 94 per cent in semester 1, with the others in the Education and Arts Faculties. There were statistically significant differences between semesters on all demographic variables, as shown in Table I.\nDiscussion: Findings from the current study showed that the emotional distress in undergraduate students at a regional university tended to decrease gradually over year levels and be lowest in the final year, particularly in semester 1. Similar results were reported in a Canadian study, with emotional distress among undergraduate students falling with each year of study, with adjusted ORs= 0.87 in year 2 and 0.65 in year 4 (Adlaf et al., 2001). However, the findings of the current study contrasted with other studies showing that negative emotions became higher with each year of study. In the UK, Bewick et al. (2010) reported that undergraduate students' psychological well-being decreased over time during their studies. Anxiety levels reached a peak during semester one of each year level and overall depression scores increased slightly over time to be nearly twice as high at the end of year three compared with pre-registration (Bewick et al., 2010). In the current study, students' levels of emotional distress (stress, anxiety and depression) increased in semester 1 across year levels. High levels for the three categories of emotional distress might be expected particularly in semester 1 as students must contend with a new environment even if they have the same peer group. This transition period each year could create considerable emotional distress. First and second year students in a Turkish study showed higher depression, anxiety and stress than those in years three to five, and emotional problems increased more among students studying social and political sciences than in those enroled in basic sciences or medicine (Bayram and Bilgel, 2008). These Turkish findings were different to this study in which nearly all the respondents were from the Faculty of Science and showed a high prevalence of emotional distress across year levels. One possible explanation for these varied results may be related to social support. The quality and quantity of support that students receive and the positive coping skills they employ could assist them to resolve difficulties and reduce negative effects of stress related to emotional distress while studying at university. The findings demonstrated a significant increase in social support from friends and families from the first year continuing through to years 3 and 4. Social relationships and support have been identified as one of the most important aspects of psychological well-being (Rubin et al., 1998) because they act as a stress buffer. Having someone to discuss problems with may generate solutions and elicit necessary resources which, in turn, alleviate the impact of stressors or reduce the perceived salience of the stressors (Cohen and Pressman, 2004).\nPractical implications: University students face multiple challenges from personal, social and academic hardships during university life, which can contribute to various stages of emotional distress from mild to severe symptoms. In the present study, while social support did not act as a good protective factor against emotional distress, the support of friends and family was still important to help enhance students' level of psychological adjustment and act as a buffer between negative emotional symptoms and psychological well-being when facing the challenges of university life. In order to foster supportive environments, universities should offer comprehensive orientation programmes covering curriculum requirements of each year level and the face-to-face and online services available to students experiencing personal and academic difficulties.\nLimitations of the study: Findings of this study were limited by the number of students participating, most of whom were enroled in a Faculty of Sciences. This limits generalisation to other universities or Faculties. A cross-sectional study does not allow conclusions about the direction of significant predictors and elevated levels of emotional distress. Further research is needed with larger sample sizes drawn from various faculties and with a longitudinal design to detect significant predictors affecting emotional distress in undergraduate students. However, a strong point of the study was the clear picture obtained of support, self-esteem, coping and emotional distress in undergraduate students across year levels and semesters which some studies have not mentioned. Additionally, by classifying subcategories of coping strategies in each semester it was possible to determine appropriate coping approaches to implement before students develop emotional distress.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Emotional distress, which includes stress, anxiety and depression, is considered a substantial mental health problem among university students because of its effects on academic achievement and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to examine levels of emotional distress, self-esteem, social support and coping methods and predicted emotional distress in undergraduate students across year levels in two semesters.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a regional university with 117 and 118 students, respectively, the majority of whom were from the Faculty of Science. Announcements posted on the university website in two semesters were used to recruit convenience samples of participants who completed a battery of four self-administered questionnaires online.\nFindings: Findings showed significant differences across year levels for emotional distress total (F(2, 107)=3.90, p=0.02), and social support total (F(2, 107)=3.57, p=0.03), especially in semester 1. Almost all maladaptive coping approaches led to risk of heightened emotional distress in both semester cohorts, ranging from using self-distraction (adjusted OR=4.54) to denial (adjusted OR=32.05). Interestingly, the use of active coping and high self-esteem appeared as risk factors rather than protective factors for mental distress, adjusted ORs=11.27 and 8.46, respectively.\nOriginality/value: Although adaptive coping skills did not alleviate students' mental distress, encouraging students to use adaptive coping and social support may help students face the challenges of university life.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of supply chain management practices on firm performance: Empirical evidence from a developing country	[ "India", "Firm performance", "Supply chain management practices", "Supply chain performance", "Mediating regression" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. The Indian retail market is broadly classified as unorganized retail, which is made up of open \"bazaars/haats\" and corner stores called \"kiranas\" and organized/modern retail, which resembles the modern western-style supermarkets and department stores (Shaikh and Gandhi, 2016). The industry has experienced high growth over the last decade, with a noticeable shift toward organized retailing formats. From a small penetration level of about 2-3 percent in 2005-2006, organized retail today has a penetration of about 8-10 percent. Total retail sales are forecast to reach 941 billion dollars by 2019, nearly double that in 2014 (PWC Report, 2015). The retail sales account for 33 percent of India's GDP and support livelihood of over 38 million people in India, which accounts for 8.5 percent of the total employed population in the country (Retailing in India, Euromonitor).\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: Larson and Rogers (1998) defined SCM as \"the coordination of activities, within and between vertically linked firms, for the purpose of serving end customers at a profit.\" SCMPs is a set of practices that integrate suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customers to improve SCP as well as FP (Barros, 2006; Koh et al., 2007). It is recognized that SCM has firm-level consequences, it is necessary to measure the effect of SCMPs on FP (Green et al., 2013). Challenges exist in terms of identifying appropriate measures for the analysis of the supply chain practices. Past studies developed a SCM construct which focuses on buyer-supplier relationship by reducing the supplier base, developing long-term relationship with the suppliers, continuous communication and organizing cross-functional teams and supplier involvement in planning and forecasting (Chen and Paulraj, 2004). Thereafter, there has been consistent interest in SCM construct and its relationship with SCP and FP. Li et al. (2005) developed and validated a measurement instrument for studying SCMPs with six dimensions, that is, strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, IS, information quality, internal lean practices and postponement. Sundram et al. (2011) examined the relationship between various SCMPs comprising supplier strategic partnership, customer relationship, IS, information quality, postponement, agreed vision and goals, risk and reward sharing and SCP. Singh et al. (2010) identified supply chain practices like use of technology, supply chain speed, customer satisfaction, supply chain integration and inventory management, which have an impact on organizational performance.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Sample and research setting\n4. Data analysis and results: We tested the hypothesis proposed in the conceptual model using mediation regression analysis. There are shortcomings in the traditional methods of testing mediation using Baron and Kenny (1986) method. We therefore adopted Preacher and Hayes (2004) method using a SPSS macro to ascertain the direct and mediation effect. Consequently, we used this macro employing bootstrapping method (with n=5,000 bootstrapped samples) to assess the indirect effects (Sobel tests) underlying the relationships. Before testing the hypothesis, we subjected the scale to exploratory factor analysis (EFA), reliability and validity test.\n5. Discussion and implications for research: We empirically tested the relationship between SCMPs, SCP and FP in the context of organized retailing in a developing country like India. The findings of the study indicate that SCMPs positively influences SCP in the organized retailing context in a developing country like India (Sundram et al., 2011; Gawankar et al., 2013a). Further, the results of the study suggest that SCMPs have a positive impact on the FP. These results are consistent with extant supply chain management literature (Chow et al., 2008; Prajogo and Olhager, 2012). This suggests that implementation of SCMPs among organized retailers in India is also an important predictor of FP similar to other developed countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adoption and implementation of supply chain management practices (SCMPs) on supply chain performance (SCP) and firm performance (FP) in the organized retail industry in a developing country like India.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An empirical study was conducted on a sample size of 125 responses collected from the supply chain heads of organized retail firms in India. A theoretical model was developed depicting the relationship between SCMPs, SCP and FP. The theoretical model was tested using mediating multiple regression analysis.\nFindings: This research suggests that the SCMPs are positively related to SCP and FP. Customer relationship management and supplier relationship management are reported as the most important SCMPs, which had the maximum impact on the FP in the organized retailing context in India.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research employed perceptual performance measures. Future studies can use actual performance parameters like profit and sales growth to better quantify the benefits of SCM in this context.\nOriginality/value: This research is an attempt to empirically test the impact of SCMPs on FP in organized retailing context in an emerging market, India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sinabung volcano: how culture shapes community resilience	[ "Volcanic eruption", "Resilience", "Recovery", "Culture", "North Sumatra", "Karo", "Mt Sinabung" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since 1970 the Asia-Pacific area has been impacted by more than 5,000 disasters causing 2bn deaths and affecting around 6bn people (UNESCAP, 2015). Indonesia is the fourth most populated and one of the most prone country to natural hazards in the world. There are currently 127 active volcanoes in the country. Another peculiarity of Indonesia is its internal diversity, with around 300 distinct ethnic groups and 742 different languages and dialects (Birkmann, 2008) (Figure 1).\n2. Culture, resilience and their relationship in the literature: A cultural turn has been identified within disaster research in recent years due to the increased attention to how culture mediates disasters and exacerbates or mitigates their impact. The interplay of belief and knowledge systems of various kinds and the importance of how external actors engage with indigenous knowledge has undergone a resurgence within the literature (Bankoff, 2003; Mercer and Kelman, 2012; Ager and Ager, 2015; Wilkinson, 2018). These developments are reflected to a certain extent in the wider policy architecture of the humanitarian sector which has increasingly recognised the importance of placing affected people at the centre (WHS, 2016). By shifting the focus from short-term disaster management to longer-term disaster risk management in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015-2030 greater space is provided for wider structural determinants of vulnerability, including cultural considerations (United Nations, 2015).\n3. The Karo culture: The Karo are a clan and agriculture-centred society composed of five merga (clans) which determine the entire order of social life, the Merga Si Lima (Kushnick, 2006). There is no hierarchy among clans, neither discrimination nor special status, and they are bound to one another through inter-marriage (Slaat and Portier, 1992). The most important kinship connections are: sukut agnate, the person sharing male ancestors; kalimbubu, the wife-giver; and anak-beru, the wife-receiver. The Karo society places great emphasis on the creation and maintenance of the unity of sangkep si telu, the completeness of the three holding together the entire society and fostering a form of egalitarianism (Kushnick, 2006; Slaat and Portier, 1992). The set of rules, behaviours and actions directly influenced by those regulations which shape the kinship system are at the foundation of Karo society.\n4. Methodology: A single qualitative case study of the Karo people's relationship with the Mt Sinabung volcano eruptions was undertaken to pursue the paper's objective of understanding how culture, including traditions and social structures, can influence resilience and how culturally sensitive relief operations can put affected people and their context at the core of any interventions. Key informant interviews were conducted with two categories of respondents as detailed in Table I. The first category included experts of Karo culture. The second included aid organisations, United Nations agencies and NGOs, that were engaged in the response and recovery in the aftermath of the 2010 eruption. The primary objective in the selection of respondents was to achieve information power (Malterud et al., 2016). These primary data were complemented by analysis of a range of secondary sources including media reports, UN and NGOs reports and project evaluations. The study involved inputs and feedbacks from several ethnic Karo experts.\n5. Results and discussion: There are several Karo cultural features that have served to both facilitate and obstruct the recovery of those affected by the Mount Sinabung's eruption. These features include its strong social bonds and cohesion, its traditional agricultural practices and gender roles.\n6. Conclusion: The paper presents an unusual case within the disasters literature as Mt Sinabung had previously been dormant for several centuries. This means that the indigenous knowledge in terms of creatively dealing with hazards, which became a common concept in the literature concerning resilience, was not present. For this reason, it has been challenging for organisations to construct alternatives for the Karo which took their cultural practices into account. Kruger et al. (2015) state that it is the frequency of risk which eventually encourages cultural change, emphasising the idea that culture is a liquid concept in a dynamic state. As a result of the relative novelty of the eruptions, the Karo have not shown immediate radical cultural change.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how culture, including traditions and social structures, can influence resilience and how culturally sensitive relief operations can put affected people and their context at the core of any interventions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study of the Mt Sinabung volcano area in Indonesia was undertaken. As part of the case study, an analysis of interventions was conducted, which was complemented by semi-structured interviews with Karo cultural experts and humanitarian organisations.\nFindings: Culture influences the manner in which the Karo people react to volcano eruptions with varying implications for recovery. In addition, relief organisations which understand people's actions through a cultural lens have better managed to tailor programs with long-term impact, thereby avoiding aid dependency.\nPractical implications: Practical examples of disaster management activities that adequately account for the beneficiaries' way of living prior to the eruptions are provided. Aid actors are provided with guidance concerning how to better tailor their activities in line with a cultural lens.\nOriginality/value: The study provides empirical grounding for claims concerning the role of culture in planning interventions in Indonesia and other similar contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Opening up collaboration and partnership possibilities: Re-valuing library resources, skill sets, and expertise	[ "MOOC", "Engineering", "Professional development", "Course design", "Librarian roles", "NSF grant project" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Emerging issues related to higher education accountability and quality are driving change and innovation on college and university campuses across the world. Financial constraints, demands for impact on student success, interdisciplinary collaboration and increased requirements for grant funding and evidence-based practice are also having a direct influence on academic research libraries. In 2010, ACRL published a report with recommendations on how libraries could promote the value of academic libraries (Oakleaf, 2010) and engage in this national dialog about improving higher education. This report sets the stage for catalyzing library change and a refocusing on assessment and quality and a rethinking of the role of academic libraries on college campuses. In addition, in the report \"New Roles for New Times: Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries\" written by Jaguszewski and Williams (2013) for the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the authors present a case for a new library liaison model based on what they call the \"engagement\" model. They describe this new engaged liaison as one which goes beyond selecting books and journals, and instead becomes a liaison that \"seeks to enhance scholar productivity, to empower learners and to participate in the entire lifecycle of the research, teaching and learning process\" (p. 4). The authors present six trends that recommend integrating library subject liaisons with functional specialists and focus efforts and services on meeting user needs. Trend five, collaboration is key, is the one trend that is related most directly to this paper. Jaguszewski and Williams (2013, p. 13) claim that:\nBackground of the NSF Grant Project #1245904: collaborative research: training teachers for the \"Flipped\" hybrid classroom: The purpose of this collaborative project was to develop an online faculty development program focused on the flipped classroom methodology. In a flipped classroom, students watch lectures and read materials for homework, and then engage in active problem solving or application of the lecture content in a social context when they come into the classroom (Bishop and Verleger, 2013; Roehl et al., 2013). Flipped instruction is a form of hybrid course design, and was one of the \"Important Developments in Educational Technology for Higher Education\" spotlighted in the 2014 National Media Consortium Report (Johnson et al., 2014).\nThe MOOC experience: Designing, teaching and evaluating the faculty development MOOC was at the core of this faculty-librarian collaborative activity. The librarian contributed to the planning process by creating a draft of a logic model to help visualize the MOOC design and implementation process. This matrix provided a map for resources, input and output tasks, outcomes and impacts and is a tool commonly used in the grant-application process (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2001). Based on what was learned in this project, it is recommended that a logic model and assessment/evaluation plan be created upfront for large and complex collaborative projects. This may be especially useful in other digital library projects. An excerpt from the logic model for the teaching flipped project is shown in Table I. The logic model helped the collaborators envision the project together and articulate the broad vision of the project. In addition to the logic model, an assessment plan was also developed. The assessment plan was adjusted regularly across the span of the grant due to what was discovered as findings emerged and due to changes made to the timeline across the grant. For example, a MOOC was not in the original plan for this grant, but due to an expanding interest outside of STEM disciplines in the project, and interest from outside of the university in our project, modules were redesigned and opened up beyond the university. Conversion to a MOOC design format also involved additional planning and strategies for adapting the assessment to a larger scale context and including strategies for incorporating open education and library resources.\nLessons learned: As a result of this partnership, a lot has been learned about the strategies and methods for flipping the classroom. However, lessons about the complexity of the political and social culture of higher education, international education, faculty development and MOOCs, and being embedded in the flipping course where participants were engaged in course design tasks and interaction with other teachers, participants came away from the experience with much more than anticipated. One participant in the MOOC course summed it up well in her post-course survey by saying, \"In some ways, this [course] material helped me improve on things I didn't know I needed to improve\". Faculty participating in the MOOC crossed the boundaries of their disciplinary literatures and had an opportunity to delve into the rapidly changing education and teaching pedagogy literature. Higher education faculty interacted with K-12 teachers, faculty developers shared experiences with corporate trainers and administrators and researchers lurked in the background as they watched the MOOC unfold. The librarian learned more about the faculty culture and grant culture at her institution. The engineering faculty member developed new relationships in the library. Through her position as the Associate Vice President for Research, and based on this MOOC experience, she requested that a grant services team be incorporated into the library space to better serve faculty. New partnerships were built and other relationships deepened. Within the institution, new collaborators were identified, such as the Teaching and Learning Technology group (TLT), and grant funding was used to enhance support for faculty teaching online with a technology toolbox of video lecture recording devices that faculty can test out, practice with and borrow as they work on their flipped teaching projects. For the librarian, this grant experience has also resulted in invitations to partner and participate on other grants with other STEM departments on campus.\nImplications for future partnerships and collaborations: So where to go next for librarians? How can librarians step-up their participation, visibility and value on campus? While reflecting on the outcomes of this flipped classroom MOOC project, several recommendations come to mind about next steps for increasing librarian value, elevating librarian profiles and enhancing academic identities:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a unique case of a librarian-engineering faculty partnership grounded in a faculty development National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Authors will describe processes, lessons learned, challenges and opportunities resulting from designing, implementing and evaluating a massive open online course (MOOC) focused on teaching faculty how to flip classes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This case study presents a reflective review of the process of two unlikely collaborators who work together, write a grant, design faculty development training and develop and evaluate a MOOC. Decisions made, perspectives and lessons learned will be discussed.\nFindings: The evolution of an NSF grant partnership involving an engineering faculty and librarian is presented. Larger issues, such as proactivity of librarians, non-traditional librarian roles and librarian versus academic identity, are raised and discussed.\nOriginality/value: This case study presents a unique type of librarian-faculty partnership, one where a librarian is a Co-PI on an NSF grant. Collaborator reflections on lessons learned, challenges and implications could be applicable to other digital/technology projects, online professional development initiatives and course design projects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of Persian gum and gum Arabic on the survival of Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC 1896, Escherichia coli, Xanthomonas axonopodis, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae during freeze drying	[ "E. coli", "Freeze dying", "Gum Arabic", "L. plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896", "Persian gum", "S. cerevisiae" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Microorganisms are major players in the biotechnological industry. They are used in a wide range of processes including the production of biogas and other biofuels. In fermentation processes, microbial products and bacterial strains are preserved by genetic engineering for their vital importance in the survival of bacteria. Moreover, their original characteristics are vital for many industrial processes. Freeze drying is the most common preservation method of industrial microbial cultures. In the freeze-drying process, protective agents play the crucial role of minimizing damages to bacterial cells due to freezing during the initial stages of the process. Glycerol is the protective agent commonly used for bacterial cells while milk and gum Arabic are the protective agents used as starter cultures for bacteria in food biotechnology industries (Prakash et al., 2013; Morgan et al., 2006; Miao et al., 2008; Tymczyszyn et al., 2012; Carvalho et al., 2003).\nMaterial and methods: Organisms and growth conditions\nResults: Effects of protective agents on the survival of L. plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 Table I presents the protective effects of Persian gum, gum Arabic, and skim milk on the survival of L. plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896. The results are based on the first stage experiments to assess bacterial survival with Persian gum at a concentration of 1.5 percent (W/V), gum Arabic at a concentration of 10 percent (W/V), and a combination of equal parts of both. Clearly, not only each of Persian gum and gum Arabic but also their combination had significant (p<0.05) effects on the survival of L. plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 when compared with the controls. Moreover, their protective effects showed no significant differences. Interestingly, Persian gum, which had hitherto been neglected in all the research in the field, was found to have a protective effect on the survival of L. plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 in the freeze-drying process roughly similar to those of other protective agents previously studied.\nDiscussion: The protective mechanism of high molecular weight polymers is that these protective agents do not pass through the cell wall; they, therefore, do not have any direct reaction with the cell wall or membrane. These impermeable protective agents are adsorbed on the microbial surface to form a viscous layer which leads to the partial release of water from the cells, inhibits the growth of ice crystals by increasing the viscosity of the solution, and thereby preserves the structure of the amorphous ice in the vicinity of the cell (Carvalho et al., 2004; Hubalek, 2003). Both the reduced cell survival in water due to the large amount of ice crystals and the increasing osmotic pressure due to the high concentration of dissolved solids within the cell cause damages to the cell membrane, changes in the physical state of the lipids, and denaturation of sensitive proteins. This series of events ultimately leads to a reducing number of living cells. While microbes (bacteria and microbial spores) have in cases been observed to survive well under deep freeze conditions, a suitable protective agent in the absence of the common protective agents often leads to significantly enhanced microbial survival (Hubalek, 2003). Khalesi et al. found the apparent viscosity of Persian gum to be greater than that of gum Arabic at identical concentrations due to differences in their structure. They also observed that the viscosity of Persian gum at a concentration of 1 percent was identical to that of gum Arabic at concentrations of 5 and 10 percent. They concluded that different concentrations of these two gums, when equally enhanced in viscosity, may give rise to almost equal degrees of partial water release from the cells, inhibit the growth of ice crystals, and thus protect cells from collapsing in an identical manner.\nConclusion: In conclusion, Escherichia coli, Xanthomonas axonopodis, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were found to be less resistant to freeze drying compared to Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 even though higher concentrations of Persian gum and gum Arabic were used to protect them. It was observed that Persian gum was capable of being used for the protection of Escherichia coli and skim milk for the protection of Xanthomonas axonopodis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to replace all other protective agents. Persian gum 6 percent (W/V) seemed to be the best protective agent for Escherichia coli while gum Arabic 6 percent (W/V) was the best for Xanthomonas axonopodis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae during 14 days of storage. Persian gum 1 percent (W/V) was also found to serve as a substitute protective agent for skim milk 10 percent (W/V) and gum Arabic 5 percent (W/V) for the freeze drying of Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896. Based on these observations and results, Iranian Persian gum may be recommended as a better choice for industrial applications due to its cheap price, availability, and performance that is comparable to those of gum Arabic and skim milk even at low concentrations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the protective effects of Persian gum and gum Arabic on the survival of Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896, Escherichia coli, Xanthomonas axonopodis, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae during freeze drying.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cultures were harvested from the early stationary phase and enumerated after dilution according to the Milse Misra method. Bacterial suspensions were mixed with protective agents and frozen at -80degC before drying in a freeze dryer. Survival rates were determined both immediately during freeze drying and after 14 days of cold storage (at 4degC).\nFindings: Compared to gum Arabic 5 and 10 percent (W/V) or skim milk 10 percent (W/V), Persian gum 1 percent (W/V) showed no significantly different effects on the survival of Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 (p<0.05). Similarly, no significant differences (p<0.05) were observed between Persian gum 6 percent (W/V), gum Arabic 6 percent (W/V), the combination of Persian gum 3 percent (W/V) and gum Arabic 3 percent (W/V), and skim milk 10 percent (W/V) in terms of their effects on the survival of Escherichia coli. Skim milk 10 percent (W/V) was, however, found to have significant (p<0.05) effects on the survival of Xanthomonas axonopodis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Statistically significant (p<0.05) effects were observed after 14 days of cold storage (4degC) by Persian gum 6 percent (W/V) on the survival of Escherichia coli and by gum Arabic 6 percent (W/V) on the survival of Xanthomonas axonopodis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It was concluded that protective agents could be replaced by Persian gum for its effect on the survival rate of Escherichia coli and by skim milk for its effects on the survival of Xanthomonas axonopodis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Persian gum 6 percent (W/V) seemed to be the best protective agent for Escherichia coli during 14 days of its storage as gum Arabic 6 percent (W/V) seemed to have the same performance for Xanthomonas axonopodis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Persian gum 1 percent (W/V) was also found an alternative protective agent for the freeze drying of Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896.\nOriginality/value: As Iranian Persian gum is cheap due to its wide availability and seems to have effects similar to those of gum Arabic and skim milk at low concentrations, it may be considered a good candidate for industrial applications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mobile SERVQUAL: A comparative analysis of customers' and managers' perceptions	[ "Customer services quality", "SERVQUAL", "Customer satisfaction", "Business performance", "Service quality", "Mobile telecommunications", "Jordan", "Middle East" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been almost a consensus among service quality scholars that superior service quality has enormous benefits for service organisations. Service quality enhances a service organisation's ability to differentiate itself from its competitors and gain a competitive advantage; it increases customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and retention, market share, profitability, and lowers costs (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Chang and Chen, 1998; Lasser et al., 2000; Newman, 2001; Sureshchander et al., 2002; Seth et al., 2005; Akroush, 2008; Dahiyat et al., 2011). None the less, a disagreement exists among service quality scholars regarding its definition, measurements, models, dimensions, items, and even its methodology. Excellent reviews on such debatable issues have also been discussed in service quality literature (Seth et al., 2005; Ladhari, 2008; Martinez and Martinez, 2010; Sangeetha and Mahalingam, 2011; Dahiyat et al., 2011). SERVQUAL is still one of the most debatable models of service quality measurement over the last two decades (Ladhari, 2008) and there is no agreement yet on the number of SERVQUAL dimensions as proposed by the original developers. Parasuraman et al. (1988) proposed five dimensions of SERVQUAL that are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. In the 1990s decade, Parasuraman et al. (1991, 1993, 1994) refined the SERVQUAL dimensions and items and they claimed that the five dimensions are still valid and reliable as a general skeleton to measure service quality. The SERVQUAL instrument and dimensions has been extensively utilised by both academics (Carman, 1990; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Teas, 1993; Lasser et al., 2000; Newman, 2001; Kang and James, 2004; Malhotra et al., 2005) and managers alike. Although the SERVQUAL instrument is very popular in service quality literature, it has been criticised from different perspectives (Seth et al., 2005; Ladhari, 2008; Martinez and Martinez, 2010; Sangeetha and Mahalingam, 2011; Dahiyat et al., 2011). First, one of the major criticisms of SERVQUAL is using gap scores to measure service quality (Carman, 1990; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Teas, 1993; Lee et al., 2000; Martinez and Martinez, 2010). Second, SERVQUAL was criticised because of its unstable dimensionality and conceptualisation. The majority of the studies indicate that the SERVQUAL dimensions are either less than five or other dimensions are added to them. Third, SERVQUAL measures the attributes of the functional service quality (i.e. process) and it lacks technical quality (Carman, 1990; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Lasser et al., 2000; Newman, 2001; Kang and James, 2004). Fourth, the SERVQUAL dimensions also appear to be different according the type of service industry and country. Fifth, a number of empirical studies have also challenged the validity and reliability of the SERVQUAL instrument and dimensions among several service settings.In the light of the ongoing discussion on service quality, the debate on such controversial concept is still far from complete and there is still an avenue for a potential contribution to service quality literature. More specifically, despite the fact that there is an ample amount of literature review on service quality, the majority of studies have been conducted to measure or validate service quality from customers' perspectives only without much attention given to examining this concept from managers' and employees perspectives. Service quality literature lacks comparative studies that compare service quality dimensions and items from customers' perspectives and employees' perspectives to shed lights on the perceptions of each within a specific industry. Examining managers' and employees perceptions of service quality has been recommended by many recent studies (Arasli et al., 2005; Chaniotakis and Lymperopoulos, 2009; Shekarchizadeh et al., 2011; Sangeetha and Mahalingam, 2011). Consequently, based on relevant service quality literature review, this study contributes to service quality literature by fulfilling the following gaps:* There are very few studies in the field of service quality (SERVQUAL) that have been conducted to compare between customers' and managers' and employees' perceptions. In Jordan, there has not been any previous research effort devoted to examine service quality (SERVQUAL) from both customers' and managers' and employees' perceptions comparatively. All previous research has been conducted to measure service quality from customers' perspectives or employees' perspectives only but not both. This study builds on previous research effort to fulfill this gap from a developing country business environment, e.g. Jordan's mobile service industry.* There are very few studies that are devoted to examine the SERVQUAL dimensions from customers' and managers' and employees perspectives comparatively and then examine their effects on customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively.* From an international marketing perspective, international mobile companies have a comparative analysis of service quality, as a vital factor in this industry, using a reputable service quality model (SERVQUAL) that has not been done before in Jordan. This study could be an indicator on service quality comparative analysis in the Middle East region.\nResearch objectives: Based on relevant literature review of service quality, the research objectives are:1. to reveal and compare the service quality (SERVQUAL) dimensions for each of the customers' and managers' sample in Jordan's mobile service industry;2. to examine the effect of the service quality (SERVQUAL) dimensions on customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively, in Jordan's mobile service industry; and3. to provide Jordan's mobile service industry executives and managers strategic insights and empirical findings regarding the service quality dimensions and their potential effects on customer satisfaction and business performance from customers' and managers' perspectives, respectively.\nLiterature review: The SERVQUAL dimensions\nConstructs operationalisation: Service quality\nResearch methodology: Customers population and sample\nData analysis: Exploratory factor analysis\nResults discussion: The main objective of this research was to examine the SERVQUAL dimensions from customers' and managers' perspectives in Jordan's mobile service industry and to examine their effect on customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively. The results from the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that from customers and managers point of views, SERVQUAL is in fact a three-dimensional construct in oppose to five as proposed by the original hypothesised model. The results from the confirmatory analysis confirmed the connotation that the three factor model has better fit indexes than the original five factor model. This finding is consistent with the extent literature on the topic that found SERVQUAL to be three or four dimensional constructs rather than a five dimensional one (Al-Tamimi and Al-Amiri, 2003; Arasli et al., 2005; Dahiyat et al., 2011). Furthermore, the three-dimensional model we have found is consistent with the SERVQUAL literature that found that the five dimensions are different across service industries and countries, as shown in Table I. Despite the similarity in the number of dimensions of SERVQUAL between the customers and the managers' samples, the dimensions and items' loadings were different between the two samples. As can be seen in Table X, from customers' point of views, SERVQUAL consists of three facets: reliability, tangibility and interaction quality (empathy, assurance, and responsiveness). From managers' point of views, SERVQUAL consists of three facets: empathy, tangibility-reliability, and responsiveness-assurance. This finding is consistent also with the marketing lens model (Licata et al., 1995) which assert that service quality is perceived with different lenses (in that case patients and physicians) lead to different rating of service delivered. This finding is also consistent with the literature review discussed in Table I which indicates that the SERVQUAL dimensions are unstable and vary across countries and industries.The second objective of this research was to examine the effect of SERVQUAL dimensions on customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively. The structural findings from the customer sample supported the current literature (Lai et al., 2008; Dahiyat et al., 2011) that found service quality as essential to improve the probability of customer satisfaction. Hence, the three dimensions of service quality have positively and significantly influence customer satisfaction providing support for H1, where service reliability exerted the strongest influence on customer satisfaction. Moreover, the findings from the managers' sample provide support for H2 and H3 as the SERVQUAL dimensions positively and significantly influence financial and marketing performance, where service empathy exerted the strongest influence on both. This finding is in accordance with service quality literature, e.g. Chumpitaz and Paparoidamis (2004) and Akroush and Khatib (2009) who found that service quality has positively affected marketing and business performance. This finding asserts an important fact that although customers and managers have different perspectives regarding the SERVQUAL dimensions and items, both of them were able to predict two important business performance measures; customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively. This finding provides a strong support to the original contention of SERVQUAL as a generic skeleton of service quality rather than a specific measure of it.\nManagerial implications: The results from this research have several implications for managers and decision makers in the mobile service sector. There are major implications in the findings that SERVQUAL is perceived to be a three-dimensional construct and that the dimensions and items' loadings were different between the two samples as it indicates a difference or a gap in the perception of service quality between customers and managers. For example, customers see service reliability and tangibility as two different sets of attributes they use to evaluate service quality, whereas managers do not differentiate between service reliability and tangibility and treat them as one set. Moreover, managers place higher emphases on service empathy, where as customer do not differentiate it from assurance and responsiveness. Therefore, it is crucial that managers correct their service quality lens to match how customers perceive quality. Service quality has been described as a great differentiator between companies that is linked to customer satisfaction and business performance. Having identified the significance of these relationships, it is essential to explore the management implications. First, service reliability seems to be the most important factor influencing customer satisfaction. Hence, customers pay more attention to the functionality of service encounter in term of delivering the required service as promised and at the right time and less emphasize is paid to the physical appearance of the service facility as a determinant of their satisfaction. Therefore, managers should invest their effort in developing the service delivery process. Second, managers view service empathy to be the most influential in driving both the marketing and financial performance of their organisations. Hence, managers should direct their effort toward building a culture that encourages professionalism at the work place to improve the service encounter in order to ensure a better performance.\nLimitations and future research: Although we have achieved our research objectives some limitations still exist. First, the research was carried out in a single service industry, Jordan's mobile service, which indicates that our findings are limited to this industry. However, our argument is still consistent with recent calls within services marketing that argued for building marketing knowledge in single industries due to certain industry characteristics. Therefore, a potential area of future research is to extend our research instruments into other service industries inside and outside Jordan in order to shed more lights on SERVQUAL in developing countries. Second, we have used SERVQUAL to measure service quality from both customers and managers perspectives and found that SERVQUAL dimensions and items are different but in either samples SERVQUAL was able to predict performance. A very fruitful area of future research is to investigate why and how SERVQUAL dimensions and items are different from customers and managers perspectives. This investigation could utilise qualitative and/or quantitative research design and methodologies to find out the causes of such differences between them. Finally, this study examined service quality dimensions and effect on multiple dimensions of business performance from customers and managers perspectives. A potential area of research is to examine antecedents and consequences of service quality (SERVQUAL) from managers and employees perspectives alike.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to reveal and compare the SERVQUAL dimensions from the customers' and the managers' perspectives, and to examine their effect on customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively, in Jordan's mobile service industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors delivered 1,000 questionnaires to customers, from which 756 were valid and useable for data analysis. For the managers' sample, 350 questionnaires were delivered to managers, from which 256 were valid for data analysis. Utilizing structural equation modeling, and after a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the authors tested the theoretical five dimensional SERVQUAL model and tested their effect on customers' satisfaction and business performance, respectively.\nFindings: - It was found that SERVQUAL is a three-dimensional construct as opposed to five, as proposed by the original hypothesised model. From customers' point of view, SERVQUAL consists of three dimensions that are reliability, tangibility and interaction quality (empathy, assurance, and responsiveness). From managers' points of view, SERVQUAL consists of three dimensions that are empathy, tangibility-reliability, and responsiveness-assurance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - SERVQUAL is used to measure service quality from both customers' and managers' perspectives and it is found that SERVQUAL dimensions and items are different from the two samples' perspectives. A very fruitful area of future research is to investigate why and how SERVQUAL dimensions and items are different from customers' and managers' perspectives, as well as examining antecedents and consequences of service quality. Managers of mobile service operators have empirical evidence regarding SERVQUAL dimensions from customers' and managers' perspectives comparatively.