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Methadone prescribing in the general hospital	[ "Drug addiction", "Medical prescriptions", "Hospitals", "Clinical governance", "Working practices" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Opiate misuse is associated with higher morbidity and mortality rates than the general population (The State of the Drugs Problem in Europe, 2006). A long-term follow-up study of patients with heroin addiction showed they had a mortality risk nearly 12 times greater than the general population (Oppenheimer et al., 1994). The UK has one of the highest rates of problematic drug use in Europe (The sate of the drugs problem in the European Union and Norway, 2004) at 9.35 per thousand of the population aged 15 to 64 years, among which, the majority were heroin users (United Kingdom New Developments, Trends and In-Depth Information on Selected Issues, 2004). Ghodse et al. (1986) found 1.8 percent prevalence of drug-related problems in the emergency department of a London hospital. A prospective prevalence study of all patient attendances to an inner-city emergency department found 6.9 percent were directly or indirectly related to illegal drug use and hospital admission was required in nearly half of these (Binks et al., 2005). A further prevalence study of acute medical admissions over two years to a London hospital found 1.8 percent were polydrug users, 3.8 percent were currently using illicit drugs and about one fourth of them were intravenous heroin users (Canning et al., 1999).The management of opiate misusing patients admitted to the general hospital can be complicated by opiate withdrawal and intoxication, poor adherence to treatment and continued use of illicit drugs whilst an in-patient. This can severely compromize the treatment of the physical complaints and sometimes result in early discharge by the team or self-discharge. A retrospective study on admissions to a general hospital in Glasgow found that 36 percent of patients with drug addiction discharged against medical advice and the length of admission was one day or less for 41 percent (Horn et al., 1987). A qualitative study carried out in a general hospital in Bristol found that 83 percent of ward managers interviewed described negative behaviour among this patient group (Sinclair et al., 2003). Improving the management for illicit drug use can optimize the treatment of their presenting physical complaints. The 2007 publication Drug Use and Dependence - Guidelines on Clinical Management, recommended that the objective of drug treatment in hospital should be to stabilize drug misuse as rapidly as possible in order that the patient can have the appropriate treatment for drug-related and non-drug related medical conditions. Furthermore, this is a \"window of opportunity\" to put a drug miss-user in touch with other services and to start to consider addressing this issue.Clinical audit is an important tool to evaluate and improve the care of patients. At the time of this study there were no official national guidelines on how to assess and manage this group of patients in a general hospital setting. Therefore, local standards and a guideline were developed. A complete cycle of audit was carried out to evaluate the clinical practice on management of opiate dependence for in-patients of a local general hospital based on the standards before and after the implementation of the guideline.\nMethods: Local standards on the management of opiate dependence for in-patients were developed based on the basic guidelines stated in the Department of Health 1999 publication Drug Misuse and Dependence: Guidelines on Clinical Management (1999). This includes confirmation of drug taking through a detailed drug history, urine drug screen, physical examination, assessment of physical health problems, appropriate management on the ward and follow up plans. An audit form was devized based on these standards. This audit was carried out in a teaching general hospital that covers both city and rural populations and over two separate one-year periods.The first cycle of audit was carried out during the period of July 2000 to June 2001. The \"Controlled Drugs\" book kept on each ward identified in-patients that had been administered methadone. The following wards were excluded: psychiatric and maternity as they already had a liaison service and protocol; A&E as the study included only patients which had been admitted; paediatrics and care of the elderly as the methadone prescriptions were likely to be very small; and oncology where it is likely that patients would be prescribed methadone for symptom relief of pain or cough rather than opiate dependence. The case notes of each of the patients identified were reviewed and audited using the audit form. For patients with more than one admission one form was completed per admission.A local guideline with a flow chart on managing opiate dependence for hospital in-patients in general hospital was developed and agreed by a local steering group and the clinical governance department of the general hospital. This was implemented in May 2004. The second audit cycle was repeated from November 2004 to October 2005 with the same method as the first one.The results were analyzed using SPSS 9.0. Categorical data was analyzed by chi-squared tests and Fishers Exact tests (FE test) where appropriate. Continuous data was analyzed by Mann Whitney U Tests. In order to compensate for the possibility of false positive results due to multiple testing, we set the level of statistical significance at 0.01. The local research ethics committee approved this study. The following list shows the standards for management of opiate dependence of in-patients in general hospital:1. Confirmation of drug taking:* detail of opiate use (types, amount, frequency);* opiate withdrawal symptoms (history and physical examination);* use of other substances especially alcohol and benzodiazepines;* physical examination of injection sites;* urine drug screening; and* confirmation of prescription.2. Relevant medical history:* history of viral infection (HBV, HCV, HIV and HBV vaccination).3. In-patient management:* appropriate methadone prescription; and* referral to the specialist liaison service.4. Follow-up management:* appropriate methadone prescription upon discharge;* referral to Addiction Service upon discharge; and* communication with GP.\nFindings: In the first cycle, 51 patients were identified with 84 admissions and the average age was 36. In the second cycle, 62 patients were identified with 86 admissions and the average age was 37. In both cycles, 75 percent were male. The rates of emergency admission accounted for just over three-quarters in both cycles (76.2 percent cycle one and 77.9 percent cycle two). The total number of nights as an inpatient was statistically higher in the second cycle, increasing from 3 to 5 nights (Mann-Whitney Z=2.61; p=0.009). There was no difference between the proportions of patients recorded as already on a methadone prescription when admitted (70.2 percent cycle one and 65.1 percent cycle two, kh22=0.53, p=0.77).Documentation of history, symptoms and physical examination\nDiscussion: This audit did not demonstrate any significant improvements in the frequency of documentation of relevant history and physical examinations necessary to confirm opiate dependence. Of most concern are the significant decreases in documented history for opiate withdrawal symptoms and alcohol intake. Furthermore, the persistent lack of urine drug screens to confirm the presence of opiates or methadone before prescribing is a significant clinical risk, Drug Misuse and Dependence -- Guidelines on Clinical Management (2007) advises that prescribing methadone to those not tolerant can be fatal in doses as low as 20 mg.There was consistently good practice of not routinely prescribing methadone as take-home medication on discharge, as our guidelines suggested that this responsibility should be handed back to the original prescriber, or referred on to specialist services if methadone was commenced whilst in hospital.There was a clear improvement on the follow up planning. In cycle one, less than half of the patients were referred to specialist services or their GP notified about the opiate dependence. Therefore, there may not have been continuity of prescribing for opiate dependence. In cycle two, over three quarters of the patients were referred to specialist services on discharge and their GP notified about the opiate addiction. Given that over three-quarters of the admissions were an emergency for both cycles, these improvements in communication and discharge planning between services increases the likelihood of maintaining the patient in treatment for their addiction, and will also optimize the aftercare for their presenting complaint. The significant increase in the duration of stay from three to five nights may reflect improved engagement as an in-patient, especially with the current trend of reducing the length of stay on wards.One of the main limitations of the study is that it only captured patients who were prescribed methadone as an in-patient; it does not include patients with opiate misuse who were not prescribed methadone. During the period of two cycles there was a large increase in the numbers in treatment at addiction services nationally from 118,500 in 2000/2001[1] to 160,450 in 2004/2005[2]. Therefore, one might have expected to see higher numbers of those on a methadone prescription at the point of admission in cycle two, which might have been a confounding factor for the improvement in referral on to specialist addiction services, and notification to the GP. However, this is not the case as the numbers recorded as being on methadone at the point of admission were similar in both cycles.A further limitation of this audit is that it is a retrospective study with information obtained only from the case notes and hence may not reflect the actual practice accurately. Another limitation is that it does not clearly establish the extent of awareness of the new guidelines. No formal training of doctors or nurses was introduced. However, the pharmacists stapled the guidelines to the drug charts if methadone was prescribed. Further research would be needed to know whether any of the changes were due to the introduction of guidelines or due to other changes in policy and practice.The Department of Health publication Drug misuse and dependence 2007 provides general guidance on hospital admission and discharge for patients with drug misuse. It recommends establishment of protocols on how hospitals should respond to drug misusers attending A&E or who are admitted onto wards. This audit showed that there was a significant improvement of the in-patient clinical management and follow up planning for patients with opiate dependence. However, inadequate documentation of the clinical information found in both cycles of the audit requires further action. This should include regular training of doctors and nurses to ensure staff have adequate knowledge of addiction problems, are aware of and understand the guidelines, and realize the importance of good clinical management of this population. Also, this would provide the opportunity to discuss and try to rectify any practical difficulties, such as, lack of awareness or availability of drug screening. It can be difficult to capture all staff, one potential solution would be to consider a change in the admissions procedure and admit all drug misuse patients to one medical and one surgical ward and focus the training on those staff.The guidelines should be made available on the Trust intranet, so that when staff contact the substance misuse team for advice they can be directed on how to access the guideline immediately and use this as the basis of the discussion. When electronic records are being introduced, it should be proposed that if entering words related to opiate misuse it would trigger a dialogue box with the guideline.The specialist substance misuse team and pharmacy department are vital in developing good practice, they are able to check the notes at the time of admission and deal with any improvements needed immediately by raising them with medical team or senior ward nurse.The audit needs be repeated to establish if areas of poor practice have improved and that areas of good practice or improvement have been maintained.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the clinical practice for management of opiate dependence in a general hospital in-patient population based on agreed standards and changes of clinical practice after the introduction of a guideline.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A complete cycle of audit was carried out based on the agreed guideline, which was introduced after the first cycle. Data were obtained, using a standardized audit form, over two one-year periods, by cross-sectional analysis of case notes for patients identified as having been dispensed methadone whilst an in-patient.\nFindings: - There were significant increases in: referral to the specialist service whilst an in-patient (p=0.01); referral to the addiction services on discharge (p<0.001) and providing information about the addiction diagnosis to GP (p<0.001). However, there was no improvement in the documented history and examination related to aspects of addiction, some of which were consistently low. Of most concern were significant decreases in the history documented for opiate withdrawal symptoms and alcohol consumption.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The method used may not reflect actual clinical practice, only captures opiate-dependent patients prescribed methadone and does not establish the extent of awareness of the new guideline.\nPractical implications: - The paper identifies a variation in clinical practice of management of patients with opiate dependence in the general hospital. Though there were some significant improvements, further improvement and continual evaluation are needed.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies the need to study how co-morbid opiate dependence is managed in the acute hospital setting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What do we really mean by "Balanced Scorecard"?	[ "Balanced scorecard", "Strategy map", "Third generation", "Version control" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A citation analysis conducted by Marr and Schiuma (2003), concluded that the balanced scorecard (BSC) seems to be one of the most influential concepts in the field of performance management and measurement (PMM). Downing (2001) also reports on information from the BSC Collaborative, stating that by the middle of 2001, over 50 per cent of surveyed firms worldwide had adopted the concept along with a further 25 per cent considering its adoption. Other research by Silk (1998) suggests that around 60 per cent of the Fortune 1000 companies in the USA have experimented with the scorecard concept whilst Malmi (2001) encountered high levels of adoption within Finnish businesses. More recently, Rigby (2011) also found that 54 per cent of the 1,230 global firms sampled had reported the use of a BSC. These studies all show how ubiquitous the concept of the BSC has become.\nLiterature relating to the BSC concept: The BSC was first developed and proposed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 and aimed to combine the use of financial and non-financial measures and provide managers with richer, more detailed information than financial measures alone. The scorecard concept has evolved over a number of years through a series of papers and books by Kaplan and Norton (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1993, 1996a,b, 2000, 2004a,b, 2006) transforming the scorecard concept from an innovative, but relatively simple performance measurement tool, through to a complex PMS.\nMethodology: As part of a detailed literature search to track the development of BSCs, it was recognised that difficulties were arising in relation to describing which version of a scorecard was being considered. Whilst there were many papers which discussed the application of the BSC in various settings, a comparatively small number were identified which actually developed the concept of the BSC. However, in comparing the descriptions of the BSCs discussed in the \"application\" literature, it soon became clear that the descriptions of the particular version BSCs being used were either unclear, or markedly different from one another, in line with the changes described in the \"development\" literature. This opaqueness demonstrated the need for clarity when authors used the term \"Balanced Scorecard\". In order to understand the context, it was proposed that a standard way of describing the different iterations was attempted in order to achieve this clarity. The classification system proposed was one of Version Control (VC).\nResults: Table I shows the results of how the BSC has evolved over time, and how each revision can be identified based upon its defining characteristics.\nDiscussion: The analysis of the studies shown in the table above proved to be very illuminating concerning the identification of different versions of the scorecard concept. During its development, the scorecard can be shown to have three major generations, as well as a number of minor versions (or revisions), which developed as academics and practitioners altered the BSC to suit their own purposes. The first two generations of the BSC were conceptualised by Kaplan and Norton and remain the most cited and discussed versions of the scorecard: when case-studies of BSC implementations are mentioned, it is usually first or second-generation scorecard (or variations of) that are used. By acknowledging the developments in the field from other academics and practitioners, Cobbold and Lawrie (2002) (along with Speckbacher et al., 2003) discuss the development of the BSC and highlight a third generation of the BSC. For the purpose of this work, the three generations of the BSC as identified by Cobbold and Lawrie (2002) have been sub-divided and expanded upon in order to take into account the additional theoretical and practical work undertaken by Kaplan and Norton (2004a) and others since 2002.\nFirst-generation scorecards: BSC 1.0\nBSC 1.0.1, 1.1, and 1.2: The basic principle of this four-box approach to performance measurement has not changed throughout the evolution of the scorecard; however, as the concept has grown and changed, more attention has been focused on how the BSC can be used as more of a strategic tool, enabling the transition from performance measurement tool to PMS. This led to the next set of minor iterations as described below.\nSecond-generation BSCs: BSC 2.0\nConclusion: BSCs have become a popular tool within performance management since the first Kaplan and Norton paper was published in 1992. Over time, the concept has evolved from a simple performance measurement instrument, to a complex, multi-faceted PMS. As organisations began to use Balance Scorecards, they realised the shortcomings of the existing framework and sought to adjust the scorecard to better suit their own purposes. In response, practitioners and academics began developing new versions of the scorecard. This pattern of development is in line with the process described by Kennerly and Neely (2002) who discussed the factors that may affect the evolution of performance measurement systems within an organisation and state that for a PMS to evolve, a trigger must occur that causes the organisation to undergo a process of reflection, modification, and deployment of the newly altered PMS. In addition, Kaplan and Norton (2004a) claim that the BSC movement has encouraged organisations to challenge the traditional view of performance measurement and move towards a process where they are able to measure whatever they want to measure, including intangible, \"softer\" assets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The balanced scorecard (BSC), first created by Kaplan and Norton in 1992, has been developed over the last 20 years, resulting in numerous iterations. There is currently no agreed taxonomy for these iterations, making comparison of research findings difficult. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for describing the different iterations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to assist in understanding the numerous changes, the concept of revision control was introduced. A full review of the literature describing new iterations of the BSC was undertaken and these iterations were classified as minor developments or major generational evolution.\nFindings: Eight subsets of the Balanced Score card are proposed, grouped into three generations; the first being the initial generation of score card, the second generation including strategy maps, and the final generation which includes destination statements.\nPractical implications: It is planned that this simple classification will prove useful to practitioners, for describing which generation of the scorecard they propose to implement, and for academics to describe more precisely the scorecard that they are analysing.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to provide a taxonomy for the different versions of the BSC, through a process of identifying and labelling the major and minor changes that have occurred. This allows a more nuanced analysis of the BSC as a tool for managing performance and adding precision to any critique, in that it is clear which version has been used.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Eating habits of Polish university students depending on the direction of studies and gender	[ "Meals", "Food consumption", "Consumer choice", "Young people", "Nutrition" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The main goal of nutrition is to provide the body with the necessary nutrients. Regularity and proportions of meals aligned to age, sex, manner of work, amount of physical effort and time of the year are important. Nutritionists point out that one should eat smaller quantities of meals, and the basis of nutrition should be wholesome breakfasts (Spence, 2017). Principles of healthy nutrition published in Poland recommend eating at least three meals per day and eating various kinds of fruits (Falkowska, 2000). However, according to nutritional standards, people should eat daily including five meals with 3-hour pauses.\nResearch methods: The aim of this research was to determine the nutritional habits of students from all years of study and to determine whether they adhered to a healthy diet, considering their education in the field of engineering and management of food production. Students of nutrition related fields have knowledge about food production and composition. They should therefore be more aware of the dangers of consuming highly processed foods. The study used a questionnaire form consisting of 17 closed and semi open questions relating to:\nResults: Diet assessment and the regularity of meals\nDiscussion: In the conducted research, it was proved that women who study at University have a healthier food intake than their male colleagues. More women than men eat a second breakfast and more often they give up supper. Women are less likely than men to have regular meals, but in fact nourish on a more regular basis than men. A study on healthy eating carried out earlier by Fijewski (1989) among medical students produced similar results: men do not try to follow the rules of healthy nutrition. The social role of women is linked to their caring for relatives and ensuring that they receive healthy nutrition. This makes them feel more responsible for implementing healthy eating habits in their own diet as well.\nManagerial implications: The results of the above research suggest the need for action in the short and long term. In the longer term, systemic changes in health education for both students and their parents would be suggested. Currently, there are a number of individual programs promoting healthy eating in Poland. In the short-term perspective, congruent to the present study, it would be reasonable to create a catering offer at university canteens that is competitive to fast-food bars more popular among students. It seems a good idea to establish direct cooperation between the university authorities and local suppliers of healthy food products. A good meal price and promotion could distract students from cheap and quick meals in fast-food outlets.\nLimitations and future research directions: An important limitation of the conducted study is the relatively small research sample. It consisted of university students from one of the largest academic centers in Poland. The results cannot be generalized among all students in this country. In future, a similar survey should be conducted on a larger scale and cover students from all similar fields of management and engineering of food products in Poland and post-communist countries. Retrospective research would also be interesting, in which the students' eating habits taken out of the family home and their impact on the current diet will be examined.\nConclusions: The primary purpose of nutrition is to provide the human body with indispensable nutrients in suitable proportions, which are converted into energy necessary for the proper functioning of the body. The period of intense study demands a lot of physical and mental strength from students.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the eating habits of students in the field of management and engineering of food products compared to students from faculties not related to food science. Furthermore, another aim is to conduct gender-wise assessment to determine the type of eating habit, i.e., careful or binge eating.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research involved 400 students from all years of study. The survey was conducted in 2017-2018 and the selection of the sample was intentional. The research used a questionnaire form. Additionally, kh2 test was performed to assess the statistical independence of characteristics.\nFindings: It is found that most students who pledge proper nutrition are women. The majority of respondents ate 3-4 meals in day and regular consumption of breakfast was declared among 42 percent of respondents. The consumption of sweet snacks between meals is reaffirmed by the half of the respondents. Students of the food sciences more often than others believed that they eat healthier and more regularly, although students of non-food directions most often declared intake of five or more meals a day.\nResearch limitations/implications: An important limitation of the conducted study is a relatively small research sample. It consisted of university students from one of the largest academic centers in Poland. The results cannot be generalized to all students in this country. In the future, a similar survey should be conducted on a larger scale and cover all similar fields of management and engineering of food products in Poland. In addition, it would be worth expanding the research and examine graduates who found employment in the food industry.\nPractical implications: The results of the conducted research are a good source of information on the differences in the way of feeding studying women and men. While such studies are not very revealing, the comparison between students in food and non-food fields can be considered a novelty. The described results can be used by the students themselves, but above all, by the authorities of universities conducting food science programs.\nSocial implications: The students do not eat properly which can lead to nutritional deficiencies and can deteriorate mental and physical endurance damaging overall health.\nOriginality/value: The described research is important due to the observed deteriorating eating habits and growing overweight of young adults in developed countries like Poland. They show that education of food technologists, even at the academic level, does not always allow to avoid mistakes in their own nutrition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New roles and challenges within the healthcare workforce: a Heideggerian perspective	[ "Dasein", "Healthcare modernization", "Heidegger", "Role redesign", "Skill mix", "Work roles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the healthcare workforce is faced with unprecedented change. Arguably, two of the most significant of these has been the development and diversification of the Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) role, and the extension of nurse roles into Clinical Nurse Specialists nurse consultants and Advanced Nurse Practitioners. Role innovation is now well established in the UK National Health Service (Hyde et al., 2005; Bach et al., 2008; Desombre et al., 2006) and similar developments are occurring globally (Shiu et al., 2012; Antunes and Moreira, 2013). Pressures for more cost-effective care and skill mix have contributed to increased reliance on nurses extending their roles into areas previously occupied by junior doctors (Williamson et al., 2012). Furthermore, nurse shortages have resulted in healthcare services making greater demands on HCSWs (Spilsbury and Meyer, 2004; McKenna et al., 2007). HCSWs usually work under the supervision of a nurse, midwife or allied health professional, their remit reflecting the particular clinical context. They provide vital support for patients, for example attending to hygiene, nutrition and mobility needs, and where appropriate performing technical procedures such as phlebotomy and electrocardiography.\nBeing uprooted from the familiar: Role redesign can place people into unfamiliar job roles and/or unfamiliar work environments. Changes that render roles temporarily unfamiliar to an individual include taking on new tasks (e.g. HCSWs taking on nursing tasks), widening scope (e.g. a pharmacy technician adding ward visits to existing dispensing and stock ordering duties), assuming heavier responsibility through more demanding work, or adopting significantly new roles (e.g. \"emergency care worker\") (Hyde et al., 2005). Professional training situations can illustrate the issues associated with transitions into new roles. The extant literature makes explicit links between work performance and work transitions, including claims that an individual's established levels of competence may not be achievable immediately following a transition (Kilminster et al., 2010). Kilminster et al. (2010, p. 566) suggest that transition is a \"critically intense learning period\", which requires greater recognition and consequently suitable affordances. This period of intense learning is also recognisable in the transition from student to qualified practitioner, and has attracted international interest (e.g. Phillips et al., 2013; Liaw et al., 2014; Brennan et al., 2010).\nWhat can Heidegger contribute to our understanding?: Heidegger (1962), in his major work Being and Time, conceptualised human existence as Dasein, in which a person exists in a world of objects, practices, other people and the associated meanings. The world is always and \"already\" there, indicating that person and world are integral and inseparable. Juxtaposing a worker's experience with Dasein facilitates a unique perspective on the uprooting identified above in relation to new roles. This section begins with a synopsis of how Dasein supported interpretation in a phenomenological study of the experiences of nurse mentors (Wilson, 2012) and subsequently addresses the utility and transferability of the concepts discussed. Figure 1 illustrates the fundamental dimensions of Dasein aligned with thematic interpretation in the mentor study, and how past, present and future shape Dasein's world. The concepts discussed in this paper span these temporal elements, which are somewhat artificial divisions of a whole.\nConcluding remarks: In workforce redesign, workers are uprooted from the familiar and the work-world becomes a shifting landscape. Such shifts have unavoidable impacts on the uneigentlich \"they-self\" of workers as well as the eigentlich \"one-self\" that is open to angst and guilt. The concepts of Eigentlichkeit and Uneigentlichkeit in Heidegger's Dasein offer an analytic framework for understanding people's lived experience of a changing workplace. These ideas provide a means of conceptualising the unfamiliar, malleable roles emerging in the context of healthcare modernisation. For example, skill redistribution in the nursing workforce means HCSWs are taking on more nursing work, while nurses are further extending their roles.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore insights based on the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger, on the dynamic relationships between human experience and work roles.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on the findings of a hermeneutic phenomenological study of nurse mentors, the topics of new roles and role challenges are explored, along with a consideration of their relevance to wider issues of workforce redesign. Heidegger's philosophy of Dasein, in particular his concepts of inauthentic and authentic self, provided an interpretational lens. This paper applies these philosophical concepts to challenges associated with a changing workforce.\nFindings: Concepts elaborating human existence as proposed by Heidegger may offer analytic structures for understanding shifts in the lived experience of a changing workplace. In particular, the concepts could help managers to explore the implications of introducing novel work roles or extending roles. The understanding gained can also extend to situations where work practices may need to be challenged.\nOriginality/value: As work roles and skill mix undergo rapid shifts, this paper offers an original way of understanding the experience of work roles.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of work engagement and workaholism on well-being: The role of work-related social support	[ "Work engagement", "Perceived support", "Well-being", "Workaholism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Work life has undergone tremendous changes within the last 100 years\" (Frese, 2008, p. 397). The increase of work complexity, global competition and the dissolution of the unity of work in time and space linked to rapid innovation lead to employees dealing with a work environment that is more and more demanding (Frese, 2008). Additionally, the advancement in technology allows employees to use cellphones or laptops with high-speed data connections at any place, making it possible for them to work at any time (e.g. van Beek et al., 2012). Overall, these changes together with technology development might encourage employees to work harder and during longer hours (e.g. van Wijhe et al., 2011).\nWorkaholism and work engagement: Nowadays, there is still debate regarding the definition of workaholism. However, in our research, we refer to Schaufeli et al. (2009a) who define workaholism as \"the tendency to work excessively hard and being obsessed with work, which manifests itself in working compulsively\" (p. 322). We decided to adopt this definition because it comprises the two characteristics of workaholism (i.e. working excessively and having an obsessive inner drive) that scholars identified as key and recurrent elements in the various definitions of this construct (e.g. Guglielmi et al., 2012; McMillan and O'Driscoll, 2006). Typical workaholic employees spend a great amount of their time working (van Beek et al., 2011). They experience a strong and incontrollable inner drive, need, or compulsion to work hard which is not due to external factors such as financial factors and career perspectives (Schaufeli et al., 2006). More precisely, building on the self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985), van Beek et al. (2012) showed that workaholic employees are driven by an introjected regulation (i.e. a form of extrinsic motivation). Introjected regulation is described as \"a product of an internalization process in which individuals rigidly adopt external standards of self-worth and social approval without fully identifying with them\" (van Beek et al., 2012, p. 33). Recently, based on Higgins's regulatory focus theory (RFT; Higgins, 1997), van Beek et al. (2014) also demonstrated that workaholic employees have higher levels of prevention focus, meaning that they are sensitive to the absence or presence of negative outcomes and use avoidance strategies. Taken together, these results support the idea that workaholic employees work hard to avoid negative feelings such as guilt, shame, irritability, and anxiety or to increase feelings of pride (e.g. van Beek et al., 2012, 2014).\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Discriminant validity\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between workaholism and work engagement with various indicators of well-being (i.e. job satisfaction, perceived stress, and sleep problems). Furthermore, the study was designed to explore the potential influence of various sources of support (perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support, and perceived coworker support) on these relationships. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that tests the joint influence of work engagement and workaholism on perceived stress and sleep problems. Furthermore, this is the first research that investigates the effects of three different forms of work-related social support on work engagement and workaholism, which in turn influence employee' well-being.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper are twofold. First, the authors examined the effects of two types of working hard (i.e. work engagement, workaholism) on employees' well-being (i.e. job satisfaction, perceived stress, and sleep problems). Second, the authors tested the extent to which both types of working hard mediate the relationship between three types of work-related social support (i.e. perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support, and perceived coworker support) and employees' well-being.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was administered to 343 PhD students.\nFindings: Results revealed that work engagement mediates the relationships between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction and perceived stress. Perceived organizational support has also a direct positive impact on job satisfaction and a direct negative impact on perceived stress and sleep problems. Furthermore, work engagement mediates the influence of perceived supervisor support on job satisfaction and perceived stress. Finally, workaholism was found to mediate the relationships between perceived coworker support, and job satisfaction, perceived stress, and sleep problems.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that managers should promote practices in order to foster work engagement and prevent workaholism. In line with this, the findings indicated that the most powerful source of support that fosters work engagement is perceived supervisor support. Organizations should, therefore, train their supervisors to be supportive in their role of directing, evaluating and coaching subordinates or encourage supervisors to have regular meetings with their subordinates. Additionally, the results showed that perceived coworker support is the only source of work-related social support that has a negative influence on workaholism. Managers should foster coworker support, for instance by encouraging informal mentoring among employees in order to build a strong social network.\nOriginality/value: Because scholars argued that each type of work-related social support might have different consequences and might vary in terms of strength of associations with their outcomes, the study aimed to examine the concomitant effects of three forms of work-related social support on two types of working hard which, in turn, influence employees' well-being.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Selecting the best strategic practices for business process redesign	[ "Business process re‐engineering", "Corporate strategy", "Redesign" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: After presenting the work division principle by Adam Smith and industrial revolution in developed countries, a new theory, proposed by Hammer and Champy, was studied by many researchers and was called different names. Among them are.Core process redesign (Heygate, 1993; Rigby, 1993; Kaplan and Murdock, 1991), process innovation (Davenport, 1993), business process redesign (BPR; Davenport and Short, 1990), organizational reengineering (Hammer and Champy, 1993; Lowenthal, 1994), breakpoint BPR ( Johansson et al., 1993), and business restructuring (Talwar, 1993).BPR mainly aims at creating a process-oriented attitude instead of a functional-oriented one because the business processes provide companies, not products, with long-term success. Successful people in the competitive area present good products, not the good products cause success (Hammer and Champy, 1993).Studies in the case of BPR indicate that the failure rate is very high in such projects (Wu, 2002; Al-Mashari and Zairi, 1999). Several reasons show that most failures are due to the projects mismanagement (Tinnila, 1995; Al-Mashari and Zairi, 2000; Berg and Pottjewijd, 1997). Generally, BPR initiatives face two challenges (Reijers and Mansar, 2005a):1. Technical challenge: derives from the difficulty in designing and developing the process; if it is adequately met, it provides the current process with fundamental and dramatic improvement.2. Socio-cultural challenge: is the result of the severe organizational effects on involved individuals that may lead them to react against the changes.In order to meet such challenges, different methodologies, practices and tools have been presented in various research such as (Kettinger et al., 1997; Valiris and Glykas, 1999). One of the proposed practices for encountering technical challenges is that analyzers refer to the best practices. The best practices are successful experienced methods for facing a special problem that may happen in every setting Reijers and Mansar, 2005a, Reijers and Mansar, 2005b, Reijers and Mansar, 2007). Best practices use professional methods to cope with the current situation and consequently enhance the organization productivity.Although it is suggested that BPR should be pertinent to organization's goals and strategies, it does not occur in reality (Wu, 2002). Therefore, it should be attempted to apply those best practices, which align with organization strategies. To achieve such a goal, simulation or practitioners' work experiences can be exploited to provide a proper analysis of the effects of implementing the best practices on organization components. Finally, the rate of their alignment with strategies can be specified.Hence, studying and evaluating best practices presented in BPR literature, this research comes up with a methodology for identifying best strategic practices. Owing to the fact that organizations need to produce goods and present services with \"low cost\", \"high quality\", \"high flexibility\" and \"prompt response to customers' needs\", these four indicators are used to evaluate the effects of implementing best practices on business processes (Venkatraman, 1994).Given the aim mentioned above, this research seeks to answer the following questions:RQ1. Which best practices can be employed to face the technical challenge of BPR?RQ2. What are the best strategic practices for BPR?To answer the research questions above, first of all, a review of literature on BPR is done. In the next step, a methodology for identifying best strategic practices is introduced. Then, applying such a methodology, registration process of students at Qazvin Azad University is studied. Finally, the findings of the research are discussed and analyzed and a conclusion is made.The schematic representation of the stages of this research is shown in Figure 1.\n2 Review of literature: Since the advent of reengineering concept, it has been studied from different perspectives. The followings are examples which are worth mentioning.Reengineering implementation methodology (Wastell et al., 1999; Davenport and Short, 1990; Kettinger et al., 1997; Wu, 2002), its relationship with other organizational approaches (Currie, 1999; Dickinson, 1997; Green and Wayhan, 1996; Makridakis, 1996; Ulbrich, 2006), reengineering and IT (Davenport and Short, 1990; Whitman, 1996), quality management and reengineering (Gingele et al., 2002; Macdonald, 1995; Zairi and Sinclair, 1996), implementation experiences, obstacles and results (Belmiro and Rents, 2000; Guimaraes and Bond, 1996; Maull et al., 2003; Ranganathan and Dhaliwal, 2001).But the important point which should be taken into account here is the difference between the concepts of process improvement, redesign and reengineering that is illustrated in Figure 2.Considering Figure 2, it can be concluded that reengineering, compared to redesign, has a broader domain and involves all reconstruction dimensions of the organization's processes from change management to project management. While process redesign is seeking for a response to the technical challenge presented in the introduction section, or attempting to somehow make a new process that is preferable to the current process from different perspectives, each reengineering process can obviously include one or more redesign processes (Mansar and Reijers, 2007).There are several researchers mentioned in the literature who have worked on BPR. Some of them are as follows:* Al-Mashari and Zairi (1999, 2000) studied the reengineering literature and tried to categorize failure and success factors in their implementation. In the second research, they addressed the different definitions of reengineering and resolved the ambiguities around its concepts. Finally, they discussed the integration between reengineering and total quality management, benchmarking and change management and presented a conceptual approach toward the critical role of IT in reengineering.* Paper, Rodger and Pendharkar (2001) collected organizations' experiences in reengineering process in the US states and after data analyzing, published them in the form of ten lessons to help those who want to successfully implement reengineering.* In their study, Ranganathan and Dhaliwal (2001) presented the results of business process reengineering implementation in Singapore's companies and identified the main problems of implementation as the lack of financial and human resources, IT internal skill and capacity and a hero to promote the plans.* Maull et al. (2003) investigated 33 public and private organizations in England and analyzed the relationship between different sections and dimensions of a reengineering plan and also their relationship with the maturity in implementing the business process reengineering.* Hughes et al. (2006), Harders et al.(2006) and Greasley (2004) applied and implemented reengineering and found out considerable results in e-government centers, operation room in hospitals and road accidents dispatching system.Few studies have specifically dealt with BPR. In 2005, Mansar and Reijers (2005a) studied best current practices for meeting technical challenges of process redesign and analyzed these practices, based on their experiences, from cost, quality, time, and flexibility perspectives. In another research done by the same researchers, they evaluated best practices through experts and analyzers' questionnaires, identifying and analyzing ten best practices (Mansar and Reijers, 2007). It is noteworthy that in studies mentioned above the relation between the best practices and strategies of organization as well as the way they are selected to implement processes have been neglected.\n3 Best practices: Reviewing the literature came up with 37 best practices, some of which are not supported by indicators of cost, quality, time and flexibility. Considering these indicators, only those with the backgrounds of their effects on processes were presented. Before presenting the best practices, the important areas and sections in process redesign should be mentioned. They can be generally categorized into six groups (Mansar and Reijers, 2005b):1. Internal and external customers of business processes.2. Products or services of processes.3. Business processes from two perspectives:* Operation view. How have the business processes been implemented? (The number of tasks in an occupation, the relation level between tasks and activities, tasks' nature, consistency rate, etc.).* Behavior view. When have the business processes been implemented? (Tasks' sequence, composition, scheduling, etc.).4. Participants in business processes:* Organization structure (elements, roles, users, groups, units, etc.).* Organization population (individuals, representatives that have the authority over tasks' execution and relation between tasks).5. The information made or used by business processes.6. The technology used by processes, and finally the external environment (except customers) can be referred to. In Figure 3, an illustration of BPR implementation framework has been presented.Therefore, from among 37 best practices, 29 best practices were selected which are ranked in Table II and are defined and evaluated using four indicators of cost, quality, time and flexibility. It is worth mentioning that the study done by Mansar and Reijers, was used to evaluate the best practices (Mansar and Reijers, 2005a, 2005b, 2007).If an indicator is displayed by -, it signifies the negative effect, if by #, it shows the neutral effect and if shown by +, it symbolizes the positive effect on that indicator. For instance, the best practice of \"control relocation\" positively influences quality (improves the quality), negatively impacts on cost (increases the cost) and has a neutral effect on time and flexibility.\n4 Recognizing best strategic practices: In order to achieve their missions and goals, organizations adopt various strategies. Due to the application of general strategies in most public and private organizations, three strategies of cost leadership, prompt response and differentiation are used for categorizing the best practices (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001; Porter, 1985). Analyzing strategies is done using cost, time, quality and flexibility indicators as shown in Table I.Considering the nature of strategies, analyzing their content, and adapting them to the best practices, the best practices aligned with each strategy can be identified (Table II).Here, using TOPSIS philosophy, the closeness or distance of best practices to organization strategies are identified and categorized. In this method, in addition to considering the distance of one best practice from main ideal model of strategies (Table III), its distance from strategies' subsidiary ideal point (Table V) is taken into account as well. That is, selected best practice should have the least distance from main ideal model, and in the next stage, the least distance from subsidiary ideal model. The algorithm of the mentioned method is as follows.4.1 First step\n5 Case study: Using obtained results, the registration process at the Azad University of Qazvin is evaluated according to the stages indicated in Figure 5. It is noteworthy that a cross-functional team was formed and the registration process, based on evaluation done, was identified as one of the most critical processes; therefore, it was chosen to be redesigned.5.1 Data collection method\n6 Conclusion: In this research, a methodology was proposed to recognize the best strategic practices in BPR. This methodology uses TOPSIS philosophy in recognizing the alignment of practices with the strategy. The indicators of cost, time, quality and flexibility were used as the criteria to select best strategic practice. Also, using the proposed methodology, the best strategic practices for three strategies of cost leadership, prompt response and differentiation were identified from among 29 best practices. The proposed method was tested in a case study of the registration process at a university. It was indicated that the process redesign fulfill organization strategies through recognizing and implementing the best strategic practices. In this paper, to identify the effects of implementing the best practices on organization, four indicators with three spectrums were used, but other indicators such as trustworthiness complexity, etc. with a wide range of spectrums can be employed to analyze the method. As suggestions for further research, the degree of changes which can be caused by each and every of the best practices in the organization, measuring these the degree of changes and the organization processes' capability of can be taken into account.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology which defines best strategic practices for business process redesign (BPR).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 29 best practices are studied and evaluated from the literature. The philosophy of TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method is applied in recognizing the alignment of best practices with the organization strategy. The indicators of cost, time, quality and flexibility are used as the criteria to measure the degree of alignment of best practices with organization strategy. The proposed method is tested in a case study of the registration process at a university.\nFindings: - The recent investment failures in BPR projects show that the relation between best practices and organization strategies should be highly considered. It is indicated that process redesign can meet organization strategies through recognizing and implementing best strategic practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Considering the fact that pundits working in the field of BPR are not accessible, the previous published findings and results have been used in this research.