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first attempt to examine the SERVQUAL dimensions from customers' and managers' and employees' perspectives, comparatively, in Jordan and then examine their effects on customer satisfaction and business performance, respectively. The authors' results also provide significant managerial implications on how to manage the service quality dimensions and the vital role they play to ensure customer satisfaction and business performance alike.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing a model to explore the information seeking behaviour of farmers	[ "Information technology", "Information systems", "Information research", "Information", "Modelling", "Information modelling", "Information seeking behaviour (ISB)", "ISB models", "Information seeking behaviour of farmers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Agriculture remains central for food production, generating income and employment, and deliver in environmental services. Furthermore, recent food crises and growing concerns about global climate change have placed agriculture on top of the international agenda (Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 2013). Thus, it is said that the twenty-first century agriculture is being challenged like never before (Gunawardana and Sharma, 2007). As a complex socio-economic activity, agriculture entails complex decision making that requires the gathering of a vast amount of information from various sources and channels.\n2. Clarification of concepts: This section presents definitions of key concepts informing this study, including information, information needs, ISs, agriculture extension, ISB, and ISB models.\n3. Method: 3.1 Design\n4. Results: 4.1 Demographic profile of the respondent farmers\n5. Discussion and conclusions: The main thrust of this study was to develop a model to explore farmers' ISB. Thus, we developed a model based on Wilson's model and evaluated it using empirical data. The following discussion section outlines the theoretical implications, practical implications and limitations of this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Generating an in-depth understanding of information needs and seeking behaviour is important both for restructuring existing agricultural information systems (ISs) and for creating new ISs. Many information seeking models have been developed over the years, most are narrowly focused on a specific role or discipline. However, no such specific model has been developed in reference to agriculture or an allied discipline. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop a model to explore the information seeking behaviour (ISB) of farmers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The model proposed in this paper is based on Wilson's model. The theoretical insights and empirical evidences comprehended at the study were embedded into Wilson's model to develop a model that explores the ISB of farmers. The proposed model was quantitatively evaluated using empirical data gathered through a survey of 289 farmers. Furthermore, the model was qualitatively evaluated by subject experts against criteria of simplicity, comprehensiveness, exactness, generality and clarity.\nFindings: The key finding of this study is the model developed to explore the ISB of farmers. The adapted model provides theoretical and empirical bases for exploring farmers' ISBs. Thus, the model will be useful in developing valuable design insights to apply to user-centred agricultural ISs.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this study relates to its demonstration of how existing models can be reconsidered and adapted based on related literature and then tested and presented as adapted models. The proposed model will be useful to promote informational studies in agriculture.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Can plate colour promote appetite and joy while dining? An investigative study in Chinese fine dining restaurants	[ "Appetite", "Chinese fine dining restaurant", "Dining emotions", "Plate colour preferences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the growing demand for service quality, businesses in the restaurant industry have been seeking ways to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment. In addition to providing meals, restaurant businesses must provide customers with a comfortable dining experience to increase their competitiveness. According to Baker et al. (1994), consumption mood is often related to the consumption environment; therefore, restaurateurs should invest in creating an atmosphere that improves consumers' dining experience and promotes positive feelings. With regard to the service industry, Bitner (1992) recognised the importance of store atmosphere planning, as conscientious planning is necessary to create a store atmosphere in which consumers feel comfortable and content. During a dining experience, food appearance is complemented by the shapes and colours of the tableware and the illumination of the restaurant. The relationship between tableware and food stimulates consumers' taste buds and thus underscores the importance of tableware. A good dining atmosphere has a major impact on consumers' moods and behaviours (Chen and Lee, 2018).\nLiterature review: Plate colour preferences\nMethod: Method and sampling\nResults: Profile of the respondents\nDiscussion: The study results show that the plate colours that are suitable for Chinese fine dining restaurants and that can stimulate appetite are primarily gold, white and black. Men believe the most appropriate colours for Chinese fine dining restaurants are, in order, gold, white and black, while women believe the most appropriate colours are, in order, white, gold and black. This finding indicates that the test subjects were affected not only by the dishware colours used in traditional Chinese restaurants but also possibly by the bold colours in Chinese food, which can be more easily emphasised by white plates. Additionally, gold carries the traditional impression of high class. As such, gold, white and black are the preferred plate colours. Past studies have also indicated that most plates on the market are primarily black and white (Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2013), with many studies showing that white plates are most often used to plate foods to emphasise the taste and texture of the food (Spence et al., 2014; Stewart and Goss, 2013).\nConclusion and contributions: The consumers of Chinese fine dining restaurants are not limited to the elderly or those with a higher income, indicating that the spending power of young, low-income groups is not to be underestimated. In an era in which people care about their quality of life, people are further emphasising the importance of hedonistic aestheticism. Therefore, this study provides Chinese fine dining restaurateurs with information regarding the plate colour appetite preferences and consumption requirements of consumers in different groups for their reference.\nResearch limitations: The study used a scale-based questionnaire to examine the effects of plate colour on consumer emotions. Due to the limitations of the five-point scale format, the researchers in this study were unable to capture non-scale-based data and analysed only the data derived from the subjective responses of the consumers who visited high-end Chinese restaurants in Taipei. Therefore, these research results were applicable only to consumers who visited high-end Chinese restaurants in Taipei City, which limits the statistical representativeness of the sampling method and the ability to apply these results to consumers outside of Taipei. Furthermore, although there are many plate-related variables, including the material, design, arrangement and shape of plates, only one element was examined in this study, making it impossible to apply the results to plates of different materials, designs, arrangements and shapes. In terms of consumer emotions, the questionnaire was administered to consumers who visited high-end Chinese restaurants in Taipei, rendering it impossible to apply the results to consumers who have never visited high-end Chinese restaurants.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study used the colours of plates as atmospheric stimulus factors in the Mehrabian-Russell model of environmental influence, which served as the study's basic background theory, to explore how plate colour affects consumer appetite preference and dining emotions in Chinese fine dining restaurants. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used quantitative surveys and employed purposeful sampling and rolling snowball surveys of consumers in Chinese fine dining restaurants in Taipei; 581 effective surveys were collected from the test subjects. The research tools included a plate colour appetite preference scale and a dining emotion scale.\nFindings: There were significant differences in age and gender in terms of appetite preference and plate colour. The plate colours with the highest appetite preference were gold, white and black. There were significant differences in plate colour appetite preference in terms of dining mood, with white and gold plates eliciting positive dining moods.\nOriginality/value: Most academic papers have focused on studying plates in Western dining, while very few studies have focused on the colour of Chinese dining plates. The greatest contribution and value of this study is its discovery of the colour combination of dining plates that can elicit appetite preferences and positive dining emotions among diners in Chinese fine dining restaurants. This information can be used to stimulate positive dining emotions among consumers and help restaurateurs improve the level of dining aesthetics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Signature reliability of binary state node in complex bridge networks using universal generating function	[ "Mean time to failure", "Universal generating function", "Signature", "Binary state", "Network reliability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: Network reliability plays a key role in planning, designing and maintenance of controlling networks. Networks are the predominant part in many real-world systems such as computer architecture, data communications, software engineering, voice communications, transportations, oil and gas production, electrical power systems, etc. (Gertsbakh and Shpungin, 2016). There are different interconnection networks, namely, bus networks, crossbar networks and multistage interconnection networks (MIN). In the field of communication systems MIN plays a key role in the multiprocessor systems (Colbourn and Colbourn, 1987). Many researchers (Gunawan and Fard, 2012) discussed the two types of MIN, namely, gamma networks and extra-stage networks. These network systems are used in large-scale parallel processing systems to improve the communications. Since various engineering systems are network based hence their study especially in the context of reliability is robust. It is also observed that due to various failures in communication networks it is not possible to have 100 percent availability of signals. Faults in communications networks are obligatory and construction of perfect communication network is not an easy task (Rak et al., 2015). Further, resilience is considered as a fault tolerance, performability and survivability of the networks and it is also the ability of the network to face different challenges for the normal functioning to maintain its acceptance level of service (Gertsbakh and Shpungin, 2011).\n2. Definitions: 2.1 Universal generating function\n3. Preliminaries of the traditional UGF used in network reliability: Classically there are two UGFs, namely, node UGF and sub-network UGF used to study the network reliability:\n4. Proposed UGF: For solving the reliability of complex bridge binary network, we use two new subnet-UGFs U* and U0 which are introduced as follows:(7)\n5. Model description: Consider a BSN and let the probability of each edge state related to binary state (i.e. either working or failed) network be given by:(10)\n6. Algorithms: 6.1 Algorithm for evaluating the reliability of complex bridge binary network\n7. Numerical illustration: 7.1 Reliability of complex bridge network A\n8. Conclusion: Present paper proposes an efficient algorithm to compute the reliability indices of complex bridge network having i.i.d. lifetime components (nodes, edges) with the help of UGF and Owen's method. In this work we have compared the reliability on the basis of flows in the network when flow from node 3 to node 4 and node 2 to node 5 is allowed separately. The reliabilities of complex bridge networks A and B for the considered probabilities are found to be 0.667541 and 0.811150, respectively. This study reveals that a slight change in the complex bridge network affects the reliability significantly. The present study suggests that one of the flows, namely, complex bridge network B is found to be more reliable than the complex bridge network A, though they are not looking much different. Finally, by the reliability structure function, proposed algorithms are used to find the signature and MTTF. From signature, we can compute the failure probabilities component wise and it provides an opportunity to reliability engineers to enhance the performance of the networks on the basis of importance of the components. Present research outcomes are very helpful to the reliability practitioners and engineers in selecting the best network topologically as it helps in finding the impact of flows in any network. The study reveals that proposed algorithm can be an efficient way to evaluate reliability characteristics of complex bridge networks.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate various reliability measures like reliability, expected lifetime (mean time to failure), signature reliability and compare networks based on the different flows.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The reliability characteristics of complex bridge networks have been evaluated using different algorithms with the help of universal generating function (UGF). Further, the signature reliability of the considered networks has been determined using Owen's method.\nFindings: The present paper proposes an efficient algorithm to compute the reliability indices of complex bridge networks having i.i.d. lifetime components (nodes, edges) with the help of UGF and Owen's method. This study reveals that a slight change in the complex bridge network affects the reliability significantly. Finally, by the reliability structure function, proposed algorithms are used to find the signature and MTTF. From signature, we have determined the different failure probabilities corresponding to edges of the network.\nOriginality/value: In this work, we have evaluated reliability characteristics and signature reliability of the complex bridge networks using UGF method and Owen's method respectively unlike done in the past.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial development - does it lessen poverty?	[ "Developing countries", "Poverty alleviation", "Institutional quality", "Absolute poverty", "Liquid liabilities", "Indirect effect", "Relative poverty", "Poverty gap", "GDP growth", "G20", "I32", "O1" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is a general consensus among scholars that a financial system that effectively provides financial services, such as saving mobilization, better capital allocation, and an effective risk management, is crucial for the process of economic growth (e.g. King and Levine, 1993; Beck et al., 2000; Beck and Levine, 2004). Recent studies have also focussed on exploring whether a well-functioning financial system helps improve the standard of living for the poor (Akhter et al., 2010; Perez-Moreno, 2011; Jeanneney and Kpodar, 2011).\n2. Literature review: In recent years, a growing strand of literature has debated whether and how the development of financial system could have any relevant effect on the standard of living for poor. In this section, we discuss the main mechanisms by which financial development might affect the poorest segments of the population.\n3. Empirical model, estimation strategy, and data: To carry out the empirical analysis, we estimate the following dynamic panel regression model:(1)\n4. Empirical results: We start our empirical analysis by presenting summary statistics. Descriptive statistics presented in Table I indicate that rates of poverty vary considerably across countries. For example, the headcount index at $2 a day ranges from virtually zero (no poor) for Bulgaria in the 1989-1992 to 0.94 (almost all poor) for Malawi in 1997-2000. Similarly, income share hold by the poorest quintile fluctuates from just 1 per cent in Panama in 1989-1992 to 10.12 per cent in Bulgaria in 1997-2000. The growth rate of per capita GDP and primary education also show considerable variation. The lowest per capita GDP growth rate is recorded in Romania in the years 1989-1992, while the highest per capita GDP growth has been seen in Azerbaijan in 2005-2008.\n5. Robustness check: The empirical findings that we present here might be driven by the presence of specific observations, which have an unusual effect on the estimates. Thus, as a robustness check, we investigated the observations associated with relatively large residuals. These are specifically the point observations that are greatly over or under predicted by the model. A graphical inspection detects different potential outliers depending on the specification. Thus, we excluded such observations from the sample and re-run the regressions (results not shown here). The exclusion of such observations neither affects the coefficient of private credit, which remains statistically significant, nor the coefficient of commercial-central bank, which continues to show no significant impact on absolute poverty. Similarly, dropping of the outliers does not affect the estimates associated with the poorest quintile, which continue to lack statistical significance[6]. Moreover, the empirical findings concerning the indices of stock market development (turnover ratio and stock market capitalization) are not affected by the omission of outliers[7].\n6. Conclusions: The aim of this study is to assess the financial development effect on poverty for a sample of developing countries using alternative measures of poverty as well as a large array of proxies for financial sector development. Our results suggest that whether financial sector development affects the level of poverty or not depends on the nature of the poverty index as well as the proxy used for financial development. Specifically, we find evidence in favour of a positive role of financial sector development in reducing poverty (absolute poverty). We also find that financial sector development has larger effects on poverty reduction when institutional arrangements are sound or/and when economic growth is high. Hence, the results we reported here suggest that developing countries can use financial sector development policy to achieve the goal of poverty alleviation. However, our results show that financial development does not appear to benefit disproportionately those at the lower end of distribution (relative poverty). Our results also suggest that stock market capitalization, turnover ratio, and the relative degree to which credit is being allocated by commercial banks vis-a-vis central banks neither significantly affect the absolute nor the relative poverty.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of financial development on poverty reduction in developing countries. The paper also investigates whether financial development affects poverty via institutional quality and GDP growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To take into account the dynamics nature of panel data and country-specific effects, the authors use a two-step system GMM estimator. The authors also employ a large array of measures of financial development in order to check the robustness of the results. The analysis is carried out for a sample of developing countries using an unbalanced panel data set covering the period 1985-2008.\nFindings: The authors find that financial development plays a significant role in reducing absolute poverty. However, the authors do not find any pro-poor impact of financial development when poverty is measured in relative terms. The authors show that the impact of financial development on poverty alleviation is statistically significant when liquid liabilities and credit granted to the private sector are used as a proxy of financial development. The results on the indirect effect of financial development indicate that financial sector development has larger effects on poverty reduction when institutional arrangements are sound or/and when economic growth is high.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that the inference for a pro-poor effect of financial development depends primarily on the measure of poverty and the choice of the proxy for financial development. Banking sector reforms may be an effective instrument to tackle absolute levels poverty. However, the policy makers should not rely only on financial reforms, regardless of whether they are based on banks or stock markets, to narrow the gap between the poorest quintile of the population and the richer quintiles. Rather, they should also utilize fiscal policies, such as progressive taxation and public-expenditure projects, to redistribute resources.\nOriginality/value: The paper differs from the previous studies in several ways. First, it studies the financial development-poverty nexus using three alternative indices of poverty. Second, this study focusses on a sample of developing countries only. As the structure and development level of the financial sector in poor and rich countries could differ significantly, focussing on developing countries helps mitigate the problem of heterogeneity arising from using a pooled sample of rich and poor countries. Third, robust estimation methods are applied that take into account the dynamic nature of empirical models and country-specific effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management issues in knowledge-intensive SMEs	[ "Knowledge management", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Knowledge organizations", "Knowledge management systems", "England" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge management (KM) is one of the most used and at the same time controversial concepts, currently discussed in academia and the business world. Interest in KM stems from the realisation that organisational knowledge is a strategic corporate asset that needs to be generated, represented, stored, transferred, transformed and applied to future organisational problems (Schulttze and Stabell, 2004). Large companies and multinationals, such as Honda, Cannon, Matsushita, NEC, Sharp, Kao, Ford, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Texas Instruments and HP, have long recognised the need for KM in order to respond quickly to customers, create new markets, rapid developing new products and handle emergent technologies (Nonaka, 1991). Consequently, KM practices are now considered as established practice in large organisations (Srikantaiah and Koenig, 2000). A major influence in this uptake has been convincing argumentation and marketing from:* Hardware and software technology and service vendors who promote their products as a means of increasing corporations' efficiency and profitability. The assumption here is that IT systems can effectively facilitate codification and distribution of knowledge.* Organisational learning and organisational development specialist who analyse both tacit and explicit knowledge in the organisation and make recommendations to increase company performance.* Strategic and business management consultants (Prichard et al., 2000).Further, authors such as Davenport and Prusak (1998) and Coleman (1999) have promoted KM as a practice with implications beyond that of simply developing information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures, with information sharing and retrieval potential. For example, according to Pollard (2003) the expectations are mostly of organisational gains in terms of:* growth and innovation in organisations;* productivity and efficiency (reflected in absolute cost savings);* customer relationships;* employee learning, satisfaction and retention; and* management decision-making.Nevertheless, early enthusiasm for KM now seems to be fading. As noted by Pollard (2003), \"once the darling of business schools and business gurus, and the fastest growing area in Management Consulting\", but there is now an accumulation of evidence of diminishing interest in KM, such as:1. budgets for KM have been slashed everywhere, and whole KM departments eliminated;2. many companies are now trying to outsource KM, no longer viewing it as a core competency;3. whereas at one time six of the top ten bestsellers at Books for Business were about KM, now very few KM titles even enter the list;4. writers are starting to predict \"the death of KM\" (Firestone, 2001b), lament \"where did KM go wrong\" (Grey, 2003) and even decry \"the autism of KM\" (Pollard, 2003);5. there are now fewer chief knowledge officers in Fortune 500 companies than there were five years ago; and6. half of the KM conferences scheduled in the past year in Toronto were cancelled for lack of interest (Pollard, 2003).More importantly, while KM seems to be successfully applied in large companies, it is largely disregarded by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This has been attributed primarily to a lack of a formal approach to the sharing, recording, transferring, auditing and exploiting of organisational knowledge, together with a lack of utilisation of available information technologies. However, this informality within SMEs and on projects can also be viewed as a strong motivation for adoption of KM, since it will affect dissemination and transfer of experiences and relevant knowledge to future projects and organisational development (Egbu et al., 2004). Specifically, though, as in any global corporation, SMEs need appropriate and up-to-date knowledge in order to compete, they tend to be more susceptible to problems of high staff turnover and knowledge retention. Thus, this knowledge must be appropriately managed, disseminated and retained in the company. Consequently, even though KM processes are onerous in terms of both direct and indirect costs, the consequences for an SME of not maintaining those processes can potentially make the SME vulnerable to knowledge leakage and consequent losses in efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.Despite the strength of the above argumentation, the lack of uptake of KM within SMEs suggests that they are currently not convinced of the advantages of adopting a KM strategy for innovative purposes and business growth. Kerste and Muizer's (2002) explanation for this is that for SMEs, acquisition of knowledge is only interesting if this knowledge can be easily obtained, disseminated and will result in pragmatic and immediate increase in efficiency, higher profit margin or competitive advantages. In other words, KM advantages have to be clear and easily attainable, otherwise SMEs will continue to focus on the traditional way of working. However, there is currently a sparcity of information available on KM in SMEs (McAdam and Reid, 2001).This paper, presents preliminary results of a study that aimed at addressing the latter gap, by trying to understand current KM awareness, perceptions and requirements in SMEs. An interpretivist approach was chosen, as the aim was to acquire an in-depth appreciation of the understanding of KM and potential barriers to its use. Therefore, a questionnaire-based study was deliberately excluded in favor of a case-study approach. Before initiating the interviewing process, an exhaustive literature review was undertaken, in order to gain an insight into the above-mentioned debates and to establish an appropriate conceptual KM model for SMEs. Accordingly, the paper is organised into three main sections. A summary of the literature review is presented in the first, followed by a description of the research methodology and design. Finally, results are discussed and conclusions drawn.\nKnowledge management characterisation: From the literature, definitions of knowledge vary widely. Furthermore, many articles in the KM field often confuse knowledge with information, as identified by Wilson (2002) and Firestone (2001a), and thus add to a certain degree of confusion and epistemological conflict. Starting from the basic, the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, defines knowledge as:... understanding of or information about a subject which has been obtained by experience or study, and which is either in a person's mind or possessed by people generally.Post-modern schools of thought hold that \"knowledge of the world is not a simple reflection of what there is, but a set of social artefacts; a reflection of what we make of what is there\" (Schwandt, 1997). In other words, there is a meaning that people in organisations attach to acquired knowledge and information that is associated with their work practices and experiences, as well as their work environment and culture. KM therefore is management of such understandings, artefacts and information sources. However, this very generic definition will be interpreted by different individuals according to their perspectives, epistemological assumptions, and specialisation. Consequently, this definition would mean different things to different people. In fact, KM itself is not without contradictions at both epistemological and philosophical levels. Authors such as Wilson (2002) and Drucker as quoted by Kontzer (2001) discredit the concept of managing knowledge arguing that it is not possible to manage what is internally constructed by an individual. Knowledge as an internal construction is based on social, negotiation of meanings and interactions with the environment cannot be extracted, stored and managed.You can't manage knowledge. Knowledge is between two ears, and only between two ears. When employees leave a company, their knowledge goes with them, no matter how much they've shared (Kontzer (2001), quoted Drucker).Types of knowledge\nMethodology: Research aims and objectives\nResearch design: Two knowledge intensive SMEs, within the South Yorkshire region, were selected as case studies. Interviews were used as the data collection method and this consisted of three sets of interviews for each company (these companies will be referred to as Company A - which operates within the UK and Europe and has 18 employees- and - Company B - which is active worldwide and employs 75 employees). Interviews were conducted with the CEO, operational manager and the technical staff for each company. Interviews were selected as the method of data collection as it would enable frank, anonymous and face-to-face exploration of issues with the interviewees. It was expected that the interviews would provide the research team with a chance to probe and delve deeper into the subjective perceptions and understandings of the interviewees, here, an amalgamation of specific, reflective, hypothetical and leading questions were used to further explore the responses as proposed by Keats (2000, p. 35) and Warwick (1984, p. 7).In order to design the interview script, a KM model for SMEs was developed from the literature. A number of KM models where examined to determine the most applicable to the study. Particular attention was paid to Prichard et al. (2000) McAdam and McCreedy (1999) and Smith et al. (2003). However, it was decided that these models do not singularly and adequately represented the KM process within the organisational setting selected. Base on this observation it was decided that a combination of the models would be more accurate in representing these processes as illustrated in Figure 1. This figure presents KM in its organisational context and in the bottom part a more detailed elaboration of KM as a process.The interviews were led in-loco in the organisations. Immediately before the start of the interview, interviewees were guaranteed anonymity and provided with an \"aide-memoire\" that contained an explanation of the main KM terms that could emerge in the discussion. The aide-memoire was then discussed with the interviewee to ensure that both the researchers and the interviewee had an appropriate understanding of the expectations, focus and the direction of the interview. The interviews were followed by research focus group discussions with the entire research team aiming at building a common understanding of the results obtained and fine tuning the interview scripts accordingly.The interview data collected was transcribed and subsequently analysed. The analysis was performed by interpretation and coding of data and representation through concept maps. Interview transcript coding did not follow phenomenography or grounded theory approaches. In fact, rather then letting codes emerge without an explicit theoretical stance, this study used the model in Figure 1 to frame both the different interview scripts and the coding of the transcripts. In order to conduct the coding, a main concept characterisation was defined a priori. This characterisation was based on the following key concepts that are represented in Figure 1: knowledge construction, knowledge embodiment, knowledge use, knowledge dissemination, business value and organisational learning. Nevertheless, and as the results of transcript analysis, one extra key concept did emerge from the discussions and was added at the analysis phase: knowledge management barriers. The final concept characterisation was thus based on these seven key concepts included further elements, systems and subsystems. These served to provide finer levels of detail and define interrelationships. This characterisation was then represented through concept maps. These maps were used, as they are useful exploratory tools and an efficient method to share, discuss and represent qualitative data. They also formed an essential role in scaffolding the rhetorical presentation, description and discussion of data that forms the findings of this study. In sum the interview process, transcript analysis and concept map development was done according to the following framework:1. definition of the theoretical stance/model;2. selection and definition of key concepts;3. design of the interview scripts accordingly;4. conduct the interviews in the selected organisations;5. transcription of the interviews;6. representation of each individual interviews using concept maps according to the hierarchy of elements, systems and subsystems;7. clustering of elements, systems and subsystems into the key concepts by merging the different individual interviews;8. consequent re-arranging of interdependencies and relationships; and9. interpretation of key concept maps and formulation of findings.Consequently, six individual concept maps were produced. The example in Figure 2 illustrates the complexity of the findings and the richness of the interview responses. Irradiating from the centre are the seven main concepts, which then are characterised by their main elements, which in turn are linked to actual organisational implementations. These were then merged into seven key concept maps that reflect a holistic view, rather then individual stances. The findings of this study emerge from these seven key concept maps and were consequently divided into seven sections.\nDiscussion of findings: Findings of interpretivist research are usually presented in rhetorical form. The findings presented below were constructed using concept maps as the scaffolding tool and quotes from the interviews as anecdotal evidence to qualify the argumentation.Business value of KM\nConclusions: It is widely acknowledged in the academic milieu that all organisations, both large and small, require efficient KM in order to maximise their competitiveness and survival chances in the modern information society. Large organisations have readily adopted KM principles and its inherent business value by adapting organisational strategies and use of ICT. These large organisations, normally multinationals as described by Davenport and Probst (2002), generally implement KM systems which typically take advantage of explicit knowledge represented in the form of documents and other files uploaded to a central repository. Such companies also make significant efforts to try and elicit tacit knowledge from work procedures and heuristics. However, the latter form of knowledge is not easy to capture and represent. The reality of this approach is that it requires a considerable investment in both time and resources to implement. Classifications, hierarchies and ontologies have to be established and corresponding documents classified, indexed and uploaded.SMEs, including knowledge intensive ones, cannot afford this investment and have difficulties in establishing a credible business value to KM. This study uncovered evidence that while acknowledging that adequately capturing, storing, sharing and disseminating knowledge could lead to greater innovation and productivity within their organisation, managers are not prepared to invest the relatively high effort on long term goals for which they have difficulty in establishing the added value. This seems to stem from pragmatic concerns related to competition and survival in highly unforgiving and competitive business environments. This organisational culture and management style in SMEs in clearly explained by the CEO of Company A:Actually the most important part of this business is getting the business and living the business and all the other stuff is there to keep it going (CEO Company A).Therefore, though it became clear from the interviews that there is a strong need to create, share and disseminate knowledge within SME's, this is clearly not related with the availability of ICT infrastructures. In fact, KM in SMEs tends to happen in an informal way, rarely supported by purposely designed ICT systems. In order to implement an appropriate knowledge management strategy in SMEs, cultural, behavioural, and organisational issues need to be tackled before even considering technical issues. Further studies in this field should focus on the former issues in order to close the gap between theoretical propositions and the reality of practice. This may help mitigate the syndrome that \"we don't think about it the way you academics do\" (CEO of Company A) and reinforce the feeling that academic contributions \"might [...] enthuse me to think about it a little bit more\" (CEO of Company B).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a study of knowledge management understanding and usage in small and medium knowledge-intensive enterprises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study has taken an interpretitivist approach, using two knowledge-intensive South Yorkshire (England) companies as case studies, both of which are characterised by the need to process and use knowledge on a daily basis in order to remain competitive. The case studies were analysed using qualitative research methodology, composed of interviews and concept mapping, thus deriving a characterisation of understandings, perceptions and requirements of SMEs in relation to knowledge management.\nFindings: - The study provides evidence that, while SMEs, including knowledge intensive ones, acknowledge that adequately capturing, storing, sharing and disseminating knowledge can lead to greater innovation and productivity, their managers are not prepared to invest the relatively high effort on long term knowledge management goals for which they have difficulty in establishing the added value. Thus, knowledge management activities within SMEs tend to happen in an informal way, rarely supported by purposely designed ICT systems.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper proposes that further studies in this field are required that focus on organisational and practical issues in order to close the gap between theoretical propositions and the reality of practice.\nPractical implications: - The study suggests that in order to implement an appropriate knowledge management strategy in SMEs cultural, behavioural, and organisational issues need to be tackled before even considering technical issues.\nOriginality/value: - KM seems to have been successfully applied in large companies, but it is largely disregarded by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This has been attributed primarily to a lack of a formal approach to the sharing, recording, transferring, auditing and exploiting of organisational knowledge, together with a lack of utilisation of available information technologies. This paper debates these concepts from a research findings point of view.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organisation and formal activism: insights from the anarchist tradition	[ "Anarchist geographers", "Anarchist organization", "International of Anarchist Federations", "Mutual aid", "Transnational anarchism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: If it is true that organization creates leaders, if it is true that anarchists are unable to come together and arrive at an agreement without submitting themselves to an authority, this means that they are not yet very good anarchists, and before thinking of establishing an anarchist society within the world they must think of making themselves able to live anarchistically. The remedy does not lie in the abolition of organization but in the growing consciousness of each individual member(Malatesta, 1897).\n1. Introduction: activism and (in)formal organisation: re-asserting the ongoing relevance of anarchist tradition: The paper will explore - and emphasise - the advantages of appealing to \"order within activism\" from an unexpected radical tradition: anarchism. The uncoupling of order from anarchism has long been part of wider ignorance, propaganda, and common misrepresentations about anarchism itself. In drawing attention to this misreading of anarchist praxis, and exploring what influential anarchist thinkers actually said about order, organisation and the question of violence/anti-violence, then important new insights and implications for an anarchist-inspired contemporary activism may be brought into being.\n2. Recognising the social order of anarchy: The statement highlighted at the beginning of this paper: \"Anarchy is the highest expression of order\"[1] was written in 1851, in Reclus's first work Le Developpement de la liberte dans le monde. Even though an organised anarchist movement did not exist until the 1870s (when Reclus was one of its founders), the young Reclus evoked a tradition inspired by both Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) and his idea of cooperation and solidarity among workers, which was then called Autogestion (a term which can be roughly translated as \"self-organisation\") and the 1848 Revolutions, acknowledged as one of the founding moments for anarchist ideas (Prichard, 2013). In the 1870s, the idea of anarchist organisation was put into practice in the context of the First International, after the separation between the General Council led by Marx and Engels, who sought to centralise the organisation, and the \"anti-authoritarian\" sections by Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, and USA, which met in 1872 in Saint-Imier (Switzerland) to inaugurate the \"Anti-authoritarian International\" (Guillaume, 1905). In this context, one finds other statements identifying capitalism - and not anarchy - with themes of disorder. One of these came from the Geneva militant Charles Perron, cartographer of Reclus's New Universal Geography (Ferretti, 2014). In a pamphlet written for public education Perron (1868) argued: \"Ignorance, here is the organic social vice, the foremost cause of disorder! It is here that it is necessary to strike, and strike hard, because if we can make this cancer disappear, the truth, the final revolution will be accomplished\" (p. 3). It is worth noting here that Perron, Reclus, and Kropotkin, who are not considered by anarchist historiography as the most animated partisans of organisation, were also among the protagonists of the first anarchist organisation in history (the Federation jurassienne). The Federation jurassienne directly followed Bakunin's International Alliance for Socialist Democracy (Cerrito, 1973, p. 31) in which Reclus also took part (Guillaume, 1905).\n3. Struggling against \"bourgeois influences\": Errico Malatesta and Luigi Fabbri: Errico Malatesta, one of the most famous anarchists of his time, criticised Kropotkin's idea of anarchy as a science, considering that it could lead towards an excessive fatalism and stating the necessity to focus more on the action's practical needs than on theory. Malatesta's method was then deemed a voluntarist one: this means that anarchists need to do a long and \"patient work\" to put the bases for a future social revolution (Turcato, 2015, p. 128). Nevertheless, there was a clear continuity between the \"educationism\" by Reclus and Kropotkin and the \"voluntarism\" by Malatesta and his closest friend and collaborator, Luigi Fabbri, the latter strongly committed to the political and scientific work by Reclus. In particular, if the anarchists inspired by Malatesta considered the ideas of education and evolution not enough for the final revolutionary outcome, nonetheless they did not deny their importance for social transformation. It is worth noting that radicalising pedagogy is one of the challenges for today's social movements and an object of recent contributions from anarchist geographies (see Springer et al., 2016).\n4. Synthesis, informalism and international federation processes: Anarchist organisation is strictly linked to the idea of federalism and strongly based on territorial groups and federations, without the need for recognising political and administrative boundaries. A key example is the Spanish Movimiento Libertario, whose biggest components - the National Work Confederation (CNT) and the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) - realized, during the Spanish war of 1936-1939, a social revolution in regions such as Catalonia and Aragon which put into practice the anarchist geographers' ideas of decentralism as showed by Myrna Breitbart (1978). The basic forms of social life, in these communities, corresponded to the organisational scales of workers' unions and anarchist groups, established by the declaration of anarchist communism (Comunismo libertario) approved by the 1936 CNT Congress held in Zaragoza: \"The individual, the group, the federation\" (Peirats 1951). This was clearly consistent with the traditional formula endorsed by Fabbri: \"Free individual in the group, free group in the federation, free federation in the International, as one said since Bakunin's times\" (Fabbri, 1951, p. 205). This also recalls Simon Springer's statement that \"scale is not synonymous with hierarchy\" (Springer, 2014, p. 410) as the geographical patterns of Spanish collectivisation assumed clearly different levels of scale in the organisation of production and consumption, without a subordination of the local levels to the central ones (Breitbart, 1978).\n5. Towards an anarchist organisation of society and space? A focus on anarchist geography: The main contribution of this paper within this special issue is to emphasise that the idea of a public and formalised anarchist organisation is highly consistent with the claims of key anarchists. Indeed its success enables the very possibility of an ordered anarchist society (which itself demands understanding as a highly geographical phenomenon). Thus - both historically and in the present moment - questions relating to the prefigurative spatial and territorial politics (and praxis) of anarchist individuals, groups, and federations are central issues among anarchist organisers. I have argued that the question of formal organisation is a central one for anarchism and for its spatiality, and that it is consistent with Reclus's and Kropotkin's original idea of anarchism as social order. To understand the role played by spaces and places for anarchist organisation, it is worth considering not only the tradition of early anarchist geographers, but also the present literature rediscovering anarchist geographies. Springer argues that \"recognizing specific contexts of public space requires understanding that any social organization is both the outcome of the 'local' politics of the street and their relational geographies to the wider power geometries of 'global' space\" (Springer, 2011, p. 541). Spaces and social organisation are linked to the opposition of a central authority principle, as exposed by Springer, who argues that \"anarchism opposes all systems of rule or forms of - archy (i.e. hierarchy, patriarchy, monarchy, oligarchy, anthroparchy, etc.) and is instead premised upon co-operative and egalitarian forms of social, political, and economic organization, where ever-evolving and autonomous spatialities may flourish\" (Springer, 2012, p. 1606). Decentralisation, according to Springer, \"has been at the heart of radical geographical ideas for a very long time\" (Springer, 2014, p. 405). Another important point in common between anarchist geographies and anarchist organisational practices is the idea of place-based prefigurative politics: according to Anthony Ince (2012, p. 1652), \"rather than believing that it is possible to use authoritarian or undemocratic means to create a free and equal society, anarchists have developed ways of embedding the political principles of an envisioned anarchist society into the ways they organise in the here-and-now [...] such as co-operative cultural and productive enterprises, libertarian schooling and member-run anarchist unions and tenants' groups\".\n6. Conclusion: The question of anarchist organisation invites a complex response. Anarchism is first an attempt to build a libertarian and egalitarian society through the daily application of methods of freedom and equality, one that emphasises coherence between means and ends (Turcato, 2015). Before present-day neoliberalism, the specificity of anarchist organisation is not its reticular nature, which is agreed upon by mainstream organisations (Castells, 2010; Harvey, 1989), but its challenge is to be - as Malatesta stated - an organisation whose method is to guarantee its members freedom and equality in order to transform society. The shortcomings of the faith in networks, cybernetics, and self-organisation have been underscored by John Duda (2013), who argues that \"the unquestioned belief, tragically too often demonstrated by contemporary anarchist movements, in the power and efficacy of self-organised social movements to transform the world on their own terms perhaps as owes more than we might realise to a kind of borrowed faith in scientific objectivity and technological progress, rooted in the theory of complex cybernetic systems\" (p. 70). If anarchism acknowledges mass action's spontaneity, informality, and spontaneity have never been an adequate definition to portray the specificity of anarchist organisation. Thus, I would argue that neglected \"classical anarchism\" brings in its tradition positive definitions of what anarchism proposes and suggestions about how anarchists should be organised, and that present scholars and militants addressing these topics should engage more with this tradition.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute for the special number Protest and Activism With(out) Organisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Elisee Reclus (1830-1905) wrote in 1851 that \"anarchy is the highest expression of order\". This statement, clashing with the bourgeois commonplaces on anarchy as chaos, anticipated the theories, elaborated collectively by the anarchist geographers Reclus, Petr Kropotkin (1842-1921), and Leon Metchnikoff (1838-1888), on mutual aid and cooperation as the bases of a society more rationally organised than the State and capitalist one. If a (minority) part of the anarchist movement, in the following decades, assumed this sort of \"natural order\" to argue that there was no necessity of a political organisation, many militants stated on the contrary the necessity of a formal anarchist (or anarcho-syndicalist) organisation to prepare the revolution and to put in practice the principle of an horizontal and federalist society starting from daily life.\nFindings: The author's main argument is that the idea of a public and formalized anarchist organisation has been consistent with the claims of the anarchist geographers for the possibility of an ordered anarchist society and that it was a very geographical conception, as the spatial and territorial activity patterns of anarchist individuals, groups, and federations was a central issue among anarchist organisers.\nOriginality/value: Drawing on present literature on geography and anarchism and on the multidisciplinary transnational turn of anarchist studies, the author addresses, through primary sources, the contentions and openings of the organisational question in anarchism from Reclus, Kropotkin, and Metchnikoff to the anarchist federations of present day, and its links with the issue of constructive anarchism and with the problem of violence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of sales force technology use on outcome performance	[ "Skills", "Sales force", "Technology use", "Customer-oriented selling", "Outcome performance", "Technology self-efficacy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Rapid advancements in information technology (IT) are transforming the way relationships between companies and their customers are managed (Ahearne et al., 2012; Marshall et al., 2012). The increasing investment in IT in marketing and sales organizations has been a major area of investigation in terms of productivity, efficiency and its ability to foster long-term customer relationships (Hunter and Perrault, 2007; Papastathopoulou et al., 2007). Many organizations spend considerable human and financial resources in equipping their sales forces with IT (Ahearne et al., 2008). Nevertheless, recent findings from the IT literature suggest that increased usage of technology tools does not always lead to increased work productivity (Karr-Wisniewski and Lu, 2010; Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008).\nConceptual framework and hypotheses development: Our conceptual framework (Figure 1) proposes that ST use positively influences salesperson outcome performance and that this positive relationship between ST usage and performance is a function of the mediating processes of individual characteristics (customer-qualification skills) and behaviors (customer-oriented selling). In this study, consistent with Hunter and Perrault (2007, p. 17), ST refers to ITs that can facilitate or enable the performance of sales tasks. Salesperson's outcome performance refers to the sales results that salespeople achieve (Anderson and Oliver, 1987). We focus on outcome performance because it has been shown to be positively related to sales force effectiveness (Cravens et al., 1993). Salesperson's customer-qualification skills refer to the salesperson's learned proficiency to qualify or categorize prospects and customers. In particular, qualification skills include the salesperson's ability to identify and categorize different client types, as well as their associated product and selling requirements (Roman and Iacobucci, 2010). Customer-oriented selling is a way of doing business on the part of salespeople. The term refers to \"the degree to which salespeople practice the marketing concept by trying to help their customers make purchase decisions that will satisfy customer needs\" (Saxe and Weitz, 1982, p. 344).\nThe influence of technology use on salesperson's performance: As argued earlier, building on JD-R theory, technology tools can be considered as job resources, available to salespeople, that can make them more efficient, both in how they allocate and use their time. More specifically, technology can reduce the time salespeople spend on support and non-selling tasks (e.g. administrative tasks). For example, Speier and Venkatesh (2002, p. 101) noted that:\nThe influence of technology use on salesperson's skills and customer-oriented selling (the mediating variables): Ahearne et al. (2007) found that the influence of ST on targeting skills, a construct closely related to customer-qualification skills, was fully mediated by a salesperson's knowledge. In our framework, we anticipate that technology usage has a direct influence on qualification skills. In particular, salespeople in today's competitive environment face a great deal of data that includes information about distributors, dealers, retailers and, ultimately, customers. In addition to this, salespeople need to keep track of competitor's activities and product market situations (Rapp et al., 2008). Drawing on JD-R theory, salespeople who have access to job resources, such as technology tools, will not find examining customer data to be an overly complex and time-consuming process (Rapp et al., 2008). IT not only enhances the quality and speed of information gathering (Speier and Venkatesh, 2002) but also enables the salesperson to better analyze and interpret such data (Ahearne et al., 2005). For example, a key function of IT is to allow salespeople to gather customer information and identify customer needs (Anderson et al., 2007; Widmier et al., 2002). In other words, IT allows salespeople to draw on an expansive (computerized) organizational memory of customers and to use it to update their beliefs and state of knowledge about business relationships (Day, 1994; Sinkula, 1994). Therefore, we expect that technology use will improve the salesperson's ability to qualify and categorize customers. Stated formally:\nRelationship between the mediating variables: The relationship between a salesperson's customer-qualification skills and customer-oriented selling has not been explicitly researched. Nevertheless, Pettijohn et al. (2002) found that a salesperson's general sales skills contribute to the practice of customer-oriented selling, whereas results from Roman and Iacobucci (2010) indicate that a salesperson's qualification skills positively influenced adaptive selling. We predict that a salesperson with stronger customer-qualification skills will be more likely to practice customer-oriented selling. Even though customer-qualification skills and customer-oriented selling are conceptually different constructs, they should be related. The cognitive selling paradigm suggests that a salesperson who is lacking basic qualification skills may be ill-equipped to engage in activities likely to lead to customer satisfaction due to the fact that this salesperson is less competent in classifying prospects into categories and understanding their needs (Weitz et al., 1986). Conversely, by definition, salespeople with stronger qualification skills should have a better understanding of customers' problems and particular situations, which in turn, allow them to ask good questions, discover needs and match product and service offerings to those needs (Wachner et al., 2009). Therefore, we propose that:\nThe influence of salesperson's skills and customer-oriented selling on performance: Salespeople usually work in complex environments that require the processing of much information on the characteristics of the customer and the selling situation (Roman and Iacobucci, 2010). To aid in the processing of this information and be more effective, salespeople can use their customer-qualification skills. A customer typology can help a salesperson predict the customer's likely behavior, by assuming that the customers of a certain type will behave in a manner consistent with that of other, similar category members (Szymanski, 1988; Szymanski and Churchill, 1990). Salespeople with more and better defined categories (i.e. customer-qualification skills) are expected to be more effective than salespeople with less refined or complex schemas (Leong et al., 1989; Sujan et al., 1988).\nThe moderating influence of a salesperson's technology self-efficacy: One of the most important characteristics of effective salespeople is a sense of self-efficacy (Balaji et al., 2002; Mathieu et al., 2007). In general, as self-efficacy increases, employees exert more effort, become more persistent (Gist, 1989) and learn how to cope with task-related obstacles (Chebat and Kollias, 2000).\nMethod: Data collection\nAnalysis and results: Measurement model evaluation\nDiscussion: Research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether and how sales technology (ST) use helps salespeople perform better through the modification of their customer-qualification skills and customer-oriented selling behaviors. Also, the moderating role of salespeople's technology self-efficacy is analyzed. Technological advancements have become an integral part of the personal selling process, yet the relationship between salesperson's technology use and salesperson performance remains primarily unsubstantiated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data are collected from a diverse sample of 265 salespeople across different industries. Hypotheses are tested with structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results indicate that a salesperson's customer-qualification skills and customer-oriented selling fully mediate the effect of technology use on outcome performance. In addition, salespeople high in technology self-efficacy seem to get the most out of their technology use. More specifically, the influence of technology use on customer-qualification skills and customer-oriented selling is stronger for salespeople with high rather than low self-efficacy. Interestingly, technology use only increases performance for salespeople with high self-efficacy.\nOriginality/value: Prior evidence on the consequences of ST on performance is not conclusive. The study adds value to both managers and scholars providing new insights of the link between technology use and performance and its underlying mediating and moderating processes. Without an understanding of the ST-performance relationship, sales managers may increase ST costs but decrease potential returns.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A conceptual understanding of criminality and integrity challenges in food supply chains	[ "Food supply chain crime", "Food supply chain criminality", "Food supply chain fraud", "Food authenticity", "Food crime", "Food fraud" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Traditional supply chain risk management (SCRM) has received significant attention by both academic and practitioners; however, despite this noteworthy body of knowledge, an air of indecision and trepidation across holistic business networks resides in terms of the ultimate resilient supply chain (Sodhi and Tang, 2012), in part due to the challenges associated with supply chain resilience being measured as aggregate level events. This cumulative assessment of supply chain risk limits an organisations ability to realise elements that deliver true cause and effect relationship within global supply chain operations (Bacon, 2014; Christopher and Lee, 2004; Punter, 2013). Furthermore, the intricacies of SCRM become more prevalent when applied across extended value chains, with an asserted sectoral demand increase for foodstuffs of 50 per cent by 2030, which will lead to the \"perfect storm\" of food SCRM (House of Commons International Development Committee, 2013).\n2. Methodology: This research employs a systematic literature review (SLR), which affords a well-defined and coordinated facilitation of research gap analysis for researchers, across areas of literature which are often contradictory and subjective in approach (Denyer and Tranfield, 2006; Tranfield et al., 2003). As such, a systematic cataloguing of current research was undertaken through an iterative method of identify, explicate and refine across research databases to ascertain the significance of reviewed research (Clarke and Oxman, 2001; Tranfield et al., 2003). To ensure appropriate rigour and objectivity in the overall process, the authors conducted the analysis individually using a common framework to give validity to the research outputs, as suggested in the SLR processes supported by Duriau et al. (2007), Rousseau et al. (2008) and Tranfield et al. (2003).\n3. Presentation of findings: 3.1 Step 1 - holistic view of Supply chain food criminality literature\n4. Conceptual understanding of thematic areas: Professor Elliott's report for the government study identified eight pillars of food supply chain resilience. These pillars as identified are not just important as bases of resilience but are the concepts to utilise to counter food fraud and crime in the supply chain. The following section creates an understanding of the eight concepts from the perspective of themes and information identified through the focussed literature sources and wider literature.\n5. Recommendations for future research: There is a desperate necessity for change amid research into FSCRM, especially with regard to business and the under-represented area of the SME that comprise 90 per cent of the food industry sector. This is of further significance to DEFRA and the UK Government (DEFRA, 2013; Elliott, 2014), and their desires to encourage research that is tangible and transferable to the commercial sector. However, as we can clearly note (Table VI) there is a variance between practitioner led and academic research. Furthermore, none of the current academic business research in the \"food crime\" and \"food fraud\" field has considered the softer side of food criminality and its connection to insider threat, procurement or external activist risks against supply chain security. Therefore, based on the extensive SLR and gap identification the authors have introduced a FSCRM conceptual framework (Figure 3) to support the future of research in food resilience with a specific focus on food fraud and crime \"food criminality\". With reference to the work of Professor Elliott (2014) within the context of food supply chain resilience, the authors purport a need for business and management research in the areas of authenticity, local authority engagement, consumer focus, enforcement, government and industry engagement, intelligence gathering, risk management and testing. There are many collaborative areas across these themes that will drive greater understanding and therefore resilience in the sector, and further joining the needs for academia, governments and practitioners to work together in order to meet the needs of consumers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Business, consumers and governmental organisations are harbouring a growing need to gain an appreciation of behaviours connected to food criminality. In order to acquire a cross-functional understanding of these thematic areas (crime and fraud) the mapping of existing research is needed. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper contributes to the process of knowledge understanding, by systematically reviewing literature to provide an analysis of the current body of business knowledge against the thematic criterion of \"supply chain food crime\" and \"supply chain food fraud\". The analysis derives themes from the literature and maps this across the eight pillars underpinning the UK Government paper on food supply chain resilience.\nFindings: A distinct gap lies with the eight pillars of food supply chain resilience, business interest into supply chain criminality and academic research into the field. There are noteworthy gaps when the literature is analysed to that of the UK Government report.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitation of the study was its focus on business-only journals; a plethora of literature resides in the science field (e.g. testing) that has not made its way to business text.\nPractical implications: Drawing inference between business research and the government report, clear identification and tangible research areas can be immediately exploited to align cross-functional thinking.\nSocial implications: The gap of consumer is not as yet addressed in this field, this research contributes originally to this gap and the need to address the same for societal benefit.\nOriginality/value: The paper concentrates on the metrics know to contribute to \"food crime\" and \"food fraud\" and deviating views of academic vs non-academic literature. In conclusion the paper identifies thematic areas for further research and presents a conceptual framework of food supply chain resilience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between cost leadership competitive strategy and firm performance: A mediating role of quality management	[ "Competitive strategy", "Organizational performance", "Continuous improvement", "Quality management", "Information systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A dynamic and turbulent industrial environment characterised the period of the 1990s manufacturing industries (Whittington et al., 2017). The importance of innovation, automation and manufacturing strategy increased and well understood by disciplines including economics, industrials, businesses, marketing, military and tactics (Hill et al., 2014; Kharub and Sharma, 2017a, b; Olhager and Feldmann, 2018). The strategy projects outcomes indicate that about 70 per cent of the differences in successful and unsuccessful companies are affected by the attributes of strategic factors such as quality, flexibility, integration and innovation. Only other 30 per cent are associated with operational efficiency (Grobler, 2007). The strategy attributes determine its structure, which in turn influences its ability to achieve long-term objectives (Lofving et al., 2014). Over the years, to accelerate the progress and development, many strategies and their attributes have been generated in the field of strategic management (Song et al., 2018). The organisations which previously adopted modern strategies are now claiming the success in achieving competitive advantages (Dayan et al., 2017; Sangwa and Sangwan, 2018a).\n2. Literature review: The competitive strategy has become an essential tool to achieving firm's business objectives (Baack and Boggs, 2008; Ehie and Muogboh, 2016; Kharub and Sharma, 2016, 2017a, b; Olhager and Feldmann, 2018). As a result of globalisation, it has become challenging to understand what constitutes competitive strategy and what not? The literature relevant to competitive strategies can be understood by creating four categories. The first category includes articles elaborating the concept of competitive strategy (Kathuria et al., 2007; Porter, 2000, 2008; Skinner, 1969, 1985). The second category stressed on its definition (Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2006; Ward and Duray, 2000). The third category emphasised on linking the competitive strategy with firm's performance (Amoako-Gyampah and Acquaah, 2008; Olhager and Feldmann, 2018). The fourth category includes the article emphasising on developing capabilities or PIP to support firm's competitive strategy (Sharma and Kharub, 2014; Whittington et al., 2017).\n3. Research framework and hypothesis: The literature review on the relationship between three latent variables (namely, CLCS, QM practices and firm performance) has recorded support as well as controversies. This background intimated a need for an empirical study to unravel the confusions by testing these relationships using primary data. Authors noticed that the current study is crucial as it examines the mediating role of QM practices in the context of CLCS and firm performance. After a thorough literature review, three set of hypotheses are developed.\n4. Research instrument and data collection: 4.1 Questionnaire design\n5. Analysis and results: Two steps were involved in data analysis. In the first step, the sampling adequacy test and data reduction process were carried out. In the second step, structural model using structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed.\n6. Discussion: This study aimed to examine the effect of QM practices on the association between CLCS and firm performances. To fulfil this objective a partial mediating model using SEM model was constructed and empirical results so obtained are discussed as follows.\n7. Conclusions: Nowadays, the primary challenge for MSMEs is to find a means of gaining a competitive advantage over the potential competitors. According to Porter, this is possible either by offering higher value to the customer using lower prices or by providing more significant benefits via product or service differentiation that justifies a higher price. Previous studies have observed that owing to the scarcity of the resources (i.e. technology, flexibility, design and development techniques), the MSME sectors in India prefer cost leadership over the differentiation. Furthermore, from last two decades, this sector has introduced the QM practices to reduce the production cost and improve the firm performances. In this context the aim of this study is to answer four RQs, as stated at the end of the Introduction section. In order to answer stated RQs, the study employed a partial mediation model using SEM and calculated the DE, IE and total effect of CLCS on firm performance. The answer to RQ1 is \"yes\", the CLCL is applicable to the MSMEs. In response to RQ2, any direct relationship between the CLCS and firm performance is not found. However, when answering to RQ3, study results showed that the QM practices completely mediate the relationship between the CLCS and firm performance. To answer RQ4, the total impact of the QM practices on the firm's performance was calculated. Based on the total impact, the QM practices were ranked from 1 to 8. The continuous improvement got the rank 1, followed by information and analysis. With rank 1, it shows that continuous improvement is prime means through which the CLCS's goal can be accomplished in MSMEs. Furthermore, study results conclude that the MSMEs need to focus on the supplier management and design and development as they received ranks 7 and 8, respectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the cost leadership competitive strategy's (CLCS) impact on firm performances and the mediating role of quality management (QM) practices in the context of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structures questionnaire data collected from 245 ISO 9000 certified MSMEs in India (65.1 per cent of response rate) have been utilised to understand the CLCS's impact on firm performances. In the first step, the data adequacy tests were performed to check the reliability and validity of the questionnaire and survey data. After that, the partial mediating model (direct, indirect and total effect) along with structural equation modelling approach was employed to test the research hypotheses.\nFindings: The study results revealed that no direct relationship exists between the CLCS and firm performances (0.12<b<0.13; p>0.05); however, QM practices entirely mediated their relationship (b=0.73, p<0.01). Among eight model parameters, with highest total effects on product quality improvement (b=0.6264) and process improvement (b=0.6028), the continuous improvement secured the rank 1, followed by information and analysis (b=0.2334) and supplier management (0.1839), respectively, at p<0.05. Based on the empirical results, it can be concluded that the continuous improvement via proper information and data analysis is the key to achieve CLCS's goal in the MSMEs.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study results' generalisation towards the large organisations is limited. The survey result findings applicability to other developing countries should also be treated with caution because the Indian Government subsidised the MSMEs selected for this study. The study results will help managers in implementing CLCS at the organisational level. The successful implementation will facilitate a competitive advantage in the local market and will motivate them to think globally.\nOriginality/value: The research observation and findings are expected to contribute to the strategic management in manufacturing industries. The study also confirms the existence of strategic management in MSMEs in a developing country. Furthermore, the major contribution is to understand the mediating role of QM practices, especially continuous improvement effect on the relationship between CLCS and firm performances in a developing country. The results indicated that the CLCS is only possible when the managers in the manufacturing sectors emphasis on the QM practices in their firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Broken bridges: a social network perspective on urban high school leadership	[ "Innovation", "Networks", "Leadership", "Involvement", "Educational policy", "Secondary schools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A growing body of research from across the globe indicates that school leadership is a key contributor that is only second to classroom instructional practices for positively influencing student learning and successful school reform efforts (Hallinger and Murphy, 1987; Leithwood et al., 2004, 2008; Spillane and Louis, 2002). School leadership is of particular importance in urban secondary school settings as these principals balance a host of instructional, organizational and community demands in supporting equitable and accessible educational experiences for all students and often lack an in depth research base upon which to draw. Given the pressing accountability demands for student learning, secondary school leaders are expected to possess the capacity for leading reforms around the \"technical core\" of schooling, namely, improving and sustaining the quality of teaching and learning (Leithwood et al., 2004).\nFramework: Social capital as network of relations\nMethods: The more opportunities we have to collaborate the better. There is a wealth of knowledge within our leadership team and we don't have a way to regularly access and share with one another. I think this will be the key to ensuring the common core is implemented with fidelity. As the plan has already been developed, I think we should work on the implementation as an entire leadership team- to ensure everyone knows how they fit in AND that we should meet to collectively review and discuss this implementation as an entire management team (classified and certificated, department and site). From the Purchasing Director to the Superintendent, each one of us should know in our heads what role we play in ensuring student achievement(Principal - Fall of 2012).The above quote was reported to us at the start of the Fall of 2012, when we began this study. It reflects the outlook and potential that was repeated to us as prepared for our three-year examination of a district that was just undertaking the implementation of the CCSS. It was this quote and others that echoed the same sentiment that drove us to take more social capital perspective on the idea of change and reform within a leadership team.\nResults: Comparison and change of perception over time\nDiscussion and conclusion: This longitudinal study, one of the first to examine high school principals from a network perspective, sheds new light on the social infrastructure of urban high school principals. Overall results indicate that over time high school principals tend to become even more isolated and move to the periphery of the network. Moreover, these leaders are not just occupying peripheral positions they are often isolated from other leaders and secondary principals, while the remaining network becomes more cohesive. The quality of their interactions in terms of reciprocated ties and perceptions of the overall climate of innovation also differs significantly from their peers. The coupling of reduced reciprocated ties and reported perception of the climate becoming less open to risk taking may also inhibit the formation of ties. This combined set of findings suggest that high school principals are isolated from important relational ties, which have been shown to be supportive of improving outcomes. From a systems level this may also create challenges in terms of creating coherence and alignment for CCSS implementation across the district. In the remaining paragraphs we unpack some of our key findings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Secondary school leadership provides multiple challenges in terms of the diversity of tasks, multiple demands on time, balancing communities and attending to instructional programming. An emerging scholarship suggests the importance of a distributed instructional leadership approach to high school leadership. However, what has been less thoroughly explored is how secondary school leadership is distributed leaders across a school district. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the social structure and positions urban high school principals occupy in the district system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study was conducted in one urban fringe public school district in southern California serving diverse students populations. The data were collected at three time points starting in Fall 2012 and ending in Fall 2014 from a district-wide leadership team including all central office and site leaders. All leaders were asked to assess their social relations and perception of innovative climate. The data were analyzed through a series of social network indices to examine the structure and positions of high school principals.\nFindings: Results indicate that over time high school principals have decreasing access to social capital and are typically occupying peripheral positions in the social network. The high school principals' perception of innovative climate across the district decreases over time.\nOriginality/value: This longitudinal study, one of the first to examine high school principals from a network perspective, sheds new light on the social infrastructure of urban high school principals and what this might mean for efforts at improvement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Delivering health education: the contribution of social and emotional learning	[ "Health education", "Government", "England" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nGrowing interest in SEL: In the last ten years or so there has been an explosion of thinking and research on the emotions, which has resulted in far more attention being paid to social and emotional matters - in education, in the workplace and in society as a whole. Work has developed at an extraordinary pace, in psychology, neuroscience, and education to name but three disciplines which is making clear that people can be emotional and socially intelligent that these \"intelligences\" are more influential over personal, career and educational success than are conventional intelligence, and that the brain is a highly emotional organ. Increasingly emotional and social capacities are seen as being at the heart of positive human development, effective social groups and societies, and effective education.With this growth of interest in the emotions, across the globe a vast number of Social and Emotional Education (SEL) programmes are springing up. They go under all kinds of names, such as \"emotional literacy\", \"emotional intelligence\", \"social and emotional aspects of learning\", \"coping skills\", \"resiliency\" and \"lifeskills\". There are almost as many detailed aims and definitions as there are programmes, but broadly speaking SEL is concerned with helping people make positive relationships with other people, understand themselves and their own emotions, and understand and respond to the emotions of others in helpful ways.SEL links directly with health education and in particular mental health. A recent review of programmes looked at how effectively they appeared to be in \"promoting mental health\" and found seventeen which were clearly effective under the most rigorous scrutiny (e.g. with proper control groups, over a long period of time and with large numbers of subjects (Wells et al., 2003). The review found that the programmes significantly reduced specific mental and emotional health problems, such as aggression, depression and reduced commonly accepted risk factors associated with mental health problems, such as impulsiveness, and antisocial behaviour. The programmes also helped develop the competences that promote emotional and social well being, such as higher self-esteem and confidence, communication skills, social skills, cooperation, resilience, a sense of optimism, empathy, a positive and realistic self concept, stress management and problem solving skills.Other benefits include the reduction of incidents of violence and bullying in and outside schools (Greenberg et al., 1995) and in some cases, there is even long term reductions in neighbourhood crime (Caplan et al., 1992). SEL helps pupils understand difficult emotions, and knowing how to act in challenging situations without putting themselves or others in danger or at risk. It helps pupils to understand the causes of, and develop strategies to address, problems, conflict, violence, racism, bullying and harassment. It helps pupils continue to develop the skills of assertion and self-confidence, by encouraging effective communication in situations where they may feel at risk, or feel they themselves pose a risk to others. It links particularly well with whole-school work on anti-bullying and violence reduction. Work on self-awareness helps pupils to develop awareness of their own more difficult feelings and to start to manage them more effectively. It can promote pupils' grasp of strategies for building and maintaining an appropriate level of independence in thinking and behaviour. It helps pupils to develop the abilities to manage relationships and make wise choices regarding their lives and how they impact on others, critically evaluating social influences.Children who engage in effective SEL work tend to be happier and get on better with one another; they are more assertive and confident. Effective programmes have been shown to improved a range of social attitudes and behaviours, including: children's understanding of the consequences of behaviour; their ability to cope more effectively with school stress; more classroom participation; improved attitudes to school; greater effort to achieve; higher aspirations; fewer absences and exclusions; better transitions and a higher sense of community (Zins et al., 2004). Establishing and maintaining social relationships requires an understanding of others, their points of view, emotions, attitudes, and values, and is based on an inclination to value and care for others. SEL can help pupils see the world from different points of view, respond appropriately to the experiences of other people, and to know how to identify and celebrate differences in ability, interests and values.SEL programmes have also been shown to contribute to children's physical health, by helping them to understand the emotional implications of the health-related choices they make, strengthening their ability to resist social pressures, help them become more assertive and thus make healthier and safer decisions. Some SEL programmes have had demonstrated impacts on preventing the use of drugs, alcohol, and premature sexual experience (Hawkins and Catalano, 1992; Battistich et al., 1989, 1996, 1997; Durlak and Wells, 1997).\nWork in secondary schools - the English \"SEAL\" programme: Across the globe, work on social and emotional development is becoming well established for younger children but is still relatively rare for adolescents. The reasons for this difference are debatable, but it may be that what in the UK are called \"secondary schools\" (for age 11 onwards) tend to be more focused on academic subjects rather than on children, be of larger size and more impersonal nature. It is possible too that school staff are more nervous about tackling social and emotional issues with adolescents, who may be seen as more resistant and challenging.The English Government's department for education and skills (DfES) is attempting to fill this gap with a new programme \"Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning in Secondary Schools\". The activity is currently a pilot, based on six contrasting English local authorities. Over 60 schools are taking part, and have been chosen to reflect a good spread of rural and urban schools, which serve a range of communities, including different faith groups. I have had the good fortune to be involved in designing and implementing this pilot, the principles of which may be of interest more widely.The programme is evidence based, and attempts to reflect the current priorities and needs of schools in providing an education experience that supports all pupils in doing their best and achieving high standards. There is a strong focus on promoting good teaching and learning and ensuring that all pupils have the confidence to learn effectively. The pilot materials attempt to meet schools' core needs of achieving positive behaviour and regular attendance, attempting to ensure effective learning opportunities for all pupils.The pilot is based on an approach which those who are keen on health promoting schools will be familiar - the so called \"whole school\" approach to improving schools and generating effective practice which focuses on the whole climate, ethos, culture and environment which shape good behaviour and attendance, effective learning, and the promotion of emotional health and social well-being. The pilot uses a universal approach, aimed at all pupils, including bright and motivated, and those with additional support needs where more specialist approaches will target more vulnerable pupils and those at risk of exclusion. It is aimed at all school staff, not just teachers, and seeks to involve parents and carers too.The pilot is attempting to encourage an approach which is based on the strengths and characteristics of secondary schools rather than encouraging them to be more like primary schools, and which builds on existing structures, attitudes and styles of working focusing on the opportunities they present. The attempt is to help schools identify their own starting points, and not feel that they are in some way inadequate if they have not developed much work in this area yet.The claim is not that that all this work is totally new, but is instead about consolidating, developing and strengthening what went on before. However, while building on the positives and on existing work, this activity is also attempting to be genuinely new. What is distinctive about this work on SEL is that it is intended to result in pupils being empowered to take more control of their lives by actually being able to do things differently as a result, if they choose to, not just know why they should. Although many schools or settings will by and large be already delivering SEL work, this activity is intended to help them develop a clearer and more explicit focus on the learning and practice of the concrete social emotional and behavioural skills that underpin effective learning and behaviour. Focused, practical learning opportunities to develop skills, both in and outside the classroom setting, will help young people change, learn and grow. So this activity encourages schools to go well beyond just talking about skills, and instead undertake extensive and specific work to help students move through the stages of skill development - which include identification, modelling, coaching, feedback, practice, reflection, consolidation, internalisation, and generalization. However the view of skills is not reductionist or behaviourist - it sees skills as grounded in pupils' understandings, values, and attitudes, not just as demonstrable behavioural outcomes, divorced of context and meaning. This process of skill development will be explored with pupils in order to empower them to acquire the skills they see as relevant and useful for them and which they think would work in the contexts they move in - not impose a normative model of \"the one right way to do it\". Indeed the overall style is one of involvement and participation, not a top down approach. As well as the usual exhortations to involve the pupils and \"help them find a voice\", this activity is trying to practice what it preaches by involving schools and school staff in its development.This new activity builds on the undoubted success of the DfES's \"Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) in Primary Schools\" resource, which can now be found in over half of the primary schools in England. The DfES hopes to have a similar impact on secondary schools, while recognising that the world of the secondary school is a very different place, and any approach will have to use rather different methods and strategies. Experience across the world suggests it will be a tough call but one year into the pilot and the initial evaluations are promising. The programme has gone down well with schools, is enjoyed by those who take part and is having felt impact on emotional health and well being of students and staff. The larger changes that are hoped for, such as to learning and behaviour will take longer to emerge, but early signs are hopeful. Schools appreciate the approach taken by the pilot activity, which attempts to be collaborative and evolutionary rather than top down and rushed, qualities, which they find refreshing, although there has been some frustration in schools, which like to be given a recipe, and told what to do. Excitement, enthusiasm, and commitment have been maintained throughout the first year, and are currently high.For more information, consult the DfES web site at: www.dfes.gov.uk Information about Secondary SEAL is intended to be in place from May 2007.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to outline the contribution of school-based programmes of social and emotional learning (SEL) to health education, and outline a recent initiative by the English government, \"Secondary SEAL\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents evidence for the impact of SEL programmes, and accounts the key principles of the English SEAL programme.\nFindings: - The paper finds that SEL programmes impact on learning, behaviour, emotional and social wellbeing and physical health, provided that they follow certain key principles.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows, that for the first time, the English Secondary SEAL programme has been outlined in an international journal.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender differences in career perceptions in the People's Republic of China	[ "Careers", "China", "Women", "Gender" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The role of women in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has changed greatly in the twentieth century. At the beginning of the 1900s, traditional views of women placed women in a subordinate position to men and confined most proper feminine activities to the home (Jiang, 2000). In the middle of the century, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Ze Dong, declared that women should be treated as equal to men and the Constitution of the PRC officially institutionalized this position. During the final 20 years of the century, new career alternatives as private entrepreneurs or employees in market-oriented organizations opened for many Chinese men and women. Each of these cultural experiences has left their mark on contemporary Chinese careers.The shift in the Chinese economy from state owned collective enterprises to a more market economy; China's entrance into the WTO and the subsequent globalization in Chinese trade; and development of technological connections to the rest of the world through growing use of the internet, television, mobile phones and fax machines; have resulted in great changes within China as well as in the relationship between China and the rest of the world. These changes have had a significant effect on gender role beliefs and activities. This paper reviews patterns of gender role differences that lead to differences in career beliefs between men and women in a variety of work settings.Findings from this research can help to change stereotypic images of Chinese women and men into more accurate pictures of their career actions and beliefs. This research also provides an important first step to stimulate more detailed theoretical and empirical examinations of careers in Asia since little work has been done previously on gender or on career beliefs. It also can help practitioners create more accurate strategic plans based on realistic views of the career aspirations and motivations of Chinese men and women. Chinese gender differences in career beliefs arise from the Chinese cultural history of gender and work.