\nPractical implications: - Owing to the limitations on budget and time, organizations are able to consider only those best practices which play a critical vote in helping them to achieve their goals. Best strategic practices list provides managers and business analysts with a precious resource in BPR projects.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents a new methodology for introducing best strategic practices for BPR. A strategic best practice is a new term in the BPR literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modeling the longitudinal effects of school leadership on teaching and learning	[ "Leadership", "Effectiveness", "School improvement", "Student learning", "Teaching quality", "School leadership", "School change", "Effects of leadership", "Instructionally focussed leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Do teachers make a difference? Can leaders enhance the quality of teaching and learning in schools? These questions have consumed the attention of policymakers, school practitioners and researchers over the past half-century as governments have sought more systematic strategies for improving the quality of schooling (Creemers and Kyriakides, 2008; Erickson, 1967; Hallinger, 2011; Teddlie and Stringfield, 1993; Reynolds et al., 2000). In response, a large body of international research has accumulated which supports the view that both quality of school leadership and teaching can have a significant impact on student learning outcomes (Bossert et al., 1982; Coelli and Green, 2012; Creemers and Kyriakides, 2008; Erickson, 1967; Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger and Heck, 1996, 1998; Leithwood et al., 2004, 2006; Robinson, 2011; Robinson et al., 2008; Urick and Bowers, 2011; Witziers et al., 2003). Scholars increasingly accept the assertion that the impact of leadership on learning is achieved indirectly by shaping conditions that contribute to effective teaching and learning (Creemers and Kyriakides, 2008; Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger and Heck, 1996, 1998; Leithwood et al., 2004, 2006; May and Supovitz, 2011; Robinson et al., 2008; Sebastian and Allensworth, 2012; Southworth, 2002; Urick and Bowers, 2011). Consequently, over the past 15 years, scholarship in this domain has focussed primarily on identifying and testing the \"paths\" through which leadership influences student learning in schools (Hallinger and Heck, 1996, 1998, 2011; Heck and Hallinger, 2009, 2010; Leithwood et al., 2004, 2006, 2010a, b; Marks and Printy, 2003; Mulford and Silins, 2009; Printy et al., 2009; Robinson et al., 2008; Witziers et al., 2003).\nTheoretical perspective: In this section, we define the theoretical model and major constructs examined in this study. As indicated above, a key contribution of this study lies in its attempt to examine changes in leadership, teaching and learning over time. Therefore, explicit articulation of the study's conceptual model is essential to understanding the relevant relationships among these constructs.\nMethod: The fact that school improvement involves change in the state of the organization over time suggests that the empirical study of leadership for learning requires models that take into account changing relationships among relevant variables, etc. A key-limiting factor lies in the need for longitudinal data that describe change in organizational processes over time. Such data are, however, difficult to obtain on a scale sufficient to assess the effects of leadership across comparable organizational units. (Hallinger and Heck, 2011, p. 154)\nResults: We present the results of the study in terms of the several steps involved in testing the conceptual model proposed in Figure 1. We then interpret the findings with respect to the specific research questions in the concluding section of the paper.\nDiscussion: Over the past decade, education reforms implemented globally have increasingly evidenced the expectation that school leaders should be capable of improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools (Hallinger, 2011). In some countries, this expectation has become firmly embedded in the fabric of accountability policies that mandate penalties for school principals who \"fail to make the grade\" (De Fraine et al., 2002; Leithwood, 2001; Nettles and Herrington, 2007; Silva et al., 2011; Walker and Ko, 2011). Thus, establishing an empirical link that validates the nature of the relationship between school leadership and student learning is of importance to policymakers and practitioners as well as researchers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel, cross-classified model that seeks to illuminate the dynamic nature of relationships among leadership, teaching quality, and student learning in school improvement. The study's primary goal is to shed light on the paths through which leadership influences student learning. At the school level, the model examines the mediating effect of the school's instructional environment on leadership and student learning. At the classroom level, it examines how instructionally focussed leadership can moderate teacher effects on student learning. Then these multiple paths are examined in a single model that seeks to test and highlight the means by which leadership contributes to school improvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The current study employed a multilevel longitudinal data set drawn from 60 primary schools in one state in the USA. Using a cross-classification approach to quantitative modeling, the research analyzes the complex cross-level interactions that characterize school-level and classroom level practices that contribute to school improvement and student learning.\nFindings: The results illustrate the utility of specifying multilevel relationships when examining the \"paths\" that link school leadership to student learning. First, leadership effects on student learning were fully mediated by the quality of the school's instructional environment. Second, the findings indicated that the classroom-related paths examined in this study directly influenced the measures of student math achievement. Third, the research found that instructionally focussed school leadership moderated the effect of individual teachers on student learning. Fourth, the results suggest that school leaders can enhance student outcomes by creating conditions that lead to greater consistency in levels of effectiveness across teachers.\nPractical implications: The study makes substantive contributions to the global knowledge base on school improvement by testing and elaborating on the \"paths\" that link school leadership and student learning. More specifically, the findings offer insights into strategic targets that instructional leaders can employ to enhance teacher effectiveness and school improvement. Thus, these results both support and extend findings from prior cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of leadership and school improvement.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that has tested a conceptualization of leadership for learning in a single \"cross-classified longitudinal model\" capable of capturing interactions among leadership, classroom teaching processes and growth in student learning. The research illustrates one \"state-of-the-art\" methodological approach for analyzing longitudinal data collected at both the school and classroom levels when studying school improvement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Industrial customers' organizational readiness for new advanced services	[ "Servitization", "Customer relations", "Customer requirements" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Industrial manufacturers are increasingly considering servitization - broadening their offerings with services and changing their business logic to differentiate themselves from the competition and gain economic benefits (Baines and Lightfoot, 2013; Kindstrom and Kowalkowski, 2009; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). This transformation has primarily been considered from manufacturers' perspectives, but customer views are also relevant (Brax and Jonsson, 2009). Previous research has often assumed that the customer was ready and willing to procure the services, but this is not always so. New services are innovations, and innovation adoption is not straightforward, as illustrated by decades of research (Davis, 1986; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Planing, 2014; Parasuraman, 2000; Rogers, 1983). In the servitization context, for example, Martinez et al. (2010) noted that, even if the service-providing company recognizes added value for the customer from the company's offering, the customer may not. Therefore, some level of service readiness seems to be required for customers to adopt services. Service readiness deals with \"the inclination to embrace, and the ability to use, relevant new services in the organization\" (Vaittinen et al., 2018), following Vize et al.'s (2013) technology readiness definition. To promote service adoption, manufacturers need to understand customers' readiness for the new services before the customer decides whether to purchase. This paper focuses on industrial customers' readiness to adopt new services.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Customers' view of new industrial services\n3. Research method: 3.1 Research design\n4. Results: Initially, during the internal interviews, ManuCo primarily offered traditional services such as spare parts, maintenance and technical support. ManuCo also offered some more advanced services such as maintenance contracts and remote diagnostics. Later, during the customer interviews, many more advanced services were already developed and in use. The new advanced services required ManuCo's in-depth knowledge about the customer's installed base of equipment, processes and practices and often some degree of customers' proactiveness or remote connections to customers' equipment.\n5. Discussion: This study aimed to develop understanding of the organizational dimension of service readiness and the conditions underpinning it by focusing on industrial customers' readiness to adopt new advanced services from an equipment and systems manufacturer. Previous research has focused on technology readiness as an individual's trait (e.g. Parasuraman and Colby, 2015; Son and Han, 2011), while this study examined it as an organization-level phenomenon. We have complemented the earlier picture of service readiness with more detailed understanding of its organizational dimensions and drawn attention to service readiness as a necessary requirement in supporting customer adoption of advanced data-based services. The findings revealed the processual nature of service readiness as it changes alongside the evolution of practices and habits in the customer organization and calls for proactive development efforts from both manufacturer and customers. Below, we discuss the findings in light of previous research, to address the research questions.\n6. Conclusions: This study developed new knowledge on service adoption in the business-to-business context, particularly concerning the nature of customer firms' organizational readiness for new advanced services. It clarifies the concept of service readiness in an organizational context and shows it to be a multilevel concept covering both individual and organizational levels, which affect each other. It shows the interconnected nature of service readiness between its levels, individuals in the customer company and the manufacturer and its customers, and illustrates how the nature of services is reflected in their adoption. Further, the study complements previous consumer-centric service adoption research and offers new insights regarding the challenges and slowness of servitization, from the customer's perspective. It also shows the consistency of previously identified challenges among manufacturers' salespeople and challenges in customer firms when new services are adopted. This study thereby offers new insights to understanding and developing the manufacturer-customer relationship during servitization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Manufacturing firms delivering complex products and systems are increasingly offering advanced data-based services. Customers, however, are not always willing to adopt manufacturers' advanced services, so manufacturers need knowledge of how to promote customers' service readiness. The purpose of this paper is to further develop the concept of service readiness by proposing a framework for industrial customers' organizational dimension of service readiness and by increasing the understanding of the conditions underpinning that service readiness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This case study explores service readiness among customers of a manufacturer delivering complex systems and related services. Interviews were conducted within the company and among key customers as the potential users of those services.\nFindings: Customers use versatile processes, engage multiple people and use different evaluation criteria when considering adoption of data-based services. The organizational component of service readiness involves requirements in the service context, supplier relations and organizational habits and culture. Actions are proposed for manufacturers to promote customers' readiness for new services.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited through its qualitative design and case selection. Mapping of the organizational dimension of service readiness further develops the concept of service readiness and offers a framework for further research. This research offers novel understanding of organization-level service adoption to complement individual-centric technology adoption.\nPractical implications: New knowledge is offered to manufacturing firms about customers' challenges and requirements in adopting advanced services. This knowledge will help manufacturers to support customers and develop the activities of their own salespeople when introducing advanced services.\nOriginality/value: The findings expose the contents of the organizational dimension of customers' service readiness. The study provides a more complete picture of service readiness and shows it to be a multilayered concept with interdependencies between its levels, between individuals in customer organizations and even between the manufacturer and the customer organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empirical evidence on fiscal forecasting in Eurozone countries	[ "Fiscal policy", "Disclosure of information", "Fiscal forecasting", "Government budget balance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Due to the possibility of policymakers being influenced by political pressure, the government budget, as well as its legal and institutional framework, has an important role in the public finance analysis (von Hagen, 1992; Alesina and Perotti, 1996). Furthermore, reliable projection on macroeconomic variables on the period of budget outturn is very important to the government budget planning (Jonung and Larch, 2006).\n2. Data analysis: It is important to highlight that instead of identifying the best database for fiscal projections, this study seeks to observe if there is a standard in estimating the determinants of fiscal forecasting error independent of the database source. Some authors, such as Jonung and Larch (2006), proposed the draft of economic forecast by independent agencies as a way of avoiding possible forecast bias[11]. Hence, this study is based on four different database sources (WEO, EO, EEF, and SGP).\n3. Empirical analysis: The analysis on efficiency of government budget balance forecasts is in most of the literature presented together with potential determinants of forecast errors[23]. With the objective of observing only the effects from economic factors, a baseline model is:\n4. Conclusion: The findings suggest that countries that suffered the largest impact of fiscal crisis in 2008 in the Eurozone (Portugal, Greece, Ireland, and Spain) adopted a negligent stance regarding the fiscal forecasts. In addition, in most countries the data on fiscal forecast were inefficient[39]. Regarding the hypothesis concerning asymmetry in the loss function of the forecasting authorities, the results show a better adjustment in comparison with symmetric loss function. However, such as observed by Artis and Marcellino (2001), the use of asymmetric loss function did not imply an improvement in data efficiency.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the determinant factors of government budget balance forecast errors for Eurozone countries based on four different database sources from 1998 to 2011.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Besides the analysis on quality and efficiency of government budget balance projections, panel data analysis is made from different methods taking into account economic, political, institutional and governance factors, and lagged forecast errors for estimations of budget balance forecast errors.\nFindings: The results show that even with the concern and pressure due to the fiscal crisis in the Eurozone, the bias in fiscal forecasts remains.\nOriginality/value: One contribution of this paper, in comparison to other studies, is the use of longer time periods for the analysis of forecast errors as well as the employment of different data sources for detecting systematic patterns of errors, and the use of various estimation methods for the fiscal forecast error determinants, which gives insights into the reliability and robustness of results obtained in earlier studies. In particular, the introduction of variables such as fiscal council and fiscal rules allows one to check whether institutional behavior may change the effect from debt on fiscal forecast errors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational outcomes of leadership style and resistance to change (Part Two)	[ "Transformational leadership", "Transactional leadership", "Leadership style", "Organizational outcomes", "Resistance to change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Change is inevitable as companies fight for survival and market share. Recent economic conditions have challenged the sustainability and competitiveness of companies. Organizations can no longer rest on their laurels, rejoicing in past successes. They must seek out new opportunities by challenging the status quo. For this purpose, many organizations initiate a transformational change process.\nOrganizational environment: This section visits the relationships between the concepts of organizational structure, communication between the levels of hierarchy, and the impact of corporate culture on resistance to change/commitment to change in an organization.\nOrganizational outcomes: Successful implementation of change via transformational leadership\nDiscussion: Synthesis\nConclusion: The above-suggested framework offers valuable insight in guiding leaders and organizational development practitioners to identify the major factors to be considered during a change initiative or a transformation. The model stresses the multi-dimensional role of leadership style in successfully achieving organizational changes, highlighting the importance of leaders' emotional aptitude in influencing their followers, which transacts with employees' natural and contextual predisposition to change, ultimately determining organizational outcomes. Significant benefit can be derived from carefully assessing these organizational components, prior to, throughout and following transformational processes of all scales.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Organizations must react rapidly to evolving environments by engaging in change, ranging from minor adjustments to radical transformation. Many obstacles are encountered on the path towards achieving positive organizational outcomes, among which resistance to change prevents the level of mobilization critical to achieve a successful transformation. The purpose of this two-part paper is to offer a review of the body of knowledge explaining how leadership styles may address resistance to change in order to achieve desired organizational outcomes. For this purpose, multiple organizational concepts are visited and linked through a synthesized model proposing causality relationships between the various elements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A range of recently published empirical and practitioner research papers were reviewed to analyse the relationships in search of the variables that affect resistance during a major organizational change. In order to synthesize and bridge many concepts that are often studied separately, an overall model is proposed to help establish causal relationships between the elements of interest influencing organizational outcomes, in the context of a change.\nFindings: Leadership acts as an input at multiple levels, influencing organizational outcomes both directly - by continuously shaping employee attitude throughout change - and indirectly - by regulating the antecedents and moderators of their predisposition to change. These subsequently shape the extent of resistance to change, which translates from the perception of, commitment to and involvement in the change process. The interaction of the organizational environment with these factors ultimately determines the organizational outcome resulting from the change initiatives.\nResearch limitations/implications: The model must be tested in another empirical article to measure its effectiveness. The complexity of the model may, however, hinder the ability to successfully correlate all the concepts.\nPractical implications: The paper suggests an overall framework that may help leaders and organizational development practitioners identify the major factors which may be considered during a change initiative or a transformation.\nSocial implications: This paper highlights the multi-dimensional role of leadership style in successfully achieving organizational changes. Leaders' emotional aptitude to influence their followers and employees' natural and contextual predisposition to change transact to shape organizational outcomes. These social elements must be carefully assessed not only prior to embarking on a change implementation, but also to proactively invest in psychologically directed organizational training and development, at all hierarchical levels.\nOriginality/value: The synthesis model is the novel contribution of the paper. It proposes an organized approach to relate multiple close yet distinct concepts that have so far been predominantly discussed separately.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Habitual domain exploration in inter-firm networks: A framework for understanding network behaviour	[ "China", "Telecommunication", "Strategic alliances", "Business environment", "Habitual domains", "Inter‐firm networks", "Response", "Routine", "Network inertia", "Network behavior" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: As today's competition becomes increasingly complex, competition arises not only between individual firms but also between inter-firm networks (IFNs) (Shou et al., 2009; Sakakibara and Dodgson, 2003; Koza and Lewin, 1998; Shi and Gregory, 1998). More and more scholars have noticed that the study of network behaviors and their changes has become increasingly critical. For example, Madhavan et al. (1998) analyzed the impact of IFNs' potential structure on network behavior change. Dhanaraj and Parkhe (2006) studied the influence of IFN's stability on network behavior change. Gulati (1998) believes that IFN's existing network relationship also affects the future behavior and opportunities of the network.The habitual domain (HD) concept was proposed by Yu after he studied the human decision process and related behaviors (1980 and 1991). Yu believes that people have habitual ways of thinking, judging, dealing with problems, acting, and responding to changes, which, combined, form their HD. The HD guides people's decision making and determines certain types of their behavior. Ma extends Yu's HD model from the individual level to the organizational level, arguing that an organization can behave in the same way with regard to their management decisions (2003). Facing an increasing number of radical changes in the business environment, both the individual and organizational HD theories have agreed that there is a specialized HD controlling adaptation (Chan et al., 1985; Ma, 2003). They recognize the dynamics of HD beside its robust routine of operations.Naturally, academia has already noticed the importance of network behavioral change for the competition (Miles and Snow, 2007). If an IFN's existing routine or habit cannot be adapted to suit the changed environment, the IFN will face serious challenges and may need to fight for its survival. As the inherent knowledge and experience are impeding the generation of new decisions (Wu, 2007; Bartel and Garud, 2009), the assumption of the IFN's flexible change capability is quite limited. However, based on HD theory, it is easy to assume that an IFN can have both HDs for routine and adaptation, although there is no empirical evidence to demonstrate these yet.Therefore, this paper will explore IFN behavioral change from the view of the inter-firm network habitual domain (N-HD). According to this objective, an IFN is assumed to behave according to a certain pattern when the network's environment changes. In other words, the N-HD can be changed when the network environment changes; the N-HD can demonstrate a certain pattern that reflects N-HD's dynamic characteristics. This paper seeks to capture these characteristics, and then demonstrate not only the existence of HD at the network level but also its dynamic characteristics. This paper focuses on relatively stabilized networks in terms of the relationship between collaborators and the network scale or size. This paper forms part of a large research project that aims to develop an analytical framework in order to understand the impact of network environmental changes on networks as well as the responsiveness of different networks to the same environmental change. This paper's basic focus is on framework development according to network adaptations to different environmental changes. The main structure of this paper is divided into the six following sections:1. introduction;2. literature review;3. research design and methodology;4. a detailed case study of HMC;5. discussion of the case study; and6. conclusion and further research.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 Past research on IFN behavior change\n3 Research design and methodology: A case study is particularly suitable for constructing and validating theories, as it is preferred in dealing with \"how\" and \"why\" questions (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 1994). The process of developing theory via a case study consists of gathering empirical data through case studies, defining constructs by single case or multiple cases, and proposing hypotheses for further research (Eisenhardt, 1989). This study is exploratory in nature, so we believe that an in-depth single case study will be valuable for eliciting some initial findings (Eisenhardt, 1989). Furthermore, a case study is also helpful for tracking new problems from management practices. Meanwhile, an in-depth case study may facilitate the validation of the questions proposed in the research framework (Pettigrew, 1990; Chakravarthy and Doz, 1992).Research into the HD of an inter-firm network remains an unexplored arena. This paper seeks to explore the territory and build some basic frameworks using the case study methodology. In the late 1990s, mobile telecommunications was a relative new technology in China. Most mobile communication operators had little experience of exploring the mobile telecoms market. It took only six years for HMC to grow from a new entrant into a market leader, with more than three million users in 2005. Choosing HMC as our research object will make it easier to obtain the required information, and the data availability and integrity will help us to produce more instructions about how HMC and its partners have achieved rapid development in the telecommunications market.HMC was founded in Zhejiang Province, China. In 1999, HMC spilt from the TLC Company to become the third independent telecoms operator in H city. HMC employed more than 300 staff in 1999, and had nearly 300,000 users. With its successful marketing, the number of HMC's users was higher than that of TLC in 2005 (in 1999, TLC held an 80 percent share of the market in H city). In 2009, HMC had over seven million mobile users. At present, HMC operates both 2G and 3G, and the 2G coverage has reached 99.99 percent. In 2009, 3G was approved to be operated in H city. Now, 3G covers the urban area and all seven subsidiary counties. With the market expansion, HMC also increased its scale. In 2009, the number of employees reached 3,010, 77 percent of whom were working in the marketing and service departments, and their average age was 29 years old.An intern-firm network (IFN) was organized with five types of players and led by the HMC. The others include one of the HMC's key equipment suppliers - LWCo, a key service provider - the Holly Group, system maintenance companies - NSCo, and a system integrate - LKCo, as Figure 1 shows. The case study introduces the main findings from the continuous observation between 1999 and 2009. One of the authors was a senior executive in HMC (2005-2008), which gives us first hand data. Meanwhile, more information was collected via face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, field studies, seminars, and company meetings. Interviews with the senior management were conducted to supplement the unclear information mentioned in the published documents and the managers were willing to answer our other related questions. Every interview lasted 1-2 hours. On the other hand, second-hand data were gathered from the internet, news reports, magazines, and internal documents, and cross references were also conducted to filter the useful information. To sum up, our data came from three sources: an external industry source, the observations of researchers, and the employees, which meets the requirements of a triangular survey, strengthening the reliability of our case study.Holly was founded in 1995, and focused on the systems integration of telecom before 1999. After it collaborated with HMC to develop the market, it expanded its business of Add-service telecoms, such as Tel-voting, Music Ring Back Tone, etc. As a matter of fact, the formation of N-HD is extremely complicated due to there being so many collaborative members in the network. Thus, in order to demonstrate how N-HD is formed, this article simplifies the intertwined relationship among all of the members. The paper mainly focuses on new business co-development between HMC and Holly as the unit of analysis.\n4 Detailed case study of HMC: 4.1 NHMC-HD and an exploration of the efficiency of IFN\n5 Discussion: A case study of HMC in different growth stages is shown. Based on a thorough analysis of HMC's case, we found that the key factors of HMC's growth were entering the market quickly and making decisions in reaction to the market changes. An analysis framework of how N-HD affected IFN's behavioral changes is shown in Figure 4(a)-(c).Figure 4(a) shows the relationships between every FHD and N-HD. In Figure 4(a), FHDc stands for the HD of the core company, and FHDp and N-HD1,2,...n mean the HD of the party firms and IFN, respectively. N-HD is not the simple additive effect of an individual FHDP, but the synthesis of the HD of a core firm and party firms after a period of interacting with, absorbing and integrating outside knowledge and information. This means that the knowledge, experience and information of IFN has become stable over time, which ensures that its partners can adopt the same behavioral patterns to the outside, and hence will be able to achieve the goal of IFN effectively. This relatively stable knowledge, experience and information are the components of the potential capacity for IFN to cope with changes in the environment, both internally and externally (Figure 4).According to the FHD theory (Ma, 2003; Ma et al., 2003), the problem-solving knowledge, information and experience in an IFN can be called NIEs, and the NIEs of an IFN will be steady over a period of time, which can be called \"N-SIEs\".Meanwhile, N-HD is composed of a realized \"behavioral pattern in the inter-network\" and potential \"N-SIEs\" (Figure 4(b)). Figure 4(a) also shows that the overall N-SIEs are stable in the current situation. The behavioral pattern in the inter-network is stable and can operate effectively. With the N-SIEs' expansion, the potential ability will be increased in the IFN. Therefore, in the uncertain future environment (Feng, 2001a, b), the N-SIEs will change the behavioral pattern in the inter-network (Figure 4(c)).What is the influence of NHMC-HD on the development market in the current or future (uncertain) situation and what is the potential capability leading to the behavioral changes of IFN? We will discuss these questions in this section.5.1 The influence of NHMC-HD on the development market in the current situation\n6 Conclusions and further research: The proposal of N-HD in this paper builds up an analytical framework for inter-firm networks behavior change. It explains the changes in N-HD in the current situation and in uncertain future situations, and the rapid or slow response of some network organizations to external environments. N-HD has both positive and negative influences on the changes in an IFN's behavior. The N-HD can bring the IFN high efficiency of adaptation. In the meantime, the N-HD may fail to generate an effective problem-solving plan when rigidity is shaped, which limits the changes in the IFN's behavior. We provide the contributions and implications in the following.Contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Based on the theory of habitual domain, the purpose of this paper is to explore inter-firm networks' mechanisms for coping with environmental change and for assisting firms to adapt to their collaborative networks. Business globalization is driving more and more individual firms to form inter-firm collaborative networks. These networks need to develop new types of strategic capability in order not only to adopt a robust business process that will achieve high efficiency, but also to develop a network system for responding to external environmental changes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - With insights gained from the case study, the paper develops an analytical framework for deconstructing the network behavioral changes based on the network habitual domain concept and discusses the dual roles of the network-based habitual domain in network behavioral changes.\nFindings: - This paper demonstrates how a Chinese telecommunications service company and its inter-firm network became the market leader in one of the provincial capital cities in China within six years.\nOriginality/value: - From an endogenous perspective, this paper contributes some useful concepts that may assist both academia and managers to identify network-based habitual domains, improve the domains continuously, enhance their response capabilities, and formulate appropriate strategies according to the competition's requirements.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How can national governance affect education quality in Western Europe?	[ "Western Europe", "Education quality", "Education spending", "National governance", "Voice and accountability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate accountability is a progressively significant aspect in the education governance systems. Accountability can be guaranteed through numerous means, such as frameworks quality assurance, market mechanisms and external stakeholders' participation in governing bodies, where external representatives would offer the advice and support to educational institutions about their positive contributions to society (Henard and Mitterle, 2010).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: Changing conditions of the early twenty-first century appeared to have brought governance standards to the fore. In a study conducted on Hong Kong's higher education sector, the University Grants Commission (2002) highlighted the importance of new governance structures for the public higher education institutions. Similarly, the result of a study reviewed the governance of the Australian higher education sector pointed to the need for enhancing the quality of governance standards in local Australian universities (Commonwealth of Australia, 2002). In the UK, furthermore, Bargh et al. (1996) stated that a general crisis of governance standards seems to be engulfing the UK. To shed light on the importance of national and local governance systems in improving education quality, it worth saying that not only Hong Kong, Australia and the UK but also that are experiencing such turbulence.\n3. Methodology and data: 3.1 Methodology\n4. Empirical results and discussion: This section reports the empirical estimations of the proposed models in equation (1) using STATA 15 software. This study applies two different techniques of panel data. These methods are fixed and random effects models and the IV estimations. Across two estimation techniques, all variables are consistently significant determinants of education quality, namely, governance and macroeconomic controls.\n5. Conclusion: This study investigates the relationship between macro-level governance structures and education quality in nine western European countries (i.e. UK, Germany, France, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland) from 2002 to 2017.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As the international society faces unprecedented challenges associated with resource scarcity, governance scandals, increasing injustice and inequality, new opportunities for higher education institutions are emerging. This paper aims to investigate the association between national governance standards and education quality across nine western European countries, namely, the UK, Germany, France, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using panel data from 2002 to 2017, this paper uses fixed-effects and random-effects models to examine the relationship between national governance (proxied by voice and accountability (V&A) indicator) and education quality (proxied by human development index: education index). This analysis is supplemented with conducting instrumental variable (IV) estimations to address any concerns regarding the expected occurrence of endogeneity problems.\nFindings: The findings are suggestive of a significant and positive relationship between national governance and education quality in Europe. This implies that national governance standards, such as V&A, are essential actors in the enhancement of the quality of educational institutions' outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: Policymakers should implement stricter regulations and ensure that accountability indicators are motivated if they wish to increase the spending on education, which is associated with better qualities of educational institutions. A culture of continuous review of education policies needs to be upheld in the Western Europe region to be watchful of any emerging problems while maintaining a sustainable relationship between the rule of law and the education administration.\nOriginality/value: So far, a minimal number of studies focussed on examining the role of country-level governance in advancing education quality. This study, therefore, extends the body of prior literature by investigating the possible effect of national governance structures on education quality across a sample of Western European countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New and novel business paradigms in and from China and India	[ "China", "India", "Emerging countries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is with no doubt that globalization has been increasing over the past 50 years (Teagarden and Schotter, 2013; Paul and Sanchez-Morcilio, 2019), which is defined as a greater interdependence between economies of the world, the removal of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) restrictions and barriers (Paul, 2015), coupled with improved information communication technologies and transportation. Globalization has led to fast growth in the activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and they have responded proactively by modifying their strategies in developing countries (Narula and Dunning, 2009; Bhasin and Paul, 2016; Paul and Mas, 2019). One benefit of greater globalization has been the rise of developing countries such as China and India.\n2. Examination of foreign firms internationalizing to China and India: Firms established in developed economies need to explore new emerging markets to expand their operations, to maintain their global competitiveness (Paul, 2019a, 2019b). Whenever a company ventures abroad, decisions must be made regarding how its business activities in a foreign market should be conducted (Welch et al., 2008). As part of the growth strategy, many firms go global and orient themselves more internationally (Paul and Gupta, 2014). To create competitiveness, the evolutionary path of firms from emerging markets is usually different from that of firms from developed countries (Kotabe and Kothari, 2016), suggesting a nuanced approach to internationalization and doing business in China and India.\n3. Chinese and Indian firms going global: The Wall Street Journal published Asia 200, an annual ranking of Asia's leading companies, as determined by executives and professionals throughout Asia. This list indicates the increasing prominence of Asian firms and the growing interest of media and researchers to understand different dimensions of management of firms, including those from China and India and their internationalization. OFDI from China had increased substantially in recent years (Kolstad and Wiig, 2012). In this context, the competitiveness of firms became an important issue in the academic field and in the industry circle. For example, as late-comers to the global-market scene, Chinese or Indian firms need to overcome several obstacles to their growth and internationalization such as liability of foreignness, scarce firm resources, often unfavourable business conditions at home and negative country-of-origin associations by the customers in developed markets. Developing countries such as China and India have been a strong source of outward FDI (Kim and Park, 2014). China has been a strong focus of academic work with Paul and Benito (2018) identifying that 89 studies on OFDI were focussed on China, and only 14 on India, out of a total of 150 studies. This is also understandable given the amounts of OFDI by both countries, with China scoring $117bn in 2019, versus India scoring only $12.1bn (UNCTAD, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c).\n4. Technological advancement and innovation: When Chairman Jiping Xi's stated that China should move its focus from \"being made in China\" to being \"created by China\" (Liu, 2016) this represented an ideological shift from being the \"factory of the world\", to the \"research and development (R&D) lab of the world\". Through the Made in China-2025 plan, China will emerge as an important player in innovative technologies such as nanotechnology (Zhou and Leydesdorff, 2006). China also spends a whopping amount of money on research and development, in 2017 this was valued at $496bn, which was slightly short of the US spend on R&D at $549bn (Zhou, 2020), as China tried to build a knowledge economy.\n5. The new business environment in China and India: China and India have emerged as the two fastest-growing economies in the world. Both countries have benefited from globalization, exhibiting high and stable economic growth rates for three decades (Paul and Mas, 2016; Paul and Gupta, 2014). As a worldwide disaster, the COVID crisis has profoundly affected the development of the global economy and threatened the survival of firms worldwide. It has had a dramatic impact on many economies and global trade to a point of near \"de-globalization\", with almost all global business activities either temporarily shut down or significantly slowed (Barua, 2020; Wang et al., 2020). This makes it difficult for international business managers to understand the types of uncertainty in their business environment and develop appropriate strategies to deal with it effectively, especially during times such as the ongoing COVID pandemic (Sharma et al., 2020).\n6. Future research going forward: Given what we now know about the Chinese and Indian situation regarding new and novel paradigms, inward and outward FDI and innovation, we present the following Problems-Opportunities framework to examine new areas of research (Figure 1).\n7. Novel paradigms: In this section, we discuss the unique and novel dimensions of seven articles.\n8. Conclusion: Our goal was to present new and novel paradigms in the context of the two fastest-growing and strategically important economies in the world. Undoubtedly, they have emerged as destinations for many multinational firms for doing business in different ways using several permutations and combinations. With the serious challenges being faced by the developed economies in the west because of the large number of COVID cases and its aftermath problems, China and India are likely to have their own role in the international diplomacy and firms in those countries are likely to play a vital role in the days. China is likely to play the role of a leading nation with some of its allies like Pakistan in the days to come while India is expected to be allied with the USA in this bipolar world under two diplomatic teams.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to identify and discuss new and novel business paradigms in China and India. In addition, this study examines the new business environment in those countries (2020 onwards) in the context of COVID 19 and explores the challenges and opportunities in the post COVID period.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on content analysis, this study discusses contemporary topics such as innovation, exports, foreign direct investment, technology, social capital, board independence as part of corporate governance and explores novel themes such as consumer behaviour in regard to luxury brands and women entrepreneurship in an emerging country context in this paper.\nFindings: It was found that there are several novel paradigms in the context of China and India. A paradigm shift in diplomatic relations has taken place as an aftermath of COVID-19 in the world.\nOriginality/value: This paper explores most of the unique dimensions of new and novel paradigms in the context of China and India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of OD practitioners in developing corporations' capacity to practice corporate citizenship: A sociomaterial case study	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Organization development", "Corporate citizenship", "Human resource development", "Corporate citizenship development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nResearch problem: Research shows that very few corporations have the organizational capacity to practice corporate citizenship (Lougee and Wallace, 2008; Porter, 2008). Evidence exists that ever more corporations adopt programs of corporate citizenship development to increase this capacity (Arevalo and Fallon, 2008; Haanaes et al., 2012). However, both in the academic and practical literature, there is a general lack of strategic understanding of how corporate citizenship development occurs (Fenwick, 2007; Hargett and Williams, 2009; Stolz and McLean, 2009). The potential of organization development (OD) frameworks and tools for the purpose of corporate citizenship development have been highlighted (Stolz, 2012), and OD practitioners have been identified as crucial for applying and advancing those frameworks and tools within a corporation (Fenwick and Bierema, 2008; Hatcher, 1998; Manga and Mirvis, 2005; Mirvis and Manga, 2007; Roberson and Hinton, 2000). Nevertheless, how OD practitioners develop corporate citizenship, thereby striving to increase the organizational capacity to practice corporate citizenship, has not been studied empirically. Thus, the purpose of this study is to answer the following research question, through a sociomaterial case study design: What are the strategies and behaviors that OD practitioners use for the purpose of developing corporate citizenship?\nResearch context: Developing organizational capacities to practice corporate citizenship is in urgent need because corporations are progressively involved in societal governance. Societal governance is hereby understood as being the result of:\nDefinitions and terminology context: Given the rather new focus on deliberate and active membership, the process inherent in corporate citizenship has become emphasized. Therefore, corporate citizenship is defined as:\nMethodology: To present the design of the study, the following issues are addressed. First, the specific sociomaterial perspective of the study design is presented. Second, the case study approach is proposed as appropriate for answering the research questions posed from this perspective. Third, the rationale for selecting the case and the research subjects within the case is explained. Fourth and fifth, procedures of data collection and data analysis are described, respectively. Sixth, the objectivity, dependability and validity of the research findings are addressed.\nResults: The OD practitioners exhibited a large set of strategies and behaviors, mutually presupposing each other, for achieving the goal of developing their organization's capacity to practice corporate citizenship. The purpose of this chapter is to present the strategies and behaviors used.\nDiscussion: As a result of the findings of this study, the organizational capacity to practice corporate citizenship can be conceived as a result of a process of corporate citizenship development, continuously reshaped by this process: the leveraging of opportunities whenever they emerge, the management of loose ends that come into existence seemingly next to each other and the creation of something new out of disconnected and often inconsistent components and sub-processes. Hereby, the OD practitioners considered a plethora of trends and practices, braved to enter the realm of these trends and practices they often must have found ambiguous, built and tested new initiatives time and again, provided power to experts and key opinion leaders to enable them to co-create, and ensured decentralized and localized implementation of the various initiatives of corporate citizenship development that evolved next to each other.\nConclusion: This study has implications on research, theory building and practice. From a research perspective, corporate citizenship development has become established as a research entity in itself. So far, managers were interviewed to find out how they reflected on the advancement of corporate citizenship within their organizational setting (Hind et al., 2009; Kakabadse et al., 2009; Manga and Mirvis, 2005; Mirvis and Manga, 2007; Quinn and Dalton, 2009). However, with a direct understanding of the processes - of how a corporate citizen comes about in actual practice, and what this corporate citizen is made out of through practice - discussions in the field can move closer to defining the roots of the concept of corporate citizenship, by identifying the processes that bring this concept into being.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to analyze how organization development (OD) practitioners develop corporate citizenship for the purpose of increasing their organization's capacity to practice corporate citizenship. Research shows that very few corporations have the organizational capacity to practice corporate citizenship. Evidence exists that ever more corporations adopt programs of corporate citizenship development to increase this capacity. However, there still is a general lack of a strategic understanding of how corporate citizenship development occurs. The potential of OD frameworks and tools for developing corporate citizenship have been highlighted. Nevertheless, how OD practitioners develop corporate citizenship has not been studied empirically so far.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sociomaterial case study design was used. The work of six OD practitioners when developing corporate citizenship in one of the largest pharmaceutical corporations was studied over several months, based on interviews, observations and document analyses.\nFindings: The findings presented offer model practices of corporate citizenship development, in the form of five core strategies and five core behaviors that increase an organization's capacity to practice corporate citizenship.\nResearch limitations/implications: With this study, the notion of corporate citizenship development has become established as a distinct research area. The study might encourage further research in this important niche area.\nPractical implications: The findings have direct practical implications for at least seven different stakeholder groups.\nOriginality/value: The findings shed new light on both the epistemological and practical foundations of the concept of corporate citizenship, and hint to a new role of the fields of OD and human resource development in the twenty-first century.