\nTheoretical background and literature review: Traditional gender roles of women and men in China\nMethod: Procedure\nResults: Some important indicators of external careers are given in Table II. Men and women were likely to work an equal number of hours per week and to be within 2-3 levels from the top level in their organizations. However, men were more likely to have worked for more than one organization and to have held a larger number of individual positions. Women and men were not significantly different in the number of years they had held their current job or worked for their current organization.If we look at simple mean differences as identified by t-test in Table II, there were no gender differences in career goals. The only gender difference in career tactics was that women were more likely to use the career tactic of learning and doing your current job well. However, these findings did not take into account the effects of control variables.The means, standard deviations and correlation matrix of variables used in the regression analyses are shown in Table III. The results of the regression analyses are shown in Tables IV and V.H1, that women would be less likely to value achievement goals, was not supported using the achievement goal scale as the dependent variable (See Table IV). Women and men who were younger were significantly more likely to believe achievement career goals were important than women and men who were older and the results were similar when the single goal item of \"achievement\" was used as the dependent variable.H2 predicting that women would be more likely than men to value collectivism career goals was not supported when the two-item collectivism goal scale was used or with the single item of \"contributing to the society\" but being employed in a state owned enterprise did predict this career goal.H3 predicted that women would be more likely to have career goals compatible with family. The scale that resulted from the factor analysis combined family-employment compatibility with family security goals, and thus was not a specific test of this hypothesis. There was no gender difference when the family security goals scale was used as the dependent variable. The only predictor of this career goal was employment in an SOE. When the single item of \"have convenient working hours\" was used as the dependent variable, there were no significant predictors.H4 predicted that women would be more likely to use learning new skills as a career strategy. This hypothesis was supported when using the scale learn and do the current job well; women were more likely than men to use this career strategy (See Table V). When getting more education was used as a single item, being female and working for an organization that was not an SOE were significant predictors; when learning more about the business (which might be possible without needing access to formal education) was used as a single item dependent variable, being female was a significant predictor.H5, predicting that women would be more likely than men to use networking as a career strategy, was not supported when using the networking and change jobs tactics scale; the significant predictors of these tactics were working for an organization that was not an SOE and being younger. When using the single item of \"exchange favors with others\" as the dependent variable, nothing in the equation was a significant predictor; when using the single item \"build a network of contacts\" as the dependent variable, those who did not working for an SOE were significantly more likely to use this tactic than those who worked for an SOE.H6 that men and women would be equally likely to use the career tactic of loyalty toward superiors was supported. Gender was not a significant predictor either when the two item loyalty to superiors tactics scale was used or when a single item of \"doing what the boss wants\" was used as the dependent variable.\nDiscussion: There were not extensive gender differences in external careers. The lack of difference in the number of levels from the top of the organization may be an artifact of the sample, since the sample contained the personnel director in every organization and this is often one of the few high managerial positions held by a woman. The difference in number of organizations does indicate that men were slightly more likely than women to have left their state-owned or collective organizations and gone to work for a market organization since it is difficult and much less likely to have moved from one state- owned or collective organization to another.As for internal career beliefs, both women and men value achievement, contributing to the family, and collectivism as career goals and use loyalty to superiors and networking as career tactics. Gender differences in ancient Chinese philosophy do not seem to dictate contemporary career beliefs as measured in this study. Women were more likely than the men to try to learn more and to want to get more education to get what they wanted in their careers. These findings among relatively well educated managerial employees are consistent with the findings of Bu and McKeen that there were few gender differences in intrinsic and achievement career goals among Chinese students in Canada and in the PRC (Bu and McKeen, 2001).The lack of significant differences findings for the scales might be attributed to low internal consistency in the scales, however, similar findings occurred with single items that were most closely identified with the central meaning of the scales and this tends to support the finding of no difference. In the case of collectivism, however, the gender difference was proposed based on collective loyalty to family, yet this item did not load on the collectivism scale. The results are consistent with more recent accounts of few gender differences in many aspects of work behavior in Western literature and the belief among women that they must do a better job and be more qualified in order to get the same promotions and rewards (Powell and Graves, 2003). These findings also might be an indication of cultural convergence if the reason for the finding of no gender differences resides in the younger generation becoming less strongly influenced by traditional Confucian and Taoist notions that women are inferior and should not operate in the world outside of the family. Perhaps the older Chinese norm of subordination of women is not held by women when they determine their career goals and tactics for non-family roles.There were more differences between being employed in an SOE and not being employed in an SOE than there were gender differences. Those who were employed in an SOE were more likely to have collectivist careers goals and family security career goals and less likely to use networking and getting more education as career tactics than those employed in other settings. These findings are consistent with both the values of SOEs to preserve jobs and look out for the welfare of workers and with the requirements to use education and networking to find a position in a non-SOE job in the PRC today.There are significant implications for practitioners in these findings. Managers in non-SOE and joint ventures need to recognize that their employees are using networks and willingness to change jobs as key career advancement tactics. They must be prepared to expend efforts to retain valued male and female employees if they do not want them to leave to advance their careers. Managers of SOEs that are reducing staff as government policies reduce support for less successful SOEs are likely to lose valued employees if they fail to provide the family security that their employees desire. According to these results, managers in all organizations cannot justify discrimination against hiring or promoting women based on their lower commitment to achievement or to learning relevant job skills.Limitations\nConclusions: In the first half of the twentieth century Chinese women were devalued and confined to the domestic sphere while Chinese men accepted the obligation to support their family financially. The 1949 revolution codified gender equality in employment according to the law but the law was not always enforced. Recently, market competition has eliminated pressure and control by the central government to adhere to the gender equality proposed in the constitution resulting in fewer women than men being hired and promoted to upper levels of management in the growing private sector of the economy. In spite of these social changes and some gender differences in men and women's external careers in the PRC, the most consistent finding of this study is that women and men have few differences in career goals and tactics. The only gender difference was that women were more committed than men to wanting to learn more and do their current job well in order to pursue their careers. Based on these findings, organizational policy-making managers and career men and women can learn that women as well as men may be very desirable employees who are motivated to achieve. Female and male employees are equally motivated to work hard, to achieve and do a good job and are equally loyal to the organization, the society and their superiors. This study indicates that women and men are ready and eager to contribute to organizations that are willing to give them a chance and women are particularly motivated by situations that give them opportunities to learn. In addition, scholars of work settings and of gender relations in the PRC have a fertile field for future development of theory and measurement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to review gender differences in career goals and career tactics of men and women in the People's Republic of China (PRC).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey results were used to identify empirical differences in career beliefs of 233 managers employed in 16 organizations in the PRC.\nFindings: - Women and men were equally likely to value achievement, contributing to the family, and collectivism as career goals and to use loyalty to superiors, and networking as career tactics. Women were more likely than men to try to learn more and to want to get more education as career tactics.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The non-random sample that does not include every province in the PRC and the low scale internal consistency limit these findings.\nPractical implications: - Gender discrimination based on beliefs that women will be less loyal or ambitious are not justified by these results.\nOriginality/value: - These results challenge stereotypes about Chinese women and provide information rarely examined.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Active entrepreneurs and blue-collar workers. Cultural understandings mirrored in European youth unemployment policies	[ "Activation", "Youth unemployment", "Political sociology", "Policy reforms", "Unemployment policies", "Welfare regimes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At the Luxemburg Summit in 1997, the member states of the European Union (EU) agreed to coordinate national policies to reduce unemployment. Since then, most European countries have undergone major reforms of their unemployment policies. A common trend appears to be a move away from mere income provision and towards activation, which has led some social scientists to speak of a paradigm shift of European welfare states (Gilbert, 2002; Jessop, 2002). While these authors assume that this shift has resulted in a process of convergence in European welfare policies, others have highlighted the importance of path-dependence as a result of historically grown country-specific institutions (Andersen et al., 2005; Ferrera and Hemerijk, 2003). Although most comparative research agrees that there is both convergence and divergence in European unemployment policies (Serrano Pascual and Magnusson, 2007; Aurich, 2011), no sufficient answer has been provided regarding how these convergent and divergent trends are interrelated. Within this context, youth unemployment policies are particularly interesting. While the rights and duties of the young unemployed hardly differed from those of the older unemployed prior to the Luxemburg Summit, most European countries have since introduced various youth unemployment policies that emphasise activation (Serrano Pascual, 2004a). This raises the question of shared and dissimilar traits in youth unemployment policies and of how they are embedded in different European welfare traditions.\nWelfare traditions and activation policies: theoretical considerations: Cultural ideas have a strong impact on welfare policies. Like all individuals, policy makers are guided by values, norms, and beliefs that vary along space and time; that are subject to public discourses; and that are sometimes contradictory (Freeman and Rustin, 1999; Schmidt, 2008). Thus, in a more or less explicit way, policies reflect values, norms, and beliefs. They rest on ideologies and enact them at the same time. Welfare policies especially define conceptions of social order. These conceptions encompass the definitions of social problems, of the plausible policy instruments to solve the problems, and deliver understandings of ideal solutions of the problems. Therefore, in order to understand welfare policies from a comparative perspective, it is necessary to reconstruct the cultural ideas behind specific policies. In the course of the \"cultural turn\" in social sciences (see Cox, 1998; Chamberlayne et al., 1999; Clarke, 2004), approaches focusing on the ideological grounds of welfare states grew in importance. The most famous study we see in this tradition is Esping-Andersen's (1989, 1990) typology of welfare regimes. Esping-Andersen distinguished three \"worlds of welfare capitalism\" - a liberal, a social democratic, and a conservative regime (see also Chatterjee, 1996; Fitzpatrick, 2001). The core principle of the social democratic welfare regime, represented by Sweden in this study, is equality. With regard to unemployment, the main problem is social inequality. Hence, the state provides an inclusive and generous basic insurance, as well as a high level of income support, combined with a range of active measures to help people back into paid work, such as training or subsidised jobs. The core principle of the conservative welfare regime, for which we selected the case of Germany, is stability. It is not social inequality in itself that is considered problematic, but, in the case of unemployment, relative status loss, and poverty. In Germany, the state also provides income-related unemployment compensations, but, apart from that, it supplies only minimal benefits for the poor. These brief remarks show that ideas about the purpose of welfare strongly determine the definition of the problem to be addressed, the way in which it is tackled, and the aims of these policies.\nIdeas behind the policies: methodological considerations: This study investigates the question of coherence in the concepts of youth unemployment policies with respect to three dimensions: ideas of youth unemployment as an individual problem, ideas behind the instruments through which the problematic traits should be tackled, and ideas about the aim of youth unemployment policies. The cases of Sweden and Germany were chosen for several reasons. As mentioned, both countries represent different welfare regimes. Further, given that the activation approach is often seen in a liberal tradition (Gilbert, 2002), it is interesting to look at the two other regime types. Moreover, both countries have a long tradition of active labour market policies in terms of subsidised jobs and qualification schemes, some of which were targeted specifically at young unemployed people. Finally, both countries have recently gone through interesting changes in youth unemployment policies that are not considered in the literature cited above. In Sweden, the Municipal Youth Programmes have given way to the national Youth Job Guarantee (YJG), while in Germany the immediate-action programme JUMP, which was frequently mentioned in previous research, has been replaced with a permanent set of youth measures.\nPart of the problem: the discipline-lacking unemployed: Labour market policies entail various assumptions about the problematic nature of unemployment. For instance, if a government establishes job creation schemes, it is guided by the assumption that unemployment is a result of an insufficient number of available jobs. European welfare states currently provide diverse combinations of various types of measures to reduce unemployment. This shows that they have a complex perspective on unemployment as a problem deriving from several forms of mismatch on the labour market, such as between different qualifications and jobs, but also from deficiencies in families, in the educational system, etc. As mentioned, activation policies locate the problem of unemployment on the individual level and consider it to be a result of lacking qualification and/or inappropriate behaviour of the unemployed. That is, they understand the unemployed individual as being a part of the problem of unemployment. But how can we describe the deviant features of young unemployed persons that activation policies attempt to treat? Which actions are considered to be inappropriate behaviour by the unemployment policies? To answer this question, we analysed the reasons for which the unemployed are sanctioned in the two countries.\nTackling youth unemployment: conditionality and pastoral power: As we have seen, the unemployment policies counteract undesirable behaviour of the unemployed such as passivity, selectiveness, and irresponsibility, or, in more general terms, the lack of discipline and work ethic, through a reduction or omission of unemployment benefits. Nonetheless, so far it is not clear under which conditions the unemployed are regarded as too passive, too selective, or not responsible enough. Who defines how many job-seeking attempts they have to make during which amount of time, which jobs or activation measures are suitable for them, and when they have to get in contact with which institution? These issues are governed by the IAP. In Sweden, it is literally called \"individual action plan\" (individuell handlingsplan). It is drawn up by the PES \"with the job seeker's participation\" and specifies the individual obligations, planned activities, and areas of job search. The term \"individual action plan\" contains two basic assumptions made in the policies. First, we learn that, again, passivity is not an option. To overcome unemployment, the job seeker needs to be active and have a strategic action plan. Second, this action plan is individual and differs from unemployed to unemployed. But who is the author of this plan? According to the expression \"with the job seeker's participation\", it is not the unemployed person themselves, but the PES. This shows already a clear asymmetric power relation between the counsellor as author and the job seeker as participant, which is further established through sanctions in case of refusal. If the job seeker refuses to contribute drawing up the plan, they will be warned; if they refuse a second time, they are completely barred from entitlement to compensation.\nThe aim of activation policies: notions of the ideal worker: So far, our analysis has been limited to policies governing the behaviour of the unemployed. However, this is only one dimension of activation policies. The other dimension comprises qualifications and skills of the unemployed. These are usually improved outside the PES offices in active labour market measures. A closer look at the most important active labour market policies for young people in Sweden and Germany enables us to reconstruct the aims the two countries strive for through their activation policies. If we assume that the aim of activation policies is labour market participation, and if we further assume that active measures prepare the young unemployed for the labour market, then an analysis of the content of these measures will provide us with a picture of the targeted labour market participation. As stated above, from a theoretical point of view, the activation approach is often connected with the image of a flexible labour market in need of flexible workers. But can these ideas really be found in Swedish and German activation policies?\nDiscussion and conclusion: The aim of this paper was to compare European welfare states from a new perspective, focusing on cultural understandings and concepts behind welfare policies. We have analysed the Swedish and German youth unemployment policies with regard to their understanding of activation. In particular, we have discussed their notions about the \"problematic\" behaviour of the unemployed, about the instruments through which this problem is tackled, as well as the aim of youth activation policies in terms of the notion of the ideal worker. Although the specific concepts of youth activation are fairly different in the two countries, we found identical notions in the first two dimensions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: With a particular focus on cultural understandings and the concepts behind welfare policies, the purpose of this paper is to analyse commonalities and dissimilarities in the patterns of social policy, and more precisely youth unemployment policies, in Sweden and Germany.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A document analysis of Swedish and German youth unemployment policies was conducted with regard to how the two welfare regimes' policies define the underlying problem, the instruments through which this problem is tackled, and the aim of youth activation policies.\nFindings: The findings show congruency concerning the definitions of the problem of youth unemployment, in which the unemployed are regarded as lacking in discipline, as well as in the policies through which the problem is tackled: through conditionality and pastoral power as policy tools. The solution of the problem on the other hand, found in the notion of the ideal worker to be produced, diverges between active entrepreneurs in one country, and blue-collar workers in the other. The authors conclude that the introduction of supranational policy concepts is not a matter of mere implementation, and that concepts like activation are reinterpreted according to differing cultural ideologies and accommodated into the context of particular welfare states.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides an innovative framework for the understanding of the influence of cultural understandings on policy making, but also on challenges facing activation governance on the one hand and European Union policy initiatives and transnational policy diffusion on the other.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Enhancing service-for-service benefits: potential opportunity or pipe dream?	[ "Value", "Resource integration", "Co-creation platform", "Service-for-service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade, scholars have devoted considerable attention to conceptualizing and developing the concepts underlying service-dominant logic (SDL) (Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008a) and service logic (SL) (Gronroos, 2011; Gronroos and Gummerus, 2014). In these logics, resource integration for value co-creation is widely accepted with a key feature being the collaborative interactions between organizations and their customers, and the potential to provide service-for-service (Vargo and Lusch, 2008a). Interaction is fundamental to service because it generates opportunities for value creation, extraction and fulfilment, and is a driver of dialogue for co-creation and value-in-use (Ballantyne and Varey, 2006; Gronroos, 2008; Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Vargo and Lusch, 2008a). Further, interaction highlights the participating and facilitating role of parties, and is the practical basis of the co-creation of value for customers, firms and other beneficiaries in networks (Payne et al., 2008; Ramaswamy, 2011). However, confusion has arisen in service theory because of different theoretical underpinnings. SDL interprets interaction broadly, reflecting processes with providers, goods, mental processes and/or other customers (Vargo, 2008). In contrast, SL is built on ideas of direct and indirect interaction (Gronroos, 2008).\nMethodology: Research design and data collection\nFindings and discussion: As noted above, the current study explored customer-bank interaction experiences, seeking managers' perceptions of the role and contribution of the bank, and customers' responses and interpretation of their experience through multiple contact points (branch services, online banking, phone banking and ATMs). We sought to explore how managers and customers act together, in a practical way, to co-create value, and consequently to identify the defining elements of the co-creation platform and resultant service-for-service opportunities.\nManagerial implications: The current study shows that the joint co-creation platform in multichannel banking has three key dimensions that provide firms with opportunities to \"serve\" customers better but also to be \"served\" in return: joint problem solving, joint relationship development and joint knowledge and learning. We discuss the managerial implications of these areas below. Before doing so, we first emphasize general implications for practice. Service-for-service opportunities require the foundation of a suitable platform for engagement, one that has enabling technologies and mechanisms online, and provides ready access to relevant resources for emerging solutions (vs pre-defined). That is, the platform needs to be conducive to interaction, collaboration and capturing of insights. Once established, it is critical to ensure that key customer and employee roles are not defined by past practice. Joint value co-creation depends on the participation and expertise of customers and employees, and the collaborative goodwill of both parties. Hence, customers' unexpected and unusual contributions need to be welcomed, and employees need to be unconstrained in that internal processes and control systems can accommodate them pursuing customer ideas capturing new insights. Most importantly, as well as providing practical mechanisms for the co-creation platform, we suggest that managers should give top priority to minimizing barriers to strong and mutual dialogue and reciprocity, so that joint outcomes are attainable.\nLimitations and future research: Similar to all research, the current study has limitations. Using interviews means that there may be bias due to the interviewer and data reduction involved the researchers' subjective interpretations. The 33 interviewees obviously do not represent the Saudi Arabian population and the results are not assumed to be generalizable. Further, given that the study was conducted in a developing country, with a highly religious, conservative and relationship-bound society, there is a possibility that value may have been socially and culturally influenced. However, we contend that the nature of banking and many of its services, especially those based on technological interfaces, are relatively universal. Some scholars argue that retail banking services are relatively comparable across different countries (Schumann et al., 2010); and Akaka et al. (2013) recently proposed that the fundamental mechanisms driving value creation will be similar across international boundaries. Akaka et al. (2013) highlighted activities being embedded in multi-level contexts and they propose a possible way forward with their concept of \"value in cultural context\", which emphasizes the influence of the symbolic and social components of context, using micro (dyad), meso (firm) and macro (national) levels. Our work has focussed predominantly on the micro-level, and we suggest that further work on the social and cultural influences is warranted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to elucidate service-for-service benefits emerging from co-creation in everyday banking. It does so by identifying factors that constitute the joint provider/customer co-creation platform, distinguishing them from factors that facilitate customers' independent value creation; and exploring benefits and potential opportunities for each party.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Insights were gained by using a qualitative approach involving 33 face-to-face interviews with bank managers (15) and their customers (18) in Saudi Arabia. Content analysis was performed on the data and the two sets of views integrated to compare the reality of service-for-service with theoretical assumptions.\nFindings: The analysis identified 65 topics, clustered to 12 themes. Three themes represented joint, collaborative activity (problem solving, relationship building, and knowledge and learning) whilst other themes identified facilitation actions by banks. Key opportunities to increase mutual value (service-for-service) emerge from extending interaction via the co-creation platform but additional benefits from these opportunities are not currently realized by participants. The authors thereby note the potential of a service focus but suggest that the locus of value creation will not readily shift from the provider to a collaborative process of co-creation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The qualitative nature of the study limits generalizability. However, the authors expect that the hierarchy of service-for-service will be meaningful in other contexts. Future research may use it as a starting point for identifying innovations from co-creation, how actors realize and measure service-for-service, and how different business models may strengthen value opportunities.\nPractical implications: The findings provide managers with first, three areas of emphasis to gain and extend mutual service-for-service from direct interactions in everyday banking transactions. Second, the study emphasizes resource characteristics that will facilitate value enhancement for firms and customers by recognition of barriers to collaborative actions, and approaches for pursuit of service-for-service.\nOriginality/value: This study establishes the joint and essential firm/customer co-creation platform in retail banking and distinguishes the platform from other customer value-facilitation actions. The authors integrate the findings with previous literature and present a conceptual framework for levels of service-for-service in exchange. This framework shows a hierarchy of key benefits for providers and customers, and highlights increasing complexities that hinder the reality of achieving service-for-service opportunities arising from the joint co-creation platform.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender-based differences in employment conditions of local and expatriate workers in the GCC context: Empirical evidence from the United Arab Emirates	[ "Employment", "Equal opportunities", "Gender", "Disadvantaged groups", "Earnings", "Expatriates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In many societies to various degrees, it is still common to find that working women often perform different tasks and work in different sectors than men, and the conditions of their employment are on average inferior to those experienced by men. The gender gap is a persistent global phenomenon that no country in the world has yet managed to eliminate (Hausmann et al., 2011). In terms of occupations, for example, nearly two-thirds of women in manufacturing are categorized as laborers, operators, and production workers while only a few can be found in the administrative and managerial positions predominantly held by men (Tzannatos, 1999). Also, women's average wages are lower than that of men in many countries with the difference in average wages generally persistent.\n2. Context: There are six countries in the GCC: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates - all of which share similar economic, political, and cultural structures. Like other GCC countries, the UAE suffers from a severe shortage of labor and therefore relies largely on foreign workers to maintain its rapid economic growth which is fueled by increasing oil revenues over the past few decades. The high local fertility rates coupled with importation of foreign workers contributed to increasing the country's population from 3.3 million in 2005 to 8.19 million in 2010 (Al-Khouri, 2010). In order to support the growth and development of its economy, the UAE - similar to other GCC countries - allowed employers to freely recruit foreign workers due to a severe shortage in local human resources over the past few decades. The labor policy with regard to foreign workers in the GCC countries follows the \"guest worker\" or \"contract worker\" model where foreign workers are hired on a temporary basis and are concentrated in jobs and economic sectors where local skills and expertise are lacking or the type of work is unattractive to nationals for various reasons (Abdalla et al., 2010).\n3. The gender gap: theoretical perspectives: In order to understand the gender gap phenomenon, researchers in Western contexts have focussed on the human capital perspective on the labor market outcomes for men and women (Becker, 1964). According to this perspective, the employment opportunities and wages earned by workers should be determined by the quality of their human capital which is expected to be translated into productivity that employers are willing to pay for. Human capital explanations of inferior accomplishments of women compared to men in the labor market are based on the rational choices that women make with respect to their education and careers (Turner and McMahon, 2011). The argument here is that women might possess less human capital than men mainly because they place more importance on family commitments over work commitments, which lowers their investment in their human capital (Anker, 2001). Females have made significant gains in terms of educational achievements throughout the Arab world over the past few decades. In fact, more females than males have been graduating from universities in recent years in some GCC countries such as the UAE with many of them entering the labor market. About two-thirds of university graduates in the UAE are females who account for 73.0 percent of the graduates in 2001 and 66.8 percent in 2006 (Hijazi et al., 2008)[1]. However, educational attainments do not translate automatically into labor market participation for females in many Arab countries due to a variety of cultural and religious restrictions placed on women's employment. The Arab Human Development Report, United Nations Development Programme and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (2003), indicates that Arab nations tend to strongly support gender equality in education but not gender equality in employment. In the GCC context, this is shown clearly through a better comparative position of the six GCC countries in the gender gap in educational attainments as compared to the gender gap in economic participation - as indicated by the Global Gender Gap Report 2011 (Hausmann et al., 2011). Among the 134 countries covered in the report, the rankings in the gap regarding economic participation of women were very low for all of the GCC countries with the UAE ranked 119, Kuwait 107, Bahrain 115, Qatar 104, Oman 130, and Saudi Arabia ranked 131. In terms of the gender gap on educational attainments, the six countries were ranked much better; with the UAE ranked 59, Kuwait 84, Bahrain 81, Qatar 57, and Saudi Arabia 92.\n4. Data and methodology: 4.1. Data utilized\n5. Results: 5.1. Differences in education level, pay, and job assignments\n6. Conclusions and implications: Women represent half of the society and ensuring that they receive fair treatment in employment is a matter of great importance to policy makers, especially in the case of the UAE and other GCC countries which suffer from severe shortage in the local labor force. The well-being of female workers can have a significant impact on their work outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The labor force participation rates of females have been increasing steadily over the past few decades in the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and are expected to continue to increase due to increasing levels of education and social change. While, there is a substantive amount of literature on the issues of gender gap in wages and employment conditions in Western developed economies, the evidence from developing economies - especially in the Middle East - remains very scant. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to bridging this gap by examining gender-based differences in employment conditions for local and expatriate workers in the context of the GCC region.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors utilize a data set from the 2007 cross-section Dubai Labor Market Survey which covers a stratified random sample of employees in the UAE labor market. In addition to descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations of the data by workers' gender, nationality, and various characteristics of their employment conditions, two empirical models intended to investigate factors that influence access to employment and wage determination of male and female workers in the UAE labor market were estimated.\nFindings: The findings of the study reveal that there are gender-based differences and inequity in employment in the UAE labor market. The authors highlight specific impacts of contextual factors on the employment conditions of women compared to men. The gender gap in the UAE context is compounded by nationality effects; whereby gender-based differences become less apparent in the case of foreign workers compared to UAE nationals.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of very few studies that addressed the gender gap in employment conditions in the Arab Middle Eastern or GCC context. The paper uses quantitative data from a large random sample of workers in the UAE.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of corporate social responsibility activities for refugees: The case of Austrian Federal Railways	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Awareness", "Identification", "Refugees", "Corporate image", "Corporate social responsibility communication" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has seen considerable interest in understanding stakeholder reactions to CSR (see Sen et al., 2016 for an overview). Against a conception of CSR as \"a firm's commitment to maximize long-term economic, societal, and environmental well-being through business practices, policies, and resources\" (Du et al., 2011, p. 1528), analyzing CSR effects on a firm's stakeholders is obvious, because stakeholders are not only affected by but can also affect the achievement of an organization's objectives (Freeman, 2010).\nTheoretical framework: To develop our hypotheses regarding the effects of a CSR initiative on stakeholders' cognitions and behaviors we drew on Bhattacharya and Sen's (2004) CSR framework. As proposed here, CSR activities can lead to CSR awareness. Additionally, CSR communication is critical as it allows the company to raise awareness of CSR initiatives and foster desired attitudinal and behavioral responses (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). Awareness is called a \"key stumbling block\" (Sen et al., 2006, p. 159) in companies' quest for generating benefits from CSR, and it is contingent on certain factors within the individual. These include general perceptions regarding CSR and support or involvement with the CSR issue. Only when awareness was raised, certain internal outcomes, including attitudes and identification with the company, and external outcomes, like purchase behavior, loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication, can arise (Sen et al., 2006). According to Hildebrand et al. (2017), the type of CSR also has an influence on these outcomes. They find that in-kind contributions to CSR issues that are perceived to be largely uncontrollable have a more positive effect than monetary contributions. As our case is an example of a company providing in-kind humanitarian support in a largely uncontrollable situation, we expect positive outcomes to arise when stakeholders became aware of the firm's CSR initiative.\nAntecedents of CSR awareness: Previous research shows that awareness of CSR activities among stakeholders is generally low (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004; Sen et al., 2006). However, whether awareness can be raised for a CSR initiative is dependent on a number of conditions that lie in the company, the CSR cause and in the recipient (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004).\nConsequences of CSR awareness: Awareness of CSR activities is key for any cognitive or behavioral outcomes to arise (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004; Sen et al., 2006). First of all, being aware of a CSR initiative is expected to increase the likelihood that stakeholders develop a positive attitude toward the initiative as such, as familiarity positively influences attitudes (Moreland and Zajonc, 1982). More importantly, being aware of a company's CSR activities has been found to influence people's perception that the respective company is socially responsible (e.g. Du et al., 2007; Kim, 2011; Lichtenstein et al., 2004; Sen et al., 2006). Thus, we expect the CSR-related image individuals have of the company to increase with CSR awareness. The CSR image is an identity-based corporate image that embodies stakeholders' perceptions of the way a company presents itself, either deliberately or accidentally, with respect to its socially responsible activities (Plewa et al., 2015; Pomering and Johnson, 2009). As CSR reveals information on the moral character of the company (Brown and Dacin, 1997), literature also reveals CSR's influence on a deeper rooted relationship between the company and its stakeholders that is individuals' identification with the company (Sen et al., 2006) or brand (He and Li, 2011). Identification with a company refers to the degree to which individuals feel a sense of belongingness to the entity (Mael and Ashforth, 1992) and the way in which they define themselves by the same attributes they believe define the organization (Dutton et al., 1994). Consequently, we expect individuals who became aware of OEBB's CSR initiative to have a more favorable attitude toward the initiative itself, to hold a more positive CSR image of the company and to also identify more strongly with it:\nMethod: Sample\nResults: CSR awareness\nDiscussion of results: This study set out to provide a test of the effects of CSR awareness on stakeholder perceptions and behavior using a real case in the context of a critical situation and contested socio-political issue, and shed light on factors that drive CSR awareness. In contrast to previous research that finds that awareness of CSR initiatives is low (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004; Sen et al., 2006), we find rather high awareness of OEBB's CSR initiative for refugees. That almost half of the participants in our survey recalled at least some of the activities performed by the company eight months after the events in the Summer of 2015 is certainly due to the fact that the refugee crisis captured people's attention. During that time, media coverage on the critical situation in and around the railway stations and train service was intensive, increasing the likelihood that people would become aware of OEBB's activities. Despite the chance for everyone to learn about the company's CSR activities, unaided awareness was significantly higher among those who are or were involved in the refugee issue. The finding that awareness increased with age can be ascribed to the fact that older people donate more than younger people (Neumayr and Schober, 2009). As the general importance of universalistic values (Schwartz, 2012) did not influence awareness of OEBB's CSR initiative, our findings point to the importance of stakeholders' specific involvement in the CSR issue.\nImplications: Theoretical implications\nLimitations and future research: The findings of this research have to be interpreted in the light of certain limitations. The external validity of the study entails problems regarding the study's internal validity. People's unaided awareness of the CSR initiative was measured and not induced. Thus, we did not control for all possible factors that may also influence unaided awareness, as is usually done in a laboratory experiment by randomly assigning participants to the experimental conditions. It may be that other factors not taken into account in our study also influenced participants' awareness of the CSR initiative. Most likely, frequency of media use also played a role to become aware of this intensely covered situation. Likewise, social media use may have driven awareness as OEBB was highly active on various social media channels to communicate on the situation and on its activities. Furthermore, the refugee crisis and institutions' reactions to it are highly politicized issues, and hence respondents' evaluations of OEBB's engagement might have equally been driven by their political affiliations and beliefs. However, it is assumable that these factors correlate to some degree with respondents' personal engagement for refugees, which served as a proxy for issue involvement in our study and emerged as a main driver of CSR awareness. Another limitation refers to the sampling. The study applied convenience sampling. Thus, the results are not based on a representative sample of the country's population (which would basically correspond to OEBB's current and potential customers). Therefore, the level of CSR awareness may not correspond with the level of awareness among the company's customers in general.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: When in the Summer of 2015 unprecedented numbers of refugees traveled through Austria, not only public and governmental authorities were challenged to provide support, but also the business sector. Various companies responded to the challenge by organizing relief actions, among them Austrian Federal Railways (OEBB). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of this initiative on stakeholder perceptions and behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The case of OEBB served as the research context. Data were collected by means of an online survey in May of 2016, about eight months after the initiative.\nFindings: Almost half of the participants mentioned OEBB's activities for refugees in an unaided recall task. Unaided corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness is related to people's issue involvement and reminiscence of specific activities and communication measures. People unaidedly recalling the initiative expressed a significantly better CSR image and identification with the company; they also expressed a stronger intention to speak positively (positive word of mouth) about the company's CSR activities. CSR image and attitude toward the initiative mediates this effect.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study stresses the importance of CSR awareness and communication. The non-representative sample does not allow general inferences.\nOriginality/value: This research uses an actual case to test the effectiveness of CSR activities and communication in the context of a highly critical situation, and sheds light on the mediating processes that drive the effects. The study extends existing knowledge from experimental studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International comparisons of nominal and real construction labour productivity	[ "International construction", "Construction", "Productivity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Construction is an important industry because its output is large and it represents a significant part of the economy. In most countries, construction provides approximately half the gross domestic fixed capital formation (Hillebrandt, 2000). The world construction industry stands at 5.7 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 (United Nation Statistics Division, 2017). The McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that $10 trillion equivalent to 13 per cent of GDP in construction-related global spending annually (Barbosa et al., 2017) and $57 trillion worth of infrastructure investment will be required by 2030 just to keep pace with the global economy (Blanco et al., 2016). However, construction productivity has been flat for decades, it averaged only 1 per cent a year over the past two decades, contrasted with growth of 2.8 per cent in the world economy and 3.6 per cent in manufacturing, according to McKinsey research (Changali et al., 2015; Barbosa et al., 2017). The overall labour productivity in Germany and Britain has risen by almost 30 per cent since 1995, while their construction labour productivity (CLP) in those countries is up by only approximately 7 per cent over that period (Blanco et al., 2016). Productivity is the ultimate engine of growth in the economy and raising productivity is a fundamental challenge for countries going forward (OECD, 2015). While a country's productivity is the average of its industries' productivity weighted by size, Lewis (2006) suggests that a way to understand what makes countries wealthy is by evaluating the performance of individual industries. It is important to identify causes of productivity differences between companies, industries sectors and countries, and international comparisons form a crucial information base for research in comparative analysis and policymaking. However, it is difficult to price construction products that are comparable between economies because of the differences between construction industries. The complexity and country specificity of products means that no two economies build exactly the same kind of houses or power stations (The World Bank, 2015). The most commonly used method for such international comparisons is to express the construction gross domestic product (GDPC) of the countries concerned in the same currency unit so that the differences in the economies are readily identifiable. Comparisons between countries are exacerbated when foreign-exchange rates are used to convert national currency.\nConstruction labour productivity: Productivity can be a slippery concept. Tangen (2002) found that many managers believe that they fully understand what productivity meant, but at the same time have difficulties in explaining the difference between productivity and such similar terms as profitability, performance, efficiency and effectiveness. If there is misunderstanding of what productivity is, how can we decide what productivity measures to use? How can they be correctly interpreted? How can we know what actions to take to improve productivity? (Tangen, 2002). Merriam-Webster defines productivity as \"the degree of effectiveness of management in utilizing the facilities for production; especially: the effectiveness in utilising labour and equipment\". However Goenaga et al. (2017) viewed the definition in an operation context and suggest a broader alternative of \"output per unit of productive effort\" in order to provide a better idea of what productivity can encompass. Ive et al. (2004) make a similar observation in that \"productivity directly relates to the ability of firms to organise production\". Naoum (2016) defined productivity as \"the maximization of output while optimizing input\". Tangen (2002) added that \"productivity is closely connected to the use and availability of resources on one hand while strongly linked to the creation of value on the other hand\". Therefore, studies of labour productivity highlight the weaknesses and strengths of firms and industries in terms of their human capital and investment in plant and equipment per worker (Ive et al., 2004).\nInternational comparisons: Compared with the main internationally traded sectors, productivity-level comparisons for construction are harder to do because of the exceptional difficulties in both output and input measurement, and the problems of finding appropriate rates of conversion to common purchasing power units are increased by the heterogeneity of construction output and complexity of national differences in output mix and quality (Ive et al., 2004). The main problem with international comparisons is the heterogeneous nature of the construction output. Such heterogeneous output causes the use of aggregate quantity measures of construction to be infeasible, leaving the use using monetary values as the only option (Meikle and Gruneberg, 2015). Nominal construction output expressed in national currency is then converted to a common currency, such as US$, with the market exchange rate used to make comparisons. The exchange rate, however, does not provide construction outputs valued at a common price level and does not reflect the relative purchasing power of currencies in their national markets, so expenditure is still valued at national price levels. Comparisons will be possible if all goods and services are traded internationally, and the supply and demand for currencies are predominantly driven by the currency requirements of international trade (The World Bank, 2015). However, for many goods and services, such as buildings, government services and most household market services are not traded internationally, and thus they are valued at domestic market prices (The World Bank, 2015).\nResearch methods: CLP adopted in this study is the single-factor productivity ratio of gross construction output to labour input. The PPP-deflated or real construction expenditure published in ICP 2011 is used as the proxy for gross construction output. The PPP-deflated or real expenditures are expressed in a common currency unit and are valued at the same price level. The expenditure approach in ICP comparisons allows comparison of the levels of final demand in consumption and investment, which avoids the effect of double deflation. Its disadvantage is that productivity comparisons can only be made at the level of the whole economy (The World Bank, 2015). Breton (2015) criticises ICP 2011 construction prices being substantially underestimated in most of the low- and middle-income countries. However, Deaton and Aten (2017) conclude that \"ICP 2011 estimates are the most accurate that we have, and provide no grounds for doubting them\", alerting that, for international studies, local real growth rates will often be as, or more, relevant than growth rates in international dollars. When common units are required, within-region work is likely to be more accurate because PPPs within each region are calculated without reference to prices and expenditure patterns in countries outside the region (Deaton and Aten, 2017).The quantity of labour input is obtained from the International Labour Organisation's central statistics database (ILOSTAT) which is the primary source for cross-country statistics on the labour market. ILOSTAT provides up-to-date labour data for over 100 indicators and 165 economies. Employment by construction of economies are extracted from the section of Employment by Economic Activity and Occupation of the database, which are used as proxies of quantity of labour input (ILO, 2015).\nResults: Figure 1 is a boxplot of the CLPs of the 93 economies, which indicates the CLP of Bhutan to be an outlier. Figure 2 is the boxplot of CLPs grouped by developing status and shows there are five outliers, two (Aruba and Macao) in HI economies, two (China and Seychelles) in UMI economies and one (Bhutan) in LMI economies. Therefore, these five economies are excluded from the subsequent analysis.\nDiscussion: Relatively higher CLPs are achieved in the higher income economies regardless of whether they are based on PPPs or exchange rates. Eight of the top ten economies with the highest construction expenditure (listed in Table AI) are HI economies. The two exceptions based on PPPs are Indonesia (LMI) and Mexico (UMI). However, if based on exchange rate, the two exceptional economies are China (UMI) and Indonesia (LMI). All the nine outperformers (high productivity, positive productivity growth) identified by Barbosa et al. (2017) in their study of construction labour productivity growth, 1995-2015, are from HI economies. These nine outperformers are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Netherland, Sweden and the UK. Among these nine economies, Belgium and Israel construction sector productivity growth exceeds their total economy, while the other seven economies sector productivity growth lag behind total economy (Barbosa et al., 2017).\nConclusions: The problem of making comparisons between labour productivity at industry and national levels is attributable to the difficulty of distinguishing the contributory effects of labour from other factors (Ghoddousi et al., 2014). CLP based on PPPs are significantly higher than CLPs based on exchange rates. PPP-converted CLPs reflect only differences in the volumes produced by the economies. PPPs take into account the different price levels for traded products and nontraded products and show the ratio of the prices in national currencies of the same good or service in different economies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A comparison of international construction labour productivity (CLP) is carried out by the conventional use of exchange rates to convert national construction output to a common base currency. Such measurement is always distorted by price-level differences between countries and therefore the purpose of this paper is to adopt a purchasing power parities (PPPs) approach, which eliminates price-level differences, as an alternative means of comparing CLP.\nDesign/methodology/approach: PPP construction expenditure data from the World Bank's International Comparison Programme 2011 and employment statistics maintained by the International Labour Organization are used to generate the CLP of 93 matching economies. A one-way analysis of variance is conducted to evaluate the relationship between the development status and the CLPs.\nFindings: The CLPs of developed economies are higher than developing economies in both PPPs (real) and exchange rate (nominal) measurements. The real CLPs are always higher than nominal CLP in high-income, upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income and low-income economies. Both real and nominal CLPs converge along with the economic growth.\nResearch limitations/implications: The average figures used in the study may not always be the most representative statistics. The CLPs determined provide an initial approximation for comparison between different economies to gain further insights into the best practices and policies for the more successful economies. Future research is recommended to uncover the underlying factors of CLPs congruence.\nOriginality/value: The convergence of real and nominal CLPs when economies transit from a developing to developed status indicates that the construction product has transformed from a commonly understood non-internationally traded product to an internationally traded product.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social networking from a social capital perspective: a cross-cultural analysis	[ "Cross-cultural studies", "Interactivity", "Poland", "Social Capital theory", "Partial least squares", "Social networking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The rise of social media provides a global marketing opportunity for social media promotions, which can foster customer-brand relationships and information sharing through culturally rooted social attitudes. Within the promotional mix, the horizontal revolution surrounding social media networking and customer communication applications is expanding tremendously (Berezan et al., 2017). Users around the globe are networking and connecting more than ever on a variety of platforms (Jin and Phua, 2014). The importance of social media's promotional impact and its ability to foster consumer-brand relationships and their evolution at a global level is immense, particularly for the adolescent market (Krishen et al., 2016). However, sharing information relates to deeply rooted social attitudes and behaviours and logically should be different between countries because of culturally unique events and path dependencies.\nSocial capital theory in the context of new media: In its original definition by Marx (1933/1949), capital refers to the surplus value derived from the sale of a commodity for a price higher than the production cost. Since then, neo-capitalist theories delineate human capital, cultural capital and social capital as three specific forms of capital (Lin, 1999). Human capital concerns investments made by humans such as higher educational degrees, with expected earnings increases, and is analysed at the individual level. Cultural capital is measured at both the individual and class levels and applies to social assets of a non-financial nature, such as intellect, speech style, appearance and dress code.\nConceptual framework for our model and path hypotheses: Using a broad review of literature on social media, relationship and community building and social capital, the following model was developed. As initial antecedents, we feature context of comparison (the USA versus Poland) as a treatment factor, as well as gender as a control variable. In the middle of the model, we specify two important design features of social media platforms that potentially facilitate the building of relationships, allowing them to increase loyalty and stickiness. Earlier research shows that two aspects are relevant for the success of social media:\nMain study: Sample frame and study context\nDiscussion and conclusions: While the global phenomenon of social media has been attracting increased attention among marketing practitioners and scholars, research examining the value-generating potential of social media at large within specific societies is limited. Research on social media also often uses a setting of US users or users from Western Europe, where social capital is relatively high. Very little is known about social media's potential barriers to success in other countries, especially those with lower social capital. This research gap persists despite social commerce gaining traction and becoming a trendy area of attention among practitioners and researchers (Yadav et al., 2013) or its advertising implications within social networking communities (Taylor et al., 2011). This study is among the first to offer an in-depth examination of the potential of social networking success in different societies and to study pathways of creating loyal users even when social capital in society affects trust and positive relational attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, the most important contribution of our research is that we theoretically and empirically establish the importance of SCT in relation to social networking across two different countries.\nImplications, limitations and future research: By presenting the cross-cultural differences in social networking across low versus high social capital societies, our findings have several important managerial implications. First of all, increasing information quality is not a straightforward endeavour in Poland. Second, the model shows that interactivity is not related to country, and it does have a significant effect on social networking capital and success. Design factors under control of companies such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are important. Interactivity on social media platforms is a functionality that can have a positive effect on social media success in both low and high SCA societies. Social media platform designers may build more features that enable users to quickly respond to posted content, ask follow-up questions and interact more broadly to better enable information validation and feedback from users and organisations alike. Overall, we find that lower social capital in a society affects social networking success in the following two ways. It results in:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Using social capital theory (SCT), the purpose of this research is to determine the success of social networking in societies that may be lower in social capital, for example in Poland, versus those which are higher in social capital, such as the USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses a partial least squares approach with a cross-cultural sample. The complete sample consists of 556 participants for this study across the USA (n = 258) and Poland (n = 298).\nFindings: Results indicate that social media success is lower in Poland and that this result is related to lower social networking capital in Polish society. However, the proposed model shows that social media functionality can overcome some of the barriers.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations include a very specific set of countries rather than a larger set of countries and sample, survey methodology which could be augmented with a mixed methods approach and convenience sampling which ensured homogeneity and matching.\nPractical implications: Based on this research, media designers should attempt to keep information quality high but even more importantly, they should increase interactivity. For Poland in particular, well-designed interactivity can mitigate societal barriers to success of social media, as it can enhance trust in such platforms.\nSocial implications: Because of Poland's history of more than 40 years of communism, the newer generations may eventually become more adaptive to social networking tools and such acceptance could lead to greater social capital, which is important for Polish society from a business perspective as well.\nOriginality/value: The most important contribution of this research is that it theoretically and empirically establishes the importance of SCT in relation to social networking across two different countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Licensing a sports brand: effects of team brand cue, identification, and performance priming on multidimensional values and purchase intentions	[ "Consumer behavior", "Co-branding", "Customer value", "Sports marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: The popularity of US collegiate sport\nStudy 1: Design and sample\nResults and discussion: H1 and H2 were tested by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), followed by contrast analysis. Age was included as a covariate in the analysis. Team logo (favorite team vs rival team) had significant main effects on functional value [F (1, 102) = 5.26, p\nStudy 2: Pretests and development of research materials\nResults and discussion: A MANCOVA was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The three value dimensions and purchase intentions served as dependent variables, with performance priming, team-brand cue and product category representing the independent variables. Age and team identification scores were used as covariates. Because a requirement of MANCOVA is that the dependent variables be correlated, the appropriateness of this multivariate technique was tested by Bartlett's test of sphericity. The test results showed that MANCOVA was appropriate for the data analysis (p\nGeneral discussion: In two experiments, we demonstrate that sports team-licensed products carry symbolic meaning above and beyond the products' functional quality. Consumers' valuation of a product dramatically changes as a function of a team-brand logo encrypted on the product, while the product's functional quality does not change. For instance, when consumers view the exact same product bearing a rival team's logo, they tend to evaluate the product negatively. This biased processing was accentuated when consumers strongly identified with their favorite team (H1 and H2).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how consumers value sports team-branded merchandise. Two experiments are conducted to examine the effects of rivalry and team identification on evaluations of licensed product (Study 1). Study 2 examined the effects of team brand cue, team performance priming and product category on licensed product evaluations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Study 1 (N = 104) examined the effects of team rivalry and team identification on multidimensional product values and purchase intent. In Study 2, a 3 (performance priming: positive/negative/neutral) x 2 (team brand cue: present/absent) x 2 (product category: symbolic/utilitarian) between-subjects design (N = 285) was utilized. Samples were recruited from students and alumni at a large Midwestern university in the USA. A series of multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: Fans view a product licensed with a rival team's logo to have significantly less functional, emotional and social value than a product licensed with their favorite team's logo. Highly identified fans showed greater bias in evaluating the product than less identified fans. Team performance priming also moderated the effect of team brand cues on purchase intentions toward the licensed product.\nResearch limitations/implications: Team identification level accentuates bias in valuations of a licensed product. In addition, better performance of a team further motivates purchase decisions. Use of a collegiate brand in this study limits generalizability of the findings.\nPractical implications: Practitioners should realize that simple heuristic cues can change consumers' perceptions of licensed merchandise product values.\nOriginality/value: The current study extends previous research on licensed product valuation by using multidimensional value propositions and a variety of product-related cues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability in the wine sector: An empirical analysis of the level of awareness and perception among the Italian consumers	[ "Sustainability", "Perception", "Italian wine consumers", "Level of awareness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past 20 years, there has been growing interest in the topic of sustainability, both at institutional and individual levels. This has permeated ever-increasing areas of the daily life. The production and consumption of goods and services is certainly among the profiles under the influence of this trend. The individual, in their qualification of homo consumens, is increasingly sensitive to the sustainability profile of what they buy. Sustainability has gradually become a lens for consumer beliefs and attitudes regarding purchase, consumption and the image of a company. For companies, a commitment to sustainability becomes a strategy to gain consumer confidence and strengthen their image.\n2. The wine sector and the cultural peculiarities of different countries: Before analysing the topic of sustainability in the wine sector, the work presents an overview of the sector traced through data on the global wine production and consumption and the role of Italy in the global wine business.\n3. Literature review: 3.1 Consumer behaviour: worldwide trends, lifestyles and Italian consumer preferences\n4. Materials and methods: 4.1 Research questions\n5. Results: The preliminary results of the random sample of the 8,725 reviews were obtained and are presented in the following sections.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The paper is part of a broader research programme whose ultimate goal is to understand if and how the interest in the topic of sustainability issues translates into everyday behaviour among Italian wine consumers. The key question of the research programme is: To what extent does sustainability motivate Italian consumers to choose one wine over another? The research described in this paper has deepened two elements of this basic framework: the awareness and the perception among Italian consumers of the topic of sustainability in the world of wine. The results of the research can be summarised in two points.\n7. Research limitations: This work provides the results of the first step of an exploratory analysis and is limited to a small random sample of Vivino community reviews. The group wishes to conduct a further study aimed at expanding the sample. Moreover, the research focusses only on Vivino.com reviews written by users who choose to voluntarily review wines. Therefore, it only reflects the opinions of a type of wine consumer: those who are confident with technology and are inclined to leave their comments on the web.\n8. Practical and social implication: Sustainable wine certainly has important growth prospects, as well as is growing the perception of wine deriving from organic, natural crops (Pagliarini et al., 2013).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the level of awareness of the topic of sustainability among Italian consumers in the wine sector and their perception - that is, what does it mean to consumers - of this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper develops a quali-quantitative study on a random sample of Vivino reviews analysed through content analysis.\nFindings: Awareness of topic of sustainability among Italian wine consumers is currently low, although it is increasing. It is not among the main factors that influence the choice of wine among Italian consumers, who are still mainly attracted by organoleptic properties and characteristics linked to the terroir concept.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research utilises a random sample, and the analysis is limited to the perception of consumers using online word of mouth (WOM).\nPractical implications: To develop a long-term perspective on sustainability in the wine sector, it is necessary to have the courage to make a distinction between sustainability and short-term commercial performance. In addition, a cultural change in wine consumers is necessary and requires a willingness to pay a premium price for sustainable products.\nOriginality/value: Research on the awareness and perception of Italian wine consumers diffused by online WOM through communities such as Vivino has not yet been carried out.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The celebrity chef phenomenon: a (reflective) commentary	[ "Celebrity chefs", "Consumer perceptions", "Culinary arts professions", "Culinary education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A growing body of literature (Chen et al., 2017; Clarke et al., 2016; Henderson, 2011) is focusing on the emergence and proliferation of celebrity chefs, a phenomenon which has irrevocably changed public perception around \"[...] one of the most challenging professions in the hospitality industry\" (Zopiatis, 2010, p. 459). Despite the fact that the phenomenon has redefined and rejuvenated what was once one of the most marginalized jobs in the industry, questions persist as to its actual impact, especially with regards to its commercial and vocational capabilities.\n2. Celebrities and the \"celebrity culture\": Barron (2014) notes that the term \"celebrity\" derives from the Latin word celebren and is related to the French word celebre, which conveys fame and being well known. The link, as well as the discrepancies between fame and celebrity, has received extensive academic attention, with Barnes (2010, p. 19), for example, suggesting that the concept of celebrity \"[...] is more transient, relying on marketing, timing and instant appeal,\" whereas fame is \"[...] associated with individual demonstrations of superior skills or striking deeds as displayed by a select few\".\n3. The evolution of celebrity chefs: There is no such thing as the world's best chef. What matters is who is the most influential because this can be measured.\n4. Marketing and social media: As previously noted, the evolution of celebrity chefs can be separated into three distinct eras. The first era (prior to the twentieth century) depicts the phenomenon's humble beginnings with chefs establishing themselves through their professional connections with powerful figures and the publication of their cookbooks, whereas the second era incorporated the use of television and other media as a primary means of gaining popularity. The first signs of intensifying commercialization and deepening branding potential emerged in the second half of the twentieth century, with chefs endorsing a variety of products and services, mostly on television and in print media. These became full-scale income-generating activities in the third era (post-1990), fueled by rising consumerism, the internet and social media (Henderson, 2011). Reflecting on this evolving commodification, Cashmore and Parker (2003, p. 215) argued that celebrities have \"[...] turned into things, things to be adored, respected, worshipped, idolized, but perhaps more importantly, things which are themselves produced and consumed\".\n5. Celebrities' impact on culinary education and the profession: In a nutshell, the literature indicates that the phenomenon of celebrity chefs reflects the idiosyncrasies of modern celebrity culture; it is a manifestation of the symbiotic relationship of influential individuals, the media, market capitalism and public fascination. Chefs' evolving role as entrepreneurs (Balazs, 2002; Ratten and Dana, 2015), advocates, endorsers and avid social media users has been well established; nevertheless, there is a little-discussed aspect that needs to be highlighted. Contemporary literature fails to adequately inform as to the impact of celebrity chefs on both the newfound popularity of the culinary profession, and the proliferation of related tertiary education. The impact of this phenomenon is a topic worthy of investigation for hospitality professions in general, as these are often labeled as unsocial, unattractive and with a myriad of HR-related problems (Baum, 2015).\n6. Vocational advice and critique: Celebrity chefs often share advice via social media to those with aspirations to pursue a culinary career. Bobby Flay, an American celebrity chef, takes a pragmatic view of the significance of education:\n7. Reflections: A real chef in my estimation always has a certain amount of humility because they are driven greatly by serving people [...] That act of hospitality [...] is an interexchange that real chefs are addicted to [...] they derive meaning from that exchange.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the nature of the celebrity chef phenomenon and its impact on the contemporary hospitality industry, to both enrich current knowledge on the topic, as well as inform future research endeavors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was based on a narrative literature review of secondary data sources, namely, academic literature and industry-related articles, and video data collected from popular video-hosting websites.\nFindings: Despite the vast popularity of celebrity chefs, the phenomenon remains underexplored, with limited coverage given to it by hospitality-related literature. Prior investigations primarily focused on celebrity chefs' commercial influence and power of advocacy, with little reference to their impact on the next generation of culinary professionals and on the sustainability of the profession.\nResearch limitations/implications: This commentary has numerous theoretical and practical implications for industry stakeholders who wish to explore this phenomenon beyond the limited confinements of its commercial impact. In particular, the study explores the nature of the phenomenon, where television, social media and the celebrity status of chefs influence both the values and norms surrounding the profession, and individuals' vocational choices. That said, findings suggest that additional research is required on this topic.\nOriginality/value: The exploration of celebrity chefs as a topic has so far been limited and has leaned toward one dimension in hospitality literature, despite its interesting scope. This critical overview provides conceptual clarity on issues such as the phenomenon's commercial and vocational impact and highlights areas of concern and opportunity. Moreover, the study sets a clear pathway for further research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employee voice and silence in auditing firms	[ "Employee voice", "Management attitudes", "Auditing firms", "Employee silence", "Trainees" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been significant debate about the role of professional accounting and auditing firms in the aftermath of the collapse of companies and banks, particularly since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 (Regling and Watson, 2010). In the wake of such collapses, we know that auditing firms often approved the accounts of companies and banks which ran into enormous financial difficulties with catastrophic results for shareholders and societies (Sikka, 2009). Such incidents lay bare the critical position of auditing firms in the modern capitalist system and the role of management in facilitating or inhibiting employee voice on unethical practices. Literature suggests that there are mutual gains for organisations and employees arising from employee voice. For employers, employee voice can improve a firm's decision making, correct errors and wrongdoing, enhance productivity, generate innovation and organisational change and reduce labour turnover (Beer and Eisenstat, 2000; Huang et al., 2005; Freeman and Medoff, 1984; Perlow and Williams, 2003). For employees, research suggests the absence of voice has a negative impact on employee trust, morale and motivation (Vakola and Bouradas, 2005). Despite the potential gains from employee voice, evidence suggests that employee silence is pervasive across organisations (Peterson, 1994; Milliken et al., 2003). There is consensus in research that management has a fundamental role to play in employee voice and silence and this is the central focus of this study. The paper provides an exploratory analysis of \"speaking up\" amongst auditors in the Big Four firms (the four top international accounting firms in the world) and two middle-tier international auditing firms in Ireland. In particular, we examine two key questions: what is the propensity of employees in training to speak on workplace problems in an auditing firm setting; and how would management react to employees speaking up on workplace problems? By presenting workplace problems concerning a business improvement process, working conditions and performance feedback to employees and managers, we investigate whether employees would be more likely to voice on certain workplace problems and managements' own expectations of their reactions to voice.\nThe concepts of employee voice and silence: While there is consensus in research that effective employee voice is generally \"a good thing\", there has been academic debate over the function of voice (Mowbray et al., 2015). In OB literature, there are two key functions of employee voice. One is that voice involves an intentional action on the part of an employee with the objective of changing a situation (Morrison, 2011). A second is that voice is about communicating ideas and information to improve organisational practices and performance, particularly in non-union firms where upward problem-solving is a dominant form of voice (Dundon et al., 2005; Tangirala and Ramanujam, 2012). Similarly, employee silence is treated in OB literature as being detrimental to improving organisational practices (Van Dyne et al., 2003). Voice and silence are viewed as being discretionary, deliberate choices made by employees. Research from the OB field has usefully classified types of silence according to employee motives for withholding information. Acquiescent silence occurs when employees feel resigned to their situation and decide not to exert the effort to speak up (Van Dyne et al., 2003; Pinder and Harlos, 2001). Alternatively, quiescent silence occurs when employees fear negative consequences as a result of voicing, so may actively withhold voice (Van Dyne et al., 2003).\nThe role of management in employee voice and silence: An employee's decision to voice or remain silent is dependent on a range of factors, many of which are influenced by management. Employees will be influenced by the target of their speaking up, their expectations about being listened to and organisational norms which can encourage or prohibit voicing (Mowbray et al., 2015; Morrison and Milliken, 2000; Goldberg et al., 2011). When management are the target of employee voice, this can be particularly problematic for employees given that management have control over employee pay, conditions and performance evaluations (Detert and Burris, 2007). OB literature has pointed to the personal motives of managers in resisting employee voice from below, specifically that managers may feel threatened and embarrassed by challenges to their responsibility, competence and performance (Vakola and Bouradas, 2005; Korsgaard et al., 1998). Managers may also avoid receiving feedback from their employees because they view it as being less accurate and legitimate than feedback from above (Ilgen et al., 1979). Further research has focused on the role of organisational and occupational characteristics in employee voice. It has been found that employee silence may be more pervasive in organisations where top management are dominated by those from economic or financial backgrounds, have long average tenure and where there is a high degree of similarity between workers (King, 1999; Morrison and Milliken, 2000). Employees may be more likely to voice where there are supportive organisational structures and positive attitudes from supervisors and management (Milliken et al., 2003; Vakola and Bouradas, 2005). Management can respond to voice by acting on it or ignoring it and they can form opinions on the employees who speak up (Burris, 2012). It would be expected that managements' responses to voice would influence employees' future decisions on voice. Employees may believe voice is futile when organisation leaders send signals to employees that they are uninterested in employee voice (Detert and Burris, 2007).\nThe auditing profession and employee voice: While there has been limited research on employee voice and silence in the accounting and auditing domain, prior research reveals potential voice issues in the industry. There has been significant debate in the accounting literature on whether there are inherent conflicts of interest or competing institutional logics in the role of accountants and auditors (see Carrington et al., 2013). These institutional logics are, on the one hand, that accountants and auditors are expected to work with independence and serve the public interest, while on the other; there is a commercial logic of generating firm revenue (Spence and Carter, 2014). Evidence suggests that accountants and auditors can be socialised into placing greater importance on appeasing clients and revenue generation than on wider social interests (Hanlon, 1994). Indeed, reports into financial scandals suggest that the commercial logic often dominates with auditors silenced by the lure of client fees (Powers et al., 2002). The managerial and commercial logic can take precedence for those higher up the organisational hierarchy (Leicht and Fennell, 2001). Auditing firms are generally characterised by a strong chain of command with hierarchal and authoritarian structures (Brennan and Kelly, 2007; King, 1999). Decision rights are pre-allocated between members of the firm but in practice the decision-making power lies with the partners alone and it has been argued that audit seniors tend to show low respect for subordinates (Otley and Pierce, 1995). Partners' interests are likely to be shaped by the fact that they have dual roles as owners and top management and can be heavily involved in employee management, including the recruitment of trainees (Pierce and Sweeney, 2005).\nMethodology: The paper presents an exploratory study of the extent to which employees would voice workplace problems and how management would react to employee voice. The sampling method used to gain access to the interviewees was convenience sampling. E-mails were sent to partners in 15 offices of large, medium and small accounting firms including seven offices in the capital city, Dublin. The auditing industry is characterised by the Big Four international firms, 10-15 middle-tier international firms and a large number of small national partnerships. The Big Four collectively control two thirds of the global accounting market share (Doherty, 2015). Studies suggest that response rates can be increased by researchers using personal contacts and connections (Lavelle et al., 2009). In this study, the authors made efforts to increase the response rate by using personal contacts with employees in both training and management roles. Altogether, positive responses were received from partners in the Big Four and two middle-tier international firms while smaller firms either failed to respond or refused access to their firms. The partners gave permission for interviews with themselves, lower level management and employees on training contracts. Face-to-face interviews were undertaken on-site with 28 individuals in 2014 (Table I). Where partners themselves indicated they were not available for interview, they nominated a manager to take their place. Eight members of management including four partners were interviewed. The employee group are those historically known as apprentices, employed on training contracts and generally labelled as either a \"trainee\" in the first two years of their contract or an \"audit senior\" in the last one to two years of their contract. At the end of their training period, employees may be re-employed by the firm or let go.\nResults: The employee perspective\nDiscussion: This paper reports on an exploratory investigation into employee voice and silence in auditing firms in Ireland. The results point to the ways in which management influence employee voice and silence. In the early parts of interviews, management and employees in training framed the discussion of speaking up in the context of their organisations as training firms. \"Speaking up\" was described as a natural part of the learning exchange on technical knowledge between managers and employees rather than being associated with employee dissatisfaction, having a say in decision making or even in terms of improving organisational functioning. The employees and management responses to the voice scenarios provide a clearer picture of the extent of employee voice and silence. Management expressed willingness to support and act on employee voice on some workplace problems but not others. They indicated they would take action in regard to employee suggestions for business improvements and in regard to negative feedback about a colleague's performance. There was no ambiguity from management about their willingness to act on these issues because they claimed voice was necessary for the business to progress. In contrast, managerial resistance was evident in regard to employee voice about a change in a working condition. Managers who indicated that they would act on employees' concerns did so conditionally, saying that a \"substantial\" number of employees would have to express concerns before they would respond. Thus, the onus was placed on employees to fulfil the criterion of being \"substantial\" in number in order for speaking up to be effective; there would have to be a \"collective\" expression of discontent on an issue. Comments by Donaghey et al. (2011) are prescient that it can be rational for management to ensure voice mechanisms are weak and perpetuate employee silence on workplace issues which are opposed to their interests. Management control the agenda for employee voice and can structure institutional processes so that voice becomes acceptable on some problems but not others (Donaghey et al., 2011). Where management's agenda is to maintain their prerogative, it becomes necessary to manage employees' capacity to voice. Management comments on the decision-making authority of partners, that employees may not understand management's decision and that decisions would be explained to them, reflect a strongly unitarist perspective. The firm ownership structure was described by management in terms which suggested it was not possible to have significant employee consultation as opposed to it being a choice of management to manage employees' impressions of acceptable voice behaviour.\nConclusion: This study enhances our understanding of how employee silence is maintained in non-unionised workplaces and focuses on the experiences of new employees and management in professional roles. Employees on training contracts are in the early stage of their careers and are quickly socialised into accepting that auditing firms are not workplaces where voice is considered a democratic right. The results highlight the importance of the managerial structure in auditing firms and contribute to knowledge on the role of owner/managers. We find that employee silence is perpetuated by the organisational discourse that any challenges to the decision-making power of partners are futile and that voice is largely confined to technical knowledge transfer between managers and employees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory study of employee voice and silence in international auditing firms. The authors examine two key questions: what is the propensity of employees in training to speak up on workplace problems and how would management react to employees in training speaking up on workplace problems?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors compare and contrast the views of employees on training contracts with management including partners. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight managers/partners and 20 employees working in six large auditing firms in Ireland.\nFindings: The authors find that employees on training contracts have a high propensity to remain silent on workplace problems. Quiescent and acquiescent forms of silence were evident. Management expressed willingness to act on employee voice on workplace problems concerning business improvements and employee performance but were very resistant to voice in regard to a change in working conditions or a managers' performance. Employees and management couched employee voice in terms of technical knowledge exchange rather than being associated with employee dissatisfaction or having a say in decision making.\nOriginality/value: The authors highlight how new professional employees are socialised into understanding that employee voice is not a democratic right and the paper provides insight on the important role of partners as owner/managers in perpetuating employee silence. Previous research on owner/managers has tended to focus on small businesses while the auditing firms in this study have large numbers of employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Individualism-collectivism and job satisfaction between Malaysia and Australia	[ "Individual behaviour", "Collectivism", "Job satisfaction", "Multinational companies", "Malaysia", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Culture influences an individual's responses to the environment. Culture is rooted in the values shared by members of a human group. Cultures differ in the extent to which goals, co-operation, competition, relationships, and individualism are emphasized. Since Hofstede's (1980) comprehensive study of work values across cultures, his conceptualization of cultural differences in terms of individualism-collectivism has been widely used to explain differences in work attitudes, especially in comparative studies of Asian and Western nations. A widely accepted idea is that Asians are collectivists, with the self-identified with an in-group, while Westerners are individualists, with the self-distinct from the in-group. Although this assumption is generally accepted at a conceptual level, evidence of the effect of individualism-collectivism on specific responses at an empirical level is lacking (Cole, 1979; Lincoln and Kalleberg, 1985, Randall, 1993). This paper reports a study on individualism-collectivism and job satisfaction among managers in the different cultural environments of Malaysia and Australia.\n2. Individualism-collectivism: The dimension of individualism-collectivism refers to the relationship one perceives between one's self and the group of which one is a member. Hofstede (1980) describes members in individualistic societies as self-centred, competitive rather than co-operative, having low loyalty for the organizations they work for, pursuing their own goals, having a low need for dependency upon others, and being calculative. Members of the collectivistic societies, on the other hand, have a \"we,\" rather than \"I\" orientation, have high loyalty for the organization and work toward its goals, interact with each other in an interdependent mode, and take action jointly as a group in a co-operative fashion rather than on an individual competitive basis, thus subscribing to the moralistic values of joint efforts and group rewards. Hofstede (1980) also states that, in an individualistic society, each individual manager are likely to look out for his/her own interest and try to maximize the gains from any opportunity that might present itself. In collectivistic societies, on the other hand, members identify with the organization and act in unison to accomplish the organization's goals. This sense of interdependence, loyalty, and joint obligation to the system would also foster a more co-operative and informal communication and co-ordination mechanism to operate in the system as the goals of the organization are being achieved. In addition, Triandis (1989) suggests that people become more individualistic in affluent societies. He states that, in a complex and affluent society, people attain financial independence, which in turn, leads them to be socially and emotionally independent. The more complex the social structure, the greater the number of groups a person may be a member of. Individuals can then join or leave groups according to whether the groups satisfy their personal needs. He argues that people in affluent societies tend to give priority to personal goals over in-group goals. Thus, as societies become more complex and affluent, they can also become more individualistic.\n3. Job satisfaction: The concept of job satisfaction is defined as the extent to which a worker feels positively or negatively about his or her job (Locke, 1976; Odom et al., 1990). It can be conceptualised in a variety of ways, such as extrinsic, intrinsic or job satisfaction. Extrinsic satisfaction is derived from the rewards given to an individual by the organization, peers, or superiors that can include compensation and job security. Intrinsic satisfaction refers to actually performing the work and experiencing feelings of accomplishment and self-actualisation. Friedlander (1963) categorizes the underlying sources of job satisfaction available to workers in the job environment into three factors: interpersonal (social and technical aspects of supervision, the work group, and working conditions); intra-personal (development and maximum use of workers' capacities and talents); and impersonal (opportunities for recognition leading to increasingly challenging assignments and responsibilities). Based on his study, he concludes that individuals who were older, less well paid, less educated, and had experienced slow progress in the organization derived satisfaction from social and technical interaction. He further adds that these individuals were more likely to defer to the leadership of others and to place significant emphasis upon job security, as opposed to promotion, challenge, and type of work. Moreover, younger age groups and white-collar workers placed more emphasis on intrinsic job aspects such as development and utilization of capabilities and talents. His study also reveals that meaningful work, which affords an opportunity to gain training and experience and offers self-actualizing potential, to be more important than salary and security. These factors are aligned with Gruneberg's (1979) description of process theory, in which he suggests that job satisfaction is determined by the needs, values, and expectations that individuals have in relation to their jobs. People are individually different and this would be reflected in their needs. Some individuals may have greater need for achievement while others have greater need for job security (Gruneberg, 1979). Fulfillment of individual's needs leads to satisfaction, whereas denial of these needs often lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.