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer engagement with brands in social media platforms: Configurations, equifinality and sharing	[ "Social media", "Customer engagement", "FIMIX-PLS", "Sharing", "FsQCA" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Global brands are dedicating significant resources toward managing a presence on one or more social media platforms - including Facebook and Instagram in the USA and Weibo and WeChat in China - to better engage customers with branded content and strengthen customer-brand relationships (Kumar et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2014). For instance, reflecting the growth in the volume of social media users in China, it is anticipated that by 2020, total revenue on social media marketing will exceed US$1.42bn, increasing from US$1.08bn in 2016 and faster than that for any other channel (Statista, 2016). Delivering efficient engagement initiatives on social media now represents the next frontier in how brands involve their customers to foster co-creation and innovation opportunities (Carlson et al., 2018; Harmeling et al., 2017). In these technology platforms, customers now actively participate in value co-creation practices such as sharing their knowledge, ideas, and preference information to support and collaborate with the brand (Hollebeek et al., 2017; Skalen et al., 2015). Central to successful management of such interactions is an understanding about what stimulates customers' sharing behavior in social media with the brand. Notwithstanding the recognized role of sharing (Hollebeek et al., 2016), little is known regarding how customer engagement (CE) leads to sharing behaviors within dynamic, interactive social media platforms.\nConceptual framework: The logic that underpins the theorizing put forward in this paper draws on two key arguments. First, CE dimensions affect sharing intentions. Second, the effects of CE dimensions on sharing intentions are not independent but configurational, and conditional in nature. In the following section we elaborate on these two arguments.\nPropositions: In line with recent studies that examine configurational arguments (Leischnig and Woodside, 2017; Saridakis and Angelidou, 2018), in this paper, two propositions are developed to encapsulate the conceptual arguments outlined in the previous section. Their development draws on further elaboration of the concept of CE and how CE dimensions relate to sharing intentions with the brand.\nMethodology: Sample\nAnalysis and results: Evaluation of measurement scales\nDiscussion and implications for theory and practice: This study clarifies, for the first time, current assumptions concerning the effect of heightened CE dimensions across multiple dimensions on sharing intentions with a brand page on social media. It provides support for P1 by demonstrating that different CE dimensions associate with sharing intentions on social media platforms. However, as put forward in P2, our findings show that different configurations of CE dimensions exist that should be considered as gestalts and that open different paths to strengthen sharing intentions with the brand. In further investigating this effect, the study advances the CE literature by substantiating that equifinality characterizes certain configurations of CE dimensions. Importantly, this study demonstrates that considering net-effects of CE dimensions only would be erroneous and that disregarding their interdependence can produce misleading conclusions.\nLimitations and future research: The findings presented in this paper should be viewed as a first step in understanding configurations of CE dimensions. The extent to which the findings can be generalized to explain sharing intentions with the brand through the use of social media should be viewed in the light of the study's limitations.\nConcluding remarks: In sum, the growing importance of harnessing social media technology to enable engaged customers to share experiences with brands in today's socially networked environment has created significant interest in the marketing community. Although effort has been devoted to understanding CE over the past five years, this study has significantly advanced this understanding by demonstrating the need to consider the configurational effect of four CE dimensions - focused attention, absorption, enthusiasm and interaction - together with two key cognitive structure properties, including a customer's level of brand knowledge and avant-gardism, on sharing intentions with the brand in social media; rather than considering net-effects only. The findings in this context further reveal that not all of the CE dimensions necessarily matter equally and that different configurations of them can produce superior sharing intentions, conditional on the two cognitive structure properties.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Social media brand platforms have become a popular means for engaged customers to share information and experiences with brands and other customers. However, empirical research on how customer engagement (CE) relates to customers' sharing intentions with the brand is limited. This study aims to investigate causal patterns of four CE dimensions - focused attention, absorption, enthusiasm and interaction - together with two cognitive structure properties in stimulating sharing intentions with the brand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from 782 Chinese customers of brand pages on the social media platform Weibo, this paper is the first to use both finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to empirically assess the impact of CE configurations on sharing intentions.\nFindings: The findings imply that not all of the CE dimensions co-occur necessarily and that different configurations of them can produce superior sharing intentions, conditional on the cognitive structure of customers, including their level of brand knowledge and avant-gardism.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although restricted to customers on Weibo, the results inform practice about how social media technology can facilitate different CE configurations and customer sharing intentions.\nPractical implications: The results inform brand managers' segmentation efforts and CE content marketing initiatives that can induce different CE configurations and customer sharing intentions with customers that possess high avant-gard and brand knowledge characteristics.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to substantiate how different CE configurations (as gestalts) affect sharing intentions in social media and to challenge conventional net-effects thinking about CE dimensions. Understanding how such conditional configurations foster sharing via a social media platform is advantageous because it can improve segmentation efforts to strengthen brand relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How to hold on to your key information-technology specialists: ... and the true cost of replacing them	[ "Recruitment", "Retention", "Working conditions", "Benefits", "Information technology", "Human resource management", "Human resource strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Most organizations cite staffing as their greatest expenditure, yet many fail to invest the necessary time and effort in recruiting the right staff - or ensuring that they are rewarded, challenged and used appropriately once they are in post.\nEffective retention and reward strategy essential: This means that organizations now have to look after their valued IT staff if they want to retain them. While having policies in place for staff development and rewarding key personnel is basic good practice, the shortage of some key workers makes having an effective retention and reward strategy essential rather than desirable.Perhaps the most fundamental issue to address when attempting to improve retention rates among IT staff is what attracts people to an IT career in the first place. This is not only about paying staff well, although of course that is a factor. Different people are motivated by different reasons: money, job security, promotion opportunities or the specific challenges that working in the industry offers.Take Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as an example. Shortly after setting up Facebook - and before it had become the household name it is today - Zuckerberg was offered $1 billion by Yahoo. He turned it down. A few years later, Microsoft offered $5 billion - a staggering amount considering that the site was still unprofitable at that point. Again Zuckerberg declined; either an incredibly brave or an incredibly foolhardy decision.Why did he do it? Zuckerberg was not primarily interested in the money. The challenge intrigued him and he wanted to see the entire project through to its conclusion. While few working in IT have Zuckerberg's courage, self belief or good fortune, many share his fundamental attraction to problem solving and challenge.\nRight person, right place, right post: The first significant step is employing the most appropriate person in the key position in the first place. As a specialist in IT recruitment, I am often surprised at how little time and effort companies invest in the recruitment process: a quick shortlist, a brief interview and they are done.Recruitment should be about finding the right person with the correct aptitude and attitude as well as the right skills, knowledge and experience. It should also be a two-way process, ensuring that the company is a good fit for the candidate, offering the sort of challenges, opportunities and rewards that he or she seeks. Candidates need to be able to learn about the company, its ethos, goals and business, as well as the role itself. If the process is thorough and mutually informative, a company is far more likely to get the right person in post - and someone who will stay.Among the things a candidate may want to know are:* the potential for job satisfaction;* the financial rewards and benefit structure;* the potential for career progression;* what investment is made in new equipment and technologies;* what training and development prospects exist;* whether there is a structure of teamwork and support;* whether there is a formal and effective appraisal system; and* what the company's ethos and business goals are.A clear and detailed job specification is essential - one that really reflects what the role will be about, as a major cause of job dissatisfaction and poor staff retention is a mismatch between expectation and reality.An effective and through recruitment process, possibly using a recruitment agency with specialist knowledge and expertise, will help to ensure that a firm gets good people in key positions - but all this effort will go to waste if the company fails to put structures in place to ensure staff development, welfare, challenge and reward. This is particularly relevant in IT departments in larger companies, where staff may be more likely to feel marginalized or undervalued.\nA fresh pair of eyes: Firms should start by taking a step back and looking at the organization or department as a whole. They should carry out some formal workforce planning: what are the most critical roles; who works in these roles; is there a common demographic; what will the organization lose if they leave?Businesses ought to use this information to compile a workforce plan for the next two, three or four years so they have identified which positions are key to success. The business then needs to look at ways of ensuring that people in these key roles have appropriate opportunities for development, training and appraisal.Studies have shown that many IT specialists are willing to take a pay cut for a flexible work schedule which may also include the option of working from home. The current generation of 20 to 30-year-olds has grown up with the concept of more flexible working practices and so may expect to have access to these opportunities. It can also be appealing to workers with families who appreciate the freedom of not being tied to the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. IT is notoriously male dominated, yet women with useful skills are being lost when they have a family because of inflexible working practices. The technology that we have can, and should, be used to give key workers the freedom to set their own work patterns.It is easy for IT skills to become out of date, so regular training is important. This will help to support personal development as well as increase the efficiency and expertise of key workers. However, training budgets are often the first to be cut when money is tight, which can prove to be a major false economy. Quarterly training reviews and an explicit plan for professional development can go a long way towards making an IT specialist feel valued, skilled and empowered.\nWhen employees leave: Inevitably, despite training, generous salaries and interesting challenges, staff do leave, Some level of fluidity can be advantageous to a company. The key point is whether turnover is higher than it should be - and why people are leaving.The best way to establish this is to have exit interviews where people are given the chance to explain in an open and honest way why they are choosing to leave the company. This will provide valuable feedback on the effectiveness of personnel procedures and will indicate whether a firm needs to be doing more to retain valuable staff.It can also be useful to carry out staff surveys at regular intervals although these need to be handled carefully and the firm needs to be prepared for some uncomfortable truths. Businesses also need to be prepared to act on valid and recurring grievances. Otherwise, staff surveys will be dismissed as a worthless exercise that may stir up resentment rather than achieving the intended effect of ensuring that staff feel listened to.Staff may be a company's greatest expense, but they should also be its most valuable asset. Like most people, IT specialists want to feel that they do a job well and that their input is recognized, valued and rewarded.The current high unemployment rates should not lull businesses into a false sense of security. There may be plenty more fish in the sea, but the crucial question is whether these are the right fish with the relevant skills to fill the key IT positions in the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Discusses what motivates people who work in information technology and looks at ways that companies can retain their key personnel.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Describes a retention and reward strategy for information-technology specialists.\nFindings: - Details the importance of having a clear job specification, proper business planning, the possibility of flexible working, an effective training and development policy, staff surveys and exit interviews.\nPractical implications: - Emphasizes that IT specialists need to feel that they do a job well and that their input is recognized, valued and rewarded.\nSocial implications: - Reveals that the market for IT specialists remains buoyant, despite the economic downturn.\nOriginality/value: - Stresses the importance of organizations looking after their valued IT staff if they want to retain them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of an assessment system for supplier quality management	[ "Quality management", "Quality", "Self assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Facing with increasingly competitive global marketplaces, manufacturing companies should seek ways to sustain their competitiveness. Manufacturers need to manage their suppliers and search for an improved way to rectify any managerial deficiencies (Humphreys et al., 2001; Yeung and Chin, 2004). Managing supplier quality (MSQ) is concerned with the sourcing, evaluation and selection of suppliers, provision of education and training, monitoring of supplier performance, and supplier certification (Yeung and Chin, 2004). Trent and Monczka (1999) argue that supply quality is the source for an imbalance proportion of the inputs into their organisation's products, processes and services. The ability of suppliers to influence customer satisfaction also makes MSQ essential to longer-term market success. Many practitioners view supplier performance as a contributor to enhance the competitive advantage of a firm (Humphreys et al., 2001). Besides, Lemke et al. (2003) contend that MSQ is a key to achieve good quality leading to a world-class success.Hong Kong has been undergoing a critical transformation from low-cost assembly to high value-added manufacturing. Since the introduction of the open-door policy of China in the 1980s, many Hong Kong manufacturers have relocated their production bases to mainland China, especially in the Pearl River Delta region, while retaining their headquarters offices in Hong Kong (Chin and Pun, 2002; Humphreys et al., 2001). With the restructuring of manufacturing industries focusing toward quality, cost, flexibility and technology, long-term supplier relationship is widely recognized to enhance competitiveness (Goetsch and Davis, 2003; Saunders, 1997). A new role for procurement and supplier management has thus emerged (Lemke et al., 2003; Goetsch and Davis, 2003; Handfield and Nichols, 1999). It is essential for Hong Kong manufacturers to establish high-level trust and cooperation with suppliers. The buyer-supplier relationships should move towards maintaining the long-term partnership and quality-oriented sourcing (Fredendall, 2001; Yeung and Chin, 2004). The key of establishing a close bond is to achieve common goals and creating mutual trust with suppliers (Zaheer et al., 1998).Moreover, it is imperative for manufacturers in Hong Kong or elsewhere to manage suppliers and measure their performance using a self-assessment approach. Self-assessment is a comprehensive, systematic and regular review of an organisation's activities that result in planned improvement actions (Pun, 2002). As far as the concern on the application of information technology in MSQ, this provides a feasible ground to computerise the self-assessment approach as a web-enabled system (Chin et al., 2003). There is a ready-made methodology for applying the model to real business operations. Questionnaire-type approaches offer an easy introduction to the concept of self-assessment. Tools such as those aid self-assessment and make it attractive to the wider business community, especially those that are designed in computer-based, or completing a questionnaire, which will generate a score, based on the user inputs (Bititci et al., 2002). The design of self-assessment instruments (e.g. questionnaire, checklist, etc) and the way of determining the score values for individual assessment criteria and elements are of methodological focus. These can be readily codified and processed using computing languages and Internet technologies (Chin et al., 2003).This paper describes an approach to develop a web-based system for assessing supplier quality in the manufacturing context. Supplier quality literature was reviewed to identify the assessment criteria and elements and form an analytical model for acquiring practitioners' views in MSQ. Empirical findings were collected by means of survey and interviews in Hong Kong. A prototype web-based system for MSQ self-assessment was developed, and industry experts were invited to share their view on evaluating the applicability of the system.\n2. MSQ assessment criteria and critical factors: Recent literature has postulated different models and approaches in connection with the management of supplier quality (e.g. Humphreys et al., 2001; Krause and Scannell, 2002; Pun et al., 2002; Yeung and Chin, 2004). Many practitioners and researchers have identified the assessment criteria pertinent to managing supplier quality with respect to Strategic Alliance (e.g. Krause and Scannell, 2002; Simatupang et al., 2002), Supplier Development (e.g. Kannan and Tan, 2002; Sarkis and Talluri, 2002; Szwejczewski et al., 2001), and Supplier Monitoring (e.g. Dean and Kiu, 2002; Simpson et al., 2002). These criteria encompass several critical elements (i.e. factors and sub-factors) that facilitate the self-assessment of MSQ performance. Table I provides a list of MSQ assessment criteria and accompanying elements. These criteria incorporate the core values and concepts of MSQ, addressing the areas of mutual trust, supplier policy, resources sharing, cooperative work, preventive approach and performance measurement (see Table II).2.1 Strategic alliance\n3. An empirical study in Hong Kong: The authors conducted a recent study comprising of literature review, mail survey, expert interviews and software development based on the manufacturing business environment in Hong Kong. The study has three phases as illustrated in Figure 1. Phase One was concerned with identifying critical factors that would determine the success and performance of MSQ. The assessment criteria and critical factors were identified through literature review, and the common MSQ practices of manufacturers were explored via a mail survey conducted in Hong Kong. The computation of Cronbach's alpha was used to test for both consistency and stability of the survey results (Cronbach, 1951). In the second phase, the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) was employed to formulate an analytical framework for MSQ self-assessment. The construct of the framework was made, and a set of AHP questionnaire was designed for facilitating the conduct of interviews. Industry experts were invited to evaluate the construct and made pair-wise comparison on assessment criteria and accompanying elements using a nine-point scale (Saaty, 1994). The evaluation results could determine the relative priority of assessment criteria and elements with the aid of the multi-criteria decision support analytical software, Expert Choice. During the interviews, the best practices of individual factors were also collected to form the knowledge base of the assessment system. In Phase Three, JavaScript software development tool was chosen, and the key findings of AHP analysis were used to develop a prototype web-based system for MSQ self-assessment. Moreover, a post-evaluation interview was carried out to evaluate the applicability of the system.3.1 The survey and identification of assessment criteria\n4. Development of web-based system: 4.1 System design\n5. Conclusion: Managing supplier quality is a proactive approach to pursue continuous quality improvement and collaborative alliance with suppliers. The supplier-related characteristics directly impact on quality processes. This paper identified key attributes of MSQ performance, and proposed a web-based self-assessment paradigm that would help manufacturing enterprises to attain performance goals. The proposed system contained a list of assessment criteria and elements and developed a scoring guideline for MSQ self-assessment. The findings of the post-evaluation interviews verified the potential applicability of the system. Despite the relatively small sample, many respondents agreed that the assessment criteria and elements could indicate the performance status of their organisations. The results affirmed that the web-based system and accompanying tools (i.e. the self-assessment questionnaire, scoring guidelines, etc) would help manufacturers to profile their strengths and weaknesses, and identify improvement opportunities.The development of web-based approach would enable manufacturers to build their own self-assessment platform for amalgamating strategies, plans and actions. This may serve for guiding the implementation of the holistic mechanism for enhancing MSQ performance. Using the system would facilitate information sharing of best practices. Internal benchmarking and external comparison of performance are made possible. Future research would validate the assessment criteria and elements identified for large manufacturers and SMEs of different operations nature, separately and collectively. In order to reveal sector-specific characteristics, comparative evaluations of MSQ should be conducted across various manufacturing sectors. Case studies are suggested to investigate the detailed MSQ processes not only in Hong Kong, but in the wider regional and global contexts. The applicability of the web-based system could be extended to different industry sectors and disciplines whereby new attributes and elements could be included. Moreover, more research work would be made on the development of web-based system with emphasis on user interface design, intelligent tutoring facilities and organisational learning capabilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to describe the development of a web-based system for managing and assessing suppliers, presenting the system design and interface of the prototype and discussing the applicability of the system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this paper critical assessment criteria and factors for managing supplier quality (MSQ) were identified through literature review and a mail survey of manufacturers in Hong Kong. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology, a self-assessment model comprising these criteria and factors was developed. Industry experts were invited to determine the relative weighting of these criteria and factors. A software was developed to support the assessment system.\nFindings: - The findings in this paper identified criteria addressed strategic alliance, supplier development and supplier monitoring. The critical factors encompassed buyer-supplier partnership, technology and information sharing, sourcing strategies, supplier evaluation and motivation, and issues on performance measurement and improvement. A self-assessment model comprising these criteria and factors was developed.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper shows that in future work, more best practices of supplier management will be identified to enrich the knowledge base of the system in order to further develop the assessment system to an expert system.\nPractical implications: - The findings in this paper were incorporated to develop a prototype web-based system for self-assessment with promising industrial validation results.\nOriginality/value: - In this paper, a novel self-assessment system was developed for supplier quality management. It is of great value for quality management theory and practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collaborative purchasing of complex technologies in healthcare: Implications for alignment strategies	[ "Healthcare", "Collaborative purchasing", "Service operations management", "Technology sourcing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: One of the objectives of national governments and local administrations is to optimize the use of the public expenditure while guaranteeing high-quality services to their citizens. The incessant effort devoted by most of the developed countries to reduce the public expenditure without compromising the quality of the welfare system is tremendous, especially during weak economic conditions. One noteworthy effort is the increased focus of public sectors to promote the procurement of goods and services in a more efficient manner, such as through collaborative purchasing (CP). In the EuropeanUnion, for instance, public procurement shares 16 percent of the total GDP of the member countries, equivalent to ;1,800 billion per year (Strand et al., 2011). CP provides the opportunity to operationalize group purchasing strategies in order to gain from economies of scope and scale. More specifically, it is the joint arrangement of two or more independent organizations that combines individual requirements for purchased materials, services and capital goods. The purpose is to benefit from better pricing, service and technology from suppliers than it could be obtained if each organization purchased goods and services alone (Hendrick, 1997).\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Purchasing in healthcare\n3. Research methodology: According to Wong et al. (2012), case study and literature review are the predominant research methodologies used in supply chain alignment, mostly with focus on retail and manufacturing sectors. Our study addresses supply chain alignment with respect to shareholder alignment (i.e. within CP) and customer alignment (i.e. between CP and vendors) in the service sector (i.e. healthcare). We also adopt a qualitative research approach, as according to Yin (2003), when the phenomenon of interest cannot be explained in isolation from its social complexity, there is the need to consider multiple subjective perspectives and analyze the phenomenon through concrete cases. Our study aims at determining the mechanisms and the constructs that intervene in the aligning process between buyers and vendors in CP of complex equipment. The phenomenon takes place in a context where different actors play a role and multiple subjective perspectives are considered. Specifically the buyers are influenced by various institutional actors (such as government and regions) at different moments of the purchasing process. This is a more complex process than an ordinary purchasing process where the buyer and the vendor can finalize their agreement in absence of other actors. Furthermore the different interests and competences of the buyers need to be combined prior to issuing a proposal to the vendors.\n4. Case description: The DNHS comprises of different stakeholders with different responsibilities. While the national government is responsible for setting the general guidelines and providing funds, the planning and monitoring take place at the regional level. Regions have the responsibility for all curative services delivered by hospitals, clinics and general practitioners. Municipalities are responsible for rehabilitation, prevention and health promotion. The system is financed by public funds. The national central government provides the regions with funds on a yearly basis. A share of the regional funds is utilized to finance the healthcare system at the regional level. Most of the funds are allocated to the regional hospitals. For the hospitals, the main cost incurred is related to staff followed by drugs and medical equipment.\n5. Discussion: The logic behind CP is to bundle purchases in order to acquire a better position in the marketplace and to gain from economies of scale. However many issues have to be taken into account to achieve alignment: the level of commitment of the different shareholders, the process of issuing a tender and evaluate the offer and the level of satisfaction of the ultimate users of the purchased good. Other issues are related to the specificity of the purchased equipment that is characterized by a high level of complexity in terms of technology, service and modality of use, a low-purchasing frequency and a long life cycle. Next we present the aligning mechanisms that emerged from the case.\n6. Implications for theory: Our findings provide us the foundation to understand some of the theoretical underpinning in the operations management literature, especially with respect to alignment of technology sourcing with system design strategies and service operations management.\n7. Conclusions: We took a closer look at the procurement and purchasing processes of complex medical equipment in healthcare. Procurement represents a considerable part of the total healthcare expenditure, therefore reducing procurement costs can release resources to guarantee or even improve the quality of the healthcare services provided to patients. In addition, CP forces different healthcare organizations to improve collaboration and information sharing, hence to \"learn from the best-in-class.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buyers and the vendors pursue alignment in collaborative purchasing (CP) of complex medical technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through a literature review in CP, the paper identify factors for shareholder alignment (i.e. aligning the needs of the buyers within the purchasing group) and customer alignment (i.e. aligning buyers' needs with the vendors offering strategies) and investigate how they manifest in the case of CP of complex technology in the Danish National Healthcare System.\nFindings: Shareholder alignment requires appropriate management of the relationships, expertise and guidance in simplifying procedures and effective management of the purchasing group. Customer alignment is facilitated by buyers' understating of the vendor's design options, which are moderated by the vendor's design strategies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings and generalizations from a single case study are limited to the complexity of the purchased technology and the specific cultural context. However the paper represents the first explorative study that poses the attention on the relevance of shareholder and customer alignment in CP.\nPractical implications: The study can offer hospitals, vendors, governmental and regional institutions a better understanding about the alignment mechanisms for successful implementation of CP and how to avoid pitfalls.\nOriginality/value: Literature on CP is scarce as there are virtually no contributions that debate the key elements and tradeoffs that need to be considered for strategic alignment. The study addresses this gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of a conceptual framework on real options theory for strategic human resource management	[ "Real options theory", "Information technology", "Training and development", "Strategic human resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Indian economy has achieved an economic vibrancy since the last two and half decades because of the decision of the Indian Government in the year 1991 to go for liberalization, privatization and globalization (Das, 2000; Dutta and Sundaram, 2004). These ushered new market opportunities at both firm factor input and consumer output end in Indian market (Jalan, 2004; Das, 2000). Further, the developed Western economies (primarily firms based from the USA) employed Indian information technology (IT) and its allied service employees for doing backend work operations of US firms (Balakrishnan, 2006; Chaudhary, 2016; Tembulkar, 2015). This has over the years provided remarkable economic prospects to millions of Indians (Das, 2000; Dutta and Sundaram, 2004).\n2. Literature review: Human resource management (HRM) has been a vital value chain (Porter, 1985) function for firms (Bohlander and Snell, 2009; Dessler, 2007; Delancy and Huselid, 1996). It has been noted that HRM has been even more critical for emerging economy firms like in India (Khanna and Palepu, 2010). Researchers from the resource-based view (RBV) (Barney, 1986, 1991, 2001; Barney and Wright, 1998; Barney and Zajac, 1994) attested to the notion that human resource of a firm was a strategic resource and played a pivotal role for a firm to earn superior returns through inimitability value and uniqueness (Block and Kossek, 2000; Ulrich et al., 2001; Daft, 2001; SamGnanakkan, 2010). Healthy HRM practices and process led to improved firm performance and manifested in higher firm growth across multi-dimensions parameters (Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Arthur, 1994). Imparting Training and Development (T&D) for providing knowledge and improving skill (T&D) to IT industry firm employees improved the quality of human resource performance (Riley et al., 2017; Collins and Clark, 2003). Thus, providing T&D to the employees has been beneficial for firms (Saridakis et al., 2017; Storey, 2002). Firm human resource base has been viewed as both a repository and a generator of knowledge which can be used for earning superior return for firms and this is attested by the knowledge-based view of a firm (Kogut and Zander, 1996; Liebeskind, 1996). Thus providing T&D to employees is a necessary agenda for IT firms.\n3. Researchable objective: In India, IT firms NTIG training has required substantial financial investment on the part of the IT firms although laden with uncertain and risky outcome. Given this context, real options theory can be used as a decision making tool to value and decide on the amount and timing of investment to be made in the NTIG T&D investments as a logical extension of the work done by (Luherman, 1998a, b; Copeland and Tufano, 2004; Trigeorgis, 1993a, b, 1996; Mun, 2006).Thus, the research objective here is to create a conceptual real option based \"Call/Put\" and \"Buy/Sell\" (Black and Scholes, 1973; Hull and Basu, 2010; Brealey et al., 2007) instrument for guiding firm-level HR managers to figure out a mechanism regarding:\n4. Conceptual application of real options theory: An IT NTIG is treated as a real asset in this discussion. Providing T&D to the NTIG is a required expenditure (ex ante) for an India IT firm. The T&D is a course as a process (in inertia) requiring time. Post training the IT NTIG work skill enrichments is expected to provide the firm benefits in future (ex ante). This theorization frame makes the IT NTIG T&D a suitable case exercise for application of real option function. Thus any:\n5. Conclusion: The SBF, services side of India IT industry uses a pricing model for its resources (developers/testers) based on the number of years of experience of a person. Thus, at a broad organizational level the differences in competency levels of individual human resources does not affect and alter the price charged to the client resulting in cash inflow differentials. Unless a human resource in Indian IT industry is significantly talented there is no cash inflow alteration impact. Generally, even if the individual human resource is extra ordinarily talented (with say two years of experience) there is no way to ascertain and ascribe this individual human resource with being billed more than an individual human resource with six years of experience. Indian IT human resources are billed at the same rate but differential billing rates for resources based on individual capacities of resources are not quite possible by extant HRM practices and process in the present day Indian IT SBF firms. Due to the practice of this pricing model, it may be challenging to apply this framework to a typical firm in IT services landscape.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual real options theory framework for the firms to use options to mitigate both investment risks and retention of the trained human resources.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper is built with logical argumentation.\nFindings: The growth of IT firms has created a demand for quality IT industry employees in substantive quantity in India. IT firms provide training and development (T&D) inputs for developing better skills of employees for better employee and superior firm performance. T&D input requires firm investment. It also creates enhanced market demand for the trained employee. High growth area like IT firms not only competes for market but also for employees. A trained employee might leave the firm that provided the training to join a rival firm which offers relatively better salary, a catch -22 situation. This paper develops a real options-based framework for strategic human resource management (HRM).\nResearch limitations/implications: This work integrates the theory of real options and strategic HRM.\nOriginality/value: This conceptual work is one of the first attempts to use real options theory on strategic HRM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Property rights and investment: the mediating effect of contract enforcement	[ "Ethiopia", "Bootstrapping", "Property rights", "Mediation test", "Rights enforcement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Private sector investment is critical for poverty reduction, as it leads to economic growth. However, different countries experience different investment, in particular developing countries have lagged behind. In most cases, investments are on small scale. Ethiopia is a country with a past socialist legacy; the state was responsible for every investment at small and large scale levels, thereby crowding out private sector investment. Despite a transition to a market economy, private investment has not been thriving, as some of the impediments to investment remain unresolved in the country.\nLiterature review: Property rights, contract enforcement and household investment\nResearch methodology: Sample and data collection\nMeasurements: Measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions is notoriously difficult (Brown, 2008). In this study, we adapt components of measures proposed by \"Doing Business Report\" (2014), Levy-Carciente (2015) and other scholars (Brunetti et al., 1998; Joireman, 2011; Brasselle et al., 2002; Field, 2005). Property rights were measured in terms of ownership rights, property registration and the level of expropriation. Enforceability of contracts is measured by perceived characteristics as proposed by Joireman (2011): predictability, accessibility and rule of law. Predictability measures the extent to which laws and policies are consistent at settling property dispute based on a set of criteria. The questions are set to assess whether unpredictability in rules hinders households' investment decisions. Predictability was measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree, higher scores indicate higher perceived predictable institutions. Accessibility measures the extent to which households can afford institutional services in terms of proximity, time and resources. This indicator was measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree, higher scores indicate higher accessibility. Rule of law measures the perception of households on the impartiality of institutions (equity) and the extent to which institutions are likely to solve problems authoritatively and completely (effectiveness).\nFindings: Data analysis\nDiscussion and conclusion: In this study, we investigated how security of property rights affects investment in a sample of Ethiopian households. We found that next to a direct effect of the security of property rights, there is an indirect effect of security of property rights on investment through enforceability of contracts. Hence, the degree to which households feel that a contract can be enforced partially mediates the relationship between security of property rights and investment performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically test whether enforceability mediates the relationship between property rights and investment in housing, using data from land formalization project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was cross-sectional in design; data were collected from a sample of 210 households that benefited from the recent Addis Ababa city land and buildings formalization project. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the goodness-of-fit of the latent structures underlying the constructs. Mediation was tested using the Baron and Kenny steps, combined with bootstrapping technique. Robustness of results was checked.\nFindings: The results indicate statistically significant mediation effect of contract enforcement. However, the mediation is partial, there is still a substantial direct effect of security of property rights on investment.\nPractical implications: Any initiative to land formalization projects needs to consider contract enforcement environment, as presence and size of property rights effects largely depend on whether those rights are properly enforced.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that conceptualizes the mediating effect of contract enforcement on the relationship between property rights and investment from an African country perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Predecessors competency framework for nurturing successors in family firms	[ "Competency", "Family firms", "Predecessor", "Successor nurturing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Family firms play an important role in the economy of different nations around the world (Zahra et al., 2004), which is why great emphasis is laid on their development and success. Nonetheless, only a third of family firms effectively transfer to the second, and 15 percent to the third generation (Ibrahim et al., 2001; Davis and Harveston, 1998; Kets de Vries, 1993). Among a variety of reasons for this, poor management succession claims to be one of the most important issues (Miller et al., 2003). Management succession is a process whereby the management of the firm is transferred from one generation to another (Shepherd and Zacharakis, 2000). There have been various studies carried out on the factors involved in a successful succession. Successful succession is defined as the positive performance of a business after succession, viability of the business, and the satisfaction of stakeholders with the succession process (Cabrera-Suarez et al., 2001; Sharma et al., 2001). Each of the studies in the literature approaches the issue of successful succession from a certain point of view. Some of them, for example, focus on actions and events required for succession, with a number of others suggesting organizational mechanisms for a proper succession (Le Breton-Miller et al., 2004). However, there are also a number of studies done on successor nurturing as one of the key themes in this area. Successor nurturing is a process whereby competencies required for the successor's effective management of a family firm are developed. This theme has been a focal point of concern for many researchers (e.g. Barach and Ganitsky, 1995; Cabrera-Suarez et al., 2001; Cadieux, 2007). Reviewing their work indicates that the predecessor holds a key part in successor nurturing (Cabrera-Suarez, 2005) in that the predecessor must create a proper learning context for the successor (Goldberg and Woolridge, 1993). Therefore, to be successful in nurturing the successor the predecessor should already possess the required competencies which help him to use proper nurturing methods. As reviewed by Long and Chrisman (2014), the literature suggests a number of attributes that predecessors require for nurturing the successor in family firms. However previous studies have proven to be weak in doing a systematic study, from a competency-based approach to find the required competencies of the predecessor based on the methods used to nurture the successor. Competencies are a set of characteristics, combined of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality characteristics that enable one to achieve a superior performance.\nLiterature review: Predecessor attributes for successor nurturing in family firms\nMethodology: Research design\nFindings and discussion: The analysis of the data indicates that predecessor competencies required for successor nurturing are: open-mindedness, risk-taking, patience, explicitness, motivation, trustworthiness, communication skills, and value orientation. Table III shows the number of interviewees who mentioned the competencies in each firm. This table also points out whether the predecessor and successor have mentioned the competency or not.\nConclusions: In this research, five family firms were studied in terms of the predecessor's competencies for successor nurturing, using a qualitative research method. There are two main contributions. First, adopting a competency-based view differentiates this research from previous literature and lets us identify the competencies of the predecessor based on the nurturing methods. Therefore, this systematic study not only described the nurturing methods used in subject firms (particularly the functions of mentoring) and the competencies needed for applying the methods, but also by revealing the relationship among competencies and methods, provided a better explanation of how and why the identified competencies helped the predecessor nurture the successor. Based on the findings, eight competencies were found to be the most important for the predecessors. Open-mindedness as the first competency makes the predecessor believe in the importance of innovative ideas and hence provide the successor with educational and training courses. Moreover, such a competency better enables the predecessor to delegate key responsibilities and hence to provide a wider context for the successor to realize his ideas in the firm. Finally, open-mindedness helps the predecessor to, in a context free from dictatorship, prepare grounds for the successor to voice his opinions. This paves the way for a proper relationship between the predecessor and the successor during the successor nurturing process. Risk-taking is another competency required for the predecessor which entails delegation of key responsibilities and setting challenging assignments for the successor during the nurturing process. Additionally, patience is another competency which, while necessary for delegation, is needed in order for the predecessor's effective accomplishment of mentoring functions such as protecting the successor from opponents. For successor nurturing, explicitness is also needed in two respects. First, it is essential for support and protection of the successor, and second for stimulating perseverance in the successor. Predecessor's internal motivation is yet another competency which helps the predecessor to carry out the successor nurturing process passionately and wholeheartedly. Similarly, the predecessor's trustworthiness to the successor as another competency is highly important because the successor's confidence in the predecessor renders the former more susceptible to learning from the latter. Moreover, the trust of the family, organization, and society in the predecessor prepares the ground for heeding his decisions and delegation of key responsibilities to the successor during the nurturing process. Still, carrying out the successor nurturing process also calls for communication skills which provides for an intimate, interactive relationship based on mutual respect amongst the predecessor, the successor, and other stakeholders. Thanks to this competency it is possible to win the consent of the stakeholders in the successor nurturing process to support the successor, and the consent of the successor in terms of accepting the predecessor's opinions especially in line with mentoring functions throughout the nurturing process. And last but not least, value orientation as an important competency helps the predecessor to transfer the core values to the successor during the nurturing process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Previous research indicates that a high percentage of family firms are not able to transfer to the next generation. This is, for the most part, due to poor succession. In this regard, the competency of the predecessor in nurturing a competent successor is a central issue. The purpose of this paper is to identify the predecessor competencies required to nurture a successor.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research applied a qualitative research methodology with a case study approach, whereby five large Iranian family firms which have maintained superior performance across generations were studied.\nFindings: The findings indicated that predecessor competencies required for successor nurturing are open-mindedness, risk-taking, patience, explicitness, motivation, trustworthiness, communicative skills, and value orientation. Cross-case analysis also revealed that successor attributes and family attributes influence the importance of the predecessor's competencies.\nOriginality/value: The literature suggests a number of attributes that predecessors require for nurturing the successor in family firms. However, previous studies have proven to be weak in doing a systematic study, from a competency-based approach, to find the required predecessor competencies based on the methods used to nurture the successor. Therefore, this research would be helpful in explaining the predecessor's required competencies for nurturing the successor.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The importance of university, students and students' union partnerships in student-led projects: A case study	[ "Partnerships", "Curriculum", "Sustainable development goals", "Co-curriculum", "Hidden curriculum", "Students’ unions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), referred to as \"a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all\" (United Nations, 2019), encompass intertwining and interdependent economic, social and environmental challenges. Higher Education Institutions have a key role to play in the achievement of the Goals through their research, education, and their own operations and estates, and wider community involvement. One of the ten targets under Goal 4 \"Quality Education\" is \"to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development[...]\" (United Nations, 2019). With 80 per cent of world leaders having attended university, universities have a major responsibility to ensure their graduates have the knowledge, skills, and values to help business, government and society progress towards a more sustainable future (Chalkley, 2006; Shephard, 2015; Winter et al., 2015). The aims of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can be achieved in universities through many different routes, including the formal curriculum, the co-(informal) curriculum - the activities that students can become involved in outside their formal programme of study; and the hidden curriculum (Hopkinson et al., 2008; Lozano et al., 2013) - the potential learning created by the environment in which students work, study and live.