\n4. Individualism-collectivism and job satisfaction: Past research has shown that individualism-collectivism varies both across cultures (Hofstede, 1980) and across individuals (Hui, 1988). One behavioural characteristic that distinguishes the collectivists from the individualists is the value the collectivists place on harmonious relations (Hofstede, 1980; Hui, 1988; Hui and Yee, 1994). Collectivists have the tendency to strive to preserve interpersonal harmony, and Hui et al. (1995) argue that this tendency has a significant impact on the collectivists' job satisfaction and this was evidenced in their study in which they report that collectivists (Chinese employees in Hong Kong) reported higher satisfaction with their work, pay, promotion, supervisor and co-workers than their individualist counterparts. Hui et al. (1995) replicated their study using employees at a lower rank, and the results appear to be consistent with their earlier findings.Two contradictory sets of findings regarding individualism-collectivism and job satisfaction have been presented in the literature. Hui et al. (1995) found that job satisfaction is higher for collectivist employees, while Harrison (1995), Hofstede (1980), Griffeth and Hom (1987), de Boer (1978), Cole (1979), and Lincoln and Kalleberg (1985) report that job satisfaction is higher for employees in individualist cultures. Nevertheless, there do appear to be significant relationships between individualism-collectivism dimensions of culture and the job satisfaction of employees in different cultures and the differences make it an area worth exploring further.In sum, the accumulated research findings on job satisfaction to date have linked these constructs to various antecedents and outcomes, but the culture (individualism and collectivism in particular) as an influence on all of these constructs is still left largely unexplored. This is one of the areas the present study aims to explore.Based on the discussion above, the objectives of the present study are to examine:* the level of horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism in different cultural environments of Malaysia and Australia;* the level of job satisfaction in different cultural environments of Malaysia and Australia; and* the relationships between the components of individualism-collectivism on job satisfaction of managers in Malaysia and Australia.\n5. Research methodology: 5.1 Subjects and data collection\n6. Results and discussion: 6.1 Tests of model equivalence\n7. Conclusion: Overall, the findings of the present study suggest that there have been significant shifts in value classifications in Malaysia since Hofstede (1980, 1984) conducted his original study. This finding underscores the fact that, although a nation's work-related values and attitudes are deep-seated preferences for certain end states; they are subject to change over the years as external environmental changes shape a society. Therefore, researchers and practitioners should use caution before attempting to use work-related values and attitudes to understand human behaviours in organizations. At the least, managers should make an effort to determine the values and attitudes currently prevailing and not rely on classifications or labels placed on cultures by previous researchers.The findings also highlight the importance of measuring horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism. Without the measurement of both, the study would not have been able to detect the differences that it did. Similarly, where the study found that the Malaysian and Australian samples did not differ in the predicted fashion, it would not have been able to relate those findings to non-differences on the four dimensions of individualism-collectivism had it not measured them. Thus, the measurement of the horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism differences in cross-cultural samples is important for predicting and explaining both findings and non-findings.The results of this study are important for a number of reasons. First, they provide empirical corroboration of the theoretical perspectives of Singelis et al. (1995) on individualism-collectivism and horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism respectively. Second, they may be of interest and assistance to managers of multinational and international organizations who need to manage in global contexts and, therefore, need to understand cultural-driven differences in work attitudes (in this case job satisfaction) of employees between and across nations. The study's findings contribute to a growing body of research that illustrates the need to take a multidimensional approach to the study on individualism-collectivism.The present research may provide guidance to organizations that wish to develop and maintain human resources management procedures on the basis of empirical data. As global competition increases in the private sector, and organizations hire a more ethnically and culturally diverse workforce, there seems to be a greater need for human resources management systems that are adaptable, comprehensive, and easy to operate. In this context, the findings of this study also have several implications for international human resources management. A manager who understands these facets of Malaysian culture can more effectively grasp how Malaysian employees see the organizational environment, and is better able to create a workplace that avoids intra-organizational culturally-based conflict. By comprehending how this segment of the corporate workforce thinks, a manager is better able to motivate, assign jobs and control interactions. Further, by knowing the Malaysian affinity for competition, social relationships, family integrity, and self-sacrifice, a manager can access a larger perspective from which to identify and analyse problems and develop and implement solutions. Awareness of similarities and differences should help managers better understand and appreciate their international counterparts and, ideally, should lead to improved cross-national working relationships.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - One of the main issues that many organizations will face in the coming years is the management of increasing diversity in the workforce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the levels of individualism and collectivism of managers in two different cultural environments, that is, Malaysia and Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected by questionnaire from middle managers in a total of 18 organisations in Malaysia and ten organisations in Australia. Individualism-collectivism was measured using Singelis et al.'s 32-item scale. The items in the scale are designed to measure the horizontal and vertical aspects of individualism-collectivism. The items were answered on seven-point scale where 1 indicates strong disagreement and 7 indicates strong agreement. In addition, the seven-item job satisfaction measure, which is part of the Survey of Organizations questionnaire developed by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, was used.\nFindings: - The study reveals the existence of differences between Malaysian and Australian managers on the level of vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism. In addition, the Australian managers appear to have a significantly higher level of job satisfaction than their counterpart in Malaysia.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Overall, the findings of the present study suggest that there have been significant shifts in value classifications in Malaysia since Hofstede conducted his original study. This finding underscores the fact that, although a nation's work-related values and attitudes are deep-seated preferences for certain end states; they are subject to change over the years as external environmental changes shape a society. Therefore, researchers and practitioners should use caution before attempting to use work-related values and attitudes to understand human behaviours in organizations.\nPractical implications: - The results of this study may be of interest and assistance to managers of multinational and international organizations who need to manage in global contexts and, therefore, need to understand cultural-driven differences in personal and interpersonal work-related conditions between and across nations.\nOriginality/value: - The results of this study provide empirical corroboration of the theoretical perspectives of Singelis et al. on individualism-collectivism and horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism respectively. In addition, they may be of interest and assistance to managers of multinational and international organizations who need to manage in global contexts and, therefore, need to understand cultural-driven differences in work attitudes of employees between and across nations. Finally, the study's findings contribute to a growing body of research that illustrates the need to take a multidimensional approach to the study on individualism-collectivism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Policing opportunities and threats in Europe	[ "Policing environment", "Opportunities and threats", "PESTL analysis", "Police", "Europe", "Change management", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organisations do not operate in a vacuum; they are influenced by and they do influence their environment. According to many, they face an increasing number of changes in their environment in current modern times that come at an increasing pace, with shorter spells of stability in between. Whether this claim is true or not (see Sorge and van Witteloostuijn, 2004, for a critical analysis of this claim that is always made in any modern time), it is not surprising that organisational change is an immensely popular topic in the academic literature. Organisational change is also the focus of a large comparative study of police organisations in Europe, carried out by a consortium across ten European countries coined COMPOSITE (see this special issue's opening article by Jacobs et al., 2012). Similar to commercial businesses, police forces have to deal with different types of changes in their environment, and must decide when to change organisational processes and structures that are an effective response to these environmental changes. Yet, studying organisational change is a daunting task that first requires a careful analysis of the status quo. Hence, the steppingstone of any study into the effectiveness of organisational change is an assessment of the internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) within the organisation vis-a-vis the external opportunities (O) and threats (T) in the environment, known as a SWOT analysis in any textbook of strategic management. This paper summarises our findings as to the environmental OT-scan in the form of a classic PESTL analysis (Johnson and Scholes, 2000) of COMPOSITE's 17 police forces in the ten participating countries.A PESTL analysis is a standard instrument in the toolkit of strategic management, offering a checklist of potential opportunities and/or threats in any organisation's Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal environment. As such, a PESTL analysis does not reflect any specific theory: it is just a useful checklist-type of framework - nothing less, nothing more. Indeed, different variants and acronyms of our PESTL framework circulate in the literature, such as PESTEL or PESTLE (where the natural environment is added), EPISTEL (with environment and information added), STEEPLE (plus environment and ethics) or STEEPLED (adding environment, ethics and demographics). The environment is a multi-headed monster. This is why many different theories from many different disciplines circulate in the academic literature deal with specific aspects of organisation-environment interactions. A well-known example is industrial organisation, which is the microeconomics of competition; another is organisational ecology, which is the sociology of industry evolution (van Witteloostuijn and Boone, 2006). And there are many, many more. In this context, the PESTL analysis is, indeed, a tool - and not a theory (van Witteloostuijn, 2001). Before deciding to apply any specific theory to analyse specific aspects of the environment, a prerequisite is to first develop an understanding of the specific elements of the (reciprocal) organisation-environment interaction that are evaluated as critical in the period lying ahead from the perspective of the focal organisation. Only then, the theories can be selected that are applicable to further analyse the specific opportunities and / or threats that emerged from the PESTL analysis as critical. An example can illustrate this. Assume that the outcome of the PESTL analysis for an organisation x from a Member State y of the EU is that increased multimarket competition - an aspect of E - as a result of globalisation will dominate the coming decade, in tandem with a likely strengthening of the EU's competition policies - an element of L. Subsequently, for this E-aspect of increased multimarket competition, insights from the game theory of multimarket competition can be applied (e.g. van Witteloostuijn, 1993), whereas the lens of Europeanisation studies is applicable to further analyse the likely changes in the L-element of competition policies (e.g. Kaufmann and van Witteloostuijn, 2012).This need for a theoretical cherry-picking exercise that fits with the outcomes of the case at hand implies that key is to assess the nature of the critical changes in the environment, in terms of direction and potential impact, in the initial stage of any environmental analysis in view of potential organisational changes. This initial PESTL analysis is meant to identify the critical issues any subsequent organisational change is supposed to be an adequate response to. In a way, a PESTL framework offers a (lengthy) checklist of environmental aspects that might impact the interaction of any organisation with its environment. With the checklist, we aim to answer the following question:What are the main Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal trends that are expected to impact European police forces in the next decade or so?In this \"stocktaking of the environment\" exercise, we have tried to look for key similarities and dissimilarities of the environment across countries and police forces. In this respect, an essential question is whether or not the effect of these opportunities and threats is interpreted differently across countries.Without any doubt, the police are subject to many Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal changes in the environment. Although police forces tend to have somewhat of a monopoly in their field, and hence competition is not an issue, any police force is still heavily affected by (changes in) the environment in a wide variety of ways (trends and changes are used as synonyms in this paper). Political and economic changes may lead to budget cuts, legal changes can alter the rules of the game, social changes can unleash a force that citizens demand different services and can produce modern criminals who resort to different types of crime at younger or older ages, technological changes may offer benefits in detective activities, but may also open the door to more difficult-to-detect types of cybercrime, et cetera. These are only a few examples of the changes that policing has to cope with, and on which we will elaborate in greater detail in the course of this paper. We will give a brief theoretical background to the topic,1 introduce our data collection procedure, discuss our results, and conclude with a discussion.Up-front, however, we would like to emphasise that the nature of our study is non-standard for an academic journal article. Given what a PESTL analysis entails and how such an analysis fits within the grander scheme of our COMPOSITE organisational change project (and in any other strategic organisational change analysis, for that matter; see the opening article of this special issue by Jacobs et al., 2012), this paper is poor on theory. That is, we do not develop or test any theory, but rather engage in a methodologically rigorous fact-finding endeavor that will be instrumental in selecting what kind of theoretical action is needed further down the line. Again, this is what a PESTL analysis is all about and what such an analysis is supposed to do - nothing more, nothing less. Thus this paper's contribution is twofold. First, we introduce a methodology for carrying out a rigorous cross-country and cross-organisational PESTL analysis. Second, we identify and evaluate specific trends in European policing, analysing which trends are \"universal\" and which are specific for a single country or a group of countries. We believe that the approach developed here is widely applicable in the context of comparative cross-country research, generally, and studies into organisational change, particularly.\nTheoretical background: As is known from a large contingency literature in the organisation sciences (e.g. Heijltjes and van Witteloostuijn, 2003; Venkatraman, 1989), fit is key to organisational performance. Rooted in the 1960 s, the contingency perspective and the associated notion of fit is still alive and kicking (see, e.g. Parker and van Witteloostuijn, 2010; Porter and Siggelkow, 2008; Sikkelkow, 2002). In the context of the current paper, the classic notion of fit in strategy suffices: Fit is defined as the performance-enhancing set of an organisation's internal features that align well with the characteristics of this organisation's external environment. For example, if the environment is very turbulent, a non-bureaucratic and \"organic\" organisation structure is required so that knowledgeable decentralised responses to shifts in the environment can be launched quickly (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967). If an organisation experiences a misfit, which comes with inferior performance, organisational change is needed to restore fit. For instance, if the environment of the typically bureaucratic organisation of a police force changes from stable to dynamic, this organisation must change the bureaucratic, centralised and mechanistic structures that used to fit so well with the stable environment of the past into a flexible, decentralised and organic structure that implies a much better alignment with the new turbulent environment of the future. However, to be able to do so, the organisation has to develop deep insights in both the environment of the future to which it needs to adapt, as well as in the current internal weaknesses that have to be changed into future internal strengths. This implies that the external antecedents of organisational change are related to the external opportunities and threats in the broader environment. Similarly, internal strengths and weaknesses of the organisation can trigger organisational change as well.The starting point of our unified theory of organisational change is an evaluation of external opportunities (O) and threats (T) in combination with internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W), which is known as a SWOT analysis in the classic strategic management literature (Andrews, 1971). As said previously, an aspect from a list of environmental threats and opportunities, in turn, can be associated with a specific theory. Consulting this specific theory is then needed to understand the nature of the interaction of the organisation with this specific aspect of the environment. The example of microeconomics' competition theory given in the Introduction seems to suggest that this type of analysis is only relevant for commercial (profit) organisations. Indeed, much of the work in strategic management, and hence PESTL, originates in the literature dealing primarily with commercial enterprises. However, the very same toolkit (and the underlying theories, for that matter) can be applied to non-commercial organisations as well. This is immediately clear from the various applications of the PESTL framework to the public sector (see, e.g. Johnson and Scholes, 2000; Yingfa and Hong, 2010; Mennen, 2011). Of course, different environmental aspects may be important or similar aspects may work out in a different way if applied to the public sector. But that is something a PESTL analysis is supposed to reveal anyway: which aspects from the environment (are expected to) affect the focal organisation in what way? That is, although the PESTL tool as a framework is universally applicable, for each and every (type of) organisation, the outcomes tend to be specific for the (type of) organisation at hand. All this is not different for police forces. But of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. In this paper, we will prepare a police pudding by using the PESTL ingredients.\nData and methodology: Sample\nFindings: Overall, our interviewees identified 1,575 environmental trends, just above 3.5 trends per interviewee. Obviously, we observed was a sizeable overlap in the identified trends. Therefore, based on the raw English language data, a core group of researchers composed a draft suggesting a three-level structure by clustering similar trends: PESTL categories (level 1), PESTL clusters (level 2), and PESTL groups (level 3). This clustering proposition was then discussed with the interviewers. During this iterative clustering cycle among core researchers, interviewers and interviewees, a final three-level structure of trends emerged with five different PESTL categories, 39 different PESTL clusters, and 169 different PESTL groups. The main overall quantitative findings at the PESTL category level are listed in Table II. Almost 500 trends have a predominantly social nature (31 per cent), more than 350 are primarily political in character (23 per cent), and just about 300 trends (19 per cent) have an economic profile. Of lesser importance in terms of frequency are the legal trends (nearly 250; 16 per cent) and the technological trends (about 200; 12 per cent).Technological and economic trends have the highest impact of the five types of environmental changes, followed by social trends. The impact of political and legal changes is considered to be pretty moderate. Both the economic and social trends are perceived to have a fairly negative impact on the police forces. Legal trends and, particularly, technological trends are evaluated to be beneficial for police forces. Interestingly, the political trends are considered to be the least predictable, thus making it hard for police forces to prepare themselves for these changes. Not surprisingly, the technological and the economic trends are viewed as largely foreseeable. Looking into the type of environmental trends observed in the ten countries, we may conclude that many common opportunities and threats are perceived across Europe. However, although the trends are named similarly (e.g. economic crisis, or changes in government), the perception of the implications of these similar changes in the police environment are different across the participating countries. Later, we will reflect in greater detail on the perception of the particular environmental change trends and their implications.An overall per-country assessment is provided in Table IV. There are, as can be expected, large differences across our sample of ten countries, though. We have visualised these differences in Figure 1 along two key dimensions: the direction and impact of the environmental change.In the following, we discuss main cross-country findings for each PESTL opportunity and/or threat, in the order of the PESTL acronym. More details can be found in van den Born and van Witteloostuijn (2011).Political changes\nDiscussion: Summary of the key findings\nAcknowledgements: This work would not have been possible without the contributions of the many police officers and stakeholders that were interviewed by COMPOSITE researchers in all ten European countries. Over 30 researchers have contributed to this study; hence, this paper has over 30 co-authors. Not only have they conducted interviews, but they also have written an elaborate individual country report on policing opportunities and trends. This research is largely funded by the European Commission as part of FP7 in the context of the COMPOSITE project (contract number 241918).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to take stock and to increase understanding of the opportunities and threats for policing in ten European countries in the Political, Economic, Social, Technological and Legal (PESTL) environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study is part of the large EU-funded COMPOSITE project into organisational change. A PESTL analysis was executed to produce the environmental scan that will serve as a platform for further research into change management within the police. The findings are based on structured interviews with police officers of 17 different police forces and knowledgeable externals in ten European countries. The sampling strategy was optimized for representativeness under the binding capacity constraints defined by the COMPOSITE research budget.\nFindings: - European police forces face a long list of environmental changes that can be grouped in the five PESTL clusters with a common denominator. There is also quite some overlap as to both the importance and nature of the key PESTL trends across the ten countries, suggesting convergence in Europe.\nOriginality/value: - A study of this magnitude has not been seen before in Europe, which brings new insights to the target population of police forces across Europe. Moreover, policing is an interesting field to study from the perspective of organisational change, featuring a high incidence of change in combination with a wide variety of change challenges, such as those related to identity and leadership.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Moving beyond Goffman: the performativity of anonymity on SNS	[ "Authenticity", "Netnography", "Performativity", "Social networking sites (SNS)", "Anonymity", "Facebook fatigue" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the UK, 68 per cent of adults view social media weekly, and this increases to 91 per cent amongst the 16-24 age category (Ofcom, 2016). Of these post-millennials, 44 per cent access their social media profiles more than ten times per day, with over 70 per cent logging on through smartphone applications (ibid). The success of social networking sites (SNS) brings with it a new emphasis on presenting and maintaining an identity online (Schau and Gilly, 2003; Belk, 2013; McQuarrie et al., 2013). Amongst post-millennials, we identify an emerging phenomenon whereby consumers are increasingly turning to anonymous SNS. A recent Pew Research Centre (2013) report indicates that 61 per cent of consumers have recently taken a break from Facebook. The proliferation and success of anonymous applications such as Kik (300 million users) and Whisper (20 million users) highlight the significance of the turn to anonymous social networks. To explore both the behavioural and cultural impact of this emerging phenomenon, we pose the following two research questions:\nConsumer research and digital self-presentation: Every day, billions of consumers upload pictures and videos online; the subject matter of these outward displays can traverse from once-in-a-lifetime extraordinary experiences to the most mundane moments of daily life. Castells (2007, p. 240) defines this phenomenon as the age of mass self-communication, describing it as \"a new pattern of sociability based on networked individualism, and the desire for individual autonomy based on self-defined projects of life\". Across the social sciences, a multitude of studies have investigated the proliferation of SNS; researchers have examined the impact of these technologies in terms of identity construction (Zhao et al., 2008; Marwick, 2015), social relations (Zywica and Danowski, 2008) and psychological well-being (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011; Feinstein et al., 2013). Within consumer research, attention has primarily focussed on examining how SNS impact consumers' self-presentations (Belk, 2013; McQuarrie et al., 2013), in terms of self-definition (Murray, 2015), impression management strategies (Schau and Gilly, 2003; Pounders et al., 2016) and self-esteem (Wilcox and Stephen, 2013).\nPerformativity: Butler's (1990, 1993) influential work introduces alternative ideas about performativity and agency. Working from a post-structuralist, anti-foundationalist perspective, she frames identity as a continuous process of becoming as opposed to an ontological state of being (Cover, 2012). Crucially, from this ontological standpoint, the world and our being comes into effect through performativity. This performative ontology may seem counterintuitive when the empirical realities that we investigate appear as \"prior, single, independent and determinate\" (Law, 2004, p. 137). However, Butler (1994) maintains that it is crucial to delineate the distinctions between performance and performativity, as the former presumes a subject while the latter contests the notion of a subject.\nAnonymity: Anonymity is essentially social: being anonymous requires the presence of others (Marx, 1999). It is also closely linked to personal identity: it encompasses a person's capacity to be free from identification with their actions. Anonymity enables people to conceal or reveal information at their discretion; as a core aspect of informational privacy, it is central to the capacity to control personal information. The proliferation of mass self-communication technologies has ensured that anonymity remains a source of contention amongst scholars. Some scholars regard it as a necessary tool to protect private information, freedom of expression, creativity and personal expression (Brazier et al., 2004). Meanwhile, others argue that anonymity reduces personal responsibility and fosters environments conducive to hate speech and defamation (Levmore and Nussbaum, 2010).\nYik yak: While anonymity is certainly not new to the internet, recently a host of anonymous SNS have come to occupy a significant space in the digital marketplace. Although anonymous networks have proven to be popular platforms with consumers, organisations have so far failed to effectively monetise their potential. For example, Yik Yak was launched in 2013 and almost immediately garnered a huge customer base, while also attracting more than $73m in venture capital (Carson, 2017). The app provided anonymous proximity-based posting, geo-locating users and allowing them to post \"a yak\" - an anonymous 200-character message - to a localised cohort called a \"herd\". Yaks were designated an \"OP\" symbol denoting the term \"Original Poster\", with responses randomly assigned symbols based on a camping motif. Users were then afforded the ability to vote once, choosing to either up-vote, down-vote or not vote at all. Yaks which received five down votes were automatically deleted and removed from the application's feed.\nResearch methodology: The findings of this study are based upon a combination of netnographic observation/participation and online text interviews (Kozinets, 2015). Netnography adapts ethnographic methods to examine online cultures and communities (Kozinets, 2002). It requires an immersive combination of participation and observation; we used the following procedure for data collection and analysis.\nData and analysis: Idealised self-performances - \"Everyone on Facebook does it\"\nDiscussion: As illustrated in Figure 2, authenticity emerged as a recurring theme which was representative of the shared experiences of young consumers on Yik Yak. Beverland and Farrelly (2009, p. 839) note that \"authenticity is a socially constructed interpretation of the essence of what is observed rather than properties inherent in an object\". They contend that consumers are motivated to pursue identity goals that convey authenticity. Self-authentication is primarily driven by the desire to realise particular identity benefits (control, virtue, connection, etc.). Importantly, in conceptualising SNS as a space for such intelligible identity performances, we posit that consumers utilise these resources in a variety of ways and to varying degrees:\nTheoretical implications: Based on the participants' reflections, it may be tempting to argue that the online disinhibition effect reveals intrinsic aspects of the consumer psyche, arguing that it allows repressed emotions and behaviours to come to the surface; to penetrate the guard of self-presentation, to reveal a more \"real self\". Similarly, Goffman's (1959, 1961) dramaturgical metaphor would have ushered us to highlight distinctions between the idealised front-stage performances of Facebook, while arguing that Yik Yak's backstage performances reveal a more \"true-self\". However, as a lens, performativity theory enabled us to see how consumer subjectivities are brought into effect on SNS (Figure 2). By situating this enquiry within the wider cultural practices of identity and self-hood, performativity enables us to extend the critical frameworks that consumer researchers use to understand identity, while also destabalising the problematic dichotomy between \"real-life\" and \"virtual\" identities. In shifting the analytic focus away from the conscious actions of agentic consumers, we foregrounded the interrelations of discourses, practices and structures in the performance of identities. We demonstrated that the self consists of an array of pre-determined identity types and experiences, which are brought into effect through stylised, repetitive citation of discourse (Butler, 1990, 1993). On this basis, it became possible for us to demonstrate how SNS champion particular ways of presenting and categorising one's self while foreclosing others (Butler and Salih, 2004). We illustrated a variety of ways in which consumers act on Yik Yak, demonstrating the impact of these actions upon the self and others. This is not to say that consumers are sovereign subjects but instead it reminds how identities are in a constant state of becoming, sometimes occupying a number of subject positions and drawing upon a variant of resources and discourses to construct the self (Brickell, 2003).\nPractical implications and future research: Public health research illustrates that anonymity enables distinct modes of interaction, which makes anonymous networks a powerful tool for promoting health education and fostering dialogue around sensitive health issues (Beard et al., 2009). In the UK, one in four students are currently suffering from mental health problems (Aronin and Smith, 2016). These stark statistics place a responsibility on third-level institutions to effectively manage mental health. This research highlights the untapped potential inherent in anonymous SNS. We recommend that support services leverage this potential by placing trained support staff on anonymous SNS, with the aim of facilitating discussion, offering informed advice and directing young people to further support (for example, Big White Wall).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore consumer behaviour on the popular anonymous social networking site (SNS) Yik Yak. It examines the reasons behind the turn to anonymous social networking and also considers the ways in which anonymity impacts consumers' self-performances on SNS.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a netnographic approach to explore Yik Yak across eight universities in Ireland and the UK. Data are based on observation and participation on the app. Screenshots on smart phones were the central method used to collect data. Data also included 12 in-depth interviews.\nFindings: Young consumers are becoming fatigued by the negative effects of self-presentation on many SNS. By enabling consumers to engage in what they consider to be more authentic modes of being and interaction, Yik Yak provides respite from these pressures. Through the structures of its design, Yik Yak enables consumers to realise self-authentication in anonymised self-performances that engender a sense of virtue and social connection.\nPractical implications: This research highlights the potential value of anonymous SNS in fostering supportive dialogue, concerning mental health amongst post-millennials.\nOriginality/value: By invoking a performative lens, this paper extends a novel theoretical approach to understandings of identity formation within consumer research. By highlighting anonymity as a dynamic process of socio-material enactments, the study reveals how consumers' self-performances are brought into effect through the citation of various discursive arrangements, which promulgate distinct understandings of authenticity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Change, meaning and identity at the workplace	[ "Work identity", "Organizational change", "Narratives", "Learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The context of work is a crucial domain for the development of personal identities (Hogg and Terry, 2000). The increasingly complex and dynamic working environment requires organisational actors to reconcile competing demands and expectations, which impact on their sense of self (Galpin and Sims, 1999). The struggles of reconciliation and sensemaking are reflected in the reflexive auto-biographical stories in which a person's identities are manifested (Funkenstein, 1993; Archer, 2007).These stories allow organisational actors to develop their identities, deal with anxieties (Gabriel, 2000) and make sense of incoherence and ambiguity (Weick, 1995). Sensemaking, or the creation of meaning, is a retrospective narrative process (Weick, 2001) that satisfies the fundamental human need for meaning (Bruner, 1986; Sommer and Baumeister, 1998) and affects a person's identities (Weick, 2001). It also allows organisational actors to reconcile violated beliefs (Bruner, 1986) and to establish purpose, control and self-worth (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998).Little is currently known about the dynamics of identity development at the workplace under conditions of change. This is problematic because personal identities can affect organisational behaviour and success through collective identities (Albert and Whetten, 1985; Gioia et al., 2000b). The focus of this paper is therefore on how organisational change and associated sensemaking can affect organisational actors' identities. Short auto-biographical stories from five employees from three organisations will illustrate this. The reflexive (i.e. self-referencing) changes in personal identity have far-reaching implications (Archer, 2007) on organisational actors and on the wider organisation through processes of collective identity development.This paper is structured as follows: the following section discusses the interrelated key concepts that inform this paper, i.e. identity, narrative and sensemaking. This is followed by the methods section. The main part of this paper discusses five short auto-biographical stories which epitomise identity work in each of the organisations studied. The paper concludes that identity development at work is the result of a sensemaking process that is influenced by a person's experiences and expectations of organisational change.\nOn identity, narrative and sensemaking: Identity has become a central concept to describe the behaviour of organisations and their members (Gioia et al., 2000b), and the development of identity is a social and socially constructed process (Alvesson and Robertson, 2006; Weick, 1995). In this paper, identity is seen as:[...] a person's sense of who he or she is in a setting; what threat to this sense of self the setting contains; and what is available to enhance, continue and render efficacious that sense of who one is all provide a center from which judgments of relevance and sense fan out (Weick, 2001, p. 461).Identity is therefore a source of meaning (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998; Svenigsson and Alvesson, 2003) that helps to reduce anxiety (Brown and Starkey, 2000) and reflects a person's values, thoughts and feelings (Funkenstein, 1993). Identity is influenced by a person's genetic material (Gioia et al., 2000a), their perceptions, roles, experiences (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998), relationships (Brown and Starkey, 2000) and social change (Breakwell, 1986; Williamson, 1998). The development of personal identities draws on materials from different domains (Castells, 1997), the availability of which differs among societies and cultures (Williamson, 1998). This explains the influence of collective cultures on personal identity through processes of socialisation (Berger and Luckmann, 1966; Beyer and Hannah, 2002) and sensemaking (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998).Identities are being adapted to changing circumstances while some stability is maintained (Fine, 1996; Gioia et al., 2000b). The development of personal identities is therefore best seen as a narrative (Linde, 1993) and reflexive process (Archer, 2007), in which a person tells and retells their stories of self (Gabriel, 2000; Sommer and Baumeister, 1998) both to themselves through silent dialogue (Archer, 2007) and to others as personal accounts of their experiences (Reissner, 2008). This implies that through telling their story, both to themselves and to others, a person can experiment with different identities (Ibarra, 1999), make sense of experience (Denzin, 1989) and discover new ways of thinking (Reissner, 2008); this is sensemaking.Sensemaking (Louis, 1980; Weick, 1995) is crucial in meeting a person's need for meaning (Bruner, 1986), particularly in times of change when their identity may be affected (Becker, 1997). It retrospectively assigns meaning to unforeseen events (Louis, 1980) and is widely associated with notions of narrative and storytelling (Weick, 1995; Brown, 2000). Sommer and Baumeister (1998) distinguish between four different needs for meaning, the fulfilment of which directly affect a person's identities. These are:1. purpose of their current actions in relation to the future;2. efficacy and control over the outcomes of their actions;3. value and justification of their self; and4. self-worth, i.e. establishing a picture that they are worthy individuals.These needs for meaning are reflected in organisational actors' stories about their experiences with change at the workplace (Linde, 1993).More specifically, Sommer and Baumeister (1998) suggest that a sense of purpose is central to the search for meaning with a focus on any lessons learned. Closely linked to a sense of purpose is the need of efficacy or control, and stories of successful and unsuccessful attempts to cope with change are markedly different. The former are characterised by heroic tales that enable a person to gain a better understanding of themselves, while the latter often feature themes of victimisation and blame that make it difficult for the individual to rewrite their stories. These stories are about the individual's perceptions (Archer, 2007) rather than an absolute truth and may be distorted in an attempt to maintain a sense of self-worth. Weick (1995, p. 23) expresses this as follows: \"first, controlled, intentional sensemaking is triggered by a failure to confirm one's self. Second, sensemaking occurs in the service of maintaining a consistent, positive self-conception\".Particularly in disruptive circumstances like organisational change individuals need to engage in identity work (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998), i.e. the \"forming, repairing, maintaining, strengthening or revising the constructions that are productive of a sense of coherence and distinctiveness\" (Svenigsson and Alvesson, 2003, p. 1165). This allows organisational actors to satisfy their needs for meaning (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998) and maintain their concepts of self and adequate levels of self-esteem (Brown and Starkey, 2000). There seems to be a link between contextual circumstances, personal experiences and identities (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998). If this is done successfully, organisational actors rewrite their stories and contribute to the success of their organisation through a shared set of meanings (Alvesson and Robertson, 2006). In contrast, if organisational actors struggle to make sense of change, they may use defences such as denial, idealisation or fantasy (Gabriel, 1995; Brown, 1997) that prevent them from developing their identities and subsequent change in behaviour in the light of change. Such stories of organisational actors' experiences with change and associated identity work inform and are informed by shared meanings across the organisation (Alvesson and Robertson, 2006); therefore, personal identity development at the workplace can support or hinder the success of an organisation through employee motivation and performance.\nMethodology: This paper derives from empirical research into organisational change and learning, which is a theme that is closely linked to identity (Brown and Starkey, 2000). Its focus is on how organisational actors make sense of change at the workplace. The research was conducted in three manufacturing firms, one each from the UK, the Republic of South Africa and the Russian Federation (see Table I for details). Each firm perceives themselves to have gone successfully through major organisational change, and organisational actors had to develop their identities in accordance with their experiences of organisational change.The research employed a qualitative and social constructionist (Cunliffe, 2008) case study approach, which assumes the construction of reality (Berger and Luckmann, 1966) and contextual negotiation of meaning (Crotty, 1998) through stories (Bruner, 1991). The main method of data collection was narrative interviews (Czarniawska, 1998), which lasted between 30 and 90 minutes. A total of 30 interviewees from each firm, all with different backgrounds, were encouraged to tell of their experiences of change at work. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and fed back to the interviewees prior to coding according to themes emerging from the data.The qualitative data were analysed using inductive analysis that borrowed elements from grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and analytic induction (Denzin, 1989). A key feature of the chosen approach was the constant coding and comparing of data within and across cases to detect patterns of meaning, and that process was informed by the relevant literature. The data used in this paper represent only a small proportion of the data collected for this research and were selected specifically to discuss the effects of organisational change on personal identities. In the following section, each company is described briefly and the respective stories discussed in context. The participating companies and interviewees were promised anonymity and all names have been changed.\nStories of identity development: Vignette 1: confidence about the future at Engineering Ltd\nIdentity and meaning at the workplace: Identity and meaning have been closely linked in previous empirical work (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998), and this paper contributes to these by investigating processes of sensemaking and identity development at the workplace. The five vignettes discussed in the previous section highlight that organisational actors' making sense of organisational change affects their personal identities. There are different patterns to personal identity development at the workplace under conditions of change, which are epitomised by Anne's, Adam's and Steve's stories on the one hand and William's and Eve's story on the other.The former are prime examples of how organisational actors manage organisational change successfully in terms of identity development. Their stories refer to perceived control of their professional development (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998) and increased self-esteem and self-worth (Brown and Starkey, 2000). They have an ascending storyline (Browning, 1991) and are positive in tone. It can be argued that these are the kind of stories managers wish to see in their organisation because they contribute to the image and identity of what are widely perceived as innovative and sustainable organisations.The latter, on the contrary, reflect a threat to the storytellers' identities (Breakwell, 1986), struggles to make sense of change and a subsequent breakdown of meaning (Weick, 1993). There is a lack of control over their actions and a reflection of low self-esteem and self-worth (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998). These stories, which have a descending storyline and resigned tone (Browning, 1991), reflect limited opportunities for professional development and the impact on the storytellers' identities. These are the kind of stories that managers may perceive as counter-productive to the kind of progressive organisation they may wish to create.Further analysis of these stories suggests that organisational actors' experiences and subsequent expectations for their future have a key role in their making sense of change and associated identity work. In particular, if organisational actors' expectations for the future are met or exceeded (as in Anne's, Adam's and Steve's case), their need for purpose, self-efficacy and control will be satisfied, leading to greater self-esteem and self-worth (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998). If organisational actors' expectations for the future are disappointed (as in William's and Eve's case), their need for purpose, self-efficacy and control will not be met, leading to a decline in self-esteem and self-worth (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998).The small number of cases on which this paper draws does not allow for detailed investigation of the dynamic relationship between organisational change, sensemaking and identity work. Organisational actors engage in identity work through a myriad of different stories, which limits the current understanding of how organisational change affects identity development at work. Anne's and William's stories about the acquisition of new technological skills are a good example. Anne is upbeat about the new technology and its opportunities, while William does not even consider his newly build skills, mourning the loss of status and privileges instead. More research is required to investigate these dynamics in more depth, and the methodology employed in this research may prove fruitful.\nConclusion: Organisational actors' expectations and experiences of organisational change impact on the development of their identities, particularly the degree of self-esteem and self-worth (Sommer and Baumeister, 1998). As part of their making sense of change, organisational actors engage in identity work (Svenigsson and Alvesson, 2003), examining how organisational change affects their professional development and future career. The stories accompanying this process reflect inconsistencies between expectations and reality and a struggle by organisational actors to create new meanings and enact new behaviours; some attempts are more successful than others.The short auto-biographical stories, which are at the heart of this paper, suggest that the degree to which organisational actors' expectations of change are met (or even exceeded) or disappointed has a major impact on their identity development through the stories they tell. In the former case, organisational actors are likely to engage in identity work that results in increased confidence, self-esteem and self-worth. In the latter case, organisational actors are likely to engage in identity work that results in reduced levels of confidence, self-esteem and self-worth. These, in turn, will influence organisational actors' perceptions and behaviours, which may jeopardise organisational efforts to create shared meanings, collective identities and a sustainable future. Hence, individual identity development at the workplace under conditions of change is not only a personal, but also an organisational issue that ought to be taken seriously by researchers and practitioners alike.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organisational change can affect the development of personal identities using a narrative approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper derives from qualitative and inductive cross-national research into organisational change and learning. Three manufacturing firms, one each from the UK, South Africa and Russia, were studied to investigate sensemaking under conditions of change. Data were collected through narrative interviews and interpreted using an inductive approach borrowing elements from grounded theory and analytic induction.\nFindings: - The data suggest that organisational change affects the personal identities of those involved through the way in which organisational actors' expectations are being met, exceeded or disappointed. The conclusion is that changes in the work environment can result in major revisions to organisational actors' biographical selves and accompanying stories that give meaning to past experiences and future expectations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Further qualitative and inductive research is required to further investigate the dynamics of identity construction under conditions of organisational change.\nOriginality/value: - Five short biographical stories by selected research participants provide rich insights into the dynamics of identity development under conditions of organisational change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer's expectations from mobile CRM services: a banking context	[ "India", "Banking", "Customer relationship management", "Consumer behaviour", "Mobile technology", "Mobile CRM", "Perceived utility value", "Exploratory factor analysis", "Consumer's perspective" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In recent years the market orientation has changed to customer centric view. After realizing the importance of simultaneous use of various channels (Albesa, 2007) banking and financial companies are now paying attention to mobile banking especially when it comes to maintenance of customer relationships (Riivari, 2005). The ability to identify customer's most pressing need at a given moment of time is one of the promising propositions of mobile banking and the challenge now is to deliver services according to consumers' perception of value and trust (KPMG International, 2009). Advanced mobile technologies help banks in offering new services like viewing account details, fund transfer, balance enquiry, loan details, bill payments, enquiry about credit card and demat account and add value to existing ones by disseminating the information at user defined time and place.This way the customer has got an array of services available to him just a press away but we find that the cognitive and economic barriers are posing challenge to the uptake of innovations in financial intermediation technology (Carlsson et al., 2006). It has been reported that despite of the rapid rollout of mobile services over the past decade, mobile transactions, including mobile banking and payments, have not been used as much as expected (Kleijnen et al., 2007).Though a number of aspects have been studied for mobile commerce (Harris et al., 2005; Lin and Wang, 2006; Wong and Hsu, 2008), very little is reported regarding the acceptance of mobile banking from customer relationship management perspective (Kabiraj et al., 2004). Most of the studies focused either on possibilities for mobile customer relationship management (mobile CRM) in market (Valsecchi et al., 2007) and collaborative business model (Steimer and Steimer, 2008) or about the challenges faced by the companies at the initiation phase (Sinisalo et al., 2007). The knowledge of the key factors that attract the customer to advance CRM services in financial sector is still lacking. The user's perceptions of mobile CRM and their expectation from such services are yet to be explored in detail (Liljander et al., 2007). This study attempts to add to the body of literature by exploring factors impacting the mobile CRM services.In the context of developing countries like India where the banking services on mobile channel were launched few years ago yet the usage of such services has not reached the desired level, it becomes more important to look for the factors operating on consumer's side. The studies conducted on IT adoption of Indian banks (Tarafdar and Vaidya, 2006; Malhotra and Singh, 2007) render insufficient information about what affects consumer's decision to consume services particularly on mobile channel. In this regard the current study tends to emphasize the less-explored area of consumer's perspective and identify the factors on the backdrop of a developing country.The aim of the paper is to develop an understanding of:1. What constitutes the primary concern when customer uses mobile banking services.2. What factors can be identified as the guiding force for making better mobile CRM services in banking.The paper is structured as follows. In the Section 2 literature support is provided for the identification of constructs for this study. Further in Section 3 the research methodology is discussed. Section 4 presents the data analysis and results. Finally Section 5 is based on discussion and managerial implication with a closing note on study in Section 6. The limitations and future research directions are presented in last section.\n2 Research framework and relevant literature: 2.1 Mobile CRM\n3 Research methodology: 3.1 Instrument\n4 Data analysis and results: 4.1 Factor analysis\n5 Discussion and managerial implications: The objective of this study was to explore the underlying factors affecting the intention to adopt mobile banking services from CRM perspective. The findings show that the intention to adopt a mobile banking application is governed by eight factors namely perceived utility value, perceived ease of use, compatibility, context, perceived cost, perceived risk, negative attitude and personal innovativeness. The results indicate that the first factor, i.e. perceived utility value is the most prominent factor as far as adoption of mobile CRM services is concerned. This finding reflects similar results reported in other innovation adoption-related studies (Laukkanen, 2007; Kim et al., 2007; Wang and Wang, 2009). The emergence of perceived utility value asserts that today's individual adopters not only behave as technology users but also as service consumers (Kim et al., 2007). The results suggest that the perceived utility value provided in the form of mobile application is assessed on the basis of the services received against the time, effort and money invested by the individual.The most important reason contributing to the perceived utility value was feeling confident about the mobile application. If we project this point against other factors in the structure we can very well affirm that proper addressing of rest of the factors like perceived ease of use, context, compatibility, perceived cost, perceived risk and negative attitude will automatically boost the confidence of the user and the increase perceived utility value. Thus, management attention may be more fruitful if focused on the development of the internal psychological process (perceived utility value) (Lin and Wang, 2006) by striking a balance between affective variables (perceived ease of use, perceived risk and negative attitude) and service variables (context, compatibility, cost).The other major factor \"perceived ease of use\" emerged from clubbing of the two constructs of TAM model (Davis, 1989) under one factor in this study, depicting the application centric explanation of adoption intentions. This observation gives two indications:1. TAM model explains the adoption on the basis of application design-oriented characteristics.2. For explaining the adoption of new generation services only IT application-centric factors will not be enough (Lu et al., 2005; Mallat et al., 2008; Wu and Wang, 2005), some service-oriented factors need to be incorporated in the model.Along with this \"perceived ease of use\" firmly avow that the application and the services provided should be easy to access, learn and quick in response delivery. The application should be designed in such a way that it is intuitive for the user to download and learn the key sequences for use, irrespective of having any prior experience of internet. Previous researchers (Teo and Pok, 2003; Liu and Li, 2010) have shown that the more complex an innovation is to use, and the greater the skills and efforts needed to adopt it, the less likely that it will be adopted.In line with the previous research (Liu and Li, 2010) context was found to be one of the factors influencing the services through mobile channel. The most significant feature of mobile technology is mobility: the ability to access services ubiquitously, on the move and through wireless networks and various devices like PDA and mobile phones (Mallat et al., 2008). In conjugation with mobility, context becomes important in decision making as people carry their mobile devices with them and use them in different need situations. Lee et al. (2005) studied use contexts for mobile internet services in Korea and found that contextual factors had significant correlations with specific types of mobile services. It is necessary for the managers to understand the contexts of banking needs of customers from different segments before designing the services for mobile channel. Users are likely to use mobile banking services when it is difficult to approach the branch, ATM services or even internet banking, a likely example is while travelling or when stuck in traffic jam. Since a strong association of the items with the construct is shown, an interest seemed to surface for getting the service response immediately when needed. This points out that the importance of the context of the service demand should be carefully considered for mobile CRM.As shown by past research perceived compatibility of an innovation has a positive influence on the adoption of an innovation (Tornatzky and Klein, 1982; Liu and Li, 2010), the findings of the current study confirms the same. Respondents found compatibility between performing a financial activity through mobile device and other uses. These customers also believed in prompt fulfilment of needs through their mobile phones and had a habit of technology usage in other walks of life. This factor provides an important insight for formulating the measures to improve the diffusion of mobile CRM services. As evident from the responses, compatibility of mobile application use with one's life style and habits had the strongest correlation. It shows that mobile banking services should be marketed as a lifestyle services rather than a technological innovation. The marketing campaign should emphasize the compatibility of mobile banking services with one's lifestyle.The findings also demonstrated the importance of perceived cost for mobile banking services. In earlier studies, perceived cost has been found to have significant impact on adoption of mobile internet (Kim et al., 2007), mobile commerce (Wu and Wang, 2005), mobile banking (Luarn and Lin, 2005), etc. The customers perceived a high cost for accessing the mobile application. This may be due to the addition of GPRS connection charges (which customers need to pay during the use of application) to the perceived cost of using the actual mobile services of the bank. A way to change customers' perception that the services are expensive could involve an agreement between banks and mobile operators to make the services more accessible (Cruz and Laukkanen, 2010). They also seemed to be unaware of the fact that the application was available for download free of cost. The study revealed that the customers were not aware whether the mobile phones owned by them are compatible to download and use the mobile application. It produces a discernable implication that proper awareness and edification about the technical compatibility of the phones is required. Also awareness about the services launched is to be generated through all possible mediums.Customer perceived a high risk in monetary transactions and feared a loss of personal information. This may be due to their uninformed state in the case of any miss happening. Both of the items under the sixth factor \"risk\" loaded very significantly but the variance extracted was lower that the first few factors. This indicates that the proper information provided to the customers for the problematic situation will mitigate the effect of perceived risk on adoption (Cruz and Laukkanen, 2010).Emergence of negative attitude of customers towards the use of mobile application for banking purposes indicates that the attention must be given towards development of psychological processes (Lin and Wang, 2006). It is known that the opinions about innovations are shaped by the negative reports published in media (Teo and Pok, 2003). Customers form their attitudes even before evaluating the benefits of the new channels and services under the influence of social interaction and messages propagated by media. Though in our study the influence of negative attitude is comparatively less yet in terms of variance explanation it is at the same level as that of perceived cost and perceived risk. Thus, the importance of negative attitude or we may say the customer denial cannot be overlooked and should be tackled through prompt actions on customer complaints and leveraging media for educating the customers.The last factor, i.e. personal innovativeness though did not emerge as a very powerful factor yet maintained some influence over adoption intention for mobile CRM services. A study by Lee et al. (2009) showed that innovative users used mobile banking more than others did. From mobile CRM perspective, the managers may try to identify the innovative customers and target them first for the adoption; as such customers will feel less perceived risk and will be much open towards the new services and channel. These kinds of customers are found to be information explorers and actively seek new ideas and positively accept the dangers and uncertainties. Furthermore, they easily embrace opportunities to buy unfamiliar products and are willing to try new cutting edge products (Rogers, 1995). The consumers with higher innovativeness accept new technology more positively (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000).\n6 Conclusion: In this paper we attempted to develop our understanding of various factors affecting the adoption of mobile CRM services through newly launched mobile banking application. For this purpose we employed nine constructs on the basis of the findings from previous research.In our study the highest predictive power for intention to avail mobile CRM services belonged to perceived utility value followed by ease of use and six other factors - context, compatibility, perceived cost, perceived risk, negative attitude towards mobile applications and personal innovativeness. The emergence of negative attitude towards the mobile banking application usage as separate factor though it was not included in the original set of constructs reconfirms the role of attitude in predicting the intention to use and, thus, supports the argument that attitude as a construct should be continued to be used in subsequent research of mobile CRM services acceptance. In developing countries, like India, where internet access is much lower than mobile phone penetration, banks should consider it important to take certain measures about these factors to specifically target segments that do not use the internet.The study included a few limitations such as certain selection of the sample from selected cities which may induct some bias due a particular geographical and economic advantage of the place. Another limitation is the actual adoption of the concerned services is itself very low which lessens the possibility of the network effect and awareness of such services. Future research directions of particular interest would attempt to generalize the factors explored in the above study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the primary concerns of a customer when they use mobile banking services and identify factors that can be used for making better mobile customer relationship management (mobile CRM) services in banking.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper empirically explores the underlying factors by the application of exploratory factor analysis. The study sample consists of 272 respondents, with a usable response rate of 68 per cent.\nFindings: - The empirical findings reveal that perceived utility value is regarded as the most important factor for mobile CRM services. The other factors which emerged were ease of use, context, compatibility, cost, risk, and personal innovativeness. In addition, negative attitude towards technology also emerged as a factor, which needs further investigation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study had a few limitations, such as selection of the sample from a limited number of places, which may induct some bias due a particular geographical and economic advantage of the place.\nPractical implications: - Based on the findings, banks should focus on increasing the value perceptions of the customers by considering easy design of the services, service context and compatibility of the services offered. The service cost reduction and risk mitigation strategies also need attention.\nOriginality/value: - The findings provided insight into the factors that contribute to the acceptance of mobile CRM practices in banking from the consumers' perspective. This study demonstrated that in the case of mobile CRM the factors related to the service aspect dominate over the technical aspect.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of Tier-1 capital, risk management, and profitability on performance of Indonesian Commercial Banks	[ "Performance", "Risk management", "Profitability", "Tier-1 Capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Background: In today's modern era, the role of the banking sector in national development is vital (Fungacova and Poghosyan, 2011). Banks mediate those parties having excess funds and help distribute those funds in the form of credit. According to the Act of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 of 1998 concerning Banking, banking refers to any matters related to banks, which include institutional matters and business activities, as well as ways and processes involved to undertake their business activities. Banks according to their type are classified into commercial banks and people's credit banks. Commercial banks are those banks conducting their business in a conventional manner and or based on Sharia-based principles which offer payment traffic-related services while undertaking their activities. As for People's credit banks, they refer to banks conducting business activities in a conventional manner or based on Sharia-based principles which do not offer payment traffic-related services while undertaking their activities.\n2. Literature review: Commercial banks are a vital banking institution as they involve rotation an enormous and strategic amount of capital and finance in encouraging economic growth and development in Indonesia. According to Zuk-Butkuviene et al. (2014), there is a relationship between the quality of capital adequacy and the impact arising from liquidity risk management in the banking industry that is influenced by quality control and harmonization of assets against bank liabilities. Therefore, any factors and risks related to the financial performance of commercial banks need to be managed well.\n3. Research method: The research population consisted of all commercial banks listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The data were in the form of financial statements of commercial banks for the periods of 2010 to 2014 with a total of 42 companies. The research sample was taken using the method of purposive sampling, while the technique to determine the sample was undertaken using certain consideration (Sugiyono, 2009). The following are the criteria used to include commercial banks as the research object, namely:\n4. Analysis result: The first part of analysis stage is the examination of the goodness-of-fit test. Predictive relevance (Q2) is equal to 81.78 per cent. That is, the model can explain Tier-1 capital, risk management, profitability and performance phenomena at 81.78 per cent, while the remaining 18.22 per cent is unexplained. Hair et al. (2011) showed that Q2 > 75 per cent, the model is in a good fit criterion and is suitable for further analysis.\n5. Discussion of the research findings: 5.1 Effects of Tier-1 capital on risk management\n6. Conclusion and recommendation: Based on the analysis result and discussion, the conclusions of this study are:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research aims to examine the effect of Tier-1 capital, risk management, and profitability on performance of Indonesia commercial banks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research population consisted of all commercial banks listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange periods of 2010 to 2014 with a total of 42 companies. The statistical analysis for testing the hypothesis using structural equation modeling (SEM) covariance based using WarpPLS.\nFindings: Research result shows that Tier-1 capital has a positive effect on capital on risk management; risk management has a positive effect on performance, but risk management does not have an effect to profitability; profitability has a positive effect on performance; and Tier-1 capital has a negative effect on profitability. On the other hand, profitability has a negative effect on Tier-1 capital and performance has a positive effect on Tier-1 capital, whereas Tier-1 capital does not have an effect on performance.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this research can be seen from the causal relationship between the effects of Tier-1 capital, risk management and profitability on performance of commercial banks in the context of stock performance among Indonesia commercial banks. In addition, previous research findings remain inconsistent between one another. By conducting this research, it is expected that more consistent research findings than the previous ones can be generated. Sluggish global economic conditions which result in declined bank performance are an interesting topic to investigate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Raising the odds of corporate venturing: a review by Intel	[ "Corporate venturing", "Corporate innovation", "Disruptive innovation", "Champions", "Sponsors", "Open innovation", "Innovation", "Corporate ventures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It is commonly accepted that innovation is a critical must-have capability rather than a nice-to-have buzz for building and growing new businesses in large organizations. Some may think that creating new businesses should be an easier task for successful companies ample with resources and experience. Even when considering the inherent risk involved, such companies are better equipped for absorbing it without fighting for survival. Yet, much evidence shows that this task is quite difficult and results in failure more often than not.\nCorporate venturing model: Managers may find it helpful to use a conceptual model for asking the right questions in planning and executing the different stages of corporate ventures. We propose the following model based on our review. We place the major issues of corporate venturing into a single context composed of four distinct areas: design, resources, decisions, and monitoring (Figure 1).1. Design: Initial steps to put together a corporate venture include blueprints, both for its organizational structure as well as its place in the corporate structure; for the processes that flow through the venture's systems, e.g. decision-making, and between these systems and the corporate; and for the goals that direct and measure the venture's efforts. These issues refer mostly to questions of \"how to do it?\" in planning corporate ventures.2. Resources: Next steps focus on providing the necessary capital that fuels the venture's efforts, both human capital (people) and financial capital (funding). Putting the best people in charge of venturing and supporting them is absolutely crucial, and it precedes all other decisions. Therefore, the issues in this area respond primarily to \"who will do it?\" questions in establishing the venture.3. Decisions: Once vital resources are secured, venture leaders must address designating appropriate topics for venturing (e.g. by criteria of disruptive innovation), collaborations with knowledgeable partners, and terms that facilitate successful intercept of the venture into corporate core business once incubation is completed. Thus, these issues mainly involve the question of \"what to do?\" in venturing.4. Monitoring: As soon as all the pieces are in place, the venture is a \"go\" for execution. Throughout the long and uncertain way toward a new business, the corporation must keep track of ongoing efforts and results according to well-suited measures. The outcomes of this ongoing process can then serve to update and fine-tune the design accordingly, which in turn could trigger a new cycle of planning.\nCorporate venturing tips: Following our model, we present our recommended \"tips\" for corporate venturing, first in the form of a summarized checklist and then in more detail (see Figure 2).\nGet organized: To lay the initial ground for venturing, corporate executives must decide on issues of structure, process, funding, and teams:Tip No. 1: Dedicate central corporate resources.Tip No. 2: But surrender control.A study at nearly 30 global companies, including IBM and DuPont (Wolcott and Lippitz, 2007) identified two underlying dimensions for new business creation within corporations:1. Funding resources: should they be dedicated or allocated ad hoc through corporate or divisional budgets?2. Organizational ownership: should it be diffused (across business units) or central (at the corporate level)?On the resources dimension, the study findings make it clear that organizations are better off dedicating corporate resources to fund new businesses; ad-hoc funding along with diffused ownership (\"opportunist\" model) simply does not work, whereas ad hoc funding with central ownership (\"advocate\" model) may help at best in boosting incremental innovation of core divisions but not in creating new businesses.Now narrowed down to dedicated resources, diffused ownership (\"enabler\" model) makes it easier than central ownership (\"producer\" model) to integrate new businesses into core divisions when graduating from incubation. However, early-stage projects are better protected from rejection by core (recall that the corporate \"antibodies\" keep fighting against new ideas and initiatives) in the \"producer\" case.Wolcott and Lippitz (2007) term google the \"poster child\" of the \"enabler\" model, famous for encouraging teams from all over the organization to develop and pitch new concepts for funding and support by corporate leadership:Tip No. 3: Spinout due to misfit in values, not in processesAnother handy research-based model (Christensen and Overdorf, 2000) analyzes new corporate ventures by their fit with the existing organization's processes (mechanisms and bureaucracies) and values (the standards by which people set priorities in decision-making), and suggests how to deal with misfits. It often seems that companies prefer to spin out a new venture when it doesn't fit with the existing processes. However, the fit that really counts is with the organizational values i.e. the underlying states-of-mind guiding the decisions of people, rather than the fit with the more technical issues of how things are done. In short, decide whether to keep a venture in-house or to spin it out based on its fit with values, not with processes.\nGet the best people: If there is one issue that we simply cannot stress strongly enough throughout our review, it is the importance of leadership at different levels in corporate venturing. Evidence of this is overwhelming with respect to both champions promoting new ventures and executive sponsors providing them with support and legitimacy.Tip No. 4: The best champions are more important than the best ideas.Champions are people who emerge in the organization, actively and enthusiastically pushing innovation through its critical stages to overcome social and political pressures (Howell et al., 2005). The best champions are equipped with experience (in both technical and business domains), passion (manifested in enthusiasm and confidence), persistence under adversity, and getting the right people involved. Here are some key examples for the stated prominence of champions in venturing activities:* Research on entering new businesses including over 100 corporate venturing units leads to the conclusion that great management is the truly scarce resource as opposed to great ideas; therefore it is best to search first for talent, and then for opportunities (Campbell and Park, 2005).* A case study of Toshiba's laptop and notebook ventures (between the early 1980s to the mid 1990s), which established Toshiba as the worldwide leader of portable computers, recognizes champions as the most important factor in initial venture success, accelerated growth, and transition to core business (Abetti, 1997):Tip No. 5: Top executives: sponsor, do not delegate!Sponsors are not just members of the board of the initiative; they are senior executives prepared to stick out their own necks and provide \"air cover\" to the venture when it loses money (Birkinshaw et al., 2002). The following examples emphasize the importance of sponsors:* Evidence from 100 venture unit executives over two years reveals that sponsorship is a primary factor in separating winners from losers: in order to survive, corporate ventures must have committed sponsorship from the highest levels, preferably from the CEO (Birkinshaw et al., 2002).* Data collected from 145 internal corporate ventures points to the level of top management support as one of the strongest correlations of venturing success (Kuratko et al., 2009).Lead executives may also appreciate a key lesson based on six years of research on top innovative companies (e.g. Apple, Amazon, eBay, P&G) and their CEOs, along with 3,000 executives: a striking difference between most innovative companies and all the rest is that senior executives in these companies do not delegate creative work; they actually do it themselves (Dyer et al., 2009).\nTarget the right topics: Venture executives are encouraged to use a set of proven and tested tools in spotting and screening suitable topics for venturing. One such powerful tool is provided by Christensen's renowned framework which allows identifying a disruptive initiative based on the following typology of innovation (Christensen, 1997; Christensen and Raynor, 2003):* Sustaining innovation (which can be either radical or incremental) improves performance of established products along existing dimensions of markets and customers;* Disruptive innovation interrupts these dimensions by bringing to market a very different value proposition from what previously existed. Typical products are cheaper, simpler, and more usable.The next two tips are based on in-depth research by Christensen of the disk-drive industry between the 1970s and the 1990s, a period when great companies failed because of disruptive changes in market and technology:Tip No. 6: Beware of existing customers with your disruptive innovation.Common wisdom says that business must be close to the firm's customers, and that management should listen to them in sourcing and screening for new ideas. All the same, when an opportunity for disruptive innovation emerges, it actually might not be needed yet by existing customers. Since the firm depends on the resources of this audience, it must comply by nipping the idea in the bud. As a remedy for such a case, corporate leaders are advised to build a separate, autonomous organization with a mandate to develop a new set of customers around the disruptive innovation:Tip No. 7: Low cost \"good enough\" is often better than \"best\".In his framework, Christensen describes a type of disruptive innovation where solutions provide lower performance rates than currently available at a lower cost, which may become valuable to increasingly important segments of customers with simpler preferences. This may be counter-intuitive to many, as the natural tendency in many technological firms would be to constantly improve performance towards the highest level made possible by technology, and thus they may be missing opportunities for low-end disruptive innovation:Tip No. 8: Major opportunity, major organizational impact.How can executives identify high-impact radical innovation when they see it? One key attribute is that it will require significant changes in organizational structure and processes. Rather than deferring thought as to the outcomes of a successful venture, it is useful to explore this optimal scenario and thus realize the brevity of the venture; other attributes include products with an entirely new set of features, process improvements by five times or more, and cost reductions of thirty percent or higher (Kelley et al., 2005). Christensen (1997) also supports this claim by asserting that organizational structure and processes are reflected in new product design and hence they affect what can and cannot be designed.\nTopic showstoppers: An example of a formal framework that may be used to screen venturing topics is the Business Traffic Lights model for screening venturing topics. This model, developed and tested over three years by Campbell and Park (2005), raises four fundamental questions about new business ideas with three optional answers to each question labeled red, yellow, or green (R/Y/G):* What is our advantage in this business? Significant (G), small/ uncertain (Y), or significant disadvantage (R).* What size is the profit pool for this market? Large (G), average (Y), or marginal (R).* What is our strength in this business' leaders relative to competitors? Stronger than (G), similar to (Y), or weaker than (R).* What is the likely impact of this business on our existing businesses? Significantly positive (G), uncertain (Y), or significantly negative (R).Research findings show that when applying this model to a given idea for venturing, one green signal along with no red signals is enough to continue with the project; one red signal is enough as a showstopper; and an all-yellow project has only marginal prospects for success.\nLeverage partnerships: Corporate managers believing in traditional innovation prefer control, self-reliance, and sticking to core competencies in preference to reaching beyond organizational boundaries. In most cases, they are wrong. These beliefs lead to dynamics such as the Not Invented Here syndrome (NIH) and pose critical obstacles to innovation in many companies (Chesbrough et al., 2006):Tip No. 9: Do not just \"Do It Yourself\".The well-grounded paradigm of Open Innovation (Chesbrough et al., 2006) clearly states that no single company can master all the resources and processes required to innovate successfully over time. Instead, companies are opening their innovation systems to allow both inflows and outflows of knowledge and benefit from:* Accelerating innovation by working in parallel.* Tapping domain expertise of knowledgeable partners.* Gaining higher confidence in decisions.* Improving risk distribution.At the same time, managers must be aware of open innovation challenges such as: setting and protecting the limits of openness; creating and sustaining relationships with partners; breaking down problems for working in parallel; creating joint governance mechanisms; and dealing with stubborn opposing dynamics.\nBut ... keep it realistic: Tip No. 10: Get real in expectations.After all been said and done, executives who wish to build corporate ventures must keep in mind that a new business cannot be evaluated using the same methods and time horizons that apply to other businesses; and even when implementing the best practices anyone can come up with, the odds for large-scale success are low to begin with.Executives managing and monitoring corporate ventures must be able to evaluate these ventures vis-a-vis expectations. We did not come up with any more than hints regarding possible measures; what is clear is that standard financial tools such as P&L are irrelevant. The Boston Consulting Group (2009) suggests several methods based on the venturing process, e.g. average development time per project; meeting milestones, and on the outputs of this process, e.g. number of ventures moving from incubation to core business; revenues from new offerings after being launched.Regarding the level of expectations, the following non-conventional wisdom is based on research on over 100 corporate venturing units with fewer than five projects showing significant new revenue (Campbell and Park, 2005):* Good topics that fit the organization are very rare* High growth is actually not a must to succeed* Thus, deciding not to do it is good enoughTo conclude, we have attempted to provide executives with a list of practical recommendations along with a conceptual model for taking on the challenge of corporate venturing based on critical reading and real-world experience in large-scale strategic planning. In our view, these recommendations should be explicitly taken into account by corporation leaders when tackling new business creation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Any corporate executive ever faced with the task of launching new businesses within her organization must know this is quite a difficult challenge. Creating a new business is risky enough by itself and arguably even more problematic for large, successful firms \"caught in the chains\" of ever-improving what already works. In light of this true dilemma, this paper aimed to review rich up-to-date literature on corporate venturing in search for evidence-based recommendations that are really practical.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - By means of critical reading and careful selection based on real-world experience from the trenches of Intel Strategic Planning, the authors screened relevant literature from diverse sources including professional practitioner publications as well as academic research journals.\nFindings: - Despite the surprisingly scarce practical advice found in reviewed literature, this paper emphasizes a short list of useful tips for corporate executives. For example: dedicate corporate resources but surrender central ownership; put your faith in the best people and not necessarily in the best ideas; ensure top executives \"walk the talk\" as sponsors and hands-on leaders; and protect disruptive innovation from being shot down by existing customers' influence. These findings are accompanied by a conceptual model mapping the main issues in corporate venturing to four distinct areas: design, resources, decisions, and monitoring.\nOriginality/value: - The key findings of this paper are brought as practical tips for executives attempting to construct a corporate venturing structure that works; these tips are noteworthy as they may contradict some of the common wisdom in corporate strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Market-creating service innovation: verification and its associations with new service development and customer involvement	[ "Service innovation", "New service development", "Customer involvement", "Innovation", "Customer service management", "Taiwan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: The importance of services for managers, researchers, and policy makers cannot be overestimated. Not only do services constitute a major part of global economic activities but they account for most of the employment in developed countries (Anxo and Storrie, 2001; Vargo and Lusch, 2008). Companies continuously seek to improve existing services and develop new services. Berry et al. (2006) proposed the concept of market-creating service innovation (MCSI) and developed a matrix that identified four types of service innovation that offer a different way of thinking strategically about how companies create new markets through certain types of service innovation (Michel et al., 2008). Their results also helped explain how to envision the central drivers of success with service innovation (De Clerq and Voronov, 2009). However, although they demonstrated promising results based on successful new service cases, most of the cases were from benchmark companies, and thus more cases may be necessary to prove whether or not their approach can be widely applied to other service companies. In addition, their classification of new services was based on subjective judgments (e.g. type of benefit), and should be re-confirmed. Finally, although they offered suggestions, what specifically might drive successful MCSI has remained unclear for practitioners who aim to develop new services from the perspective of resource allocation.Many service companies have recognized the need to interact with potential customers for their input during the new service development (NSD) process (Alam, 2002; Von Hippel, 2007; Hienerth, 2006). There are various benefits to such customer involvement (Alam and Perry, 2002; Alam, 2006). For example, customers can reveal their potential needs, allowing companies to increase the added value of new services (Lin and Germain, 2004; Alam, 2006) and reduce the risk of imitation (Alam, 2002; Matthing et al., 2004). However, although the literature provides rich insights into the role of customer involvement in NSD, its mechanisms are still needed further understanding (Alam and Perry, 2002; Fang et al., 2008). For example, traditionally, service companies have asked their customers to participate in NSD, but the mechanisms of value co-creation in NSD are still underdeveloped (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; Fang et al., 2008).To this end, the present study develops a new scale to measure MCSI that can be applied to examine the contribution of each NSD stage as well as customer involvement in NSD. Specifically, the new scale is developed and described. Then, the degree to which four NSD stages contribute to MCSI is identified. Finally, the extent to which the values of customers involved in each NSD stage contribute to MCSI are further examined.By doing so, this study contributes to the service innovation literature in the following ways. First, based on the empirical results of a large-scale survey, this study provides a better understanding of MCSI, which helps service providers properly apply its approach to create new services. Second, on the basis of 179 successful new service cases, this study illustrates the extent to which each NSD stage contributes to each type of MCSI, which provides valuable insights for new service providers dealing with resource allocation issues. Third, as customer involvement in NSD continues to rise, this study thoroughly investigates the degree to which customers co-create a new service with service providers in each NSD stage, which demonstrates the mechanisms of value co-creation. Finally, despite the importance of innovation in the service industry, previous studies have tended to examine specific service sectors, such as banking, retail brokers, or insurance. This study covers a wide variety of service sectors. The remainder of this article is organized as follows. First, based on the related literature, the conceptual framework and its variables (MCSI, NSD, and customer involvement) are presented. In particular, the characteristics of MCSI are described and their underlying theoretical themes are discussed. Then, the research method and the measures are described. This is followed by data analysis and results. Finally, the findings are discussed, and the paper concludes with the implications and limitations of this work, and recommendations for future research.\nResearch framework: Based on previous research, service innovation is the result of the NSD process (Avlonitis et al., 2001). Following this line of thought, MCSI is also the result of the NSD process. In addition, customers involved in each NSD stage have a significant impact on service innovation (Alam and Perry, 2002). Figure 1 shows the research framework, in which each variable is discussed in the following sections.MCSI\nResearch methodology: Scale development\nData analysis and results: Purification of measures\nDiscussion and conclusions: The present study empirically examines three research questions based on the context of the article by Berry et al. (2006). First, consistent with our expectations, the results of the empirical research show that the four service innovation types (i.e. controllable convenience, flexible solutions, comfortable gains, and respectful access) that we develop are precise and actionable measures that indicate where service companies fit certain types of service innovation.Second, the launch stage plays an important role in all four types of service innovation, consistent with some extant literature on NSD (e.g. Menor et al., 2002). In addition, our results provide evidence that putting effort into the design stage is important for comfortable gains. One possible explanation for this may be that new services in comfortable gains markets are difficult to distinguish from competitors or are easily imitated. Thus, to develop this type of new service, the service providers have to ensure a close match between customers' needs and their capabilities, and must also carefully monitor the actions of their competitors. Nevertheless, our results were somewhat different than previous research on NSD. Specifically, an unexpected result was that there was no significant relationship between the development stage and each type of MCSI. While we can only speculate as to way at this point, it is possible that, compared to manufacturers, it is difficult for service companies to develop a prototype, due to the characteristics of services (e.g. intangible, Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2004). Another possible reason is that service companies lack funding or the skills to adequately develop new services.With respect to the third research question, namely, the extent to which the values of customers involved in each NSD stage contribute to MCSI, we found that customer involvement in the design stage was significantly related to the type of flexible solutions employed, and that customer involvement in the launch stage was significantly related to the type of comfortable gains. Regarding the former, focusing mainly on the design stage for flexible solutions markets allows the service providers to gain a certain rate of acceptance when it is launched on the market. This is because it might be difficult for potential customers to accept the new service (Rogers, 2003) if the companies focus too much on design and neglect customers' real needs. Regarding the latter, focusing on the launch stage in comfortable gains markets provides the customers with relevant feedback and development motivation enabling them to become co-creators. However, it was surprising to find a significantly negative relationship between customer involvement in the analysis stage for the flexible solutions markets. One possible explanation is that new service providers focused mainly on the idea generation stage and in doing so neglected the analysis stage (Magnusson et al., 2003; Alam, 2002). Moreover, during the analysis stage, most customers may not have had sufficient domain knowledge or experience and were unfamiliar with the analysis methodologies and tools. Although the results are surprising and counter to our expectations, further research may provide a fuller understanding of this result.Finally, this study contributes to the service innovation literature in explicitly integrating service innovation, NSD, and customer involvement. Service innovation has received less attention than product innovation, and some academics have called for more research on NSD to increase understanding of the process and customer involvement in service innovation. The findings of the present study contribute toward understanding this process and the involvement of customers, and also extend the service innovation literature.Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The present study aims to develop a measure of the market-creating service innovation (MCSI) proposed by Berry et al., verify the typology, identify the relationship between MCSI and each new service development (NSD) stage, and assess the degree to which the role of customers involved in each NSD stage contributes to each type of MCSI.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mail survey was sent to service companies in Taiwan, the target respondents being senior managers with experience in developing successful new services in the past three years. A total of 179 usable questionnaires were collected, resulting in a respondent rate of 21.2 per cent. The responses covered a wide range of service industries.\nFindings: - The present study confirms that the four MCSIs proposed by Berry et al. do indeed exist in practice. The degree of association between each NSD stage and each type of MCSI varies according to MCSI type. The statistical weights for customers involved in each type of MCSI are also different.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study extends a theoretical mechanism of NSD that customers indeed contribute to service innovation, but their involvement varies depending on the characteristics of the service innovation.\nPractical implications: - Utilizing a new scale of MCSI, service providers can evaluate what types of MCSI are a better fit for their business.\nOriginality/value: - This study provides a better understanding of MCSI, which helps service providers to properly allocate their limited resources. In addition, this study clarifies the degree to which the values of customer involvement in NSD contribute to MCSI.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The timeline of self-efficacy: changes during the professional life cycle of school principals	[ "Principals", "Perception", "Work experience", "Facet Theory", "Self-efficiency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTheoretical framework: Self-efficacy is defined as people's judgment regarding their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to complete designated tasks (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). It is also defined as a people's belief in their ability to succeed in a particular situation. These beliefs determine how people think, behave, and feel. A vast number of studies have shown that self-efficacy influences people's performance, persistence, and motivation when carrying out tasks (Bandura 1977, 1997, 2006).\nProfessional self-efficacy and principal self-efficacy: The self-efficacy concept has been applied in organizational psychology, termed \"professional self-efficacy,\" and defined as the belief in one's ability to control events and behaviors affecting professional activities and life (Cherniss, 1993). The literature mentions two aspects of the term: self-efficacy of the profession and self-efficacy of the professional (Guskey and Passaro, 1994). Self-efficacy of the profession refers to the beliefs pertinent to the specific professional group, specifically, that the profession can influence others. Thus, for example, educators believe that education or teaching can influence students. Self-efficacy of the professional refers to the belief that one can successfully perform the tasks of one's profession. Thus, individual teachers perceive themselves as \"good professionals\" when they believe in their individual ability to make a difference and influence their students' future. Both aspects together comprise the notion of professional self-efficacy (Guskey and Passaro, 1994). Professional self-efficacy has to do with the complexity of the profession (Stajkovic and Luthans, 1998). Therefore, it is necessary to define self-efficacy for specific occupations or for groups or clusters of occupations that share a common denominator (Gist, 1987). Thus, Cherniss (1993) was among the first researchers to define professional self-efficacy for occupations that involve attending to and caring for others, e.g., teachers, social workers, and psychologists. He referred to three domains: assignment, relationship, and organization.\nConditional control (freedom of action): Conditional control is defined as the principal's perceived freedom of action, the freedom to perform managerial, organizational, or personal tasks, which are conditioned by environmental, external, and even hidden factors. It can be measured on a three-level scale, with each level also representing the task complexity. The scale is cumulative, meaning that every task at the third level (3) contains tasks from the first (1) and second level (2), and every task in the second level contains tasks from the first level. The first level tasks stand alone. This cumulative structure also demonstrates a hierarchic structure, since level (3) is higher than (2), and both are higher than (1). The three levels of control are as follows:\nThe present study: Previous studies have shown that the principals' preservice studies and the school that they lead are predictors of professional self-efficacy (Brama and Friedman, 2007; Friedman and Brama, 2010). Thus, it seems that very few studies have considered the relationship between principal self-efficacy and work experience (Dembo and Gibson, 1985; Imants and De Brabander, 1996). The results of the few studies that have been done are contradictory. Dembo and Gibson (1985) found that perceived principal self-efficacy levels increased with experience, while Imants and De Brabander (1996) did not find an overall increase in perceived self-efficacy of principals related to experience. Both of these studies were conducted more than two decades ago.\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: PSES scale\nDiscussion: The results of this study are a persuasive demonstration of the theoretical and practical relevance of our conceptualization of the efficacy construct. Empirical evidence shows clearly that PSES is a two-layer conception. It is indeed important to underscore the unique contribution of Facet Theory, which provided the evidence in support of the two-layer theoretical conception.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The first purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between principal self-efficacy and work experience. The second purpose of this paper is to re-study the structure of a multidimensional and hierarchical Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES).\nDesign/methodology/approach: PSES was measured using the Brama-Friedman scale (PSES) (Brama and Friedman, 2007). During the 2010 school year, 123 principals participated. Exploration of PSES was based on Facet Theory (Guttman, 1959).\nFindings: The findings show that the highest levels of the PSES were found with principals that were at their first year of leading the school. The levels of PSES drop significantly during the second year and up to the fifth year of work experience. The levels of PSES start to rise after the fifth year, and stabilize after ten years. Furthermore, the findings show that PSES is comprised of organizational leadership, educational, and pedagogical leadership and external and communal relations.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample was relatively small and mostly from the center school district of Israel. The second limitation was that the sample included only Jewish principals. Since 20 percent of the population in Israel is Arabs, further studies should include all minorities in order to enlighten the issue.\nPractical implications: Understanding the relations between PSES levels and work experience could assist policy makers with decisions concerning continuing professional development (in-service training) of principals.\nOriginality/value: Little is known about the relations between perceived self-efficacy of principals and their work experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
High-commitment organization and employees' job performance: The roles of the strength of the HRM system and taking charge	[ "Job performance", "Taking charge", "High-commitment organization", "Mediated moderation model", "Strength of the HRM system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past two decades, scholars have been increasingly interested in organizations that aim at eliciting employees' commitment to the organization (Baron and Kreps, 1999; Pfeffer and Jeffrey, 1997; Tsui et al., 1997; Wang et al., 2003; Xiao and Tsui, 2007). Prior studies mostly concentrated on high-commitment employment relationships, high-commitment organizations, a high-commitment culture and high-commitment human resource management (HRM) systems (Angelis et al., 2011; Chiang et al., 2011; Tsui et al., 1997; Wang et al., 2003; Xiao and Tsui, 2007). Xiao and Tsui (2007) found that organizations differ in the degree of commitment they offer to and expect from their employees. They also posit that a high-commitment organization could provide a great amount of trust between the employer and subordinates and operate more like a clan, with strong norms of cooperation (Xiao and Tsui, 2007).\n2. Theory and hypothesis: 2.1 Perceived high-commitment organization, perceived strength of the HRM system and taking charge behavior\n3. Methods: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Discussion: Building on COR theory, we explore a mediated moderation model to examine the interactive effect between the perceived high-commitment organization and the perceived strength of the HRM system on job performance through taking charge behaviors. As hypothesized, our mediated moderation model was supported. The standard estimates are shown in Figure 3. These results provide new insights into the COR theory, in which both the content and the process of HRM system were integrated, and enterprises and individuals could benefit each other through taking charge when they perceive a high-commitment organization and the high strength of the HRM system.\n5. Conclusions: This study is a step in the direction toward understanding the complex set of mechanisms by which integrate the perceived high-commitment organization, taking charge behavior and job performance with varying levels of the perceived strength of the HRM system. Building on COR theory, we explore how and when employees' job performance can be enhanced from the perception view. We found that a perceived high-commitment organization and the perceived strength of the HRM system interact in predicting employees' taking charge behavior such that a perceived high-commitment organization is more positively associated with taking charge when the perceived strength of the HRM system is high rather than low. In addition, taking charge mediated the moderation effect of the perceived strength of the HRM system, and, in turn, this enhances employees' job performance. These results will broaden our explanatory frameworks on the effects of high-commitment organizations on job performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the mechanisms by which high-commitment organization is associated with employees' job performance through the perspective of taking charge and the perceived strength of the human resource management (HRM) system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors used two-wave survey data from 200 supervisor-subordinates pairs in China. This study uses hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping method to analyze the mediated moderation effect.\nFindings: The authors found that perceived high-commitment organization and perceived strength of the HRM system interact in predicting employees' taking charge behavior, such that perceived high-commitment organization is more positively associated with taking charge when the perceived strength of the HRM system is high rather than low. In addition, taking charge mediates the relationship between interactive effects of perceived high-commitment organization and the perceived strength of the HRM system on employees' job performance.\nOriginality/value: This study extended the high-commitment organization from the perspective of individual perception based on the COR theory and regard perceived high-commitment organization as an organizational resource.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An assessment of innovativeness in KIBS: implications on KIBS' co-creation culture, innovation capability, and performance	[ "Spain", "Organizational performance", "Organizational innovation", "Knowledge-intensive business services", "Innovativeness", "Co-creation", "Front-line employees", "Innovation rates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: During the last three decades, the service sector has steadily become a key component in the growth and competitiveness of developed countries (Javalgi et al., 2011). In the European Union (EU), service companies account for approximately two-thirds of employment and GDP (EU Commission, 2007), and in all developed markets the service sector growth is also reinforced by product-related services, which represent an important source of differentiation and added value for manufacturers (Boyt and Harvey, 1997; Frambach et al., 1997; Liu, 2006). As a result, future economic development is intimately linked with the success of the service economy.\n2. Innovativeness and new service co-creation culture: According to Webster (1990), the organizational culture represents the set of values and beliefs guiding the behaviour of an organization. Getting all employees to adhere to this culture is an objective in itself as it makes it possible to standardize the way that business challenges are felt, analyzed, and responded to (Schein, 1985).\n3. Involving customers in developing new services: Involving the customer in service innovation refers to the way in which companies work with (current and/or potential) customers during the various stages of the development process (Alam, 2002, 2005). This factor is essential to ensuring that the service meets the requirements of customers, who play an active role in the production and consumption of the service, and it constitutes the only market-related aspect which can be effectively controlled by the company.\n4. Involving employees in developing new services: In service organizations, front-line employees constitute an essential source of information for guiding the development of service innovations and play a key role in the outcome and the effective implementation of those innovations.\n5. KIBS innovation capability and performance: KIBS provide services which are highly integrated into the innovation system, as they combine the development of their own knowledge with that of their customers, and this creates considerable positive externalities and the possibility of accelerating the intensification of knowledge throughout the economy (Wong and He, 2005). KIBS may perform different roles in the innovation process which they provide for their customers (Hauknes, 1998):\n6. Methodology: 6.1 Sample description and data collection procedures\n7. Results: The results were analyzed following a two-step procedure. First, we examined the psychometric properties (reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity) of the scales following methodological recommendations given by Churchill (1979) and Anderson and Gerbing (1988). And second, we tested the hypotheses of the conceptual model by means of a structural equation system.\n8. Discussion and conclusions: 8.1 Research implications\n9. Limitations and recommendations for future research lines: The empirical results of this study should be assessed bearing in mind the limitations that are usually associated with survey research. First, we employed cross-sectional data, which makes it difficult for us to determine with certainty if it is possible that the causal relationships identified might vary or even significantly change with the passage of time. A longitudinal study would overcome this limitation and make the results even more robust. Second, the measurements were based on the subjective perceptions of a single respondent in each firm, which is a potential source of common method bias. Ideally, data should be collected from several sources within each firm to avoid this problem although the response rates may also be reduced (Kim and Cavusgil, 2009). Similarly, collecting data in different moments of time might constitute another feasible means to diminish common method bias, though this alternative also suffers from potential contamination effects and demands more resources to be implemented (Podsakoff et al., 2003). However, common method bias is more probable when constructs involve strong feelings -such as attitudes-; in the case of variables related to business culture and performance, such as those used in this study, it is less likely to occur. Also, if self-report bias is a problem it may often lead to weaker model fit (Joshi, 2010). In this research, the models analyzed fit well and common method variance was not a problem, indicating in this sense that the factorial structure is well supported by the data. Additionally, and supporting our analytical perspective, there are some studies that refer the existence of a significant correlation between the measurements of a same construct obtained simultaneously from different informants (Homburg et al., 2002). A further limitation derives from the use of subjective measurements of financial results; however, this is common practice in research given the resistance of companies to providing quantitative data on sales, market share and profits. Finally, the sampled companies were limited to KIBS located in the North of Spain, so that the results of the research should be confirmed at a wider scale.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between innovative culture, innovation efforts, and their performance among knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Innovation intensity is evaluated in the technical and administrative domains. Performance indicators include customer-related outcomes and market and financial results relative to competition. To provide insight into how innovativeness contributes to sustaining a KIBS' competitiveness, the mediating role of its predisposition to involve customers and front-line employees in new service development is also considered.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In accordance with the objectives of the research, and from an extensive review of the literature, the authors develop a conceptual model and test it on a sample of 154 Spanish KIBS using structural equation modelling.\nFindings: The results show that KIBS' appraisal of customers' and front-line employees' participation in new service co-creation is strongly determined by the firm's innovative culture. Organizations with a greater predisposition to new service co-creation achieve higher innovation rates which lead to sustained performance.\nOriginality/value: As dynamism of the KIBS sector has an impact on the whole economy it is also necessary to understand the most advisable management practices in KIBS to foster innovation and improved performance, although relatively few studies have approached this issue. The importance of customers and front-line employees as co-creators in new service development (NSD) is generally appreciated, although the literature is not conclusive with respect to the feasibility of co-creation and its influence on a firm's performance. The present research introduces an organizational perspective to approach co-creation by analyzing how various organizational cultural types (innovativeness, and the appraisal of front-line employees and customers as co-creators in NSD) interact and contribute to KIBS' competitiveness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Drug dispensing and information giving in Belo Horizonte, Brazil	[ "Patients", "Public health", "Human resource management", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Drug dispensing consists of providing - with information giving - one or more medications after a prescription is presented (Al-Shaqha and Zairi, 2001; Brazil Ministerio da Saude, 2001). Dispensing has a fundamental place in pharmaceutical activities and it is the last step when assisting health service users (Yokaichiya et al., 2007). Dispensing errors and inappropriate medication use issues are well known; as a whole they remain a challenge in health systems management. These issues include factors such as short and excessive consultations, medical prescription inadequacies, worker dissatisfaction and difficulties understanding therapeutic procedures (Al-Shaqha and Zairi, 2001; Bond and Raehl, 2001; Francois et al., 2001; Laing et al., 2001; Naves and Silver, 2005).Organising medical visits and time allocation are generally included in labour management. Health sector managers set a number of procedures per time unit. According to their criteria, productivity, based on formal managerial views, is the criterion for employing workers per health unit (PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), 2006). The therapeutic environment, however, contains its own specificities that differ from the industry logic underlining a productivity-based management model (Zarifian, 1999). Furthermore, health-related work products can be consumed while being undertaken; that is, work product and process are inseparable in this context. This synthesis, the product and process that lead to it, differentiate healthcare from other work settings (Pires, 2000). It is hard to measure, quantify and to anticipate healthcare-associated work processes and products, as opposed to industrial processes. Healthcare activities are complex and are directly affected by worker experiences. Healthcare staff deal with wide ranging variables, and constantly face situations, which demand decisions. Healthcare has different priorities or implied values and some are poorly evaluated, such as pain relief or achieving wellness (Ramminger and Brito, 2008).In drug dispensing, what is expected from workers? To dispense drugs and to answer users' questions, or being sure that the user has understood the need to take medication after a meal and that he or she will not become confused when facing so many pill boxes similar in colour and shape?Although human resources is an essential healthcare system role, which has been recognized in current reforms worldwide, certain challenges remain in health policy-making, such as adapting management strategies to healthcare reality (Fritzen, 2007; PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), 2006). Faced with this reality, our purposes were to: examine drug dispensing; identify activity variations; and recommend ways to improve patient services. We focused on drug dispensing duration and content (with or without information giving) in one healthcare unit, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil.\nMaterial and methods: Data gathering\nResults: During observation, 191 dispensing sessions took place (see Figure 2):* 30.4 percent (58) on Monday;* 27.2 percent (52) on Tuesday;* 26.7 percent (51) on Wednesday, and* 15.7 percent (30) on Thursday.We recorded 105 assistance sessions, of which:* 32.4 percent (34) were on Monday;* 26.7 percent (28) on Tuesday;* 21.9 percent (23) on Wednesday; and* 19 percent (20) on Thursday.Figure 2 shows that dispensing sessions decrease as the week progresses. Table I indicates how variables are distributed during weekdays. There were 243 drug prescriptions for 105 patients, a mean 2.31 items per user. Up to two drugs were requested in 59 percent (62) of the pharmacological assistance sessions and three or more drugs were requested in 41 percent (43). Drugs included 50 percent (53) for acute conditions; 38 percent (40) for controlled and chronic use; 11 percent (11) for more than one type of drug simultaneously; and in 1 percent, drug type was not specified. Among those requested exclusively for acute conditions (53), 53 percent (28) were drugs given for general medical or gynaecological conditions, and 47 percent (25) were paediatric drugs. In the case of controlled and chronic use drugs (40), 55 percent (22) were for mental health conditions, 23 percent (nine) were family planning or hormone replacement therapy, 20 percent (eight) were anti-hypertensives and 2 percent (one) were anti-tuberculosis. Drug dispensing revealed that all drugs were dispensed in 62 percent (65) assistance sessions; partially in 26 percent (27) and no drugs were dispensed in 12 percent (13) of cases. When partial or absent dispensing occurred during pharmaceutical assistance, 31 (24) were because the drugs were out of stock or not on the national health system prescribed list (seven).Factors related to information giving\nDiscussion: Polymedication may be harmful, so the mean drugs prescribed in each consultation is one measurement for monitoring pharmaceutical assistance (Farias et al., 2007; PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), 1995; World Health Organization (WHO), 1999). Among our sample, mean drugs per dispensing session was 2.31, which is similar to other results in the Brazilian literature (range=1.5 to 2.3 drugs per patient), (Farias et al., 2007; Naves and Silver, 2005; Santos and Nitrini, 2004). An association between drugs number, dispensing duration and information giving was expected, as dispensing is related to drugs and their use. The same reasoning may be applied to the lack of dispensing, since information giving may be felt unnecessary when drugs are not dispensed.Drugs availability is also used as a service quality indicator. The percentage of essential drugs in a given health unit (World Health Organization (WHO), 1999) and the proportion effectively dispensed relative to requests (PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), 1995) are relevant measures. In our study, full dispensing was observed in 62 percent (65) assistance sessions. Naves and Silver (2005) found similar results; in their sample, prescribed drugs dispensing reached 61.2 percent. Undoubtedly, drug availability is an important effectiveness and equity indicator (Naves and Silver, 2005). It is, however, reasonable to ponder other pharmaceutical assistance aspects such as appropriate prescriptions, drug use and treatment compliance. If used incorrectly then drugs may lose their therapeutic value, waste money and harm patients (Alves, 2003; Dowse and Ehlers, 2005; Hepler and Grainger-Rousseau, 1995; Homedes and Ugalde, 2001; Laing, 1990). Clarification and information that users receive when requesting their medication are welcome (Chen and Britten, 2000; Homedes and Ugalde, 2001; Laing, 1990; Mansoor and Dowse, 2006). Lack of information giving, however, is not uncommon in medical consultations or dispensing (Chen and Britten, 2000; Silva et al., 2000). Alves (2003) reported that little information is provided to users during dispensing; in most cases it is restricted to reading and repeating what physicians write.Information giving occurred in 43 percent of dispensing events and the proportion of DAIG increased as the week progressed. Monday was the day when most drugs were dispensed along with less information. In other words, increased number of dispensing sessions was related to less information giving. Waitzkin (1984) said that information giving during medical consultations depends on patient numbers. Busier physicians give less information and physicians attending 20 or more patients a day provide less information and explanations. Similarly, more dispensing sessions may reduce explanations, since workers control pressure by shortening assistance time. Arrais et al. (2007) found that more dispensing with information giving occurred in the private compared to public health sectors. They suggest that higher demands for public health services explained this result. In the same way, Araujo et al.(2005) found that workers dedicate more time to managerial tasks at the cost of assisting patients when faced with increased users. It may be assumed, therefore, that part of the dispensing time for longer cases is dedicated to administrative tasks related to controlled and chronic use medications and not information giving. Less information might, however, result in dispensing errors. Bond and Raehl (2001) studied North American pharmacists and found a positive relationship between prescriptions per hour and dispensing errors. Explaining prescriptions to users has been found to reduce errors because professionals have more time to spot errors while providing information.We studied associations between DAIG and DT since providing information to patients requires time. Naves and Silver (2005) found that the drug dispensing lasted 53.9 seconds and the medical consultation mean duration was 9.42 minutes. Santos and Nitrini (2004) found even shorter periods; dispensing lasting only 18.4 seconds. The mean assistance duration in our study was 156 seconds, which did not reflect external factors such as medical specialist. Shorter assistance duration occurred on Monday, a day when more people attended and longer dispensing times occurred when controlled and chronic use drugs or more than one type of drug were dispensed. Contrary to Waitzkin (1985), we found no relation between drug type and information giving. There was a relationship between gynaecologist presence, less information giving and shorter assistance time. Pharmacy attendants may have believed, therefore, that relevant information had been given in the physicians' office. It is also possible that gynaecological consultation information requires more privacy than provided to users queuing at the pharmacy window. Finally, this may have been coincidental since the gynaecologist is present on the day when dispensing demand is highest. Interactions among healthcare professionals may foster adhesion, quality and safety in medication use (ABDA, 2000; Schmidt and Svarstad, 2002; Yokaichiya et al., 2007). Although recognized, there have been reports about adverse effects caused by poor communication and cooperation among team members (Homedes and Ugalde, 2001; Laing et al., 2001; Schmidt and Svarstad, 2002). Ayala and Oliveira (2007) criticized health management styles that did not focus on teamwork. They suggest that healthcare originates from complex processes that surpass individual knowledge and action. Besides collective practices, various factors affect dispensing, such as job satisfaction; drugs with similar names; drug indications; readable prescriptions; workplace; and worker knowledge about what should be said and how information is provided (Alves, 2003; Bond and Raehl, 2001; Hoffman and Proulx, 2003; Lambert et al., 2001). Information giving is related to physician and patient characteristics (Waitzkin, 1984). The literature mentions communication difficulties that users face, especially patients with little formal education (Akici et al., 2004; Dowse and Ehlers, 2005; Kripalani et al., 2007; Mansoor and Dowse, 2006; Naves and Silver, 2005; Schwartzberg et al., 2007; Wolf et al., 2007). Visual aids adapted to local cultures have been suggested to overcome these issues (Dowse and Ehlers, 2005; Homedes and Ugalde, 2001; Kripalani et al., 2007; Mansoor and Dowse, 2006; Schwartzberg et al., 2007).\nConclusions and recommendations: Our results reveal that dispensing is more than merely exchanging drugs for a prescription; multiple factors affect the interaction. Information giving and its duration depend on workload, which are beyond worker control. Increased dispensing demand at the beginning of the week, therefore, underlines the need for planning to respond to the higher demand on these days. Our results did not clarify issues such as increased assistance when controlled and chronic use drugs are dispensed and the lower information giving for gynaecological prescriptions, etc. Additional qualitative and quantitative studies, therefore, may deepen our understanding about communication between physicians, pharmacy assistants and users. Seasonal variations in the demand for pharmacy assistance were not investigated. Furthermore, sample size precluded multivariate analyses and more accurate assessments of association among variables. Nevertheless, we expect our results: help workers face challenges; and support workforce planning. Pharmacy staff might gain quality and efficiency if two aspects, derived from out data, are taken into account: fluctuating workload; and external conditions within which tasks are undertaken.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine drug dispensing and associated activity in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The paper aims to describe factors associated with patient information giving and dispensing time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A specific protocol for recording data gathered from observations included: number of dispensing sessions; medical specialties active at the time; medication number and type; dispensing outcome; if information giving was observed and dispensing time. Information giving and time were considered response variables. The chi-square test and odds-ratios were used to verify associations between response and explanatory variables.\nFindings: - In 43 percent (45) consultations, information giving accompanied dispensing and was associated with number of dispensing sessions and medical specialty offered on a particular day. Assistance time was associated with drug type and number, which increased as dispensing sessions decreased.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Seasonal variations in the demand for pharmacy assistance were not investigated and sample size precluded multivariate analyses. Consequently, new studies may deepen understanding about communication between physicians, pharmacy assistants and users.\nPractical implications: - Pharmacy staff could improve quality and efficiency if two aspects were taken into account: fluctuating workload, and external conditions within which tasks are undertaken.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies external conditions that interfere with drug dispensing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring task-service fit and usefulness on branded applications continuance	[ "Continuance intention", "Service-dominant logic", "Branded applications", "Goods-dominant logic", "Psychological barriers", "Task-service fit" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The proliferation of mobile devices (e.g. smartphones) has created a new marketing trend that aims to capture on-the-go consumers (Kim et al., 2013) and touted branded applications (apps). Branded apps are software applications designed for a smartphone operating system, expanding the phone's capabilities by allowing users to perform mobile-commerce tasks, such as searching and buying products, locating local businesses, paying bills, browsing menus and reading reviews of local restaurants (Kim et al., 2013). According to a survey report by comScore, as of April 2016, consumers are steadily downloading more mobile branded apps compared to six months previous[1]. As eMarketer predicts, US m-commerce sales, partially taking advantage of the new trend of shopping apps, will reach $123.13bn in 2016, a 39.1 per cent increase from 2015, and more than double the amount in 20141. The rise of mobile apps has thus inspired a \"gold rush\", wherein numerous brands are racing to invest in mobile marketing apps (i.e. branded apps) that provide more interactive and value-added services. For marketers, app marketing capabilities are no longer nice-to-haves but \"musts\" if they want a brand to remain competitive. Despite their promising future, branded apps would be of no value unless customers indeed adopted and shopped through them. The natural questions then are: How can app continuance be promoted among mobile app users? And specifically, how can purchase intention be promoted among app users as they continue to use branded apps? Such issues have recently begun to receive managerial and academic attention.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Goods-dominant logic and service-dominant logic in the context of branded apps\n3. Research model and hypotheses: Response to Lusch and Nambisan's (2015) call for a combined focus on value-in-exchange (GDL) and value-in-use (SDL) to advance digitally enabled services, this study integrates the GDL and SDL to devise a research model for understanding continuance in the context of branded apps (Figure 1). Our resulting model incorporates two components to approach branded app continuance (i.e. purchase intention and continuance intention). The first part of the model is grounded in SDL (task characteristic and four service characteristics - TSF - continuance), and the second part is grounded in traditional GDL (two informational service characteristics - perceived usefulness - continuance)[3]. The construct of psychological barriers is a mediator between TSF and purchase intention in the SDL part because psychological barriers may be a factor inhibiting customers from purchasing via apps. The remainder of this section describes the constructs and hypotheses presented in the SDL part of the model in greater detail.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Measure development\n5. Discussion and implications: This study addresses the essential but unexplored question of whether TSF and psychological barriers, in addition to perceived usefulness, adds value as a construct of interest to the field of branded apps. Concerning traditional wisdom around technology continuance, our results are of great importance because the majority of research in technology continuance has applied GDL to examine such matters (e.g. focusing on usefulness, its functional determinants, and technology components) (Choi et al., 2014; Zhou, 2015). Against this backdrop, we developed and tested a theoretical model that incorporates SDL and GDL to approach branded app continuance and gain a better understanding of such issues. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of digitally enabled services (Rai and Sambamurthy, 2006) and the transformative role of mobile apps in designing, developing and delivering service (Wang, 2015), neglecting SDL and related factors seems to be an omission in the case of branded app continuance. This study further echoes Vargo and Lusch's (2014b) call for moving beyond the focus on traditional GDL alone by offering a broadened view of branded apps that transcends the tangible - intangible divide and reflects shifts to experience-oriented, customer-centric and network-centric service foci (Lusch and Nambisan, 2015). Accordingly, our investigation takes a preliminary step in this direction by using SDL to complement GDL in approaching app continuance. Each of the findings is noteworthy for further discussion, along with their theoretical implications and some directions for further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Providing that branded applications (apps) became a new trend in mobile marketing, the purpose of this study, thus, is to explore how to promote app users' continuance intention and purchase intention (i.e. \"app continuance\") toward a specific branded app.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By integrating both goods-dominant logic (GDL) and service-dominant logic (SDL), this study uses a unifying model to examine whether perceived usefulness and task-service fit (TSF) have different effects on the two parts of app continuance. This study identifies task characteristic and four service characteristics (interactivity, presence, localization and ubiquity) as antecedents of TSF. Furthermore, psychological barriers are examined as mediators of TSF and purchase intention within SDL. Data collected from 631 users of the targeted branded apps support all of the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: The findings show that besides perceived usefulness, TSF is an essential determinant of both app continuance in the context of branded apps and a partial mediator of psychological barriers between TSF and purchase intention.\nOriginality/value: Unlike prior studies, which have focused on traditional GDL to examine continuance intention, this study incorporates SDL and the notion of psychological barriers to explore such matters. The evidence concerning the significantly higher explanatory power of the full model suggests that a deeper understanding of the antecedents of app continuance is possible when the alternative view is taken into consideration, thus providing a promising avenue for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Challenges and benefits of student sustainability research projects in view of education for sustainability	[ "Course “Science and Sustainability”", "Education for sustainability", "Impact on students", "Impact on campus", "Improving impact" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The University of Leuven (KU Leuven) was late to adopt sustainability in its official institutional policy. The research center \"Leuven Sustainable Earth\" (LSUE) was launched in June 2009 (LSUE, 2018), and since 2014, a sustainability vice-rector is appointed for each rector term of four years. Only since 2014 can sustainability issues be raised systematically in relation to infrastructure, research, education and outreach activities. It appears that infrastructure and (multi-)disciplinary research activities in relation to sustainability could quickly find effective ways to move forward, as evidenced in progress reports (Malfliet, 2014; Sels, 2018). It needs to be recognized, however, that they are directed to the exact scientific and technological domain only, which fits into the current paradigm of \"green growth\" economics (Bowen, 2012). Education and outreach activities, as well as biomedical and human sciences' involvement, have been (and still are) far harder to attain. Nevertheless, educating students on, and also for, sustainability is considered a key ingredient for sustainable campus development, not the least because they are the largest group on campus. In addition, as many people graduating at universities later take on positions where they can co-create society, this education will also contribute to long-term off-campus sustainability.\n2. General course description: The course \"Science and Sustainability\" aims at providing master students in the natural sciences, education for sustainability action. Students should thus understand the terms sustainability and sustainable development, as well as certain measures that can be taken in the domain of science to stimulate sustainability, and the impact these (may) have. They should gain experience in the three stages of analyzing, and attempted problem solving and implementation, and should recognize the importance of systems thinking and transdisciplinary collaboration in this context. They have to dare to take a position in the debate on themes related to sustainability and sustainable development, and dare to take responsibility and action in this context (Ceulemans and Severijns, 2019). Finally, students should understand certain didactical principles that can be used in the context of education for sustainable development and be able to implement these.\n3. Changes made in the second course run: In an attempt to better mediate the process of the students to learn how to reason about the broader sustainability issues, in the second year more guest lectures on topics outside exact sciences were offered (i.e. on architecture, international politics, judicial aspects, media, social sciences), while students were also guided more closely. The latter was done by early assignments and by keeping the themes of the projects closer to home, within the expertise domain of the project leaders. Projects were also only guided by staff members that were rather closely involved in the overall setup of the course. Further, dedicated sessions were organized to better initiate students in systems thinking and stakeholder mapping. In the projects, they were asked to target a specific case within the broader topic and get in touch with one or more stakeholders.\n4. Course evaluation: 4.1 Origin and content of the questionnaire\n5. Discussion: As indicated in Section 4, to pragmatically monitor the course impact on the students' mind set about sustainability, several tools, including dedicated questionnaires, were put in place. Due to the low number of course participants, an attempted quantitative interpretation leads to results with low statistical significance. In addition, based on information from the questionnaire with open questions discussed in Section 4.5, the standard regarding sustainability knowledge, competence and attitude that the students start from is shown to be individually different and is most likely also changing as the course progresses, and this to a different extent depending on the individual student. However, from the data, an important qualitative interpretation can be made that allows an improvement of the course setup, as well as an optimization of the impact monitoring protocol. The latter will remain pragmatic, however, to retain sufficient time for in-depth course development.\n6. Conclusion and outlook: This paper described the background and contents of an elective course on sustainability directed at master students in the natural sciences and mathematics. It also reported on the results from the monitoring of the course impact on the students' mind set about sustainability. Based on the experience gained from the monitoring, the content of the course was extended and optimized, so as to further increase the course impact. As to the Likert scale questionnaire, the questions were reformulated so that they are now more closely related to the course framework and goals. Additional questions were added as well, so as to cover more evenly the four categories, i.e. sustainability-related knowledge, attitude and competence, as well as system thinking capability (see Table II). The monitoring has also shown that a combination of both quantitative and qualitative interpretation of results is necessary for improving the course setup. Therefore, a number of open questions were added, and in the future, setup interviews with selected students will be conducted in order to get a more detailed understanding of their position with respect to certain specific items or on the amount of progress they make throughout the course.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the educational benefits and challenges of introducing natural science students to on-campus and off-campus sustainability research projects as an approach to education for sustainability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The course \"Science and Sustainability\" at the University of Leuven is a stand-alone course that aims at providing master students in the natural sciences, education for (the benefit of) sustainability action. It was launched in 2016-2017 and has been running for two years now. The first year focused on getting students acquire a similar level of knowledge in sustainability, while, on a higher level, the experiential learning phase (project work) was supported with specific reflection assignments. In the second year, more specific attention was directed toward allowing students to get acquainted with systems thinking and deal with inter- and transdisciplinary issues by approaching problems from a multi-stakeholder view. Insight in the impact and the appreciation of the setup of the course was obtained from a series of questionnaires offered to all participating students at the beginning, about midway, and again at the end of the course.\nFindings: Analysis of the students' self-reported sustainability competence development shows a clear positive impact for almost all students who participated. A clear relation between the observed change and the students' self-rating and attitude at the start, as well as with their discipline, is observed.\nOriginality/value: Information is gained on a number of factors of importance to impact the students' attitude toward action for sustainability, and how this can be further improved.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.