\nMethodology: This study uses a single case study approach (Yin, 2009) to examine collaboration between the University, students and SU on student-led sustainability projects. This paper inquires into four separate projects involving partnership working between these stakeholders. This study is therefore positioned as \"practitioner research\" in which the practitioner (in this case, sustainability and student support professionals) inquired into their own practice (in this case, supporting student-led sustainability projects through collaboration) (Trahar, 2009). The reflections of four different practitioner-researchers (the authors) with different positions within the partnership are drawn on to triangulate the learning from each perspective providing inferential validity, and enhancing the internal validity of the analysis. The case study does not seek to be statistically generalisable or to generate external validity, rather the goal is to expand and generalise theories (Yin, 2009) which may be applicable and useful to analogous situations of others. As a result of these \"insider\" roles, there are greater opportunities for drawing on contextual and tacit knowledge (Brannick and Coghlan, 2007). However, there is more potential for the researcher as \"insider\" to sway the analysis with personal biases. Incorporating perspectives from four authors working with the projects in different ways provided opportunities for these biases to be challenged, however, improving trustworthiness (Patton, 2015).\nThe projects and partnership analysis: This section explores the University and the Students' Union partnerships of four student-led co-curricular sustainability projects, identifying common features between projects, potential obstacles to their success, and the opportunities projects present for embedding ESD and the SDGs into the student experience (Albareda-Tiana et al., 2018).\nThe Great Donate: The Great Donate is an end of term \"halls move out\" scheme which launched in 2014. Originally called \"Keele Green Move Out\", a less extensive scheme ran in 2014 and 2015 mainly:\nKeele Food Co-op: Keele Food Co-op was launched through the Think:Green student society which is a sustainability focussed student group set up through and supported by the SU. Its aim was to help students access seasonal, organic and locally produced vegetables free from plastic packaging at point of purchase and was supported by funding from the National Union of Students. Keele students initiated, developed and ran a veg-bag scheme, including ordering produce, taking orders through the SU website, producing communications and marketing materials, and packing and selling the produce to students and staff for collection from a weekly stall. The scheme launched fruit bags in its second year, and in 2017 the scheme was successful in applying for funding to expand further into dried goods (although this was not realised as originally planned).\nSustainability Voice Representatives: Sustainability Voice Representatives (SVRs) are students who have a formal responsibility for driving forward sustainability through their courses, as part of the academic representation programme, overseen by the Student Voice department at the SU who are responsible for ensuring the effective representation of students in all aspects of the student experience including, as in this case, the academic experience. The inspiration for SVRs initially came from the University's Law School, who created a 'Green StARs' (Student Academic Representatives) scheme as part of their engagement with the NUS Green Impact accreditation scheme in 2014-15. This initiative prompted the University's ESD team and the SU's Student Voice team to collaborate to introduce the role across all Schools in the University. The SU's Student Voice team liaised with the University's Quality Assurance Manager, whose remit includes overseeing quality standards of degree programmes, to gain agreement to develop the role and add an agenda item for programmes to consider sustainability during Staff-Student Voice Committee meetings.\nStudent Sustainability Bungalow: The Student Sustainability Bungalow was established in 2011, driven by students studying Keele's BSc Environment and Sustainability programme who wanted to \"live what they were learning\". Support from the Environment and Sustainability Programme Directors and the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Environment and Sustainability led to a partnership and collaboration with the Estates and Accommodation teams that identified a bungalow on campus with accommodation for four students. It consisted of a communal kitchen, living area, and large garden area to enable students to grow their own food and experiment with sustainable living.\nDiscussion: In each of the student-led projects explored in this case study, students have had the opportunity to engage with experiential learning, providing opportunity for deeper learning and understanding to be developed (Kolb, 2015). The projects provide different levels of opportunity for students to be immersed in sustainability issues (Figure 1) as active participants, gaining purposive experiences through changes to their own lives and the world around them (Brodie et al., 2011). By providing students with an immersive experience of sustainability issues through different projects, students encounter real-life sustainability problems and scenarios that they can learn from (Dawe et al., 2005), whilst developing skills and attributes such as problem solving, creativity (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1998), negotiation, marketing and communication, in a way which can be hard to replicate in the formal curriculum. The projects align with engagement theory through engaging students in learning through interaction with others and being involved in tasks that are worthwhile (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1998). This echoes constructivist learning approaches through the participatory and experiential nature of the projects, whilst providing intrinsic motivation for students due to the meaningfulness of the projects they create (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1998). The students perceive value in the activities through seeing impact on their student peers, the University community and the wider student community. In all projects, students work as team members applying skills such as communication and through collaboration, students create solutions to a problem they have identified, whilst donations of food, goods or time and effort enable students to benefit the University, future generations of students and wider society.\nEnabling aspects to maximise student-led project outcomes: Key stakeholders\nBarriers to student-led project achievements: Weak stakeholder relationships\nConclusion: The student-led co-curricular projects presented in this paper provide real-life experiences of sustainability that offer significant learning potential about driving change, but encompass several challenges, some of which can be overcome by effective partnership through different parts of the University and Students' Union. Furthermore, they offer opportunities to link in with multiple SDGs, and to enable students to become members of an 'energetic society' who effect change as active citizens or members of civil society, driven by their personal concern relating to tackling sustainability challenges (Hajer et al., 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore a single-institution case study of partnership working between students, the University and Students' Union, through four student-led sustainability projects. The paper analyses the role and value of these partnerships and provides advice for other institutions on effective partnership working between these stakeholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A single case study of partnership working with multiple embedded units of analysis (four projects) is presented based on reflections of practitioners involved in the projects who have different roles within the University and Students' Union.\nFindings: The longevity and effectiveness of student-led projects, and disciplinary-breadth of students engaged, can be enhanced by greater collaboration with, and integration into, University and Students' Union systems. Partnership working between different stakeholders is key to overcoming challenges and the success of student-led projects, helped by key staff \"enablers\". These projects provide myriad learning opportunities for developing change agency skills, even where projects are relatively short-lived and could be seen as failures in terms of longevity.\nResearch limitations/implications: This analysis is based solely on practitioner reflections, with limited direct quantification or qualitative data on the projects' impacts on the students themselves.\nOriginality/value: This paper draws together the experiences and reflections of four practitioners with different roles within the University and Students' Union across four different projects and provides advice to generate student-led sustainability projects which have longevity and impact for wider student populations and future generations of cohorts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The challenges of an integrated governance process in healthcare	[ "Risk management", "Clinical governance", "Governance", "Audit", "Nursing", "Integrated governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The ideology of governance is frequently espoused within healthcare organisations as a strategy to safe guard the standard of clinical care. However, many clinicians grapple with understanding the primary principles of governance, and how the various structures relate and contribute to the functioning of the healthcare organisation. Defining governance is complex, and as a result there has been a proliferation of definitions proffered and varying models implemented. Regardless, there appears to be an aggregate of essential attributes associated with the governance process which include leadership, stewardship, accountability, direction and control (Davies and Walley, 2000). In turn, governance is commonly perceived to be a system through which an organisation is directed, managed and held accountable. The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (2004) elucidate that governance emphases the need for shared responsibility and accountability of governing bodies, managers and clinicians in the provision of patient care, which endeavours to minimise risks to consumers, whilst striving for continued quality improvement, and the transparent monitoring and reporting of outcomes. Operationally, it establishes the objectives and strategies of an organisation and how these will be achieved in conjunction with risk management and assessment, and how compliance and performance is optimised (Som, 2004).\nIntegrated governance in healthcare: The emerging recognition of integrated governance has originated from acknowledging that previous approaches were frequently disparate and fragmented in regards to quality improvement (Halligan and Donaldson, 2001). This practice produced a divergence of activities between varying governance committees, with changes in practices occurring in isolation and without consideration of key organisational issues and objectives (Deighan and Bullivant, 2006). Deighan and Bullivant (2006) characterise integrated governance as being \"systems, processes and behaviours by which healthcare organisations lead, direct and control their functions in order to achieve organisational objectives, safety and quality of service and in which they relate to patients and carers, the wider community and partner organisations\" (p. 11). Integrated governance approaches have been proffered as a strategy to curtail fragmentation within healthcare organisations, and to address increasing demands on healthcare services, escalating prevalence of chronic health diseases, and increased consumer expectations. As a result, integration of governance processes was devised as a way of ensuring continuity and transparency regarding organisational objectives and agenda, and to facilitate the provision of providing high quality of healthcare services, which remained engaged with all facets of performance expectations (Council of Australian Governments, 2005).\nImpact of dysfunctional governance processes: The detrimental impact of poor governance processes and a lack of engagement at each level have resulted in some catastrophic system failures, whereby formal organisational procedures have been left impotent and unable to respond effectively. These failings contribute to the emergence of toxic workplace cultures in which egregious conduct evolves, information is suppressed and incident reporting is omitted. The impact of which can be profound, the landmark findings in the Quality in Australian Healthcare Study reported that 16.6 per cent of hospital admissions incurred an adverse event, of which 51.2 per cent were deemed to have been preventable (Hamilton et al., 2014). As a result 50,000 Australians incur permanent disability, and 18,000 die each year as a result of preventable adverse events, with an estimated cost of $900 million per annum to hospitals (Wilson et al., 1995). A subsequent study investigating incidence rates of adverse events in developed countries conducted by the World Health Care Patients Safety EMRO/AFRO Working Group (2012) reported similar findings, suggesting that clinical quality and safety needs to be enhanced to protect consumers. The Australian healthcare system has not gone unscathed by high-profile patient safety inquiries, with the Douglas Inquiry into obstetrics and gynaecological services at King Edwards Memorial Hospital (WA, 1990-2000; Douglas et al., 2001), the Walker Inquiry into Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals (NSW) (Walker, 2004) and Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry centring on Bundaberg Hospital (Davies, 2005). These inquiries highlight the issues encountered when dysfunctional cultures emerged due to a lack of effective leadership and governance processes to safe guard quality in healthcare and patient safety. Subsequently, it is imperative that governance structures work in synchrony to foster a culture that is willing to work within a systems approach, has a patient-centred focus, undertakes continuous improvement activities and implements innovative practices to deliver care. To achieve organisational objectives the governance processes and structures need to allow for delegation of responsibility in combination with accountability for performance. Through achieving a balance between these, it supports the empowerment of staff via their involvement in activities such as planning, decision making, implementation and performing improvement activities (Department of Human Services, 2009). In order for governance processes to be effective, the goals of the organisation needs to be communicated, along with identifying the key priorities and strategic direction of the organisation in regards to improve quality of healthcare delivery and clinical safety. These strategies need to encompass both national and state objectives and also key aspects of healthcare professional policy.\nIntegrated governance and leadership: In order to overcome some of the deficiencies within integrated governance approaches, leadership at all levels within organisations is critical in order to achieve outcomes and maintain standards consistent with quality healthcare. Moreover, to promote conduct that adheres with legal, ethical and policy requirements. The effectiveness of an organisations governance framework and the control it provides is supported by the values, and conduct of the organisations leaders in operationalising the framework (ANAO, 2003). The primary principles of good governance structures include and are not limited to focusing on the organisations purpose and on outcomes for consumers, effective performance in clearly defined functions and roles, the promotion of core values, informed and transparent decision making with concurrent risk management, development of capacity and capability of the governance structure and engaging stakeholders (Car et al., 2008). An effective leader establishes and promotes clear objectives and focuses on achieving high performance with accountability. Subsequently they proselytise a culture that is amendable to principled governance processes, facilitating the integration and adoption of enhanced practices at all governance levels (ANAO, 2003). Subsequently, governance boards need to have experienced leaders and representatives who understand their role and functionality in order to identify risks, and avert crisis such as those identified in the Walker inquiry.\nAuditing process and quality assessment: Traditional approaches under the guise of governance to improve standards to healthcare have included process of the quality assessment and quality assurance. Quality assessment compares performance with that of expectation, whereby discrepancies are a focus for improvement strategies. Buetow and Roland (1999) highlighted the shortcoming of quality assessment processes whereby there is infrequently any specification about intention to intervene on inefficiencies reported. Subsequently, despite disparities and omissions being revealed and findings presented, no remedy action may be implemented. Similarly, quality assurance attempts to identify quality and instances where care may be inappropriate. Both approaches have been widely implemented in many healthcare organisations as processes that demonstrate their drive to enhance care. However, Buetow and Roland (1999) contend that the findings from quality assurance activities can produce dissentience amongst staff and question the integrity of findings presented. As a result minimum standards of care can be tolerated, as opposed to embracing clinical findings and endeavouring to enhance quality of care, and eschewal of implementing new practice approaches (Buetow and Roland, 1999). Subsequently, governance processes need to be prepared to take affirmative action to quality improvement activities and the findings that are generated.\nReporting organisational performance: Assessing quality and safety should embrace both qualitative and quantitative data sources to provide comprehensive information regarding organisational performance, and be relevant to a broad range of service providers within the organisation such as specialists, government regulatory bodies, clinical professions, support staff and consumers. This information has the capacity to provide the foundation for identifying areas for enhancement and facilitate the generation of ideas and approaches to improving service delivery. The unique perspective of the consumer can elucidate deficiencies within the system, and promote the ability to identify what they value and need from a humanistic perspective as they move through the healthcare system. Acknowledging the information provided by consumers can benefit healthcare organisations and enhance their capacity to effectively redesign and develop innovative strategies that enhance consumer experience, health outcomes and it demonstrates receptivity to partnership.\nConclusion: Governance processes are imperative to ensure the safe functioning of the healthcare organisations for those who work within them and for those accessing them. Facilitating an integrated approach requires the key attributes of governance; communication, goal setting, patient-centred care and stewardship to be communicated throughout all levels of the organisation. This along with proactive participation and actions being implemented to enhance service delivery are essential attributes to ensure that the integrated governance is effective. Further, supporting an organisational culture that willing to identify and learn, in order to achieve the common goal of excellence in health service, and enhance patient outcomes requires understanding of governance processes within the organisation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Dysfunctional governance processes have contributed to catastrophic healthcare system failures due to discordance between clinical and corporate governance processes. The emergence of an integrated governance approach endeavours to overcome the traditional boundaries between corporate and clinical governance systems, to enhance understanding and transparency in the organisations approach to service provision. The purpose of this paper is to discusses the attributes of an integrated governance approach and its contribution to enhancing service delivery.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper provides an overview of the governance approaches and the emergence of integrated governance to improve overall service delivery.\nFindings: An integrated governance approach erodes the traditional boundaries that exist within the complex healthcare system. This allows for a greater understanding of healthcare strategies and organisational objectives, and the dissemination of these throughout the organisation. Further, enhancing awareness within the clinical setting of the core attributes of the organisation and for the upper echelons of management to have a greater understanding of the clinical issues. Integrated governance acknowledges the contribution of all stakeholders including consumers in safe guarding the delivery of healthcare and its standards.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the discussion and debate regarding governance approaches and how these are situated in enhancing organisational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Environment determinants in business adoption of Cloud Computing	[ "Cloud Computing", "Environment", "Adoption models", "Success Cases", "Technology Providers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In turbulent environments information technology (IT) combined with tangible and/or intangible resources, can be a powerful tool to attain competitive advantage (Powell and Dent-Micallef, 1997). A technological trend, named Cloud Computing, emerged to modify the use of IT in a competitive way. In Cloud Computing (Buyya et al., 2009, 2011), resources are located in virtualized and distributed environments geographically disperse. They can be accessed on an on-demand basis through web-based technologies, combining internet connectivity and pay-per-use systems (Winans and Brown, 2009) in a new business model for IT provisioning (Son et al., 2014).\nTheoretical background: IT adoption models in firms\nResearch model and hypotheses: R&D Institutions\nResearch methodology: Sample and data collection\nResults, discussion and implications: Results\nConclusions, limitations and future research: This work is the first research attempt aiming to identify the influence exerted over Cloud Computing adoption by R&D Institutions, Technology Providers and Public Administrations, considering also other environmental variables such as Killer Applications and Success Cases. The results are relevant and have important implications to business practice: the only environmental agents with a significant role on adoption are Technology Providers. Neither R&D Institutions nor Public Administrations have a recognizable effect on adoption. The existence and awareness of Success Cases have an important role on adoption while Killer Applications do not influence significantly.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of Technology Providers, Public Administrations and R&D Institutions on Cloud Computing adoption. This research also considers Killer Applications and Success Cases as other environmental factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Factorial analyses and structural equation models were used on a sample of high-technology firms located in technological parks in Southern Europe, with more than ten employees and sustained investments in R&D.\nFindings: Results show that Technology Providers and Success Cases are determinant in Cloud Computing adoption. Moreover, Killer Applications are a forerunner for Success Cases.\nPractical implications: An appropriate fit between the tools and resources provided by suppliers and the internal resources of the company is needed to create competitive advantages. Firms should evaluate Technology Providers, identify Success Cases to Cloud Computing adoption and implement technological benchmarking.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to Cloud Computing adoption literature because it includes Technology Providers, Public Administrations and R&D Institutions simultaneously as well as other variables as Killer Applications and Success Cases. The importance of the external agents on information technology (IT) adoption, especially when the technologies to be adopted are new and in an emergent stage, together with the lack of prior investigations focusing on specific environmental factors affecting the adoption of these new, emerging IT, justify the value of this research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evolution of sub-floor moisture management requirements in UK, USA and New Zealand 1600s to 1969	[ "Ventilation", "Moisture", "Building code", "Crawl space" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The 2000s have seen research into sub-floor moisture issues (Advanced Energy, 2005; McNeil et al., 2016), with the result that science-based, improved moisture management guidance is becoming available. It is an appropriate time to review the evolution of historic sub-floor moisture management requirements and ensure that the lessons from the past can be used for the future.\nDevelopment of the ground floor: Figure 1 provides a UK-based chronology of ground floor construction types (based on Douglas, 1997b, p. 110). The development of the ground floor occurred in three stages, each with improved performance - floor on ground, boarded timber was raised above the ground by joists sitting on the ground, and suspended flooring using joists spanning between supports. It was not until suspended floors started to be widely used that the need for sub-floor moisture control became an issue. Figure 1 also shows that there was considerable overlap in time for the use of different ground floor constructions.\nTimber destruction: The use of suspended timber floors must have resulted in failures due to decay and insect attack, but approaches were developed to maintain performance and avoid disasters. The principal wood destroyers in the sub-floor were fungi leading to decay and wood-boring insects especially where higher levels of moisture created more attractive conditions for attack, but weathering, mechanical wear and fire could also be a contributing factor (Smith and Carr, 1950, p. 10).\nSub-floor moisture management: For this paper, an extensive review has been made of the literature for three countries (NZ, UK and USA) from the 1600s to 1969. The sources include libraries, archives and on-line resources. The document counts (see Table I) reflect not only the development of national sub-floor ventilation requirements but also the extent of local or national informative or guidance publications. Multiple editions of some books have been published, for example, 22 editions of Charles F. Mitchell's \"Building Construction and Drawing. Part 1\" were published from 1888 to 1956. Wherever possible, each edition has been reviewed to determine when, or if, changes were made.\nDiscussion: Table II provides a summary to 1969 of the earliest requirements for sub-floor vents with no numerical dimensions specified, the earliest and second earliest numerical requirements both in publications and code, and the first mention of the different ground cover types (concrete, asphalt or roll). Although the first UK legislation dealing with sub-floor moisture was in 1874, there were no code numerical requirements until The Building Regulations 1985 Approved Document C (Department of the Environment and The Welsh Office, UK, 1985, p. 11).\nConclusion: Although current research is preparing science-based requirements for sub-floor ventilation, it is timely to review the historic development of requirements and ensure the full range of lessons learnt can be used in the next generation of building controls.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the historic development of the requirements for sub-floor (also known as \"basementless space\" or \"crawl space\") moisture management in the USA, UK and New Zealand (NZ) from 1600s to 1969.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The review of 171 documents, including legislation, research papers, books and magazines, identified three time periods where the focus differed: 1849, removal of impure air; 1850-1929, the use of ground cover and thorough ventilation; and 1930-1969, the development of standards.\nFindings: Published moisture management guidance has been found from 1683, but until the 1920s, it was based on the provision of \"adequate\" ventilation and, in the UK, the use of impermeable ground cover. Specific ventilation area calculations have been available from 1898 in the UK, 1922 in the USA and 1924 in NZ. These are based on the area of ventilation per unit floor area, area of ventilation per unit length of perimeter wall, or a combination of both. However, it was not until 1937 in the USA, 1944 in NZ and after the period covered by this paper in the UK, that numerical values were enforced in codes. Vents requirements started at 1 in. of vent per square foot of floor area (0.7 per cent but first published in the USA with a misplaced decimal point as 7 per cent). The average vent area was 0.69 per cent in USA for 19 cases, 0.54 per cent in NZ for 7 cases and 0.13 per cent in UK for 3 cases. The lower UK vent area requirements were probably due to the use of ground covers such as asphalt or concrete in 1854, compared with in 1908 in NZ and in 1947 in USA. The use of roll ground cover (e.g. plastic film) was first promoted in 1949 in USA and 1960 in NZ.\nPractical implications: Common themes found in the evolution of sub-floor moisture management include a lack of documented research until the 1940s, a lack of climate or site-based requirements and different paths to code requirements in the three countries. Unlike many building code requirements, a lack of sub-floor moisture management seldom leads to catastrophic failure and consequent political pressure for immediate change. From the first published use of performance-based \"adequate\" ventilation to the first numerical or \"deemed to satisfy\" solutions, it took 240 years. The lessons from this process may provide guidance on improving modern building codes.\nOriginality/value: This is the first time such an evaluation has been undertaken for the three countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value capturing as a balancing act	[ "Value analysis", "Product launch", "Commodity markets" ]	[ { "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: This article explores the case of a materials supplier that clearly faces the challenges of mature markets[1]. Materials suppliers offer a wide array of products to diverse industrial applications. In general though, these products can be classified as entering goods whose costs are directly assigned to the manufacturing process or as facilitating goods that become part of the end product (Hutt and Speh, 2004). As such, the customer will extremely focus on fitness-for-use and value-for-money. Moreover, the products are considered to be commodities with limited competitive differentiation and high buyer power. The huge capital investments in plant and equipment as well as logistics further leads to a volume orientation (plant load is key). Standard products are generally preferred over specials, large batches over small ones and large orders over small orders. A consequence of these characteristics is that production and logistics capabilities are considered to be much more important than marketing and selling skills. Margins are continuously under pressure in their mainstream commodity business. So these suppliers seek higher margins with special products targeted at high-end applications.This case explores how a materials supplier strives at capturing a larger share of the value offered to downstream partners with a new superior packaging concept. It faces a lot of challenges ...In part 1 of this case, we draw a picture of the company and its market. Then, we focus on the current pricing approaches in this market. In part 3, the square can opportunity is introduced and analyzed. In the fourth part, we discuss the implications and lessons learned.\nThe company and its market: The case study presented in this article is concerned with a medium sized Europe-based firm operating in the materials industry. This supplier is active in all major applications and supplies materials to industries such as automobiles, service centers, packaging, construction, etc. These applications can more or less be divided into two types of business. The mainstream business accounts for 95 per cent of the company's business and is concerned with the mass manufacturing and supply of standard materials (\"the 95 per cent-business\"). This range of mass products can be characterized as commodities. In the other 5 per cent of its business the company develops specific applications for its customers (\"the 5 per cent-business\"). These applications are based on an insight into what might deliver extra customer value. As we will see, this division into two types of businesses affects the pricing process and determines possible pricing methods[2].The European materials industry is characterized by a trend towards concentration, which has led to a reduction in the number of players both upstream and downstream. In February 2002 the merger of Aceralia, Arbed and Usinor formed the present Arcelor, which in 2006 merged with Mittal Steel into the world largest player. Another upstream example of concentration is given by the merger of Hoogovens, a Dutch company and British Steel into the Corus Group in 1999. The latter merged in 2006 with the TATA group of India. Similar movements have been and are taking place in the upstream mining and energy sectors.Downstream, this concentration trend is present in major customer industries such as truck and trailer, automotive, packaging and so forth. As in many other industries that are challenged by commoditization and increasing worldwide capacity (new capacity in China and Eastern Europe), the materials industry evolves more towards a fighting scene, characterized by antagonistic supplier-customer relationships. As a consequence, price pressure and competitive rivalry are ruling.\nThe pricing process: Pricing decisions for existing products are mainly the domain of the sales department in this company. For new products and applications there is a higher-level involvement of the product/market development, the marketing and the manufacturing department. The sales director, however, holds the final accountability.Given the relative commoditized nature of the materials offered, the pricing process in the industry can be mainly characterized as:* relatively tactical and opportunistic;* rather supply- and competitor-based; and* rather short-term-oriented.The prevailing pricing practice\nPricing the magic cube: a fairy tale or a nightmare?: The square can\nQuestions and discussion points: Think about this case. What really went wrong? Why can this company not capture the value inherently present in this appealing concept? Can you think of other but similar industries where upstream suppliers have realized this challenge? What can our materials supplier learn from their successful practices?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this case study is to illustrate the difficulty of capturing value by an upstream supplier in a mature business market. The case shows how successful market introduction and value capturing, especially in the case of mature markets, are dependent on the dominant logic of the participants in the supply chain. Scholars can use the case for a class discussion on value pricing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach takes the form of a multilevel case design as part of a larger project on value-based pricing sponsored by the Dutch foundation of Technique and Marketing (STEM).\nFindings: - In this mature and technical industry, the dominant mindset of suppliers and customers turns out to be heavily biased towards cost containment. Also, a volume orientation and a short-term perspective are typical. This leads to adversarial relations in the supply chain, which makes it difficult to jointly introduce new value concepts. Notwithstanding the innovativeness of a new packaging concept with clear potential advantages to all downstream players, it turns out to be difficult to align these players during market introduction. In sum, existing relations, pricing structures and competitive behavior hinder new concept introduction and a value-sharing perspective.\nResearch limitations/implications: - With its focus on one industry and one product introduction, this case cannot be generalized to all business settings. However, the in-depth analysis stimulates further research on value-based pricing to incorporate industry characteristics and the pricing reality embedded in the dominant logic of the industry.\nPractical implications: - The experience of this company might inspire other managers operating in similar environments. Managers should not underestimate the challenge of changing their pricing approaches. Turning to a value-based pricing might require a sustained effort in order to change industry rules.\nOriginality/value: - The literature hails value-based pricing without often considering the implementation difficulties. Especially upstream players have difficulties in capturing value inherent in their offerings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of person-organization fit on innovative work behavior: The mediating effect of knowledge sharing behavior	[ "Innovation", "Management", "Nurses", "Organizational development", "Organizational learning", "Person-organization fit" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In order to stay competitive, organizations depend on their employees to continuously innovate their products, services, methods, and operations (Tajeddini and Trueman, 2008). Motivating employees to engage in innovative work behaviour (IWB) and share their knowledge with co-workers has increasingly attracted scholarly attention. Organizational leaders recognize the importance of promoting innovativeness among their employees (De Jong and Den Hartog, 2007; Delios, 2010). It is critical for health care managers to find out ways to engage nurses into IWB (Knol and Van Linge, 2009). IWB refers to the initiation, generation, implementation, execution, and realization of ideas (De Jong and Den Hartog, 2007). Hospitals are dependent on the knowledge, the creativity, and the innovative engagement of their nursing personnel to deliver superior services to patients (Brown et al., 2006; Gilmartin, 1999). Therefore, it is important to understand what it takes to foster a nurse's innovative behaviour at work.\nThe relationship between P-O fit and IWB: IWB refers to the recognition of problems and initiation and intentional introduction (within a work role, group, or organization) of new and useful ideas, as well as set of behaviours needed to develop, launch, and implement novel ideas with an aim to enhance personal and/or business performance (De Jong and Den Hartog, 2007). IWB involves pattern of activities such as critical thinking, recognizing current and potential problems, exploring opportunities, identifying performance gaps, and searching new methods and procedures. It is followed by application-oriented behaviours such as social activities to acquire approval, build support, and then test, apply, and commercialize creative ideas in the organizational setting, known as idea implementation (De Jong and Den Hartog, 2010).\nThe mediating effect of KSB: Despite the prevalence of research supporting the positive impact of P-O fit on work attitudes, there are still reasons to explore further the effect of P-O fit on positive work behaviours. For example, Chan (1996), Kim et al. (2005), and Brigham et al. (2007) found that P-O fit explained moderate to higher variance (19 to 47 per cent) in employee creativity, problem solving style and job innovation. One potential explanation for the varying effects of P-O fit on employee creative behaviour is that the employees' attitudes may also be influenced by interactive learning intention. One particular interactive learning intention that plays an important role in shaping employee creative behaviour is KSB. KSB is defined as a set of behaviours that involve the exchange of information or assistance to other which contains an element of reciprocity (Connelly and Kelloway, 2003).\nMethod: Participants\nDiscussion: The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between P-O fit and IWB by focusing on KSB as a mediating variable. As expected, the results largely support our hypotheses. The findings of this study lend support to the positive effect of P-O fit on fostering nurse's IWB. The literature suggests that P-O fit can enhance positive work outcomes and organizational citizenship behaviour of employees (Hoffman and Woehr, 2006). This study suggests two important conclusions. First, we found a positive link between P-O fit and IWB. This conclusion extends the findings of Vilela et al. (2008) by finding a positive effect of P-O fit on IWB of workers for whom engaging in proactive behaviours is not an explicit part of job obligations. Hoffman and Woehr (2006) found a positive relationship between P-O fit and productive behavioural outcomes. One of the positive behavioural outcomes is IWB which has not been tested empirically in previous studies. Our study found a significant positive effect of P-O fit on IWB of nurses. Kristof-Brown et al. (2005) in a meta-analysis of various types of fit found that rare research has taken place to draw conclusions about the effect of P-O fit on individual-level outcomes. Employees' innovativeness can be enhanced by increasing their perceptions about P-O fit.\nTheoretical implications: Our findings help to understand deeper the drivers of IWB among nurses through focus on P-O fit and KSB. It appears, based on these preliminary results, that P-O fit helps in achieving a better match between knowledge, skills, and abilities of nurses and their hospital's demands, expectations, goals, and targets. The findings of this study add to the literature a new dimension of organizational citizenship behaviour, i.e. IWB. The relationship between P-O fit and IWB has never been tested in the previous studies. Consistent with previous research about P-O fit (Boon et al., 2011), our results show that P-O fit is positively related with IWB. Thus, to encourage IWB, hospitals must first try to exhibit high levels of P-O fit.\nPractical implications: There are several practical implications that can be derived from our findings. It is practically important for hospital management to understand what fosters IWB among nurses. The human resource of organizations is getting more and more diverse due to different backgrounds, cultures, nationalities, and dissimilar values. The management face task of hiring nurses whose values are congruent with the hospital values. Our results show that when nurses fit better with the organizations' values, they tend to share their knowledge and devote extra efforts beyond their job descriptions to promote and implement new ideas and take care of their patients. The hospitals can use P-O fit as a method of staffing nurses for such a dynamic and changing nature of work (Hoffman and Woehr, 2006). To contribute to the level of fit of nurses who are already working in the hospital, top management can arrange organizational socialization practices such as frequent social gatherings and training programmes (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). Furthermore, nurses should obtain frequent feedbacks from their supervisor doctors about hospitals because nurses who obtain less direct feedback begin to feel they fit less well into their organization. The doctors should communicate regularly with nurses about the latest developments in the hospital, expectations from nurses, and values of hospital. This study confirmed that nurses are more likely to engage in IWB if they feel they have a greater match with their hospitals. Doctors should persuade nurses to share knowledge without fear by giving trust and support to them. By placing greater emphasis on extrinsic and intrinsic motivators such as fair reward system, altruism, recognition, fearless environment for creativity, hospitals can foster nurse propensity towards IWB.\nLimitations: The current study in not without limitations. First, in this study, only P-O fit and KSB were used as independent variables; future studies can also improve the explanatory power of the model proposed by adding further variables that could more comprehensively explain IWB such as trust, perceived organizational support, and intrinsic motivation. Second, the research studied nurses and doctors of one country, i.e. Thailand; however, nurses and doctors from other cultures and identities should be studied to obtain thorough comparisons. Third, the present study relied on supervisory judgments for measuring IWB. Although it is presumed that supervisory judgments are good measures of IWB, there is always the potential for bias in perceptual processes. Therefore, future research might address this issue by including both supervisor and peer ratings in their studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The direct relationship between person-organization (P-O) fit and employee's positive work attitudes and behaviours have been well researched. However, there has been no study on the impact of P-O fit on innovative work behaviour (IWB) of the nurses. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in the literature. In order to give a complete understanding of the psychology surrounding P-O fit, this study has longitudinally analysed the relationship between P-O fit and IWB along with the impact of a potential mediator, i.e. knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) on this relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 357 nurses and 71 doctors from three government hospitals of Thailand filled out the questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationships.\nFindings: Results of the study indicate that a nurse's P-O fit is positively associated with both self and doctor ratings of innovative behaviours; and KSB acts as a partial mediator between P-O fit and IWB at both Times 1 and 2. These results imply that a nurse's perceived fit in the hospital impacts his/her engagement into IWB. As nurses share knowledge with their co-workers frequently, it tends to strengthen the relationship between P-O fit and IWB.\nOriginality/value: Study findings begin to explain how P-O fit impacts IWB of nurses. Specifically, the author find that KSB explains the relationship between P-O fit and IWB.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Brand extension: using parent brand personality as leverage	[ "Taiwan", "Consumer behaviour", "Brands", "Brand names", "Brand extension", "Naming strategy", "Categorical fit", "Brand personality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Brand extension, one of the most universally used marketing strategies (Lau and Phau, 2010), allows marketers to use the positive brand associations of a parent brand as leverage to benefit a new extended product (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Wu and Lo, 2009). Brand knowledge, a critical determinant in consumer consumption behaviour (Keller et al., 1998), may thus be transferred from a parent brand to the extension brand of the new product (Chowdhury, 2007). Owing to this transfer, the probability of success for the extension brand will be higher and the cost and risk will be lower than if a completely new brand is used for the new product (Martin et al., 2005). Brand personality, one of the essentially abstract and intangible aspects of brand knowledge (Keller, 2003), can help distinguish a brand from competing brands (Aaker, 1996). Due to this capacity for differentiation, brand personality can be used to enhance the brand's competitive advantage in numerous ways such as improving consumer preference, consumer loyalty, and brand equity, especially when facing an increasingly competitive marketplace (Diamantopoulos et al., 2005). One argument connecting the domains of brand extension and brand personality is that a brand extension strategy that transfers more brand personality to an extension brand will be a more successful brand strategy while incurring less marketing expense. This line of reasoning poses a question: which brand extension strategies are more effective at transferring parent brand personality to its extension brand?In brand extension literature, prior research findings support the notion that brand extension strategies lead to the transfer of brand associations from a parent brand to extension brand. However, existing studies mainly focus on the transfer of brand perception, such as brand beliefs and attitudes (Aaker and Keller, 1990), brand quality (Chowdhury, 2007) and brand affect (Liu et al., 2010; Broniarczyk and Alba, 1994). Very limited research considers the transfer of brand knowledge (Martin and Stewart, 2001; Martin et al., 2005) to the extension brand. Moreover, the few studies that do exist are very broad in nature and lack specific references to brand personality.It is this gap in the literature that the current research seeks to address. Specifically, an attempt is made to investigate the impacts of the two main brand extension decisions, that is, extension naming strategies and categorical fit, as well as their interaction effect on the transfer of brand personality. According to Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000), different extension naming strategies (such as direct and indirect naming strategies (Vanhonacker, 2007)) will convey different meanings to consumers, and thus they may have different effects on the transfer of brand personality. In addition, prior research on brand extension always underlines the critical role of categorical fit between the extended product and its parent product category in the transfer process (Liu et al., 2010; Chowdhury, 2007; Martin et al., 2005). Thus, categorical fit may also impact brand personality transfer. Prior research also suggests that the evaluation of the extension brand is jointly affected by the two aforementioned predicting factors (Olavarrieta et al., 2009). This may be because individual extended products, which can have varying levels of product categorical fit with their parent brands, should be branded according to tailored extension naming strategies (Bhat et al., 1998). Thus, these two factors might have an interaction effect on brand personality transfer and a comparison of the effects of various combinations of extension naming strategies and categorical fit on brand personality transfer should be carried out.The contributions of this research are three-fold. First, the current research represents a pioneering study in the exploration of the transfer of brand personality through the characteristics of brand extension strategies. More specifically, this research examines extension naming strategies including direct and indirect naming strategies. There is scant literature which sheds light on connections between brand extension strategies and brand personality (Diamantopoulos et al., 2005) and the existing limited studies on brand extension naming strategies (Olavarrieta et al., 2009) pay insufficient attention to the use of indirect naming strategies (Monga and John, 2010). The current research thus adds value to the extant literature. Second, previous studies only focus on the effect of categorical fit on brand knowledge transfer. The current research supplements the existing body of brand literature by examining the influence of categorical fit as well as the effect of its interaction with extension naming strategies on brand personality transfer. The analysis of this interaction effect will help clarify the relative effectiveness of the various combinations of extension naming strategies and categorical fit when determining brand personality transfer. Third, the findings provide immediate practical insights for managers to make branding decisions which optimally use brand personality transfer as leverage for successful brand extension.\nLiterature review: Brand personality is defined as a set of human characteristics associated with a brand (Aaker, 1997). A prestige brand is usually marked with clear and distinctive brand personality which is associated more with the symbolic rather than the utilitarian/functional value of the brand (Lau and Phau, 2007). For instance, Swatch signifies daring and youthfulness, Gucci represents sophistication, while Hewlett Packard evokes competence (Phau and Lau, 2000). Therefore, marketers typically spend considerable time, effort, and financial resources not only to get their brands known and recognised (Collins-Dodd and Louviere, 1999), but also to distinguish their brands from others through certain distinct brand personality traits (Parker, 2009). Such distinctive brand personality traits are possibly developed, formed, or perceived through consumer brand interactions (Aaker, 1997), such as from advertising messages and salesperson contacts (Okazaki, 2006), or even through the application of brand extension.Brand extension is the use of a well-known brand name to introduce a new product (Aaker and Keller, 1990). In the current research, this new product is termed as \"extended product\", the brand of the extended product is delineated as \"extension brand\", while the brand name of the extension brand is \"extension name\". When a parent brand with certain distinct brand personality traits implements a brand extension strategy, these brand personality traits may be presented and perceived in its extension brand. Diamantopoulos et al. (2005) and Lau and Phau (2007) explain this phenomenon as the transfer of brand personality from the parent brand to its extension brand.The argument is consistent with the transferability of brand associations, particularly brand knowledge in the context of brand extension (Batra et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2010; Olavarrieta et al., 2009; among others). The associative network theory that discusses how memory operates (Lynch and Srull, 1982) can illuminate this transferability. According to the theory, when consumers are familiar with and have knowledge about a brand, this brand knowledge is accumulated and stored in their memory in the form of a series of brand associations (Srull and Wyer, 1989; O'Cass and Lim, 2002). As the brand launches an extended product, consumers are exposed to the original brand in a new product context. This brand will stimulate consumers to associate the extension brand with the original brand knowledge (Maoz and Tybout, 2002). Therefore, the original brand knowledge is transmitted to the extension brand (Aaker and Keller, 1990). Among others, brand personality is a cardinal component of brand knowledge (Diamantopoulos et al., 2005; Martinez et al., 2008). As such, the extension brand is likely to inherit a certain degree of brand personality from its original brand.\nResearch hypotheses: Based on the aforementioned theoretical background, the effects of the two decisions of a brand extension strategy (i.e. brand extension naming and categorical fit) on the transfer of brand personality from the parent brand to its extension brand are deduced below. The interaction effect of the two predictors is also discussed in the following subsections.Extension naming strategy effect\nResearch methodology: An experimental approach was used in the current study. A three-stage pre-test and a 2x2 factorial experiment with one covariate in the main study were employed to test the proposed hypotheses. More detailed discussion follows.Pre-test\nAnalysis and results: Manipulation check\nDiscussions: The current research findings reveal the influential roles of the two predictors, extension naming strategies and categorical fit, on brand personality transfer. Evidence is also found for the interaction effect of extension naming strategies and categorical fit. These findings provide meaningful implications for marketing academia and practitioners. Consistent with the hypothesised H1, the proposition that direct naming strategies prompt a greater degree of brand personality transfer from the parent brand to its extension brand is fully supported. Such a finding implies that firms seeking to leverage parent brand personality for brand extension strategy should use direct naming strategies rather than indirect ones for the introduction of new products. From a managerial perspective, firms' brand extension performance can be enhanced while their financial costs will also be reduced.As for the result of another predicting factor, categorical fit, its significant role is observed on the transfer of four out of the five brand personality traits in the H2 result. Only the youthful trait is an exception. It is therefore suggested to extend to those products which hold a high categorical fit to the parent brand, thus gaining more brand personality transfer. However, the determination of the appropriateness of high fit product categories is a challenge. According to Aaker and Keller (1990), such a goal can be achieved through the extension to complementary products, substitutes and products with similar manufacturing processes to the parent brand. The success of Kodak's extension from film to cameras, Adidas from sports shoes to sports clothes, and Andrex from toilet tissues to paper tissues (Gronhaug et al., 2002) might all provide illustrations. However, the fiasco of Levi's transition from jeans to business wear and Lego's foray from toy building bricks into virtual toys (Gronhaug et al., 2002) indicate that the appropriateness of categorical fit between products is possibly quite subjective and dynamic (Martin and Steward, 2001). Marketing surveys regarding the appropriateness of the extended product fitting into its parent brand category should be performed before the implementation of brand extension, or the logic of the appropriateness should be properly communicated with target markets through media.Regarding the interaction effect results of the two predictors, according to the H3a result, in general, brand personality transfer is perceived the highest in Scenario I. The finding implies that the best practice of the brand extension strategy among the four scenarios is when a direct naming strategy is applied to a high fit extended product. Moreover, the partially supportive result of H3b indicates that Scenario II still brings more transfer of some brand personality traits than Scenario III. Therefore, firms looking for opportunities to utilise the clear and distinct brand personality of their parent brands might not be limited to extending only to high fit products. As long as the parent brand personality is relevant to the satisfaction of the consumer's symbolic needs by the extended product, irrespective of the level of categorical fit, there exist ways to persuade consumers that the extension brand carries a high degree of parent brand personality. This finding provides clues on how prestige brands are able to extend to diverse product categories, even if the categorical fit is low. Nevertheless, proper marketing surveys should be conducted in order to explore the relevance of these parent brand personality traits and the extended product. The cases of Chanel and Triumph struggling in their extensions into masculine products due to perceived feminine attributes (Jung and Lee, 2006) illustrate such a necessity. Furthermore, together with the result of H3b, the generally supportive result of H3c, which is related to Scenarios III and IV, shows that consumer perception of relatively low brand personality transfer is determined largely by indirect naming approaches regardless of a high or low categorical fit. This might reflect the comparison between extension naming strategies and categorical fit in which the former is the dominant predictor of brand personality transfer. Such a deduction complies with Broniarczyk and Alba's (1994) observation that product category effects may have less value to brand managers. Thus, as firms design brand extension strategies, decisions about naming strategies need to be carefully considered.\nConclusion: The research provides evidence to the roles of extension naming strategies and categorical fit, as well as their interaction effect on the transfer of brand personality in the context of brand extension. The findings contribute significantly to the contemporary literature on brand personality. However, the current research only explores a single mode of indirect naming strategies and may fail to reflect the differences among possible indirect naming strategies as well as their impact on the transfer of brand personality. Future research can benefit from exploring the role of various modes of indirect naming strategies such as house of brands and sub-brands/range brands (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Jaw et al., 2011). In addition, the study subjects, i.e. university students, are asked to evaluate the transfer of brand personality in an artificial environment and over a short period of time. This might limit the applicability of the current research findings. Future studies are suggested to internally and externally validate the findings across groups of non-student samples. A longitudinal research methodology may be necessary for further insight into the consumer perception of the extension brand personality in reality. Moreover, recent literature suggests that it is not only brands that possess personality but products too (Batra et al., 2010; Mugge et al., 2009). Brand personality transfer researchers should take this point into consideration. Finally, there are several other possible factors which may influence brand personality transfer and can be considered in future research. For example, prior brand extension studies (Lau and Phau, 2010; Salinas and Perez, 2009) indicate that innovativeness and self-congruity play critical roles in transferring brand image. Since brand personality is an important brand image component, it is reasonable to expect that innovativeness and self-congruity are predicting factors of brand personality transfer. This provides opportunities for further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predicting roles of extension naming strategies and categorical fit on the transfer of brand personality from a parent brand to its extension brand. Extension naming strategies include direct and indirect naming, while categorical fit is the similarity between an extended product and its parent brand's cognitive category. Further, the interaction effect and the relative effectiveness of various combinations of the two predictors when determining brand personality transfer are also explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A 2x2 factorial between-subject experimental design with one covariate is used to test the proposed hypotheses. The experiment involves 242 participants from a university in Taiwan.\nFindings: - The findings show that consumers perceive higher brand personality transfer when a direct naming strategy is applied or when the parent brand extends to a high perceived fit product. The former is the dominant predictor of brand personality transfer. There also exists an interaction effect between extension naming strategies and categorical fit. Specifically, consumers perceive the highest brand personality transfer when a direct naming strategy is applied for a high fit extended product. Moreover, the use of a direct naming strategy for an extended product with a low categorical fit still leads to a higher degree of parent brand personality than both the other cases in which an indirect naming strategy is applied for either high or low fit extended products. Furthermore, irrespective of the degree of categorical fit, the transfer of brand personality is low when an indirect naming strategy is applied.\nOriginality/value: - The current research is pioneer work in identifying the determinants of brand personality transfer. It also notes the interaction effect and the relative effectiveness of the determinants.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Extending the use of institutional theory in operations and supply chain management research: Review and research suggestions	[ "Institutional theory", "Supply chain management", "Operations management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Operations management (OM) researchers and practitioners tend to view their work in terms of the logic of rational efficiency, which has been questioned by organizational theorists arguing that rational action is always embedded in a social context (Rogers et al., 2007). The pressure to conform can result in inexplicable and inefficient organizational actions and structures, countering the efficiency arguments of traditional economic thought (Miemczyk, 2008). There is evidence indicating operations managers often find themselves between pressures to operate efficiently and pressures to demonstrate symbolically various institutional demands are satisfied (Rogers et al., 2007). The concept of strategy-structure alignment may be more prescriptive than descriptive of actual organizational behavior (Huang et al., 2010). According to institutional theory, organizations implement business practices because doing so enhances their legitimacy (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). This theory can offer important insights to adoption of tools and practices within OM and supply chain management (SCM).\n2 Literature review: In the following, an introduction to institutional theory is provided, followed by a review of articles with an institutional theory perspective in key OM and SCM journals.\n3 Propositions on new research topics related to institutional theory: In the following, discussion on relevant future research areas where institutional theory can be applied to OM/SCM is provided. The focus is on research avenues that would provide an increased understanding of the impacts of institutional pressures and mimicry and would serve to foster either theory, practice or both in the field.\n4 Methodological comments for further studies: According to Koulikoff-Souviron and Harrison (2008), OM's fine-grained perspective and detailed operationalisation of constructs can enrich institutional theory, which tends to lack empirical indicators of institutional processes. Given the infancy of institutional theory applications in our field, however, much work remains before such contributions can be claimed. Operationalisation and measurement of institutional pressures is still rather unrefined. Several past studies use proxy measures such as intensity of adoption of the tool among the industry, region, regulations and export percentage to measure institutional pressures (Zhang and Dhaliwal, 2009; Huang et al., 2010; Gonzalez et al., 2008; Gopal and Gao, 2009; Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). These have been shown to have problems as they lack a clear one-to-one correspondence with a single theoretical concept (Ketokivi and Schroeder, 2004). An important methodological concern is that several surveys group all institutional pressure items into one construct of external pressures (Prajogo, 2011; Boiral and Roy, 2007; Heras-Saizarbitoria et al., 2011), not distinguishing between normative, mimetic and coercive pressures. This is in fact done by only three of the articles reviewed: Zhu and Sarkis (2007), Liu et al. (2010) and Wu et al. (2012). All three conduct an exploratory factor analysis, but only Liu et al. have also conducted a confirmatory factor analysis. This shows that much work is still needed in refining the measurement instruments to institutional theory's social variant. First, to tease out more refined effects of institutional pressures, separate multi-item measures for each of the three pressures need to be developed; possibly the use of the q-sorting procedure (Moore and Benbasat, 1991) would ensure rigorousness to this process. Items developed as new or borrowed from other management disciplines utilizing institutional theory could first be sorted by OM academics with expertise in institutional theory and second by practitioners. Unambiguous measurement of the different pressures seems to be a problematic issue in other disciplines as well though, as indicated by a review of construct operationalisation by Mizruchi and Fein (1999), and most review studies of institutional theory in other disciplines (Kostova et al., 2008; Weerakkody et al., 2009; Bruton et al., 2010) do not touch upon the issue.\n5 Conclusions: As Denyer and Tranfield (2006) state, often the need for a new study is not as great as the need for the assimilation of already existing studies. This paper has provided a review of past papers utilizing institutional theory in OM and SCM, followed by a discussion on important future application areas for the theory, and a critical review of related methodological issues. It was discovered that institutional theory has so far been applied to a rather focused area of topics, specifically quality management, GSCM and e-applications. These papers have already demonstrated the significant influence of institutional pressures on the adoption of operational practices in organizations. More importantly, they have shown that externally pressured adoption decisions do not always lead to operationally efficient outcomes (although this appears to differ between the practices adopted). These findings clearly demonstrate the importance of institutional theory in understanding the behaviour of managers, organizations and supply chains. More research is thus needed, within the existing areas and more importantly in widening the scope of applications. As Koulikoff-Souviron and Harrison (2008) and Rogers et al. (2007) suggest, institutional theory can contribute to a richer understanding of supply relationships and OM. In this paper, several research avenues that have the potential to contribute to both theory and practice (managerial and academic) have been identified and discussed in detail. Two of these relate to key aspects of the theory itself: the role of uncertainty and the relationships between the different pressures. These serve to give a more detailed picture of the theory and its impact in different operational contexts. The third identified research stream suggests we turn the lens inwards, and examine reflectively the role of academia as a source and target of institutional pressures. Finally, a critical analysis of methodological issues related to empirical research around institutional theory has also been provided. This is not meant to judge past papers on their methodology chosen but to bring out issues to consider when taking empirical research and construct development further; a natural progression in any topic area.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Increasing empirical evidence suggests organizational actions are not always driven by economic efficiency considerations, contrary to the rational decision making viewpoint dominant in the field. Institutional theory, examining the causes of isomorphism within organizations, provides an alternative viewpoint to the adoption of strategies and practices in managing operations and supply chains. Applications have so far been limited to few topics, such as quality management and adoption of electronic tools. This study aims to contribute to an increased understanding of the theory's explanatory value in the field by presenting central research avenues yet unexplored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper begins with a review of the past institutional theory studies in the field. Important new contexts and research directions are then identified with the aim to increase understanding of how institutional factors operate in the field. Finally, a critical evaluation of empirical data collection and construct formation in the past and future studies is provided.\nFindings: The paper identifies three major institutional theory related research avenues in the field with a potential for theoretical and practical contributions. Two of these - role of uncertainty and relationships between institutional pressures - serve to contribute to how the theory applies to different operational contexts. The third one recommends a reflection on the role of academia as a source and target of institutional pressures.\nOriginality/value: The discussion, debate and analysis offered is intended to stimulate and drive further institutional theory studies in the field with an increasing scope as well as more refined measurement in empirical work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership and branding behavior in Taiwanese hotels	[ "Taiwan", "Hotels", "Brands", "Organizational brand climate", "Employee branding behavior", "Transformational leadership", "Taiwanese hotels" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The focus of the world economy has continuously transformed from producing goods to offering quality services, as evidenced by the presence of over half of employment in most industrial countries in the service industry (Hu et al., 2009). The labor-intensive and service-oriented hospitality industry, which includes accommodation, entertainment, restaurants, and transportation, faces a great deal of competition to maintain and attract potential customers worldwide (Hu et al., 2009). Serving as an interface between organizations and external customers, customer-contact employees have a great influence on delivering desired organizational brand values and meeting the perceptions of customers' expected service experiences (Burmann and Zeplin, 2005; Castellanos-Verdugo et al., 2009; King and Grace, 2005; Rafiq and Ahmed, 2000; Zeithaml et al., 1985).Previous studies have illustrated the effects of organizational contextual features (i.e. organizational climate) on employees' decisions and behaviors, such as innovation, safety, and service climate (Davidson, 2003; Liao and Chuang, 2004; Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978). As such, the current study focused on the organizational brand-building process to differentiate an organization from its competitors to attain a competitive advantage. With the development of organizational brand climate, these dedicated service employees may not only provide excellent customer services, but also deliver unique brand experiences to reflect the desired organizational brand (Liao and Chuang, 2004, 2007).To date, research is limited regarding the antecedents and consequences of organizational brand climate because few hotels place emphasis on connecting possible contextual factors to daily activities (King, 2010; Morhart et al., 2009; Vallaster and de Chernatony, 2005). As a result, this study attempted to examine an organizational brand climate that emphasizes the effects of CEO's leadership on customer-contact employees' branding behavior within a hospitality context. Organizational brand climate was further applied as a mediator to motivate frontline employees who perform branding behavior to reflect the organizational brand. By aligning employees' branding behavior to live the brand (Ind, 2001), organizations may manage customers' service experiences by creating an organizational brand climate via internal communications (e.g. influence of transformational leadership) to ultimately integrate understanding and acceptance toward brand values (King, 2010).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Brand and employees' branding behavior\nMethods: Because of a multilevel organizational phenomena (e.g. Feldman, 1984; Ostroff, 1992), and relevant research on employee brand behaviors, we applied a comprehensive approach to investigate related issues on the perspectives from both frontline employees and senior managers (King and Grace, 2005). Prior research also suggested \"[m]eso theory and research are aimed at synthesizing micro and macro organizational processes\" (House et al., 1995, p. 73). Consequently, this study adopted a meso-view to investigate different levels of variables by applying a hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) approach (i.e. transformational leadership and organizational brand climate at the organizational level; branding behavior at the individual level).Sample and procedure\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussions and conclusions: In delivering an organizational brand promise, the frontline employees in the hotel industry have gradually received attention from contemporary researchers and practitioners (King, 2010; Punjaisri et al., 2009). This fast-changing era has shifted marketers' focus to integrate both customer and employee perspectives to develop distinctive brands while making strategic decisions to reach targeted performance goal (Thompson et al., 1999). Given that organizational brand is of interest to the hotel industry, in the Chinese context, this study provides insights regarding competitiveness of branded hotels to owners as well as those involved in the development of organizational branding. Though the values of service brands rely significantly on service employees who deliver the brand promise, there are still limited empirical evidence to link the role of organizational branding climate to relevant outcomes (e.g. de Chernatony et al., 2006; Morhart et al., 2009).By recognizing the significance of a strong brand, this paper was concerned with advancing knowledge about the antecedents (i.e. CEOs' transformational leadership) and outcomes (i.e. employee branding behavior). Specifically, this study focused on the organizational context (i.e. organizational brand climate) within the Taiwanese hotel industry in building long-term customer relationships and improving organizational performance (e.g. Cheung et al., 2009; King, 2010; Miles and Mangold, 2005).As a role model, a transformational leader is one of the main organizational communication channels who motivates the organizational brand climate as well as employees' branding behavior based on internalizing the brand value (Burmann and Zeplin, 2005; de Chernatony et al., 2006; Mulvaney et al., 2007; Vallaster, 2004; Vallaster and de Chernatony, 2006). In accordance with previous studies, leadership has been found to be the key for superior organizational performance and competitive advantage (Asree et al., 2010). To align employee branding behavior with the desired organizational brand, these transformational leaders first create a prosperous vision and inspire their followers to embrace organizational values, then effectively transfer customer-oriented knowledge to clearly express favorable outcomes, and eventually provide regular feedback to invigorate organizational performance (Asree et al., 2010; Liao and Chuang, 2007; Miles and Mangold, 2004). According to H1, a CEO's transformational leadership may enhance frontline employees' branding behavior. Unlike transactional leadership, transformational leaders motivate their subordinates to achieve the desired results through various characteristics, such as critical thinking, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and charismatic style (Asree et al., 2010; Scott-Halsell et al., 2008). By creating the sense of a shared vision, transformational leadership may further motive higher satisfaction and productivity among these inspired followers to achieve the high performance (Asree et al., 2010; Gill and Mathur, 2007; Liao and Chuang, 2007; Scott-Halsell et al., 2008).H2 proposed that the organizational brand climate derived from employees' shared knowledge and identification with the organizational brand has a significant effect on employee branding behavior. During the service-providing process, organizations raise brand awareness and stimulate individual branding behavior through organizational brand climate to diminish role conflict and ambiguity (King and Grace, 2005; Miles and Mangold, 2004). Compared to other industries, organizational climate within the hotel industry has received limited attention. However, organizational climate has been identified as a management tool to satisfy hotel customers, via employee branding behavior, and reach effective long-term performance goals (Bellou and Andronikidis, 2009, Davidson, 2003; King, 2010; King and Grace, 2006; Liao and Chuang, 2004; Thompson et al., 1999).H3 adopted transformational leadership as the key driver to facilitate organizational brand climate by aligning employees with organizational brands to maintain their psychological attachment with organizations (Burmann and Zeplin, 2005; de Chernatony et al., 2006; Liao and Chuang, 2007; Morhart et al., 2009; Vallaster and de Chernatony, 2006). Because workplace climate acts as an influential element of organizational outcomes, it is critical to examine the factors that create these unique organizational climates using different activities and practices (Asree et al., 2010; Bellou and Andronikidis, 2009). The current results reflected previously discussed issues regarding the formation of organizational climate based on the leadership of senior managers who can effectively lead their followers to create certain climates in accordance with the organizational vision (Davidson, 2003; Scott-Halsell et al., 2008). For example, the CEO serves as a role model for communicating brand values to employees and influencing employees' dedication to organizations with the purpose for increasing performance (Davidson, 2003; Gill and Mathur, 2007).Furthermore, we also provide valuable insights for practitioners seeking to effectively deliver service within the hotel industry. By recognizing the importance of organizational leaders as role models to frontline employees, future researchers can delve into the selection and training of these senior managers. Because of their effects on both the development of the organizational brand climate and employees' brand-supporting behaviors (Burmann and Zeplin, 2005; Morhart et al., 2009; Schwepker and Good, 2007; Vallaster and de Chernatony, 2006), this study focused on the effects of CEOs' leadership styles on stimulating organizational brand climate and employee branding behavior.Additionally, there is a need to connect strategic human resource practices (Aurand et al., 2005; Burmann and Zeplin, 2005; Sergeant and Frenkel, 2000). Extending from the previous discussion, diversified communication channels, including formal (e.g. employee training programs and reward systems) and informal communications (e.g. leadership style) enhance organizational brand climate (Aurand et al., 2005; Davidson, 2003; de Chernatony et al., 2006). Likewise, an organization may support and advance interactions between marketing and HR departments as certain issues are difficult to manage without the cooperation of both departments (Aurand et al., 2005; Davidson, 2003). Similar ideas concerning cross-functional team collaborations can also integrate diversified viewpoints to strengthen the basis of organizational brand climate and influence employee branding behavior (Sergeant and Frenkel, 2000).As a result, this study attempted to expand previous research by investigating the relationships among transformational leadership, organizational brand climate, and employee branding behavior from a multilevel perspective. Subsequently, hotels can better understand the influence of transformational leadership on their followers and the significance of workplace context (i.e. organizational brand climate) on employee branding behavior. Our results suggest that organizational brand climate may guide internal customers (i.e. employees), who have relevant knowledge and recognize the desired brand, to achieve organizational goals and increase competitive advantage (Liao and Chuang, 2007; Morhart et al., 2009; Thompson et al., 1999).\nLimitations and directions for future research: The study should be considered in light of certain limitations. First, there is still limited research concerning the measurement of organizational brand climate and its accuracy. Though there is room for measurement improvement regarding validity and reliability, this study initiated the interests in distinguishing organizations from developing unique organizational brand climates through participative employee branding behavior. To elaborate on the details of composed dimensions, researchers may further scrutinize the constructs of organizational brand climate. Second, although the results revealed a significant relationship between transformational leadership and organizational brand climate (R2=0.18), this result may imply that transformational leadership is not the only variable for establishing organizational brand climate. Future studies may delve into structural factors, such as formal human resource practices, service procedure design, and organizational structure to examine multiple relationships (Davidson, 2003; Burmann and Zeplin, 2005; de Chernatony et al., 2006).Third, we collected CEOs' transformational leadership data from each hotel's HR managers because of their frequent interaction and communication with their CEOs. Multiple sources can further improve this assumption since these raters can describe unique variance in measuring CEOs' transformational leadership (Liao and Chuang, 2004). Another promising way is to integrate external customers' opinions as a means of investigating the interactions among employees, organizations, and their targeted customers. Additionally, since the data on organizational brand climate and employee branding behavior were obtained from individual employees, the concern for common method variance may still exist, although we conducted organizational brand climate aggregation at the organizational level. Accordingly, future studies may apply diverse data sources with a meso-level focus or create a temporal separation by introducing a time lag between the measurement of organizational brand climate and employee branding behavior (see Podsakoff et al., 2003). Studies focusing on the moderating effects of organizational context may also provide different views regarding the importance of the \"soft\" side of organizational structure (e.g. Hu et al., 2009).Additionally, further replication of the current study should include other industries because our findings were limited to generalize to service organizations. Moreover, this study adopted a cross-sectional design, making causal inferences difficult. Those administering future research should investigate how relationships evolve over time via longitudinal data.In conclusion, this research contributes to the knowledge of the hotel industry by providing empirical evidence that demonstrates a link among CEOs' transformational leadership, organizational brand climate, and employee branding behavior from a meso-focus. As this research measured these variables together, it may serve as an important basis to understand how organizational context impacts employee branding behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the messages delivered by transformational leaders to front-line employees to build an organizational brand climate and encourage employees' branding behaviors, to attain better company performance within the Taiwanese hotel industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey data were obtained from 34 human resource managers and 326 customer contact employees working in Taiwanese hotels.\nFindings: - Transformational leadership was found to have both direct and indirect positive influences on the development of organizational brand climate and employees' branding behavior.\nPractical implications: - Results suggest that transformational leaders may facilitate employees' branding behaviors by developing an organizational brand climate to distinguish the organization from its competitors and develop long-term customer relationships.\nOriginality/value: - This study advances the knowledge of antecedents and outcomes of the organizational brand climate by applying a multilevel approach to reflect the hierarchical nature of brand distinctiveness within the Taiwanese hotel industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The sustainability word challenge: Exploring consumer interpretations of frequently used words to promote sustainable fashion brand behaviors and imagery	[ "Sustainability", "Fashion consumption", "Eco-fashion", "Green-marketing", "Sustainability branding" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With an increased global focus toward implementing sustainability in a universal way across all industry sectors, as evidenced the goals outlined by the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group on Sustainable Development (UN, 2014), industries such as fashion will need to align their social and environmental actions accordingly throughout the supply chain. Specifically, at the consumption end of the supply chain, the question of communicating the sustainable fashion message is key in terms of how this is being used to move people from awareness to advocacy of new concepts, behaviors and actions that can generally lead to more sustainable behaviors (McDonough and Braungart, 2002). It would seem that global and local fashion brands, including major high street brands such as H&M, GAP and Levis (Shen, 2014) and luxury brands under the purview of the Kering Group such as Gucci and Stella McCartney, are now involved in promoting sustainable fashion using \"green\" or \"eco\" language. This brand messaging may include, although not exclusively, terms such as, \"organic,\" \"sustainable,\" \"eco,\" \"green,\" and \"recycle,\" to be seen to be part of a global trend toward ethical fashion production and consumption practices. Yet, the lexicon of green words (Thomas, 2008) is being used in consumer-facing communications by fashion brands and designers to highlight new and unique values around their collections as a way of impacting on consumer perceptions. Yet, it appears that the use of this type of sustainability discourse can lead to confusing message reception given that:Fashion language is not always realistic and, therefore, confusion may sometimes ensue. The problem is furthermore exacerbated by the speed of fashion, and servicing the twin demands for creativity and profit. The rise of ethical consumption and the fair trade movement have resulted in a more pronounced focus on responsible language usage(Thomas, 2008, p. 537).\nThe Hong Kong context: From the 1980s green marketing discourse took off around the globe with many companies exploiting the green wave and using greener-sounding public relations and advertising (Charter, 2017) that was largely un-grounded in strategy:Suddenly, there was a rush of excitement, with the word \"green\" being daubed in every conceivable place. In the month of June 1983, the word \"green\" was used 3,617 times in newspapers and magazines; in 1989 this figure had risen to 30,777. Similarly, the term \"environmentally friendly\" was used once in June 1984, and thirty times a day in June 1989(Charter, 2017, p. 16).\nMethodology: As part of a larger research project (Peirson-Smith and Evans, 2017), this current quantitative and qualitative study was set up to assess the meanings of a set of \"green words\" in a survey of 100 street interviews, plus 20 one on one ethnographies among fashion-shoppers aged 18-35 years. This age group was chosen, as it is a key target for fashion marketers of global fashion and local brands alike. Also, 100 quantitative interviews were conducted with the understanding that within a given target, with a defined set of characteristics, responses will provide a relatively robust indication of the response patterns that would be received if the study were conducted with more participants (Van Belle and Millard, 1998; Greenwood and Sandomire, 1950). Participants in this study were given a list of the green words in both Cantonese and English with globally agreed dictionary definitions based on frequent usage by fashion brands in their promotional activities (see Table I for definitions and green word lexicon). A probability sampling method was used for on street intercepts to ensure a random selection within the defined population. A sample percentage was used to estimate the unknown section of the population who had an understanding of each term. All respondents were asked to match the green words with the descriptions provided. These responses were collated, analyzed and coded using SPSS to form the basis of the quantitative findings section below. For each green word the percentage of the population who are likely to know the correct meaning of the green word and its reference in the brand message is indicated. Qualitative discussions were conducted to delve deeper into the perceptions, behaviors and associations made with each word and to further understand the quantitative responses.\nFindings: Overview of quantitative study\nDiscussion: In the following discussion we will examine the implications regarding consumer perceptions of green words and their application to the dynamics of marketing sustainable fashion in a rapidly changing user landscape. In parallel, we will reflect on the changes in consumer aspirations and how digital technology enables them to access information and knowledge in a new phase of marketing where all stakeholders need to be considered and involved in the brand narrative (Charter, 2017).\nResearch implications: The implications of the research findings suggest that now is the time for fashion brands to embed a sustainability theme that engages all stakeholders into their brand to make it both tangible and actionable for users. This applies across the whole brand lifecycle and not just to small isolated offerings to build trust and loyalty among users. Brands should consider how they could better engage consumers in their ecological and ethical narratives. This mindset should be premised on raising understanding and also should aim to create consumer-engaged action. A recommended approach could result both in supporting user desires to drive brand choice, and also in elevating key brand values of ethical and environmental practices such that the brand builds on weaving its positive and relevant values with sustainable fashion customer aspirations based on improved ethical environmental designs and practices.\nConclusion: After almost a decade since Thomas reported on the confusing messages associated with the green lexicon there appears to be very little change in user understanding and continued confusion with key green lexicon terms (Clifton and Buss, 2017). Yet, there is reason to believe that the overall impact of messaging using the green word lexicon is ineffectual. As the research findings indicate, with the exceptions of Fair Trade and eco, there may be some form of deterioration from a brand messaging perspective. As confusion is further associated with user frustration, lack of trust, non-fashion garments and/or promise fatigue. Also, brand messages on these topics tend not to engage the user through active participation in contributing to a move toward sustainability: messaging tends to remain on the feel good level. Fashion users are taking more of a citizen approach to their shopping, they want to know that they are contributing in some way toward improving the future of the environment (Ditty, 2015). The current level of knowledge is not enough to satisfy current users. They are at best apathetic and at worst angry and disillusioned. Hence:Consumer apathy to green products is due to many factors, including inadequate information about levels of greenness, lack of credibility of firms' claims and the tendency to free ride. It also seems that green products that offer direct excludable benefits to consumers [...]. Consumer apathy may also be attributed to the belief that individual actions alone cannot impact the macro picture, and collective endeavors are impeded by free riding(Prakash, 2002, p. 294).\nLimitations: Given the limited geographic location of Hong Kong, these findings cannot be generalized. Nevertheless, the findings provide a signpost for other research studies to be conducted and replicated in other geographic areas. This investigative study revealed some insights that are worth pursuing in future studies and will guide the fashion industry in crafting future brand messaging for the implementation of their sustainable fashion marketing communications roadmap.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine user perceptions toward consumer-facing words used by fashion brands to stimulate sustainable consumption and post consumption behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A self-completion, survey based matching exercise was administered to 100 active fashion-shoppers in Hong Kong aged between 18 and 35 years old. A probability sampling method was used for on-street intercepts to ensure a random selection within the defined population. This was accompanied by 20 individual ethnographic interviews.\nFindings: A lack of understanding and comprehension of key green language terminology used frequently in user facing communications is problematic for fashion brand marketers as the impact of their messages is often unclear, distributed and more likely to lead to user frustration rather than positive engaged consumer decision making and action. Further, there is an emerging indication that this approach is highly unlikely to enhance knowledge, engagement and action or to influence brand loyalty.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data were collected in Hong Kong and is culturally bounded, so while providing a good indication of the findings in situ this can also be replicated in other locations.\nPractical implications: Recommended outcomes from the findings suggest that brand messages should be delivered that are intended to stimulate sustainability behaviors that are core to one key brand theme so that user outcome decision making and actions fit with the core brand values. This suggested approach will have a greater likelihood of leading to brand trust, responsible business action and greater clarity about the issue of sustainability and related action to be taken on behalf of the user.\nOriginality/value: The paper raises concerns about the effectiveness and outcomes of fashion brand marketing communications and findings provide insights into the confusion of understanding and the rise in frustration among targeted fashion shoppers 18-35 years, despite the use of frequently used words in brand communications to promote sustainable fashion consumption behaviors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
SERVBID: the development of a B2C service brand identity scale	[ "Scale development", "Brand identity", "Services branding", "Brand loyalty", "Brand trust", "Qualitative research", "Service strategy", "Quantitative research", "Servicescape", "Surveys", "Service processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: How do organizations develop brand identity (BI)? How is BI assessed? Does BI have an impact on consumer trust and loyalty? This study addresses these questions from the viewpoint of service organizations. BI is an essential prerequisite for efficient brand management (Kapferer, 2012) and acts as an anchor of meaning for the brand (Csaba and Bengtsson, 2006) fulfilling consumers' symbolic and self-definitional needs for uniqueness (He et al., 2012). While several BI conceptual models and frameworks exist (Aaker, 1996; De Chernatony, 1999; Ghodeshwar, 2008; Burmann et al., 2009a, 2009b; Kapferer, 2012), they are largely conceived from a tangible goods perspective, mirroring wider branding research (Ostrom et al., 2010) and viewing BI as primarily a managerial construct (Aaker, 1996; De Chernatony, 1999; Coleman et al., 2011; Viot, 2011).\nConceptual background: Construct definition\nService brand identity scale development process: To develop the SERVBID scale, Churchill's (1979) paradigm was followed in conjunction with recommendations from DeVellis (2003) and other scale development studies (Brakus et al., 2009; Walsh and Beatty, 2007; Yoo and Donthu, 2001). A multi-stage research design was adopted to develop the final scale. First, an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews served as the primary basis for clarifying the domain of the construct and generating items. Second, a three-stage process was adopted to refine the generated items, involving expert judgment. Third, a pilot study (n = 106) was conducted to identify a reduced set of items based on item-to-total correlations and results of principal components analysis. Fourth, Study 1 (n = 246), based on a survey of UK-based consumers, was used for scale refinement and empirical validation of the proposed SERVBID scale. This was followed by Study 2, using another UK-based consumer sample (n = 245), to validate the final scale and test for nomological validity.\nMeasurement model specification: We conceptualize the measurement model as a second-order formative construct with first-order reflective constructs. Given the lack of empirical studies on BI (as highlighted in Table II), extant research remains silent on whether the relationship between BI and its dimensions is formative or reflective.\nSecond-order measurement model validation (PLS-SEM): Study 2: scale validation using a different sample (n = 245)\nResults by dimension: The final SERVBID scale (Appendix 2) is a short, easy to administer scale consisting of 17 items, which further increases its practical relevance in a professional context. The scale has been subject to various reliability and validity tests and can be used for both academic research as well as managerial practice. The scale comprises 5 dimensions:\nDiscussion and conclusion: We propose a novel and more inclusive definition of the construct of SERVBID conceptualized as: the sum of process, organizational, symbolic, servicescape and communication attributes that define the brand, give it distinguishable features and make it recognizable. The need for a more holistic approach to consider key BI dimensions and to design a measurement tool emerged from both the academic literature and professional arena. The value and uniqueness of this paper lies in its novel conceptualization of SERVBID as a five-dimensional construct and the development of a theoretically consistent, valid and reliable measurement tool for the assessment of BI in a service context. Our study makes theoretical and practical contributions.\nLimitations and future directions: The limitations of this research may act as potential avenues for future research. Whilst this research has extended the traditional unilateral view of BI by incorporating a consumer perspective, further research could focus on applying the scale in a variety of contexts and explore a wider range of consequences as well as potential antecedents.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper re-conceptualizes and measures brand identity (BI) from a services perspective. This paper aims to develop and test a psychometrically valid and reliable scale to measure service brand identity (SERVBID).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multi-stage research design was adopted drawing on qualitative and quantitative studies consistent with extant scale development procedures. Qualitative studies comprised a comprehensive literature review, expert panel review and interviews to develop a theoretical framework and generate items. Quantitative studies comprised pilot testing (n = 106), online survey for scale development (n = 246) and scale validation (n = 245) on UK-based consumers using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.\nFindings: The study finds support for a five-dimensional SERVBID scale comprising: process identity; organization identity; symbolic identity; servicescape identity; and communication identity.\nPractical implications: The SERVBID scale provides practitioners with a practical tool to understand, benchmark and assess SERVBID. The scale will assist marketers in assessing the strength of BI overall as well as the strength of individual facets of BI.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a deeper and complete understanding of the theoretical construct of BI through a service-dominant lens, in particular recognizing the defining role of the service process and servicescape in SERVBID construction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Human resource managers as liaisons between firms and labour	[ "Supply chains", "Globalization", "Human resource management", "Garments", "Labour standards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the wake of the April 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment manufacturing facility in Bangladesh, which killed 1,129 garment workers and injured a further 2,500 (Reinecke and Donaghey, 2017), much attention has focused on the ethical and regulatory frameworks governing retail supply networks at the global and transnational levels (Barrientos, 2013; Donaghey et al., 2014). However, supply chain pressures also affect employment relations outcomes at the domestic or institutional levels, such as the ability of unions to organise and bargain with employers; the enforceability and effectiveness of minimum labour standards; and the human resource management (HRM) strategies that supplier firms adopt in response to pressures exerted by firms at the top of the supply chain (Wright and Kaine, 2015).\nGlobal supply chains and human resources: Over the past two decades, as international trade has become increasingly globalised, a body of literature has emerged examining the dynamics of international supply chains, or global value chains (GVC) (Bair, 2009). The main focus of the GVC literature has been on firms, examining how organisations use their economic, political and managerial resources to maximise production and profit within the supply chain, with lead firms theorised as distributing value from the top down and labour theorised as endogenous to production (Barrientos et al., 2011; Rainnie et al., 2011; Short et al., 2015). The GVC literature emphasises the role of lead firms, often multi-nationals, which retain control over intellectual property rights, product design and marketing but outsource manufacturing to capitalise on lower labour costs (Donaghey et al., 2014). These firms have increasingly adopted just-in-time approaches to production that result in reduced order times and increased pressure on suppliers (Barrientos, 2013).\nThe role of women workers in Sri Lanka's garment industry: Sri Lankan employers continue to rely on a largely rural female workforce to undertake garment manufacturing work (Gunawardana, 2016). Over recent decades, Sri Lankan women have migrated to urban areas and to EPZs to secure more reliable incomes and to escape rural poverty (De Neve, 2014; Ruwanpura and Hughes, 2016). Many rural women seek garment factory employment to save money to start a business, assist their families or save for a dowry (Attanapola, 2008; Hancock, 2006; Hancock et al., 2011). The benefits of working are framed as female empowerment - a message which can be counter to the Tayloristic work performed. Munir et al. (2017) note that managers suppressed these conflicting messages, which were not resolved to women's advantage. This suppression is part of the \"economic imaginary\", which comprises discourses and practices which give meaning to the field (Munir et al., 2017).\nMethodology: This research is based on interviews with HR managers and focus groups of employees. It builds on previous research by Perry et al. (2015), who interviewed managers in Sri Lankan garment factories to examine how they implemented CSR initiatives and understood their roles as intermediaries between workers and international buyers. In addition, Goger (2013) interviewed 65 managers, including HR managers, across nine garment factories in Sri Lanka to understand the management of the labour process at the meso level and within specific factories. This study aims to build on this research by focusing specifically on the actions of HR managers across 12 garment factories within the Katunayake EPZ. These factories ranged in size from 1,000 to 3,000 employees and mostly produced specialised women's clothing. The research team consisted of four researchers - two Australian and two Sri Lankan. Eight focus groups, comprised of 63 female factory workers, were conducted over two Sundays, the only day when the employees were not working. Four focus groups were conducted at the premises of a women's organisation (which we agreed to de-identify) and four focus groups were held in the hostels where the workers lived. All fieldwork was conducted in mid-2014. One of the researchers conducted the focus groups in Sinhalese, the official language of Sri Lanka.\nEmpirical findings: Attracting and retaining staff was a major, ongoing issue discussed by all HR managers. The annual turnover rate for the garment industry was estimated at approximately 6 per cent, which was considered high (managers, Factories 4 and 5). Many women resigned after they had worked for five years, when they were eligible for a long service bonus payment that was frequently used for a dowry, to continue their education or to care for their families (HR manager, Factory 3; Focus groups 6, 7 and 8). HR managers also attributed employee attrition to the intensive nature of the work (HR managers, Factories 2 and 5). Female workers preferred to work as maids in the Middle East (union official), or in the burgeoning tourism, hospitality and retail trades, where the work was considered less arduous:It's actually very difficult to find labourers. Sometimes we are running the factory maybe 20-30 labourers short.(Manager, Factory 5)\nMinimum wages and incentive payments: HR managers were acutely aware of the global pressures their firms faced and defended the level of wages paid to workers:We also have a competitive market, so we cannot raise our salary more than other companies because our buyers move to Bangladesh, Vietnam, and China [...] That's why we have to keep our cost down.(HR manager, Factory 2)\nEmployee voice and working conditions: Employee voice within garment factories was officially recognised through the operation of employee councils. At the industry level, the Board of Investment, the administrative body overseeing the operation of EPZs, outlined the objectives of employee councils that included promoting and maintaining the effective participation of employees through consultation and co-operation between workers and management on matters of mutual concern. HR managers noted that employees were able to air their grievances in person:If you are not a good person or a good leader, then they [the workers] will come and talk to us. That is not the worker's fault. It is the fault of the supervisor. Then and there we have to address the issue with the supervisor and the line manager. Otherwise it will become a problem to the company. We have to be concerned about the workers.(HR manager, Factory 2)\nUnion avoidance and employee engagement with the HR function: HR managers in EPZ garment factories were generally hostile towards trade unions and preferred to limit discussions with employee representatives over factory conditions to forums such as employee councils (Sri Lankan Board of Investment, 2004). Markey (2006) noted that such joint consultative forums risked being dominated by managers who controlled employee council meeting agendas and who could limit the opportunities provided to factory workers to express their views in relation to workplace matters.\nDiscussion: The GVC literature explores how lead firms in global supply chains use their dominant position to place pressure on suppliers in developing countries to deliver products under tight timeframes and for minimal cost. Such pressures are then passed onto labour and can result in low wages, work intensification and health and safety problems (Reinecke et al., 2018; Wright and Kaine, 2015). HR managers act as intermediaries between lead firms, factory managers and production line employees. They were expected to implement HR practices that enabled suppliers to balance production pressures and the implementation of CSR initiatives (Goger, 2013; Perry et al., 2015). Perry et al. (2015) identified tensions between Sri Lankan garment employers' concerns over employee welfare as part of CSR initiatives and their efforts to maximise workforce productivity.\nConclusion: HR managers in garment factories in the Global South play a vital role within global production networks as intermediaries between garment factory workers and international buyers focused on minimising price and maximising the speed of production. Sri Lankan HR managers were also motivated by considerations of ethical manufacturing and the upgrading of factory production to higher value-added garments. This also appealed to international buyers worried about Western consumer campaigns highlighting exploitative factory conditions in the Global South. However, this study found that EPZ HR managers were more focused on enforcing labour productivity and distanced themselves from concerns over the negative consequences of particular HR practices, such as individual and group incentive payment systems, or the continuation of low minimum wages. These findings highlight the constraints faced by HR managers in terms of their agency within firms in GVC where price and speed remain the predominant concerns of lead firms. Further research is also needed into the operation of HR practices such as individual or group incentive schemes to explore their role in reinforcing factory regimes that can give rise to significant work intensification and poor employee health and safety outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how human resource (HR) managers in garment factories in a Sri Lankan export processing zone (EPZ) navigated the tension between their role as stewards of employee welfare and their role to maximise firm productivity in response to time and production pressures imposed by international buyers. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of HR managers as liaisons between firms and labour. This omission is significant, given the importance of human resource management in the recruitment and retention of labour and the role of HR managers in organisational performance and regulatory compliance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was used based on interviews with 18 HR managers, factory managers and other key informants, and 63 factory workers from 12 firms in the Katunayake EPZ. The interviews and focus groups in English were transcribed and coded into themes arising from the literature and further developed from the transcripts. Initial codes were analysed to identify common themes across the data set.\nFindings: HR managers were acutely aware of the competitive pressures facing the EPZ garment factories. While examples of company welfarism were evident, HR practices such as incentive payment systems and the management of employee absences reinforced a workplace environment of long hours, work intensification and occupational injury.\nOriginality/value: This paper goes some way towards filling the gap in our understanding of the roles played by HR managers in garment factories in the Global South, raising theoretical debates regarding the potential for HR managers in developing countries to distance themselves from the negative consequences of HR practices such as individual and team reward systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Designing for adaptability: The Gateshead Civic Centre	[ "Sustainability", "Local authorities", "Design for adaptability", "Office design", "Space planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Buildings are often considered to be the static elements within the wider continuously evolving environment. The buildings in the UK are exceptional consumer of resources and are responsible for almost half of the country's carbon emissions and water consumption, around a third of its landfill waste and a quarter of all raw materials used in the economy (Steel Construction Info, n.d.). It is, therefore, important for a building to be adaptable over its lifespan and contribute towards sustainability. Adaptable Futures (n.d.), in this context, define \"adaptable\" as \"the capacity for a building to accommodate effectively the evolving demands of it contexts, thus maximising its value through life\".\nLiterature review: Office design 1900-to date\nResearch approach: The Gateshead Civic Centre was studied to examine the changes to the building that have occurred over a 29 year period (1987-2016). This case study was used to identify and understand the key changes to the building over this period. Historic and current documents about the building were examined from the Gateshead Council, Council Housing, Design and Technical Services records. This allowed for an extensive analysis to be carried out to study how the building has changed over the years and to establish the factors behind those changes. The building was already a subject of another research (Giddings and Ladinski, 2016) based on a post-occupancy survey carried out by the authors, with Property and Design Services (2013) as a sample council department, to identify users' level of satisfaction with the implementation of the workspace strategy. The findings of this research were also taken into consideration as it represents that major change to the building since its occupation in 1987. The energy efficiency aspects of the building were examined, i.e. its performance on completion and after the implementation of the workspace strategy.\nFindings: History and site\nConclusions: This research established the early design decision made in the 1980s related to the Gateshead Civic Centre and key aspects of the implementation of the workspace strategy from the turn of the 2000s and 2010s. The latter led to the substantial transformation of the working environment within the building. This was done in line with the UK Government policies about more efficient use of office space and pubic estate assets. Through this refurbishment, the 1980s \"combi-office\" workspace was transformed into a stage 3 (addition of supporting communal spaces) office on the five-stage evolution of office space model by Gibson and Luck (2004). The implementation of the workspace strategy increased the office workspace numbers in the Civic Centre by 31 per cent in comparison with the original 20 per cent target. Employees generally remain satisfied and have positive feeling about their new workspace (Giddings and Ladinski, 2016). These increases in workspace numbers were complemented by capital receipt as a result of the anticipated closure and disposal of assets that were no longer required. In addition, annual revenue savings were achieved as a result of consolidation of the workforce into the Civic Centre. Furthermore, the energy efficiency credentials of the original building have been enhanced over the years through upgrade of services resulting in reduced annual energy consumption in the 2010s in comparison with the late 1980s.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of early design decisions made in the 1980s upon the future adaptability of the Gateshead Civic Centre building and the implementation of a workspace strategy in the 2010s, and how they have supported the efficiencies achieved through the increase in office workspace numbers, and the associated advantages of accommodating more employees within the Civic Centre.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Available documents related to the original development of the Gateshead Civic Centre and the 2010s workspace-related adaptations were examined to establish potential links between the two, and compare the findings with designing for adaptability-related research.\nFindings: The results show that the early design decisions made in the 1980s have contributed to the future adaptability of the building and thus facilitated the implementation of a workspace strategy within Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council in the 2010s. In addition, they have supported the achievement of other efficiencies through the increase in office workspace numbers and location of more employees within the Civic Centre. The findings can guide future trends within the Council, as well as inform organisations on the potential benefits of designing for adaptability.\nOriginality/value: The study provides a prospective consideration of how an early design decision influenced the long-term adaptability of the building.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of trust in investor relations: a conceptual framework	[ "Stakeholders", "Public relations", "Trust", "Corporate communications", "Investor relations", "Relationship management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Having surpassed the global financial crisis, the role of trust in establishing relationships between a company and the financial community has gained increasing relevance. Investor relations (IR) takes here a punitive role in functioning as the mouthpiece between companies and the financial public (Laskin, 2011). In fact, corporate executives consider the reestablishment of trust from investors and the public in their companies as one of the major challenges in the twenty-first century (Lev, 2012). As Sapienza and Zingales (2012) simply put it, \"without trust, cooperation breaks down, financing breaks down and investment stops\" (p. 124).\nA working definition of trust for IR: The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI, 2017) defines IR as \"a strategic management responsibility that integrates finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company's securities achieving fair valuation.\" However, the notion of trust is not directly mentioned in this definition here, leaving room for discussion what the underlying concept or mechanism of a \"fair valuation\" of a company and \"effective two-way communication\" might truly be.\nTrust relationships in IR: Micro-level trust in IR\nBuilding trust relationships in IR: After having described the diverse trust relationships within IR, the question arises how these relationships can be formed, maintained and fostered. Given that I have not made the conceptual distinction between IR as a discipline, institution or individual IROs, strategies for IR on how to build trust relationships are not restricted to interpersonal communication (e.g. listening, openness, honesty) but are also considered from a broader, organizational and systematic perspective (e.g. transparency, comprehensibility). It is argued that stable, deep and long-lasting trust relationships within IR can only be achieved when the interpersonal, organizational and systemic dimensions are considered simultaneously, continuously and genuinely within all IR communication efforts.\nConclusion: The purpose of this paper was to discuss the role of trust in IR. Based on a working definition for trust in IR that was derived from related research disciplines (psychology, economics, sociology, PR), a conceptual model has been drawn that sketched trust relationships within IR and IROs daily practices. Following to that, various communication strategies have been provided that are assumed to support the establishment, maintenance and fostering of trust relationships within IR practices. It is suggested that IR needs to provide honest, transparent, comprehensive and coherent information, to be in continuous, direct and mutual contact with stakeholders (e.g. investors, analysts, CEOs) and to endeavor a fair representation of the company in the media and among the public.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a synthesis for investor relations (IR) research on how to understand, conceptualize and build trust relationships between companies and the financial community within the practice of IR. In doing so, a working definition of the role of trust for IR, a conceptual model as well as strategies on how to establish, maintain and foster trust relationships within IR are proposed. Furthermore, a brief research alley is sketched to inspire more corporate communication scholars to conduct empirical studies in this field of research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a thorough literature review on empirical and theoretical work in the field of IR, strategic financial communication as well as related disciplines such as public relations, marketing and business research. Furthermore, the literature from other disciplines dealing with trust in the organizational context (economics, psychology, sociology) has been reviewed to develop a working definition for the role of trust in IR.\nFindings: The following supposition for the role of trust in IR has been worked out: \"Trust relationships within investor relations manifest themselves on a micro-, meso-, and macro-level and involve interactions with various individual actors, groups of people, organizations, institutions, and systems. Within these trust interactions, investor relations presents itself simultaneously three-fold: as a discipline, an organization and as individual practitioners.\"\nPractical implications: To support the establishment, maintenance and fostering of trust relationships, IR needs to provide honest, transparent, comprehensive and coherent information to be in continuous, direct and mutual contact with stakeholders (e.g. investors, analysts, CEOs) and to endeavor a fair representation of the company in the media and among the public.\nOriginality/value: Facing recent changes in the media, regulatory and corporate environment, this conceptual paper provides a thorough discussion of the role of trust in the field of IR. The working definition, the conceptual model as well as the practical strategies to build trust relationships provided in this paper might help IR to overcome these challenges. The call for more research in this area and the actual employment of the suggested trust building strategies might contribute to fostering trust relationships in the financial markets, thereby contributing to a more sustainable financial system in the long run.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does strategic orientation influence strategy formulation and organisational design in Italian food medium sized enterprises? The role of the family	[ "Food industry", "Family firms", "Strategic planning", "Strategic orientation", "Organizational design", "Medium-size enterprises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The food and beverage (F&B) industry is one of the most important industries in the European and Italian Economy. In the EU Food and Drink Report 2018, the F&B industry emerged in 2016 as the largest manufacturing industry in terms of turnover, employment and value-added, accounting for EUR1,109bn turnover, 4.57m employees and 2.1 per cent of EU gross value-added, respectively. Based on the same criteria, the Italian F&B industry ranks third in the EU and is one of the most relevant drivers of the national economic system (Garzia, 2017; Della Corte et al., 2018), having a positive impact on the country's internationalisation. According to the note published by ISTAT - Foreign Trade and Import Prices, the F&B exports ended in 2017 with a record of EUR41bn (+7 per cent compared to 2016), recording EUR3.4bn in December (+2 per cent compared to December 2016). In the same period, exports to Russia (+24 per cent), China (+14.8 per cent) and France (+8 per cent) increased. Moreover, F&B is considered a pillar of the so-called Made in Italy (Fortis, 2005; Esposito De Falco, 2008), namely, \"the 3Fs\", which includes fashion and furniture.\n2. Literature review and research issues: 2.1 Family business and the balance between family and external management in MEs\n3. Research questions and research design: This study verifies whether and how a more proactive strategic orientation leads to more innovative behaviours in both the strategic and the organisational profiles and employs it in the context of F&B sectors and for MEs to provide empirical insights. The adopted framework is the strategic orientation as defined by Miles and Snow (1978). The context is the family business. The role of family and external management are considered as factors that can influence the interactions between strategic orientation, strategic decision-making and organisational design.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Case study methodology\n5. Results: 5.1 Companies' profiles\n6. Discussion: Addressing the Miles and Snow's (1978) classification, this study has demonstrated that companies with a prospector strategic orientation are likely to unveil higher adoption of strategic management instruments and a managerial decision-making process more intensively than MEs with a defender strategic orientation.\n7. Conclusions, implications and limitations: This study scrutinises the relationship between strategic orientation, following the paradigm of Miles and Snow (1978), and both the process of strategic decision-making and the organisational design. The context is the family MEs operating in the Italian F&B sector. From the analysis of five case studies, it emerges that the prospectors of MEs are more inclined to use more formalised strategic processes, while the strategic orientation impact only organisational structure and leadership and not culture (that depends more on factors connected to the characteristic of the firm and people).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of strategic orientation (defined using the Miles and Snow's paradigm) on the processes of strategic decision-making and organisational design in medium-sized firms (MEs) operating in the Italian family food and beverage industry (F&B). It answers the following research questions: Does the orientation towards market development lead to different strategic formulation styles and developing innovative approaches towards organisational design?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on five cases of Italian family MEs operating in the F&B industry with a focus on premium segments, following the Mediobanca and Unioncamere criteria.\nFindings: The strategy formulation process and the organisational design are affected by strategic orientation, highlighting the relevance of the \"prospector\" orientation in modifying the behavioural models among the selected companies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations concern the number of examined case studies and the geographical location of firms.\nPractical implications: The attitude to plan and develop new organisational designs is required by a more \"prospector\" strategic orientation due to the increasing level of work complexity and the process of innovation to manage the market share. Thus, the emergence of a prospector attitude must be reinforced with specific managerial competencies and suggested as necessary support for development strategies.\nOriginality/value: This study focusses on strategic and organisational profiles of MEs operating in the F&B context, where literature is still fragmented. It explores the relationship between strategic orientation, strategic formulation and organisational design by analysing all constructs simultaneously, thereby bridging the theoretical gap in the existing literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Substance over style: Assessing and developing senior executives	[ "Change", "Assessment", "Engagement", "Development", "Feedback", "Executives" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: For competitive advantage in business, it is important to look at one's staff and continually assess and develop them, provide rigorous initiatives and identify and advance potential candidates. It is important to look at what processes are in place for development and whether there is a good impact and return on investment. Much research has been conducted in assessment and development on mid and lower levels but little in the area concerning senior executives. Senior executives have a high responsibility for making decisions and the cost to the company, so it is important to invest in their assessment and development, ensuring that they take the assessment program seriously and that the organization sees a good return for investment in the program.\nAssessments: Senior executives at this level have little time to devote to assessments and improvements, among their daily work commitments. It was found, however, that those who put in more effort with the initial assessments showed more change 12-18 months later. Those who put more effort into the initial assessments had more meaningful results and data to work with for improvement. Also, those who put more effort into the assessments showed more commitment to the SLDC in general.\nFeedback: The results from the initial assessments provide data which can be used for development and change. However, the feedback itself can have an impact on behavioral change. Simply reporting on the data may not be enough, it is important for feedback to be given in a positive and constructive way, and this may increase behavior change more than the plain data.\nDevelopment plans: It is generally widely accepted that development plans are beneficial for recording achievements and outlining specific goals and areas to work toward. However, there is an assumption that for an assessment program such as the SLDC to be successful, these plans must be highly elaborate. The authors Church et al. (2017) discovered that there was no significant correlation between the time spent on creating the plans and resulting change in behavior. What is important is a clear outlining of areas to work on rather than the actual style of the plan itself.\nAction: Following on from the development plans, it is important that action is taken. This was found to be positively related to improvements in the participants as seen by others.\nComment: The review is based on \"All that glitters is not gold: Maximizing the impact of executive assessment and development efforts\" by Church et al. (2017), published in Leadership & Organization Development Journal.\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: This study looks at the assessment and development of senior executives within an organization and makes recommendations for how the process can increase impact. The study finds that engagement and commitment to the process, creating a plan and carrying it out is essential to a successful assessment program.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Design and business: why can ' t we be friends?	[ "Design", "Business development", "Conflict", "Senior management", "Conflict management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The color of your skin don\nThe fundamental schism: The reliability orientation of business executives versus the validity orientation of designers creates a fundamental tension. Because the orientation of each is natural and utterly implicit, neither executives nor designers understand the nature of the schism; they only understand that the other side makes them nervous.\nAdvice for designers and executives: I have five pieces of parallel advice for each side.\nGetting along: In many respects, the advice for getting along is quite generic: appreciate the legitimate differences, empathize, seek to communicate on each other\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As design becomes more important for business, designers and business people need to work together more. However, they tend to find the relationship difficult, challenging and less productive than either side would wish. The purpose of this paper is to help both designers and business people work more productively with one another.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper identifies the underlying schism between validity, which is favored by designers, and reliability, which is favored by business people, as the source of the relationship conflict. It then uses the key attributes of validity and reliability to form recommendations for each side to deal better with their counterparts.\nFindings: There are five practical and actionable things that designers can do to work better with business people and five equivalent things that business people can do to work better with designers.\nOriginality/value: Currently, neither business people nor designers have a productive or coherent theory as to why their counterparts behave in ways that appear to them to be unproductive. To fill the theory gap, they tend to think badly of their counterparts. This paper provides both sides a productive theory of the other and a prescription for utilizing the theory to promote more productive collaboration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cultural differences in motivating global knowledge workers	[ "Motivation (psychology)", "Professional services", "Lawyers", "Knowledge sharing", "Organizational culture", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Very little is known about success or failure of knowledge management (KM) efforts within large professional service firms, even though more and more organisations are investing in KM (Ardichvili et al., 2003), but it is clear that one of the key questions in KM remains how to motivate people to actually contribute their knowledge (Connell et al., 2003; Rusanow, 2005).This paper is based on research within a professional service firm, or to be more precise a multinational law firm with more than 2,500 lawyers in 25+ offices in 15+ countries. Law firms can be seen as early and capital intense adapters of the practices of KM (Forstenlechner, 2005), mainly due to the fact that \"that professional expertise and knowledge are both inputs and outputs in this sector\" (Hunter et al., 2002, p. 8). Besides the highly knowledge-intensive work several other factors such as higher efficiency gains from specialisation compared to other sectors (Scott and Christensen, 2004) or the high risk involved in knowledge loss through turnover (Stovel and Bontis, 2002) emphasise the importance of KM in the professional services sector.\nMotivational aspects: While some researchers argue against motivation being a key factor for successful knowledge transfer, such as Szulanski (1996), who argues that there is no link at all and that other factors such as cognitive or relational factors are more important, or Stein and Ridderstrale (2001), who argue that low motivation to share knowledge is a question of socialisation or communication, several other researches have argued for the overwhelming importance of motivation (Schulz and Klugmann, 2005; Rusanow, 2005). Kalling (2003) concludes that if motivation is not in place naturally, management control and organisational context may substitute. The authors of this paper agree on this definition of motivation in so far as management control may be able to shape this motivation by using methods to foster knowledge sharing. Some of these methods, such as career progression or authority are examined in this paper. Ardichvili et al. (2003) suggest motivation as a key factor in organisations where people consider themselves part of the organisation, therefore feeling responsible for the success and voluntarily sharing knowledge. In the context of the organisation in this research, the unit looked at for knowledge sharing is a so-called \"practice group\", a unit for which the more commonly known term community of practice is deemed a suitable term by the authors. According to Wasko and Faraj (2005), a community of practice consists of a tightly knit group of members engaged in a shared practice who know each other, work together and typically meet face-to-face and communicate with each other directly. In the organisation in this research, knowledge sharing initially is meant to be within the practice group. However, it can enable the whole organisation to benefit when knowledge sharing is achieved through cross selling between practice groups and by improving the organisation-wide know-how base (Rusanow, 2005). Joint sense-making and problem-solving fosters the formation of strong interpersonal ties and creates norms of direct reciprocity within a small community (Wasko and Faraj, 2005). The sense of reciprocity or other factors are not within the remit of this research however, the definition of motivation in this paper is in line with Kalling (2003) as the result of management control and organisational context, basically boiling down to the question what management can do in order to create a positive motivation for knowledge sharing.\nKnowledge management in the professional services sector: \"The only product sold in law is intellectual capital\" (Chatzkel, 1999, p. 6) is not only true for the legal sector but also for most other professional service firms such as consultancies or accountancies. The key to any service provided is the input in the form of knowledge the organisation has received and the output it can deliver based on this (Hunter et al., 2002). The growth of specialisation as outlined by Scott and Christensen (2004, p. 3) brings about a rising need to more efficiently deal with that intellectual capital within professional service firms: \"The growth of specialization means that most corporate legal work does not involve complex problem-solving. With the right experience, specialists can easily recognise patterns and apply familiar tools so that they do not need to 'reinvent the wheel'. Pattern recognition dramatically increases efficiency. Hourly rates assume everything requires complex problem solving. While few industries have experienced greater productivity gains from specialization, the absence of a competitive market enables law firms to hoard cost savings instead of passing them along to corporations\".Knowledge input in the form of individual know-how and collective routines provide the basis for service provision to clients in a very flexible way to meet the different needs of different clients. The professional experience needed to perform this role is based on formal education as well as professional development (codified knowledge) and on the experience of working with clients and more senior professionals (tacit knowledge). Hunter et al. (2002) suggest a high correlation between the quality of recruits and the quality of the output, which in turn would be reflected in the firm's reputation.In the law firm sector, the most common structure of firms is a partnership, in which lawyers can become owners of the firm depending on their performance. Rebitzer and Taylor (1999) argue that this can be seen as the prize in a tournament in which the winners forego immediate returns to the value of their knowledge, in order to reap the gains of property rights in the firm in the longer term. Hunter et al. (2002) see the risk in this as the specificity of their knowledge. Such as the facet that close relations to a main client involves the risk that the holder of the knowledge will leave and take the client with him, which is why this implied threat allows the firms to leverage an increased share of the revenue.Historically, corporate legal departments were excellent communicators of knowledge and KM is nothing essentially new for them (Forstenlechner, 2005). Lawyers had a natural sense for knowledge sharing, as they just needed to shout over the hallway or share knowledge in the lunchroom. In the last ten years, the market has seen two developments that have made this personal exchange of knowledge difficult, one is a period of unprecedented growth and merger activity for corporate law firms and the other the trend of outsourcing of corporate legal departments to corporate law firms. Robbins (2003) sees other reasons in increased legal scrutiny, new legislation imposing additional responsibilities on lawyers and the increasing geographic dispersion of lawyers. The numerous mergers between law firms in the last decade have culturally not made KM easier. Schulz and Klugmann (2005, p. 10) see the reasons in \"different offices, each with their own unique history, have, even with individual jurisdictions, developed their own drafting house styles and other habits over decades. KM, as a necessarily central and firm-wide platform, might thus be regarded as a hostile invader into the autonomy of certain offices and their wish to maintain a decentralised culture in the law firm\".\nBarriers to KM in law firms: According to Khandelwal and Gottschalk (2003), there are several common hurdles in law firms that hinder KM: individuality, time, lack of incentives and success. Individuality is encouraged in law firms; lawyers are not building their reputation on team-based approaches to legal work or on their willingness to share their expertise. This is also a notable difference in the approaches US and UK law firms take towards partner compensation. In US law firms, partner compensation models are based on \"you eat what you kill\"; meaning partners are paid according to their share of billable hours and \"their\" clients. UK law firms are mostly in what is known as the lock step system, meaning they share profits equally based on seniority. This enables knowledge sharing and client recommendations within a firm. Time is a big issue as any minute spent on KM is not time billed and is therefore profit lost. Scott and Christensen (2004) provide additional insight into the issue of the billable hour seeing it as a counter-intuitive measure of value as it encourages spending more time on needless work that can be charged out as opposed to doing value adding services. Disterer (2005) published a survey where 100 per cent (!) of respondents (high-level KM staff in law firms) selected the answer \"senior lawyers are too busy to reflect on their own experiences and share them\" as a major barrier in their KM activities.In the context of these numerous and strong barriers the question remains how to motivate lawyers to share knowledge despite an environment seemingly destined to work against any efforts of knowledge sharing.\nResearch methodology: The core of this research is the results of a questionnaire administered online to a large part of the case study organisation. Questionnaires are a very time efficient way of doing research (Robson, 1993) but come with substantial problems compared to interviews, such as the lack of a possibility to check on the honesty or seriousness of results or the necessary effort for the results to be meaningful.The questionnaire was painstakingly constructed in several workshops with the management of the KM support function, with very clear and unambiguous instructions and careful wording of questions. The high response rate of above 70 per cent can also be seen as a statement on the high acceptance of KM among fee earners. The survey was the first of its kind within the case study organisation and aimed at understanding the interaction of fee earners with services provided by the KM function better. Table I shows the response rate and other relevant data for the questionnaire used in this research.The question relevant to this research was question 12 in the survey, asking to rate the efficiency of various means to share knowledge (see Table II).Robson (1993) sees one method of assessing statistical significance in applying the chi-square test to data. This test basically looks at how random data is, i.e. assessing the probability of obtaining the observed relationship if only chance factors are in operation. Robson (1993, p. 336) refers to the chi-square test as \"codified common sense\". It was therefore used to provide evidence on the validity of data. Data were then analysed and graphically displayed using bar charts that show the variance in certain attributes of questions answered in the questionnaire. This method was used to analyse the results on cultural variations as well as variations by job role or tenure of respondents. This is the simplest form of analysing data, by looking at different views in bar charts. The results were then compared to literature and analysed on a regional and seniority level.\nMotivations to share knowledge: \"For knowledge sharing to be successful, organisations must create a culture whereby knowledge sharing is both encouraged and rewarded\" (Broady-Preston and Tegwen, 2004, p. 134) . The survey suggested several encouraging or rewarding methods to foster knowledge sharing and the overall results suggest a clear preference across the organisation towards a career enhancing rewards and authority (see Figure 1):* contribution considered during appraisal process (74 per cent);* authority or direction from partners (73 per cent);* provision of a charge code to record time (60 per cent);* peer recognition and respect (59 per cent); and* a one-time incentive or reward (43 per cent).Before looking at the regional differences as well as the differences between junior and senior lawyers, it is important to understand the meaning behind these methods.Knowledge contributions part of the annual appraisal process (74 per cent positive)\nConclusions: Law is a knowledge-intensive profession, where there has traditionally been a great reliance on external information; a focus that in recent years has shifted towards internally generated information and expertise (Broady-Preston and Tegwen, 2004). For law firms to stay competitive, this internally generated knowledge can be captured and distributed in multiple ways (Hunter et al., 2002), but the basic requirement to have that knowledge available is the willingness among professionals to share it. This is what this research has looked at and the research into the motivation needed for lawyers to share knowledge revealed high dependency on some kind of reward, be it in the form of improved career chances or peer recognition. However, authority was also identified as a key enabler. While on high level view across the entire organisation career chances and authority were identified as the top motivational factors, there are significant differences of the applicability to single regions or countries.The essence of the cultural variations analysis is that it is critical to consider local specifics when motivating global knowledge workers to share their knowledge. Therefore, just like a health warning on a piece of know-how addressing possible risks for reuse, managerial decisions to motivate need to come with a health warning reminding to take national culture into account before making decisions based on experiences from other cultures.The practical implication of this is that measures need to reflect national culture, e.g. in cultures that comparably value the organisation's well-being more than individual desires it will be easier to foster knowledge sharing without offering incentives or authority to force people into knowledge sharing. In Germany for example, all the way through their formal education process lawyers are told that being a lawyer is being a free man, a lonesome rider, the administrator of justice, not an employee working as part of a large organisation and this of course does not make knowledge sharing an easier mission in German law offices. Of comparable significance is an obstacle to KM found in the US, where time not billed is time wasted. Local specifics like this can make the difference between seeing something as a success or failure. It is difficult to motivate knowledge workers in global organisations to share their knowledge, but it can be done by taking different managerial approaches into account and by looking at the likelihood of success for each one in each region.Knowledge sharing is one of the basic foundations of KM and in order to optimise the chances for successful knowledge sharing, cultural differences need to be taken into account as proposed in this paper.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the findings of research into the different means of motivating knowledge workers to participate in and contribute to knowledge exchange and creation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey was conducted among more than a quarter of the 2,500+ strong lawyer multinational law firm with 25+ offices in 15+ countries and analysed to provide insight into the differences on motivation and value perception across the cultural dividing lines. The results were analysed at regional level as well as organisational/generation level and analysed by statistical means and descriptive statistics. The key outcomes were analysed against literature to provide an in-depth understanding on how to foster knowledge sharing.\nFindings: - Respondents showed distinct reactions towards the means to motivate them to share knowledge. Career prospects, authority, provision of charge codes, recognition among peers or one-time incentives have a very diverse impact around the world.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This survey itself was limited to one law firm. Thus, even though this firm is among the largest three firms in the world and considered a leader in knowledge management, this research is therefore not representative of the entire professional service sector or the law firm sector.\nPractical implications: - The results have been used within the case study organisation to improve the efficiency in motivating lawyers to share knowledge and lessons can be drawn for comparable organisations operating on a global scale.\nOriginality/value: - Prior to this paper there has been little research into the motivation of global knowledge workers within the professional service environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Students' experience of sustainability: health as a lever for action	[ "Health", "Sustainability", "Higher education", "Qualitative methods", "Participatory action approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Promoting sustainability is a major worldwide concern of Western societies. The United Nations emphasized the important role of education in the development of students with knowledge and skills that support sustainable development (UNESCO: ESD, 2015). Switzerland faces similar issues and challenges. Following the Federal Council's 2011 decision to abandon nuclear energy, an action plan has been developed that places greater emphasis on renewable energies. The action plan also includes measures to ensure a broader understanding of the principle of sustainable development by everyone through education (Swiss Federal Council, 2016).\n1. Literature review: The importance of focusing on students' experiences to move towards a more sustainable university has been emphasized by several authors. Higgings et al. (2013) highlighted that as future citizens, students have the potential to become leaders of change by behaving in a more sustainable manner, both inside and outside the university campus. In their article, these authors described sustainability projects in which students were involved - aiming, for instance, for the reduction of their personal carbon footprint - but little was said about students' perceptions. The national English survey of students' attitudes on sustainability revealed that 65 per cent of the respondents believe that sustainability should be guaranteed by the university (Bone and Agombar, 2001). Nevertheless, it is important to note that students' awareness of sustainability issues does not necessarily entail engaging in sustainable action or behaving in a more sustainable manner. According to a recent comparative study of student attitudes across four European countries (Richardson et al., 2016), German students declared the strongest need to integrate sustainability in their curriculum, but they reported lower levels of adherence to sustainability principles in their private life, outside university.\n2. Methodology: Our study was conducted at a Swiss university. Its participatory action approach involved both teachers and bachelor's students. Our research was part of a broader initiative that aimed to bring researchers and stakeholders closer who were involved in sustainability and renewable energy issues.\n3. Results: 3.1 Lexicographic analysis findings\n4. Discussion: Our results show that the concept of sustainability was unclear for the majority of students interviewed. Along the same lines, most of the accounts by SIs tended to systematically reduce sustainability to the environmental dimension, ignoring its social and economic dimensions. Only geoscience students gave more elaborate responses when guided to explain the concept of sustainability; they were also aware of the multidimensionality of this concept.\n5. Conclusion: On the basis of these findings, our research enables us to identify specific recommendations that may be of interest for interventions in the field of sustainability. These interventions may be more effective if they first aim to sensitize students to the direct impacts of non-sustainable practices on their personal health by mobilizing corporeality and their own body. This can be made possible by using learning activities that involve scenarios or concrete exercises that enhance a better understanding of sustainability and therefore contribute to change towards more sustainable practices. Along this line, the \"carbon conversations\" tool developed by Rendall (2009), which aims to reduce one's personal carbon footprint by combining affective and pragmatic components related to sustainable issues, seems appropriate for students, especially in higher education contexts. Through several group meetings, run by trained facilitators, participants are offered the possibility to explore what sustainability means and to share their doubts or hopes (affective components) regarding these underlying issues. Informational and practical guidance on how to reduce one's carbon footprint is given. At the end of the meetings, people commit themselves to personal engagement. According to the authors, most participants significantly reduce their CO2 emissions immediately and make plans for long-term reduction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to deepen the authors' understanding of higher education students' perceptions about sustainability issues by focusing on their motivations to adopt (or not to adopt) sustainable practices in their lives. It mobilized the notion of \"health\" and the potential impacts of climate change on health.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative and participatory action approach, involving students acting as researchers, was implemented. All psychology students (bachelor's degree) were trained to conduct semi-directive interviews with students from other faculties on the issues of sustainability and health. In total, 203 interviews were completed within two academic years. The authors performed a lexicographic analysis followed by a thematic analysis.\nFindings: Analyses showed that the concept of sustainability was unclear for most student interviewees (SIs) and that only a few of them were able to spontaneously connect it with health. Only after being guided throughout the interview did these SIs, mainly geoscience students, become progressively aware of the direct links between sustainability and health issues, such as personal health. The perceived risks of non-sustainable practices were higher when they directly affected the body itself, and this encouraged adoption of more sustainable practices.\nOriginality/value: This research enables the authors to identify specific interventions to decrease the gap between awareness of sustainability and sustainable practices. These interventions may be more effective if they aim to sensitize students to the direct impacts of non-sustainable practices on their personal health. This can be made possible by using creative learning activities that involve active participation of students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empirical relationship between workers' remittances and financial development (an ARDL cointegration approach for Sri Lanka)	[ "ARDL bounds test", "Financial development", "Granger causality", "Workers' remittances", "Impulse response function" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last three decades, there has been significant literature empirically studying the effect of workers' remittances on economic development (Tarus, 2015; Inoue and Hamori, 2016; Bhattacharya et al., 2018). The World Bank (2014) has defined remittances as income to the household from foreign economies mainly coming from either permanent or temporary movement by persons to those respective economies. Workers' remittances have presently become an important external source of finance in many developing countries (Ojeda, 2003; Maimbo and Ratha, 2005; Inoue and Hamori, 2016). In 2015, workers' remittances were globally estimated at $601bn, of which $441bn were sent to developing countries. In 2017, workers' remittances in developing countries increased to 0.7% compared to previous years (World Bank, 2017). Most literature especially Ratha (2005); Jawaid and Raza (2012) state that workers' remittances are considered as stable sources of external finance than foreign aid, foreign direct investment and foreign loan. Adams (1991), Aggarwal et al. (2006) and Reinke (2007) express that workers' remittances are the second main source of external finance next to foreign direct investment.The transection of workers' remittances occurs via both formal and informal channels (Aggarwal et al., 2006; Brown et al., 2013). Formal channels are made up of recognized institutions with the authority to undertake the business of money transfer. Banking and nonbanking financial organizations are called formal financial intermediaries channels for workers' remittances (Burgess and Pande, 2005; Nyamongo et al., 2012; Masuduzzaman, 2014). Formal channels of money transfer make it easier to record and capture transactions for future use (Nyamongo et al., 2012). The International Monitory Fund and most central or reserve banks rely on these formal channels for data. On the other hand, authorities who undertake financial regulatory services do not have any oversight or control over the informal channels of money transfer. Workers' remittances have proved to be complicated to measure as people device more informal ways of undertaking transactions and the volume and value of transactions undertaken by informal channels are not recorded in official databases. In many cases, informal methods of money transfer are regarded as illegal save for methods such as the simple act of handing over carried cash or goods that were carried as part of an individual's personal baggage (Luqman and Haq, 2016). Some researchers, i.e. Liang and Reichert (2006), Acosta et al. (2009), Motelle (2011), Rao and Hassan (2011), Shahzad et al. (2014), Sehrawat and Giri (2015) conclude that banking and non-banking financial institutions collect workers' remittances from households as savings with attractive interest rate and channel them to productive sectors in an economy.Most scholarly works studying the consequences of workers' remittances show that workers' remittances play a major role in the reduction of poverty as well as the resources that a family devotes to investment (Luqman and Haq, 2016). Further, workers' remittances have been found to contribute to improved education and health outcomes. In addition to that, workers' remittances have been found to help households struggling with low income to make their consumption smoother through reducing their degree of vulnerability to different shocks in the international and local financial markets as well as serving to ensure the households in developing economies against risks that come with reduced inequality in income and new production activities (Janesh, 2013). At the same time Aggarwal et al. (2006) state that workers' remittances promote the financial development (FD) sector in emerging countries.South Asian economy is classified as a remittance economy (Chowdhury, 2011). A substantial number of skilled and unskilled labourers migrate from South Asian countries to other countries for getting a suitable job (Chowdhury, 2016). Thus, the migrated labourers earn and send their wages to their home countries via formal and informal transactions channels (Nyamongo et al., 2012). The wages of migrated labourers are labelled as workers' remittances and recorded in South Asian countries' balance of payment under the secondary source of income (Mundaca, 2009; Shahzad et al., 2014). Sri Lanka being a South Asian country workers' remittances are as stated above, an important factor for economic development in Sri Lanka. Since the later part of the 1970s, Sri Lanka has initiated the labour exporting policy for the purposes of reducing unemployment and earning foreign exchange more and more. As a result of labour exporting policy, Sri Lankan labourers are found almost all over the world. However, as stated earlier, workers' remittances, sent via the formal channels, are recorded as a remarkable external source of finance in the balance of payment under the secondary source of income. However, a large portion of workers' remittances enter into Sri Lanka by informal channels, yet it is not recorded in the balance of payment. The World Bank (2017) expresses that the contribution of workers' remittances to FD in Sri Lanka has been an important factor since the year 1975. Figure 1 shows the contribution of workers' remittances to FD in Sri Lanka during the study period, which indicates that the share of workers' remittances to FD in Sri Lanka is in increasing trend with some fluctuation. In the meantime, Figure 2 expresses the relationship between workers' remittances and FD in Sri Lanka confirming that workers' remittances have a productive impact on the FD of Sri Lanka.It is therefore obviously confirmed from Figures 1 and 2 that workers' remittances in Sri Lanka upsurge FD. On the other hand, the relationship between workers' remittances and FD in Sri Lanka has not yet been examined in-depth. Thus, the main motivation of this study is to seek the answer to the research question of whether workers' remittances have a positive relationship with FD in Sri Lanka. In order to answer the research question, this study forms the following objective. The objective of this study is to investigate the nature of relationship between workers' remittances and FD in Sri Lanka.The rest of this study is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the review of literature. Section 3 expounds the details related to the methodology used in this study. Section 4 discusses the empirical findings. Section 5 concludes the study, discussing some policy implications.\n2. Literature review: In this section, we critically review the theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between workers' remittances and FD, respectively. 2.1 Theoretical literature\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Model specification\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Exploratory data analysis and unit root test\n5. Conclusion and policy recommendation: This study has aimed to investigate the natural correlation between workers' remittances and FD in Sri Lanka over the period of 1975-2017. The ADF and PP unit root test results confirm that the variables used in this study are in mixed order. The ARDL bounds test results indicate that workers' remittances have a positive impact on the FD in Sri Lanka in the long-run, but not in the short-run. The coefficient of ECTt-1 reveals that it is statistically significant with a negative sign. It is also noted that the response variable of FD has moved towards the long-run equilibrium path. The diagnostic tests show that the estimated models are robust. The Granger causality test result demonstrates that there is bidirectional causality between workers' remittances and FD in Sri Lanka. In addition, the coefficient of error correction term indicates that workers' remittances Granger cause the FD in Sri Lanka in the long-run. The impulse response analysis indicates that a positive shock to workers' remittances has an immediate significant positive impact on the FD in Sri Lanka. This study generally concludes that workers' remittances promote FD in Sri Lanka. With respect to policies for FD, this study recommends that policymakers should take more attention to the injection of workers' remittances to Sri Lanka. Further, this study also suggests the policymakers should formulate policies that can attract more workers' remittances.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study aims to investigate the nature of the relationship between workers' remittances and financial development (FD) in Sri Lanka for the period from 1975 to 2017.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study used both the exploratory data analysis and inferential data analysis (IDA) techniques to test the objective of this study. The IDA technique consisted of the augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron unit root tests, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds cointegration technique, the Granger causality test and impulse response function analysis.\nFindings: The unit root test results show that the variables are in mixed order. The empirical results of cointegration confirm that workers' remittances have a beneficial long-run relationship with FD in Sri Lanka. The Granger causality test result indicates that there is a bidirectional relationship between workers' remittances and FD. The impulse response analysis indicates that a positive shock to workers' remittance has an immediate significant positive impact on the FD of up to 10 years.\nPractical implications: The analytical techniques used in this study explain how workers' remittances induce FD in Sri Lanka.\nOriginality/value: This study fills an important gap in the academic literature by using newly developed ARDL bounds cointegration techniques in Sri Lanka, by using impulse response function analysis, and by studying the dynamic relationship between workers' remittances and FD using time series data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Clinical governance in Australia	[ "Clinical governance", "Performance reporting", "Quality and safety", "Accreditation", "Quality outcomes", "Information and processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nMethodology: The review utilised a non-systematic web-based literature search and interviews with key stakeholders.\nOverview: Australia has a federal parliamentary system with responsibility for funding and delivery of health services fragmented across the Commonwealth and states/territories. This fragmentation leads to blame and cost and is a major barrier to achieving health system improvement.\nRole of commonwealth in leading quality: Clinical standards and accreditation\nRole of the states in leading quality: Managing complaints\nClinical governance in NSW: NSW is unique across the Australian states in having an independent statutory body to lead safety and quality, a dedicated lead agency within NSW Health to foster clinical innovation, and a dedicated agency to collect and report on health information. This approach has arisen in response to earlier inquiries into the health system (Garling, 2008).\nRole of clinicians in leading quality and safety: A number of authors have highlighted the role of clinicians in leading safety and quality. Phillips et al. (n.d.) suggest that \"most evidence supports governance models which use targeted, peer led feedback on the clinicians own practice\". Examination of web sites for Australian clinical colleges found that all colleges addressed safety and quality, either providing training materials or linking to external resources as part of continued professional development.\nCommentary: Has clinical governance fulfilled the broad roles intended?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to overview, background and context to clinical governance in Australia, areas for further development and potential learnings for other jurisdictions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Commentary; non-systematic review of clinical governance literature; review of web sites for national, state and territory health departments, quality and safety organisations, and clinical colleges in Australia.\nFindings: Clinical governance in Australia shows variation across jurisdictions, reflective of a fragmented health system with responsibility for funding, policy and service provision being divided between levels of government and across service streams. The mechanisms in place to protect and engage with consumers thus varies according to where one lives. Information on quality and safety outcomes also varies; is difficult to find and often does not drill down to a service level useful for informing consumer treatment decisions. Organisational stability was identified as a key success factor in realising and maintaining the cultural shift to deliver ongoing quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: Comparison of quality indicators with clinical governance systems and processes at a hospital level will provide a more detailed understanding of components most influencing quality outcomes.\nPractical implications: The information reported will assist health service providers to improve information and processes to engage with consumers and build further transparency and accountability.\nOriginality/value: In this paper the authors have included an in depth profile of the background and context for the current state of clinical governance in Australia. The authors expect the detail provided will be of use to the international reader unfamiliar with the nuances of the Australian Healthcare System. Other studies (e.g. Russell and Dawda, 2013; Phillips et al., n.d.) have been based on deep professional understanding of clinical governance in appraising and reporting on initaitives and structures. This review has utilised resources available to an informed consumer seeking to understand the quality and safety of health services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sodium reduction in butter using microparticulated salt	[ "Multiple comparison test", "Reduced-sodium content", "Salt particle size", "Semisolid product" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Due to the recent demand for ready-to-eat food products, many fresh foods have been replaced with industrialised, prepared foods, resulting in an increase in sodium intake. This change has contributed to the increased incidence of various chronic diseases and the development of chronic degenerative diseases (Felicio et al., 2013; Heaney, 2006; Sihufe et al., 2003). Therefore, reduction of sodium content in processed products has become the focus of public health policies worldwide, with the goal of preventing and controlling hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (He et al., 2011; McLean et al., 2012; Wyness et al., 2012).\nMaterials and methods: Experiment overview\nResults and discussion: Salt ideal content\nConclusion: It was possible to reduce 50 per cent the sodium content of butter using the microparticulated salt, maintaining the perception of the salty taste of the product.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Excessive sodium intake is associated with several diseases. Accordingly, several measures, including microparticulate salt, have been adopted to reduce the salt contents of food products. However, no studies have reported the effectiveness of microparticulate salt in semisolid and liquid products. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the application of microparticulate salt to reduce sodium contents in semisolid products.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The optimal salt content to be added in butter was defined by the just-about-right-scale test. Butter samples were prepared using microparticulate salt to achieve 25, 50 and 75 per cent reductions in conventional salt concentrations. Multiple comparison tests were performed to evaluate sample taste.\nFindings: The ideal concentration of conventional salt to be added to butter was 2.16 per cent. Discriminative tests showed that samples with 25 and 75 per cent salt reduction showed significant differences (p 0.05) compared with butter prepared at the ideal salt content, whereas the sample with 50 per cent salt reduction had no significant difference (p > 0.05). Thus, microparticulate salt showed higher salting power than conventional salt. These results indicated the effectiveness of microparticulate salt in the preparation of semisolid products with sodium reduction.\nResearch limitations/implications: More detailed studies about the reduced-sodium butter shelf life are necessary to verify the microparticulate salt application in the product preparation. Moreover, microparticulate salt application in semisolid and liquid products elaboration must be more investigated to better elucidate its practicability of reducing sodium content in these kinds of products. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.\nPractical implications: Microparticulate salt has been successfully applied to reduce sodium in solid products, being added to the finished product surface. However, there are no studies that report its effectiveness in semisolid and liquid products, such as the butter, in which the salt is added during the product preparation. Thus, this research provides new scientific information to the food industry and research fields, to expand the knowledge of reduced-sodium products development using microparticulate salt with sensory quality.\nOriginality/value: No studies have evaluated the application of microparticulate salt for semisolid product preparation. Therefore, the findings will support the development of healthy products.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trends in the British wine market and consumer confusion	[ "Wines", "Consumer behaviour", "Depth interviews", "Supply chain management", "Marketing mix", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The British wine market is nowadays dominated by a decreasing number of expanding multinationals (Jackson et al., 2000): the main reason of this decline is the difficulty faced by many exporters of supplying sufficient quantities of wine in order to ensure year-round availability to customers (Stening et al., 2004). The forecasts of Anderson et al. (2003) that by 2005 New World (NW) wine producing countries would surpass Old World (OW) countries have been fully realized. In 2003, for the first time, Britons drank more NW wines than traditional European vintages (Euromonitor International, 2006). A massive effort in marketing and export strategies has brought Australia into place as the current market leader (WARC, 2005). Thus, the British wine market is completely differentiated: every international group owns many labels and there is still room for more varied productions. Moreover private labels (PLs) play a crucial role, as supermarkets continue to buy grapes and hire winemakers to produce wine under their own labels (Stening et al., 2004). Therefore, UK is a market extremely competitive and the proliferation of labels together with an overloading of information leads to an increasing consumer's confusion.The purpose of this work is first, to give a descriptive outlook of the competitive environment in the UK wine market and then to verify the main factors of \"consumer confusion\" framework developed by Mitchell and Papavassiliou (1999) and applied to the UK wine industry by Drummond and Rule (2005).Thus, after an introductive outline of recent trends under a marketing-mix perspective, a theoretical framework is given, in order to illustrate and discuss the main features of the consumer confusion concept. Subsequently, materials and methods used to collect primary and secondary data are illustrated. Then, the results of a qualitative research conducted among a convenient sample of 40 stakeholders of the wine supply chain in the UK are presented. Finally, some discussions about the risk that the development of this market can generate on consumers' confusion and buying behaviour are provided.\nRecent trends under a marketing mix perspective: In order to understand the dynamism of the competitive environment, it is necessary to outline the recent trends of the wine market in the United Kingdom according to the \"4Ps\" of the marketing mix.Product\nThe consumer confusion concept: The value of information in the buying process has been widely discussed in wine marketing literature (Lockshin, 2003). It has been demonstrated that even if consumers search for a great deal of information before buying, their decision is usually based on a small number of cues (Lockshin et al., 2000) and that while highly involved consumers utilise more information, low involvement consumers try to simplify their choices using risk reduction strategies. Consequently Spawton (1991) suggests that excepting a few experts at the high end of the market, most wine purchasers are highly risk-sensitive and their purchases are ruled by risk-reduction strategies. Risks can be functional (the taste of wine), social (the embarrassment subsequent to a wrong decision), financial (the cost especially if the wine is expensive) or physical. Thus, consumers are concerned with an enormous amount of information like varietals, brand labels, grocery retailers indications, recommendations which impacts on perceived risks. Redundant and ambiguous information might lead to a lack of trust in wine retailers and producers. Therefore, the right level of available information in wine market has to be provided with regard to the kind of consumer knowledge and attitudes.The concept of consumer confusion (Mitchell and Papavassiliou, 1999; Mitchell and Walsh, 2005) has been taken into consideration by Drummond and Rule (2005), in order to analyse the current situation of the UK wine market. The authors cited the definition of consumer confusion given by Walsh (1999) as an uncomfortable state of mind that primarily arises in the pre-purchase phase and which negatively affects consumers' information processing and decision-making abilities and can lead to consumers making suboptimal choices. They stated, according to Mitchell and Papavassiliou (1999), that the causes of confusion in wine market may be attributed to:* available access to increasing amounts of information;* unprecedented levels of product proliferation;* increasing use of imitation strategies;* consumers shopping in new/unfamiliar environments.By means of semi-structured interviews with 40 key informants belonging to the wine supply chain, including producers, distributors, agents and other stakeholders, this research aims to verify the reasons and the possible effects of consumer confusion.\nResearch method: Materials and methods\nResults of the study: Available access to increasing amount of information\nConclusions: This work confirms that, according to the 40 stakeholders interviewed, the four factors of consumer confusion exist in the UK wine market. Many of them are aware of it, but they also confirm that currently consumer confusion reduction strategies are only undertaken by few actors of the supply chain.Regarding grocery multiple chains, it is arguable that product proliferation trends will continue. Nowadays, NW countries seem to having understood better than OW ones how to approach the British wine market and they currently lead it. Nevertheless there is room for an upward trend for domestic wine consumption as, together with an increase in local production and quality improvement, British consumers will be likely to buy more domestic wines. In order to make it realizable, British wine producers will need to adopt consumer confusion reduction strategies.Consumers are exposed to an increasing amount of information. Traditional mass-media channels, word-of-mouth and promotion strategies tend to stress consumer confusion. Among these sources of confusion, every key informant said that they would prefer to eliminate massive promotions, but retailers are too powerful at the moment. Therefore, unless they stop using these incentives, there is no way to break this vicious cycle.Some strategies have been adopted by suppliers to reduce consumer confusion. For instance, a consideration emerging from the interviews is that if British consumers know the \"wine world\" better than they did five years ago, Waitrose has certainly contributed to it, cultivating an image of a grocery store for wine lovers. A strategic tool that can be used by supermarkets is the loyalty card. Given that promotion is strategic in the British wine market, as English consumers love a bargain, loyalty cards represent a good way to not over-promoting the wine, because it can then be perceived as a low quality product.Wine clubs, on one side can increase consumer confusion, on the other side can help consumers to clarify their buying goals mainly if they use tools and adequate information to educate their customers. In this way they can help to instil buyer confidence (Drummond and Rule, 2005).More work is required to extend this exploratory study on how consumer confusion relates to the British wine market. Particularly, in the light of a valorisation of the emerging UK wine industry, some research about the information provision and the level of consciousness in different consumer segments is necessary, either through qualitative and quantitative researches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is twofold: to give a descriptive outlook of the competitive environment in the UK wine market, and then to show the presence of \"consumer confusion\" elements in it.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The consumer confusion concept has been considered as a framework in order to test the existence of the principal elements of consumer misunderstanding in the buying process. Data have been collected from secondary sources and through in-depth semi-structured interviews among a sample of 40 stakeholders of the wine supply chain in the UK.\nFindings: - The main findings prove the existence of the essential characteristics that can generate a certain degree of consumer confusion, and the relative consciousness of key informants that some strategies need to be adopted to reduce it, although only a few have already been performed.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is probably the first work that tests the consumer confusion conditions through a qualitative analysis following the expectations of previous research conducted by Drummond and Rule.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Rethinking digital preservation: definitions, models, and requirements	[ "Digital", "Preservation", "Repositories", "Models", "OAIS", "TRAC" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As digital preservation activities have matured and the options for tools and services have increased, it is worth revisiting what is meant by digital preservation to differentiate the marketplace of options. It is fair to say that there are many shades of gray in this space and that clarity on definitions and models will serve to ensure the community at large achieves the outcomes it seeks. This paper will focus on both conceptual and pragmatic issues in digital preservation. The timing for such a review is critical as the digital library and digital preservation communities begin a review of the foundational, but now dated, OAIS Reference Model (Rosenthal, 2015; Digital Preservation Coalition, 2016b). It is also helpful to view the relationship between OAIS and related audit and certification standards, e.g., TRAC, ISO 16363:2012.\nWhat is digital preservation now?: Digital preservation now includes multiple options to consider from commercial, non-profit, consortial or open-source providers. To understand fully the applicability of any given solution, one must grasp a number of fundamental issues underlying digital preservation. More to the point, for audit and certification processes, it is essential to be explicit about the relative strengths of specific solutions and strategies to the challenges of digital preservation.\nConclusion: To judge the nature, extent and robustness of a digital preservation solution, one must view it against a holistic model that clearly indicates the relative and comprehensive merit of all components. The hierarchy of digital preservation presented here offers a model based on nearly 20 years of experience in real-world digital preservation across multiple communities on gaging the strength of digital preservation options.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to clarify a mechanism for determining the robustness of digital preservation options given that the field has matured and contains a number of alternatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By examining the component activities of digital preservation, the open archival information system (OAIS) reference model and the trustworthy repository certification process, this paper outlines a possible new model for evaluating the caliber of any particular digital preservation mechanism.\nFindings: This paper offers a more ordered and prescriptive model for evaluating digital preservation efforts.\nResearch limitations/implications: As a review of the OAIS reference model is underway, this paper seeks to contribute to that ongoing discussion to address several issues lacking in the current model and its effect on the certification process.\nOriginality/value: This paper identifies weaknesses in current practices and offers a model for addressing them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Application of ICTs in collection development in private university libraries in Kenya	[ "Information and communication technologies", "Collection development", "Collections management", "Academic libraries", "Private universities", "Digital collections", "Kenya" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Any serious academic library must aim at satisfying the information needs of its users who include students, academics, and researchers. This can be done through taking great care when developing its collection. According to Bonn (1974), both the quantity and the quality of a library's collection depend almost entirely upon the library's collection development process, including its acquisition policy, acquisition procedures, and most importantly, its selection methods. Bonn further asserts that the process of collection development cannot be approached in a haphazard manner, but must be carefully planned and constantly evaluated and monitored.Collection development is:[...] the process of planning and acquiring a balanced collection of library materials over a period of years, based on an ongoing assessment of the information needs of the library's clientele, analysis of usage statistics, and demographic projections (Reitz, 2007).Accordingly, Evans and Saponaro (2005) define collection development as:[...] the process of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a library's materials collection in terms of patron needs and community resources, and attempting to correct existing weaknesses, if any.Collection development process, therefore, involves analyzing the needs of the users that are being served and ensuring that the collection is adequately developed towards meeting those needs. The tasks involved in the process include:* analyzing the needs of the users;* establishing a collection development policy framework that will guide the collection process;* selection and acquisition of the relevant information materials; and* evaluation and de-selection of the collection.If these tasks are not done effectively, the result is a collection that does not adequately meet the needs of its users.\nProblem: It is important for university libraries to develop a collection of high standards for them to attract academics and researchers and provide support to the academic goals of the university. However, current collection development practices in private university libraries in Kenya are not adequately effective and efficient. This is because most of these libraries still use traditional collection development practices, such as:* manual selection of books from print catalogs, book reviews, and bookshops;* inactive collection development policies that are never communicated to the people responsible for selection (Kavulya, 2004); and* an acquisitions process that is in most cases done manually.This makes the whole process of collection development slow, and causes delays in the acquisition of information materials.Changes in information formats, access to local and global information through the internet, and changing information-seeking behaviors of library users have changed the process of collection development in libraries. There is more emphasis on collection of electronic resources such as e-journals, online databases, e-books, and online bibliographies. Additionally, heightened user preference for electronic information is compelling libraries to build electronic collections. Therefore, for effective building and management of these collections, there is a need for effective practices for both print and electronic information collection development in university libraries.Use of information communication technologies (ICTs) in collection development can enhance the process and reduce the challenges caused by traditional collection development practices. Boakye (1994) observes that ICTs help make any procedure for selecting, acquiring and processing of information materials easier and quicker. However, in Kenya no adequate studies have been undertaken to investigate the extent to which application of ICTs could address the challenges of traditional collection development practice.\nAim of the study: The aim of this study was to find out ways in which collection development practices in private university libraries could be enhanced by use of information communication technology with the view of suggesting a framework for effective development of information collections in private university libraries in Kenya.\nObjectives: The objectives of this study were:* to analyze the collection development practices of private university libraries in Kenya;* to find out how traditional collection development practices have impacted on collection development in private university libraries;* to establish the current concerns and constraints in collection development;* to establish the extent to which ICTs can be applied in collection development activities;* to explore the levels of development of electronic information resources in private university libraries; and* to suggest the ways in which ICTs could be used to enhance collection development practices in private university libraries.\nReview of related literature: Selected relevant and current literature in this study was reviewed. The literature review covered user needs analysis, collection development budget, collection development policies, selection process, acquisitions process, evaluation, and weeding.ICTs have changed the way libraries do business though the library business itself has not changed. There is more demand now than ever before for librarians to apply ICTs in library processes in order to satisfy the changing needs of library users. Collection development processes like many other processes in the library have changed from the traditional practice where most of the tasks were done manually and almost all the collection was in print format. Chisenga (2006) notes that developments in information and communication technology have revolutionized information and changed the information seeking behaviors of library users.Chisenga (2006) further asserts that ICTs encompass a wide range of rapidly evolving technologies including telecommunications technologies, such as telephony, cable, satellite, computer-mediated conferencing and video conferencing, as well as digital technologies, such as computers, information networks (internet, the worldwide web, intranets and extranets) and software applications. ICTs come about as a result of convergence of communication technologies and information technologies. These changes have necessitated efficient and effective methods of collection development and management.User needs analysis\nResearch design: The method applied in this study was survey design. The study was concerned with finding out how ICTs can be used to enhance the process of collection development, with a view to providing a framework for effective collection development in private university libraries. This method enabled the researchers to collect in-depth information on views, opinions, practices, and impact of ICTs on collection development in private university libraries from the respondents.Target population\nResearch findings: Response rate\nConclusion: University libraries in Kenya need to apply and fully utilize information communication technologies in collection development activities in order to meet changing user information needs and use available funds effectively. Currently, there have been efforts to apply ICT in collection development but these efforts need to be stepped up: ICTs need to be applied to all the activities of collection development to ensure complete efficiency and effectiveness and to add value to information resources so that they can be used more effectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study was to find out ways in which collection development practices in private university libraries in Kenya could be enhanced by the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is based on research that was carried out on the application of ICTs in collection development in selected private universities in Kenya. The study was done using a survey method. Three universities and a total of 72 respondents were purposively selected for the study. The respondents included librarians, faculty deans and postgraduate students from the three universities.\nFindings: - The findings indicated that ICTs were available in all the three selected universities but their application in collection development was not adequate in ensuring efficiency and in making sure that the library collections are effective in meeting the needs of the users.\nOriginality/value: - With the changing information environment and users' information needs, libraries are being compelled to adopt ICTs in order to remain relevant and increase their value and meet the changing needs of the users. The paper recommends different ways of applying ICTs in all the processes of collection development to make the process more efficient and effective in meeting the needs of the users.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining the effect of xenophobia on "transnational" mega construction project (MCP) success: Moderating role of transformational leadership and high-performance work (HPW) practices	[ "Transformational leadership", "Project success", "High-performance work practices", "Xenophobia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Construction projects account for roughly 6 percent of the global GDP and may exceed 8 percent of the GDP contributions in the developing world. Megatrends are shaking the global construction industry such as massive urbanization (exceeding 6bn people by 2045), transnational supply chains, highly diverse and multi-cultural workforce, technological advancements and mounting considerations for environmental impact (World Economic Forum, 2016). The output of global construction industry is projected to reach $12.9 trillion by 2022 due to the extraordinary growth in construction markets; across both industrializing and industrialized countries (GlobalData, 2018; Li et al., 2018). The rapid globalization of MCP's create tremendous growth opportunities for transnational construction companies to expand internationally. However, the high gains embedded in the transnational MCP's are also associated with higher degree of risks, uncertainty and challenges (Jaafari, 1984; Li and Guo, 2011; Li et al., 2018).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Transnational mega construction project\n3. Methodology: The survey population included organizations (both governmental and private entities) that were directly involved in the transnational MCP referred as the CPEC. The CPEC mega construction project involves an enormous investment of $46bn by the Chinese government for the nation-wide infrastructure development in Pakistan under mutually agreed transnational agreement (Ahmed et al., 2017; Sheu and Kundu, 2018). The target population ensured that the respondents possessed direct knowledge of the MCP and held key positions within the CPEC project environment including project team members (operational, quality and technical), project stakeholders (e.g. regulatory authority, subcontractors, functional managers, etc.) and project clients/sponsors. A deductive approach was employed to empirically test the causal linkages in a proposed model using quantitative research design and predominant method of cross-sectional survey in project management research (Joslin and Muller, 2016; ul Musawir et al., 2017). A sample size of 220 participants was considered appropriate based on diverse views on the recommended sample size (i.e. minimum 100-200 responses) for structural equation model (Chumney, 2013; Hoyle, 1995; Kline, 2015). Respondents were ensured confidentiality of their provided information as well as securing their anonymity helped to control the possibility of common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Moreover, the respondent's organization, position and role in CPEC project was considered as control variables in the PLS-SEM.\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Measurement (i.e. outer) model analysis\n5. Conclusions: MCP's have gained significant attention in recent calls for research and special issues that aim to develop understanding of project management philosophy in MCP's from multiple-perspectives (IJPM, 2019; Li and Guo, 2011). This study introduces a novel concept to mainstream literature on construction project management by examining effects of xenophobia on transnational MCP success. Transnational MCP's are typically government-initiated projects, where project managers have limited control to exert authority over all parts of the MCP (Jaafari, 1984). Hence, the findings of this study particularly guide state-owned enterprises or governmental entities to manage xenophobia in transnational MCP's by devising effective regulatory policies and responsive control mechanisms. In transnational MCP's, there is mandatory atmosphere of communication exchange and resource sharing among project members that belong to different nationalities and cultures. State-owned enterprises can effectively use TFL and HRW practices to integrate project resources and mobilize all stakeholders (both local and foreign), such that the feelings of xenophobia within transnational MCP's can be minimized. TFL and HPW practices can serve as the central nerve to consistently promote high-performance behaviors, operational efficiency and maximize integrated efforts of all parties in successfully completing transnational MCP's (Jaafari, 1984; Li and Guo, 2011; Li et al., 2018; Ogbonnaya and Nielsen, 2016).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that modern-day xenophobia has emerged as one of the high-risk factors for transnational mega construction projects (MCP's). While research in transnational MCP's remains surprisingly under-explored, this study aimed to examine how transformational leadership (TFL) and HPW practices can still achieve MCP success despite the rise of xenophobia in the global construction industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study examined survey-based sample evidence from 220 respondents including project team members (operational, quality and technical), project stakeholders (e.g. regulatory authority, subcontractors, functional managers, etc.) and project clients/sponsors. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was employed to test the theoretical hypotheses and to highlight significance of a holistic and novel framework of MCP success.\nFindings: This study's core finding unveiled a significantly negative effect of xenophobia on MCP success (ss=-0.389, t=5.574, p<0.000). Interestingly, PLS-SEM results also showed a significantly negative effect of TFL on MCP success (ss=-0.172, t=2.323, p<0.018), whereas HPW practices demonstrated a significantly positive effect on MCP success (ss=0.633, t=9.558, p<0.000). In addition, xenophobia and MCP success relationship were positively moderated by TFL (ss=0.214, t=2.364, p<0.018) and HPW practices (ss=0.295, t=3.119, p<0.002), respectively.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study underscores the importance of TFL and HPW practices in explaining the linkage between xenophobia and MCP success. Besides advancement of broader multi-disciplinary research and cross-pollination of research ideas, this study also offers unique research direction to explore the potential impact of TFL and HPW practices in demographically diverse project settings especially in countries where xenophobia has swiftly become inevitable.\nPractical implications: As many countries undertake MCP's with national pride and high strategic importance, this study provides an exemplary model of transnational MCP success. This study shows that conscious use of TFL and HPW practices could guard against escalating xenophobia in the global construction industry.\nOriginality/value: This study is first to provide an empirically grounded model of MCP success that collectively examines the role of xenophobia, TFL and HPW practices. This research has developed practical references for transnational construction companies in strategic planning and management of MCP's.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of product line endpoint prices on vertical extensions	[ "Brand extension", "Vertical line extension", "Price range", "Product line", "Range theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Vertical differentiation is a common growth strategy brand managers use to attract more customers, satisfying their desire for variety (Lancaster, 1990; Quelch and Kenny, 1994) and willingness to pay for quality (Moorthy, 1984). By adding downscale extensions (e.g. Giorgio Armani, Armani Collezioni and Armani Jeans), brands attract customers who may not be able to afford current brand offerings, increasing the usage rate and creating new sources of brand equity. Conversely, stretching the brand upward (e.g. Johnnie Walker's Red Label, Gold Label Reserve and Blue Label) enables the brand to access consumers who are looking for more features, greater prestige or higher-quality products (Aaker, 1997; Kirmani et al., 1999). Despite the many advantages of a vertical differentiation strategy, brand competition is intense and success can be hard to come by. A study by Nielsen (2015) showed that 45 per cent of new products introduced in Europe between 2011 and 2013 were removed from the market in the first six months and only 24 per cent made it to reach a full year.\nTheoretical background: Researchers in the area of behavioral pricing have extensively discussed how consumers form and use price referents because comparison standards in price judgments has long intrigued pricing researchers (Cunha and Shulman, 2011; Kalyanaram and Winer, 1995; Mazumdar et al., 2005; Monroe, 1973). One account for how consumers form reference prices is based on the adaptation-level theory (Helson, 1947) which asserts that past experiences and present context define an adaptation level, or reference point, relative to which new stimuli are perceived and compared. In a pricing context, the adaptation level is described as a single-point summary measure of the price distribution that is typically represented by an arithmetic mean of previously encountered market prices (Mazumdar et al., 2005) but that does not necessarily correspond to any actual price (Cheng and Monroe, 2013; Monroe, 1990).\nOverview of experiments: The empirical work presented in this article consists of four studies that were designed to test the proposed hypotheses. Experiment 1 tests the product line price range hypothesis by manipulating the parent brand price range such that for upscale scenarios, the highest price point is the same for both narrow and wide conditions resulting in a higher average price for the narrow than the wide product line. Conversely, for the downscale scenario, the lowest end price is the same for both narrow and wide conditions such that a lower average price is found in the narrow than the wide product line. Experiment 2 tests the hypothesis that the effect of price range on extension evaluation is mediated by perceived risks for upscale extensions but not downscale extensions. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrates how consumer focus acts as a boundary condition to the product line range effect on upscale extensions.\nExperiment 1: This experiment was designed with three goals in mind. The goal of the first experiment was to test empirically the hypothesis that consumers rely on the parent brand price width to make judgments of upscale extensions but not downscale extensions. A second goal was to provide empirical evidence against an alternative account based on a reference price formed by the averaging process of parent brand prices. Finally, because previous studies have suggested that brand concept may be an important variable to consider in brand extensions (Park et al., 1991) and, in particular, vertical extension research (Heath et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2001; Kirmani et al., 1999), a third goal was to show the robustness of product line range effects on extension evaluations regardless of the parent brand concept.\nExperiment 2: Design and procedure\nExperiment 3: The goal of this experiment is to demonstrate a boundary condition to the range effect on upscale extensions. In the previous experiments, information provided to participants did not mention competitor or category prices. Participants were, therefore, likely to rely on parent brand prices as the frame of reference when making judgments about upscale extensions. However, prior research has shown that consumer preferences formed in isolation of competition tend to differ from those judgments formed when competitors are present (Hsee and Leclerc, 1998; Hsee et al., 1999; Leclerc et al., 2005). Thus, this experiment tests whether the product line range effect holds for upscale extensions when category prices are available, and in particular, when there is a shift in reference price points from parent brand prices to product category prices.\nGeneral discussion: In the context of vertical line extensions, understanding how consumers use parent brand prices as reference is particularly important because product line prices have the special role of signaling consumers how consistent a vertical extension may be with its parent brand. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to investigate how current product line price range influences consumer judgments of vertical line extensions. Contrary to prototypical models of price categorization (Helson, 1947), this research shows that consumer evaluations of upscale extensions are a function of the parent brand endpoint prices. In line with predictions of the range theory (Volkmann, 1951), upscale extensions were judged more favorably when participants were presented with a wide versus a narrow price range. Regardless of brand concept, this effect holds even when the narrow condition had a higher price average than the wider price range condition, challenging previous research that suggest managers to avoid having lower end models to keep brand equity high (Randall et al., 1998). It has been argued that low-end products may raise questions in the consumers' mind about the possibility that some of the lesser quality components are also used in the high-end products. However, consistent with research showing that introducing downscale extensions improve perceptions of brand innovativeness (Heath et al., 2011), this research shows that low-end products can also positively influence consumers' acceptance of new upscale product.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Literature in brand extensions has relied greatly on categorization theory and on prototypical models of categorization to explain the affect transfer from a parent brand to its extensions. Drawing on the range theory exemplar models of categorization, this paper aims to show the effects of parent brand endpoint prices on consumer judgments of vertical line extensions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three experiments have been conducted. Experiment 1 tests the hypothesis that consumers rely on the parent brand price range when making judgments of an upscale extension. Experiment 2 tests the hypothesis that the effect of price range on extension evaluation is mediated by perceived risks for upscale extensions but not downscale extensions. The final experiment shows a boundary condition to the product line range effect on upscale extensions.\nFindings: This research shows that upscale extensions are judged more favorably in the context of a wide versus a narrow product line even when the highest endpoints in both product lines are equally close to the extension and that this effect is mediated by perceived consistency and perceived risk. The range effect disappears, however, when consumers have a broad focus in which attention shifts to category endpoint prices, making parent brand prices less diagnostic of upscale extension judgments.\nPractical implications: Managers may display a wider range of products and/or reduce prices of low-end models to expand product line price width. In consequence, low-end products become more competitive in terms of price and at the same time improve favorability ratings of the new upscale product.\nOriginality/value: Vertical line extensions and product line pricing are important topics to both academics and practitioners. Nonetheless, this is the first research to demonstrate how product line price width can influence consumer perceptions of vertical line extensions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical investigation of customer intentions influenced by service quality using the mediation of emotional and cognitive responses	[ "Attitude", "Service quality", "Electronic word of mouth", "Customer emotions", "Switching intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Customer retention is fundamental for all firms, more particularly for high-tech services such as mobile service providers. The providers of such services need to compete with several service performance and delivery aspects to retain their customers. There is a tremendous growth across the globe in the mobile service industry (Khorshidi et al., 2016; Izogo and Izogo, 2017). Therefore, in order to retain customers and remain competitive, mobile service providers have to ensure offering a range of services as well as excellent service delivery (Khorshidi et al., 2016). Nevertheless, in high-tech services there is limited information concerning customer's behaviour (Vlachos and Vrechopoulos, 2008). It is logical to assume that service quality has a significant role in influencing a customer's behavioural intentions; there have been few academic studies to evaluate the impact of providers' service quality dimensions on customer's emotions in the mobile service providers market (He and Li, 2010; Thaichon et al., 2014). Over the recent decades, the attention of researchers has been directed towards the evaluation of services by customers in the services literature (Cronin and Taylor, 1994; Gronroos, 2001; Oliver, 1977; Duman Kurt and Atrek, 2012; Quach et al. 2016). Edvardsson (2005) has noted that majority of these research studies have theorized the satisfaction of customers as a rational process where their expectations of services are compared with the actual service result. Marketer's researchers have tended to highlight on the service quality on functional dimensions or cognitive cause, with little focus on emotional or affect dimensions (Palmer and Koenig-Lewis, 2009). Therefore, there is increasing concern about the role of emotions in aspects of customer behaviour, decision making, and loyalty.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Service quality\n3. Research model and hypotheses: 3.1 Research model\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Instrument and procedure\n5. Results, conclusion, and future research: 5.1 Results\n6. Research contribution and practical implication: There are two main theoretical contributions for this study. First, this research helps in improving our knowledge regarding the effects of emotional response that are provoked by service environment stimuli on the customer's behaviour. Precisely, this study provides a detailed explanation of the relationship existing between service quality and emotional response which subsequently have certain effects on attitudes and the behavioural intentions. Furthermore, it makes a link between service quality and behavioural intention available through the improvement of essential cognitive response, thereby expanding the SOR model. In addition, subjective norms are employed to understand the influence of social pressures on customers' behavioural intentions with the mediation of customer emotional responses. This research found that customers' intentions are directly and indirectly affected by subjective norms through customers' emotional responses. This research also finds that emotional response plays a significant mediating role with behavioural intentions. This study, therefore, provides an evidence in a telecom context.\n7. Conclusion, limitation and future study: This work presents the influence of service quality and subjective on customer's behaviours. This paper enhances our understanding on the role of service quality as an environmental influence on an individual's intentions to switch and eWOM. This research proposed an essential conceptual framework in evaluating the mediating roles of attitude and emotion in relation to eWOM and intention to switch. As such, this study plays a pioneering role in the provision of empirical evidence within the context of KSA's telecommunication services. This study seeks to address these concepts in order to fill the gaps in the existing literature. Hence, we used the SOR and TRA as the empirical and theoretical approaches to address the scope of service quality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of customer perceptions of service quality on electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and switching intentions through cognitive and emotional responses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have developed a theoretical framework based on behavioural theories to analyse the environmental aspects of relationships that affect customer behavioural intentions. The authors adapted a quantitative methodology along with the positivist philosophical approach to investigate the hypotheses within the theoretical framework. The authors applied a protracted stimuli-organism-response model to highlight the peripheral reliability, responsiveness, tangibility, empathy, assurance, and the impact of the customer's feelings while simultaneously linking the elements to each other. In addition, the authors applied the theory of reasoned action to reflect the marginal elements of subjective norms, attitude, and customers' behavioural intentions. A survey with 601 responses has been used in this study.\nFindings: In the setting of KSA's mobile telecom industry, the authors confirm that there is a positive effect of customer perceptions of service quality on their eWOM and switching intentions through their cognitive and emotional responses.\nOriginality/value: The framework of this study enhances our understanding of the role of service quality as an environmental influence on an individual's intentions to switch and eWOM. This conceptual framework is essential in evaluating the mediating roles of attitude and emotions in relation to eWOM and intention to switch.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Board independence and internal control quality in Egypt: does CEO duality matter?	[ "Egypt", "CEO duality", "Board independence", "Internal control quality (ICQ)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The importance attributed to internal control quality (ICQ) arises from the fact that it represents a cornerstone factor to achieve good financial reporting quality (Krishnan, 2005). Among the several critics addressed to Enron and Worldcom corporations concerning their financial reporting was the charge of a failure to maintain their internal control systems (Verschoor, 2002). Management is responsible for designing and implementing an internal control system within an organisation (Chen et al., 2017). As corporate governance structure plays a crucial role in overseeing management and improving ICQ, different characteristics of the governance structure may interact in shaping ICQ and reducing risk (Knechel and Willekens, 2006). It is, therefore, important to examine monitoring mechanisms related to board characteristics that can increase ICQ.\n2. Hypothesis development: One way for a CEO to acquire additional power is achievable through the dual roles of CEO and board chair (Daily and Johnson, 1997). With respect to CEO duality, there are two divergent views (Combs et al., 2007). Although agency theory suggests that power is something that needs to be restricted and controlled, the strategic leadership literature views power as an essential tool to increase organisational effectiveness (Cannella and Monroe, 1997).\n3. Data: Our sample consists of listed companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange over the period of 2007-2010. The choice of this period is motivated by two main reasons. On the one hand, we begin with 2007 to avoid any kind of bias related to the first year of application of the Egyptian Corporate Governance Code enacted in late 2005 with an effective application from 2006 (Khlif and Samaha, 2014). On the other hand, we restrict our data collection to 2010 given the fact that Egypt has witnessed financial and political instability since the beginning of 2011. We also exclude financial institutions and insurance companies, as they have specific accounting rules, and they are classified as highly regulated sectors. For the remaining listed companies, the criteria for the inclusion are as follows:\n4. Methodology: 4.1 The model\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Summary: It is generally accepted that that the fiduciary responsibility and monitoring role of independent directors should improve better internal control practices by management. Recent accounting literature (Chen et al., 2017) suggests that the relationship between board independence and ICQ depends on the board leadership structure; specifically whether the company has a combined leadership structure (unitary CEO/Chairman) or separated leadership structure (dual CEO/Chairman).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the relationship between board independence and internal control quality (ICQ) in Egypt and investigate whether CEO duality moderates such an association.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey among external auditors is used to assess ICQ among Egyptian listed firms over the period of 2007-2010.\nFindings: Findings show that board independence does not have a significant positive effect on ICQ. However, when testing for the moderating effect of CEO duality on such a relationship, the authors document that the association becomes positive and significant under combined board leadership structure, whereas it is negative under separated leadership structure.\nOriginality/value: The authors' results demonstrate that CEO duality plays a governance role in weak legal environment like Egypt by strengthening board independence role in increasing ICQ.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influence of learning and working climate on the retention of talented employees	[ "Learning", "Retention", "Employees", "Work identity", "Organizational culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Today's organisations are continuously confronted by social developments such as globalisation, technological improvements and increasing global competition. Companies have to be able to anticipate technological innovation and to compete with other companies worldwide (Burke and Ng, 2006). Besides these economic evolutions, demographic changes are also putting pressure on companies. The current society has to deal with the rapid aging of the active population while, in the meantime, fewer young people are entering the labour market. In addition, the workers of the so-called baby boom generation are gradually retiring (Burke and Ng, 2006; Frank et al., 2004). These evolutions cause not only a shortage of workers, but also a risk of losing knowledge and experience, for which companies have to find an answer. This loss of knowledge and experience increases the importance of retaining talent. Lockwood (2006, p. 2) describes talent as \"... the vehicle to move the organisation to where it wants to be\". Accordingly, talent is becoming increasingly important and will continue to do so (Hiltrop, 1999). In the next two decades it will be the key corporate resource (Michaels et al., 2001). Because of demographic changes, the demand for talent will increase, while supply will decline. As a consequence, it is expected that a \"war for talent\" will emerge (Fishman, 1998). It therefore becomes increasingly important for organisations to retain talented and skilled employees in order to maintain their competitive advantage. Losing such employees means a loss of investment in that new employees have to be hired and trained. Moreover, employees take their know-how with them and thus the company risks a potential loss of confidential information to competitors (Frank et al., 2004; Walker, 2001).\n1. Theoretical background: 1.1 Talent\n2. The present study: The aim of this study is to investigate some factors that have an influence on employee retention. Based on the literature and previous research, both employee and organisational factors are taken into account. On the organisational side, the focus is on the learning and working climate, which has been operationalised in terms of the two approaches discussed above - the gap and appreciative approaches. It is expected that the appreciative approach will contribute more positively to employee retention than the gap approach because, in the former approach, employees are more acknowledged for their strengths, and this creates the drive for developing their talents. On the employee side, age, seniority and level of education are included in this research to find out what their relationship with employee retention is. Previous research on the association between age, seniority and the level of education with employee retention has not offered a clear conclusion. Therefore, no concrete expectations are formulated for these variables. Other employee variables, such as leadership skills, learning attitudes, creativity and autonomy are included in this research in order to be able to make a distinction between High Potentials and non High Potentials. The expectation is that High Potentials will have a higher retention rate relative to non High Potentials, since it is common for companies to invest more in high potential employees than in other employees (Cope, 1998; Dries and Pepermans, 2008). In addition to which factors have an influence on employee retention, we will also investigate whether differences exist between different kinds of groups of employees in terms of their retention. Groups that are distinguished differ in terms of the employee characteristics of seniority, level of education and being considered as being High Potential or not.Based on the above, the following research questions have been formulated:RQ1. To what extent can retention be predicted by the variable \"learning and working climate\"?RQ2. What is the relationship between selected employee variables (age, seniority, level of education) and retention?RQ3. Is there a difference between different groups of employees (groups differing in seniority, level of education and whether or not being seen as High Potential) regarding their retention?\n3. Method: 3.1 Participants\n4. Results: 4.1 Exploratory factor analysis\n5. Conclusion and discussion: With regard of the first research question \"To what extent can retention be predicted by the variable 'learning and working climate'?\", it can be concluded that an \"Appreciative learning and working climate\" has the most predictive value in terms of retention. This was in line with expectations, and confirmed the results of previous research by Abrams et al. (2008), Kyndt et al. (2009), Christiaensen et al. (2009) and Van Hamme (2009). However, \"Following procedures\" influences retention also, which is also confirmed by the previously cited research, with the exception of Kyndt et al. (2009) who did not identify \"Following procedures\" as a significant predictor of employee retention. It appears that in this study, evidence can be found for the assumption that elements of both the gap and the appreciative approach matter in employee retention. Hence, a possible explanation could be that employees appreciate a certain amount of freedom but, at the same time, rely on the security and support of existing procedures. However, it is important to note that the influence of the factors \"Appreciative learning and working climate\", and \"Following procedures\" differs in terms of the intention to stay and the intention to leave. Considering the intention to stay, both \"Appreciative learning and working climate\" and \"Following procedures\", have a positive influence. In the case of the intention to leave, the predictors operate in the opposite direction, thus having a negative influence. Therefore, establishing an appreciative learning and working climate, together with some rules and procedures to follow, increases the intention to continue working in the present organisation. In contrast, the absence of these two factors will increase the intention to leave. This research shows that when organisations want to retain their employees it is important to pay attention to the learning of employees. Employees who experience an appreciative learning climate in their organisation are more inclined to keep on working in that organisation. In practice, a company can create such an appreciative learning climate by focusing on the strengths of its employees and giving them the chance to apply and develop those strengths. In sum, letting people do more and learn more of what they are good at will encourage them to stay with the organisation. However, it is important to let the ambition of the employee and to let his qualities be the engine for the development process (Tjepkema and Verheijen, 2005). When offering learning opportunities to employees (formal or informal), the interests and qualities of the employee should determine which learning opportunities the employee takes up. Finally, it is important for the employee that the organisation appreciates these learning activities. The functional leader of the employee can express this appreciation and the organisation can offer possibilities for the employee to share his knowledge and skills which can in turn can lead to the appreciation of colleagues. Such elements will increase the intention to retention of the employee which will benefit the organisation.Results concerning the selected employee variables show that only age has a significant relationship with retention. Regarding the intention to stay, there exists a positive relationship between age and retention. In the case of leaving, a negative relationship is shown. Hence, the older an employee, the more likely he is to stay and the less likely he is to leave the organisation. This is consistent with the findings of previous research where it was found that employees of a younger age were significantly more likely to leave their current job or organisation than older employees (Hellman, 1997; Ito et al., 2001). This finding is not surprising, considering the present societal context wherein it is not easy for an older employee to find another job. Moreover, it is more common for young employees to change jobs at the beginning of their career, which could explain the opposite relation of retention and young age. For the other employee characteristics, seniority and level of education, there does not appear to be a significant relationship with retention. Results of previous studies (Christiaensen et al., 2009; Kyndt et al., 2009; Van Hamme, 2009) were not univocal with regard to the variables, age and seniority. It cannot be concluded which of the two, age or seniority, is of greater importance in relation to retention. Since seniority and age are highly correlated in reality, the stepwise regression analysis will exclude one of the two variables from the analysis. Another remarkable finding was that the level of education had no significant influence on retention. Previous research by Christiaensen et al. (2009) and Kyndt et al. (2009) found a negative relationship between the level of education and retention. This study could not confirm their results.Considering the factors \"Learning attitude and creativity\" and \"Leadership skills\" as additional employee characteristics, it should be noted that these factors have a positive relationship with intention to stay. For intention to leave there only exists a positive relationship with \"Leadership skills\", and none with \"Learning attitude and creativity\". So, the more eager an employee is to learn, and the more creative solutions he uses, the more likely he is to stay working in the organisation. For 'Leadership skills', the relationship is not so clear. It proves that considering oneself as a potential leader both influences the intention to stay and the intention to leave. A possible explanation could be that leadership skills cohere with other personality traits which influence retention, or that leadership skills are related to job characteristics. In this latter case, when an employee does not consider his leadership skills to be useful in the present job and organisation, he can decide to leave or, when they do seem to matter, he is more likely to stay and decide to move up in the organisation. Future research can investigate this dual relationship between leadership skills and retention.For the last research question \"Is there a difference between different groups of employees and their retention?\" it was found that some groups of employees differed with regard to their retention. Considering the intention to stay, there appears to be significant differences between employees with different levels of seniority and between High Potentials and non High Potentials. Employees with more than twenty years seniority score higher on intention to stay than employees with less seniority. This result was also found in the study of Ito et al. (2001), where time in current job was significantly longer among those employees intending to stay, than among those intending to leave their job. An explanation could be found in the fact that, as tenure increases within an organisation, so does the employee's potential for both formal benefits such as promotion, and informal benefits such as status among the less experienced co-workers. This could therefore explain why employees with higher levels of seniority are more likely to stay within the same organisation, because otherwise they would lose the benefits they have obtained and they may have to re-establish their value in a new organisation (Hellman, 1997). Results also proved that High Potentials are more likely to stay than non High Potentials. This difference between High Potentials and non High Potentials is in line with what Van Hamme (2009) found in his research. Looking at the intention to leave, no differences were found between employees of different groups. The results of these ANOVA's cannot be compared with previous published research. However, the results of the ANOVA's conducted in this study should be interpreted with caution, because the sample sizes of the different groups of employees were not equal, which could have biased the results.A limitation of this study is that both employee as organizational factors are measured through the perceptions of employees. The response set of subjects when responding to self-report measures could therefore be the result of a temporary mood, or could be the result of what may be considered as socially appropriate by the participants. Another limitation is that the questionnaire was voluntarily completed by the respondents; the researcher had therefore no information about the non-respondents. It is possible that companies that refused to participate, as well as employees who chose not to respond to the study's questionnaire, were those who were less motivated, less satisfied and/or less reflective with their job and workplace, what could have biased the results. The fact that the questionnaire was completed on a voluntary basis led to a relatively high percentage (67.5 per cent) of participants with a degree in higher education (Bachelor or Master) in comparison with the employed population or labour force in Belgium (39.4 per cent), where the research was conducted (Steunpunt WSE, 2009). In general these employees are more willing to participate in this type of research that makes use of questionnaires which are not always suited for employees with a lower level of education (Champion and Sear, 1968).In general, it is remarkable that the same variables, with the exception of \"Learning attitude and creativity\", predict the intention to stay as well as the intention to leave. This is true even though the proportion explained variance of these variables is much smaller when predicting the intention to leave, and the relationships occur in a reversed way, with the exception of the variable \"Leadership skills\". However, the identified predictors influence both the intention to stay as well as the intention to leave, but more appropriate variables should be found to predict the intention to leave. Other research has repeatedly identified job satisfaction and/or organisational commitment as having a negative predictive relationship with the intention to leave (Acker, 2004; Armstrong-Stassen and Ursel, 2009; Currivan, 1999; Mosadeghrad et al., 2008; Larrabee et al., 2003; Loi et al., 2006; Vandenberghe and Bentein, 2009). Future research therefore needs to examine the effects of this variable, which was not measured in the current study, on the intention to leave.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this study is to investigate some factors that have an influence on employee retention. Based on the literature and previous research, both employee and organisational factors are taken into account.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected by means of a questionnaire that was distributed on a voluntary basis in professional organisations and among employees, both electronically and in hard-copy, during 2008-2009. The study sample consisted of 972 employees, mainly clerks, from diverse profit and social-profit organisations.\nFindings: - The results show that when organisations want to retain their employees it is important to pay attention to the learning of employees. Letting people do more and learn more of what they are good at will encourage them to stay with the organisation. Results concerning the selected employee variables show that only age has a significant relationship with retention. Regarding the intention to stay, there exists a positive relationship between age and retention.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A limitation of this study is that both employee as organizational factors are measured through the perceptions of employees. The response set of subjects when responding to self-report measures could therefore be the result of a temporary mood, or could be the result of what may be considered as socially appropriate by the participants. Another limitation is that the questionnaire was voluntarily completed by the respondents; the researcher had therefore no information about the non-respondents.\nOriginality/value: - The paper focuses on the factors influencing employee retention.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer understanding and use of country-of-origin in food choice	[ "Country of origin", "Labelling", "Consumer purchasing decisions", "Food products", "Groceries", "Supermarkets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Whether or not consumers consider information about origin in their routine food purchase decisions is a contentious issue. In a review of studies of consumer use of signals of food quality, Verbeke and Roosen (2009, p. 24) state: \"Clearly, findings from previous consumer studies are not unanimous with respect to whether labeling cues such as country-of-origin labels, geographical indications or quality labels have a favourable impact on product valuation by consumers.\" In particular, the influence of CoO information on consumers' food product evaluation and purchase decisions may not be as salient as other cues, such as price and brand (Wall et al., 1991; Ahmed et al., 2004; Chryssochoidis et al., 2007). Furthermore, the likely benefit of providing CoO information to consumers might be insufficient to cover the costs of implementing mandatory labelling (see for example, Loureiro and Umberger, 2005). According to Kimura et al. (2008, p. 628), \"We know very little about what information should be provided to consumers, and how that information affects their purchasing decisions\".\nFactors influencing consumer food choice: Food products are considered low involvement purchases because items have a low per unit cost, comprise a small share of a consumer's total budget and do not involve a high degree of risk (Hoyer, 1984; Verbeke and Roosen, 2009; Hamlin, 2010). As a typical food shopping trip involves numerous decisions, consumers will not expend complex, cognitive or emotional effort prior to purchasing any one food product (Hoyer, 1984; Dawar and Parker, 1994; Macdonald and Sharp, 2000). The overriding goal of food purchase decisions is not to make an \"optimal choice\" but rather to make a satisfactory choice while minimizing cognitive effort (Hoyer, 1984). As such, consumers optimise time and effort as opposed to consequences and rely on \"very simple choice heuristics or tactics when making repeat decisions which are relatively low in importance or involvement\" (Hoyer, 1984, p. 843). This approach to understanding consumer food purchasing decisions aligns with the work of Kahneman and others in the field of psychology and economics. Their work is based on the notion that people rely on a limited number of heuristic principles to \"reduce the complex tasks of assessing probabilities and predicting values to simpler judgmental operations\".\nMethods: Respondents\nResults: Demographic characteristics\nDiscussion: The findings of this study confirm and reinforce previous studies demonstrating the insignificance of CoO in consumers' everyday food purchase decisions (Kemp et al., 2010; NatCen, 2010). Specifically, CoO is a relatively unimportant cue for consumers when choosing food products; only mentioned by 3.5 per cent of respondents. Instead, other considerations - price, taste, healthiness and quality - were revealed as the main signals driving consumers' habitual food purchases (Bredahl, 2004; Scheibehenne et al., 2007). The outcomes of this study have implications for the validity and relevance of previous research which focuses on CoO as a key consideration in consumer food purchase decisions (see, for example, Verbeke and Ward, 2006; Loureiro and Umberger, 2003, 2007).\nConclusions: Overall, this study demonstrates that CoO information is not as relevant to current New Zealand consumers as other considerations in their everyday food choices. As such, mandatory CoO labelling policies may not be appropriate or beneficial in the context of food retailing. It may do more harm than good for consumers as it has been estimated that the introduction of the policy would increase food prices by 20 to 30 per cent (New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFA), 2008). This has implications for policy makers, consumers, retailers and manufacturers alike, especially in markets that have recently introduced or are considering proposals for mandatory CoO labelling of foodstuffs. Mandatory CoO labelling policies may add costs and reinforce misconceptions that consumers already hold about the meaning of these labels. Similar to nutritional product information, access to \"user friendly\" CoO labels might only serve consumers that seek, are motivated to use, and correctly understand this information. In markets where a mandatory approach is being introduced, it is imperative that consumers are made aware about the differences between the labels, as only one third of consumers in this study correctly understood them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aimed to investigate consumers' understanding of country of origin (CoO) information and its relative importance in the context of their everyday food purchase decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional intercept survey of 402 consumers in two cities in New Zealand was conducted. Respondents were asked to describe what they had considered when selecting a food item in their trolley. This was followed by questions to assess respondents' knowledge of CoO and their use and understanding of common CoO labels.\nFindings: Price (42 per cent), taste (40 per cent), health (18 per cent), and quality (18 per cent) were the most important factors that respondents mentioned. Only 3.5 per cent of respondents mentioned CoO as one of the factors influencing their decision. Of respondents 61 per cent, when prompted, stated that they knew the CoO of the food product selected. Of these respondents, 90 per cent were correct. Of respondents 62 per cent stated that they look at CoO labels when making food purchase decisions. Yet, only one third of respondents correctly understood the difference between the \"Made in\" and \"Product of\" labels.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings suggest that consumers that do access CoO labels are misinterpreting this information which may form the basis of their assumptions about the source of origin of the brands and food products they routinely purchase.\nPractical implications: Mandatory CoO labelling policies may add costs and reinforce misconceptions that consumers already hold about the meaning of these labels.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to understanding of the extent to which consumers are competent in their knowledge and understanding of these informational labels.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trust or distrust in the web-mediated information environment (W-MIE): A perspective of online Muslim users	[ "Worldwide web", "Islam", "Trust" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The creation and maintenance of a trust-based relationship is heralded by many forms of exchange, ranging from the interpersonal trust introduced by Aristotle (1991) in his concept of ethos to commercial relationships and to new and necessary strategies for cooperation and competition in the network economy (Forray, 2004). In the online environment, researchers have shown an increasing awareness of how trust is currently garnering the attention of those who employ websites to make services or products available to others (Corritore et al., 2003; Cyr et al., 2005; Briggs et al., 2004; Gefen, 2002; Belanger et al., 2002). Within the field of information systems (IS), trust is broadly recognised as the crucial factor in establishing, building and maintaining customer relationships within the e-tailing environment, where interactions often involve different types and levels of risk concerning the divulgence of information (Chopra and Wallace, 2003), security and reliability (Schneider, 1999) or transaction transparency mediated by technologies (Krauter-Grabner and Kaluscha, 2002). In the literature, trust in e-commerce - mainly business-to-business and business-to-customer (B2C) - is a relatively well researched area focusing on different aspects of its multi-dimensional constructs, for example its antecedents and determinants (Cheskin/Sapient, 1999; Kim et al., 2003; Riegelsberger et al. 2005; Wang and Emurian, 2004; Gefen, 2000; Corritore et al., 2003). In addition, some researchers have explicitly highlighted that design can also affect the trust of a user, and hence has implications for user interface design, websites and interactivity in general (Nielsen, 1999). This has led in turn to an increased discussion of the trust notion in fields such as human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work, agent systems and ambient intelligence about how to encourage, maintain, and increase trust between people and machines and between users themselves (Cheskin/Sapient, 1999; Schneidermann, 2000; Olson and Olson, 2000; Corritore et al., 2003; Marsh et al., 2004; Riegelsberger et al., 2005; Wang and Emurian, 2004).Nevertheless, the development of virtual relations has given trust issues a new edge. Consumers not only perform interpersonal or inter-organisational transactions within the electronic exchange model, but unaware to many, they are also involved in knowledge transactions and exchanges mediated by the technologies. This is due to dependency on the internet as a primary source of information, which is growing exponentially. The existence of websites that offer information on health matters, legal issues, finance, religion, careers and relationships (e.g. www.etrade.com; www.sharebuilder.com; www.drweil.com; www.healthy.com; www.legalserviceeconnection.com; www.WorldLawDirect.com; www.jobseekersadvice.com; www.jobstreet.com; www.islamicinternet.org; and www.iqra.net, etc.) are evidence of how consumers are extending their web usage to present and acquire knowledge that affects their personal lives as well as establishing personal and organizational connections. Hence we coined the term \"web-mediated information environment\" (W-MIE), which refers to the activities involved in acquiring, seeking and disseminating information within the information exchange mode (Ibrahim, 2007). Although these services facilitate people with information, issues concerning the original and the copy, fraudulent behaviour, identity forgery and deception (Forray, 2004) have made the information available on the internet rather transparent.As interaction becomes more impersonal, anonymous, automated and geographically dispersed, however, the concept of trust has received little attention in W-MIE.Much of the initial research on consumers' judgement of trust in informational websites is conceptualised through credibility perception (Fogg and Tseng, 1999; Metzger et al., 2003) or quality indicator (Alexander and Tate, 1999) focuses in the domain of health (Constantinides and Swenson, 2000; Sillence et al., 2005), financial (Stanford et al., 2002), risk communication (Peters et al., 1997) and advice websites (McKnight and Kacmar, 2006). In this context, information credibility refers to the advice or information on the site rather than the person, people or organisation behind the website (McKnight and Kacmar, 2006). Nevertheless, some works have been heavily criticised because the operationalisation of trust was not understandable (Krauter-Grabner and Kaluscha, 2002) and because of a lack of theoretical basis for arguments. However, one exception is the work of Sillence et al. (2004), who provide a framework derived from a staged model of trust that allows predictions to be made concerning user engagement with different health websites. McKnight and Kacmar (2006), by contrast, constructed a theoretical framework for credibility factors derived from a synthesis of past trust literature.Although these surveys provide a valuable foundation for future research, to our knowledge little work has been done to determine how consumers actually judge the trustworthiness of online information, particularly within a sensitive context where the sense of a community with common norms and values are significant. The expanding numbers of these informational websites, coupled with fears over the quality of information, has led to questions being raised about how people make trust decisions with regard to online informational websites that probe content which is sensitive to users. In this research, we support the need to inform the design process in such as way as to account for human values and cultural background for future construction of information systems in conceptual, methodological and empirical terms, operationalised within a sensitive context environment (Crabtree et al., 2003).As an initial step, this paper reports findings on the reasons why people assert trustworthy information within the web-based information for Islamic content environment. We believe that this environment introduces a critical process of meaning making and trust construction on the level of the users; a particular set of communicators having its own unique identities, language systems of non-verbal communication, cultural material, history and social structure. In addition, this research is part of our long-term aim to solve the problem of designing information artefacts on the web by capturing non-functional user requirements, especially where these non-functional requirements are culturally imbued. We posit the assumption that if virtual worlds are to become a truly global platform for interaction, knowledge seeking and distribution and collaboration, then it will be essential to encode the flexibility for this social interaction to take place in a way that is sensitive to other cultures. This is because the appeal of the internet is particularly strong for those people who seek advice, information or knowledge exchange on important but sensitive matters (Klein and Wilson, 2003).\n2. Web-based information for Islamic content environment: The Muslim world comprises a wide variety of groups and communities that have been shaped by ethno-cultural, geographic and linguistic forces. The internet plays an invaluable role in breaking down the geographical boundaries enabling Muslims across the \"ummah\" (brotherhood) to exchange ideas, to network, and to discuss their various views and positions on different aspects of Islam by storing and providing information about various Islamic organisations, places of worship, academic institutions, community events, entertainment, e-commerce activities and so on (Bunt, 2000; Ahmad, 1999). In this research, we use the term \"web-based information for Islamic content sharing sites\" for websites that highlight information, knowledge and services - whether commercial or for entertainment - reflecting Islamic ideologies, content, norms or values.Indeed, many Muslims have joined the internet bandwagon in extolling its merits as a primary source of information through the increase amount of Islamic sites on the internet, some of which are devoted to Islamic education and dissemination (e.g. www.al-islam.org), information on Muslim consumer products and services (e.g. www.ifanca.org; or www.halaljakim.org), while others are more commercial in nature or for entertainment (e.g. www.soundvision.com; www.astrolabepictures.com). The internet has also become a powerful tool for \"da'wah\" (Islamic propagation), conveying the message of Islam and providing opportunities for Muslims to make connections with their faith through the internet to others (Bunt, 2000). Bunt (2000, 2003) discussed in detail the issues of Islamic-related sites in the context of the \"cyber Islamic environment\" and the nature of Islamic authority and guidance on the internet, applications of the internet in fulfilling Islamic obligations, Islam and politics on the internet and the future of the internet in the Islamic context. In this respect, a number of conferences and seminars have begun addressed the \"Islamicity\" of information technology (IT) as well as how Muslims can use the internet to present and acquire knowledge on Islam, sharing information among Muslims around the world as well as establishing personal, business and organisational connections (Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, 2000). However, due to the anonymous nature of such technology, the reliability and authenticity of information received by those seeking Islamic knowledge can be problematic. To some extent, it is hard to make a distinction between information (about Islam) and true knowledge (Khan and Khan, 1999) with some of the inauthentic Islamic sites that disseminate and communicate information pertaining to Islam or Muslims. Hence, researchers argue that there is a need to monitor information on Islamic-based content so that fabricated and misleading information can be easily identified (Khan and Khan, 1999). Some have recommended developing a mechanism of certification and authentication for Islamic sites disseminating information on Islam or obtaining approval from well-known Islamic organizations, in a similar manner that \"halal\" certification is required for food products (Ahmad, 1999; Khan and Khan, 1999).2.1 Towards an Islamic user interface\n3. Literature review: 3.1 Trust defined\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Subjects\n5. Results and discussion: Our main purpose is to conduct an initial investigation into some related trust issues within web-based information for the Islamic content sharing sites environment in order that we might make some initial observations which we can later follow up with some extensive research. In this paper we conduct a descriptive analysis to analyse the results.5.1 Demographic profile of respondents\n6. Conclusion and future work: The growing Muslim population, which is estimated to be around two billion, and an internet penetration rate of more than 20 per cent (Evans, 2005) shows evidence of the eagerness on the part of some Muslims to embrace technology. Our motivation to choose Muslim online users as our subject and the Islamic context in this study is because we felt that the Islamic world has been largely ignored by the HCI literature as a user group. We believe that this is an audience that online offerings attempt but fail to address. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore potential issues of trust within Islamic web-based information content websites. First, we seek an explanation for why the online realm appears to be especially problematic. Second, we examine which factors give rise to the tendency to trust (or distrust) something or someone. Third, we initiate the inquiry by asking about the mechanisms that govern trust. Although we cannot draw any statistically supported conclusions from our findings, they nevertheless provoke several lines of response. As the findings illustrate, the uncertain nature that revolves around the web is the main barrier to trust among Muslim respondents. In addition, the findings somehow contradict the idea that the affective dimension of trust will trigger trusting beliefs in websites that deal with an emotionally charged topic (Chopra and Wallace, 2003). In this study, we found that a trusting attitude may be triggered by the presence of perceived qualities of the trustee, which draws attention to the importance of cognitive attributes of trustworthy assessment (e.g. seals of approval, endorsement by authorities and security features). Furthermore, although the respondents have some internet background and are contextually and personally inclined towards trust, it was still found that the trust level among users in the electronic context is relatively low. Hence, the findings lead to the idea that personal trust is a rather limited mechanism to reduce uncertainty and does not contribute much to the user's trust decision process.Therefore, we believe that the trust-warranting attributes of the trustee, whether in the form of a graphical interface or the underlying mechanisms of technological, legal or social enforcement, should serve as the transmission medium embedded in the future construction of web-based information for Islamic content websites. Nevertheless, some limitations need to be highlighted. The work presented in this paper is not exhaustive in the sense that it does not intend to capture every trust-inducing feature that web designers can apply. It only suggests a starting point for experimental evaluations and validations of these components as a next step. Due to the huge population of Muslims from different ethnic groups, the research is unable to capture the perceptions of trust in a general way. In addition, what we present here are the 'possible issues' of trust that exist amongst Islamic communities and not something definitive. Nevertheless, we contend that designing information artefacts should consider the cultural aspects in which the information domain resides, because the culture within which a person operates will have shaped his or her perception of trust. Hence, creating the right appearance on the web by imposing online legitimacy, appropriate communication styles and appearances are some of the integral issues for designers to consider in developing information systems for sensitive information contexts, in which the right appearance plays an important role in dictating what the norms are and the communication behaviour collectively deemed appropriate by through moral principles and codes of ethics. Finally, the implications of this research should interest those who have an interest in exploring, enquiring and communicating knowledge or information pertaining to the Muslim user group within the wider HCI scope.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The proliferation of the internet as the means for knowledge and information exchange gives rise to new issues of sustaining trust within web-mediated information environments. However, researchers have not studied trust on websites that evoke emotionally charged topics that are culturally and ethically oriented as much as they have studied e-tailing trust. Hence, this paper aims to explore the notion of trust within the web-based information for Islamic content environment and how consumers' trust evaluations on topics that are sensitive to their cultural norms would give different a connotation of trust and its guidelines.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses the notion of trust, its dimensions, conceptualisation and operationalisation in the online environment. The paper presents the results of a descriptive study conducted via an online survey distributed to online Muslim users through the mailing list of the Federation of Universities in the Islamic World (see www.fuiw.org) database.\nFindings: - The analysis highlights issues surrounding trust among 605 respondents from different continents. The outcome of the findings indicates the importance of third-party seals and overall site presentation in mediating the interaction of trustworthy communication.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Due to the huge population of Muslims from different ethnic groups, the research is unable to capture a general order of the perceptions of trust. In addition, what are presented here are \"possible issues\" of trust that exist amongst Islamic communities and not something definitive.\nPractical implications: - Designers of information artefacts should consider the cultural aspect in which the information domain resides, because the culture within which a person operates will shape his or her perception of trust. Hence, creating the right appearance on the web by imposing online legitimacy, appropriate communication styles and appearance are integral issues for designers to consider in developing information systems for a sensitive information context.\nOriginality/value: - The research should be of value to those who have an interest in exploring, enquiring and communicating knowledge or information pertaining to a Muslim user group within the wider human-computer interaction scope.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Buy online collect in-store: exploring grocery click&collect using a national case study	[ "Linear regression", "Retail patronage", "Click&collect", "Retail catchments", "Retail geography", "Spatial interaction modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Grocery shopping has emerged as a rapid growth sector within online retailing (Kirby-Hawkins et al., 2018; Mintel, 2016). Online grocery shopping increased 29 percent annually (2014 to 2016) and is predicted to grow further (Mintel, 2016). The observed escalation has incentivized major grocery retailers to implement innovations to more effectively meet increasing demand (e.g. channel and delivery options). In addition, retailers have refined their offerings as well as providing product quality and freshness guarantees, which have allowed click&collect to become the alternative to home delivery (Birkin et al., 2017).\nLiterature review: The emergence of the internet as a retail channel made it cost-efficient for store-based retailers to offer e-commerce services (Chatterjee, 2010; Hand et al., 2009). Stores with Click&collect facilities act as distribution centers for online channels, however, in rare applications stock is fulfilled by larger nearby stores and transported to the collection point. The concept reduces the carbon footprint, reducing failed deliveries with theorized trip reduction as customers will walk or cycle for \"top up shops\" (Pan et al., 2017; Roby, 2014). Although the process is innovative, there have been multichannel implementation issues seen in France (Colla and Lapoule, 2012). Increasing knowledge of the channel will help benefit future implementation.\nMethods: Click&collect catchments\nResults: Overall, four models were produced (Table III). The dependent variable demand per day is consistent in all the models. The first model explains this as a function of competition measures; second, performance measures; third, geodemographic measures; fourth, all measures to explore how the effects change, exploring dominant variables. We consider the three sets of features initially in isolation, and then combined in the final model to account for the multifaceted nature of retail attraction (Ortegon-Cortazar and Royo-Vela, 2017).\nConcluding remarks: The internet has changed the UK retail landscape influencing store performance, its drivers and consumer experience from purchase decision to product delivery. Currently, most retailers have integrated internet channels to their existing business models, which is perceived to strengthen market hold (Birkin et al., 2017). Sophistication of digital markets has brought rapid change and contemporary customers expect convenience, wide product ranges and value (Wrigley and Lambiri, 2015). This has potential to increase business operation costs in order to be competitive, typically at the expense of profit margins (Deloitte, 2017).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Twenty-first century online retailing has reshaped the retail landscape. Grocery shopping is emerging as the next fastest growing category in online retailing in the UK, having implications for the channels we use to purchase goods. Using Sainsbury's data, the authors create a bespoke set of grocery click&collect catchments. The resultant catchments allow an investigation of performance within the emerging channel of grocery click&collect. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The spatial interaction method of \"Huff gravity modeling\" is applied in a semi-automated approach, used to calculate grocery click&collect catchments for 95 Sainsbury's stores in England. The catchments allow investigation of the spatial variation and particularly rural-urban differences. Store and catchment characteristics are extracted and explored using ordinary least squares regression applied to investigate \"demand per day\" (a confidentiality transformed revenue value) as a function of competition, performance and geodemographic factors.\nFindings: The findings show that rural stores exhibit a larger catchment extent for grocery click&collect when compared with urban stores. Linear regression finds store characteristics as having the greatest impact on demand per day, adhering to wider retail competition literature. Conclusions display a need for further investigation (e.g. quantifying loyalty).\nOriginality/value: New insights are contributed at a national level for grocery click&collect, as well as e-commerce, multichannel shopping and retail geography. Areas for further investigation are identified, particularly quantitatively capturing brand loyalty. The research has commercial impact as the catchments are being applied by Sainsbury's to decide the next 100 stores and plan for the next five years of their grocery click&collect offering.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving reuse of in-service information capture and feedback	[ "Services", "Feedback", "Knowledge management", "Knowledge management systems", "Experiential learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: A product-service system (PSS) is an integrated solution that fulfils functions and provides services to end-users without necessarily transferring the ownership of the product to them. This is known to increase long-term business revenue and stability to the supplying or designing companies, whilst in turn creating benefits to customers with guaranteed availability and lower capital costs (Alonso-Rasgado et al., 2004). A number of high-profile companies have been quoted as having adopted the PSS model in diverse applications, including Xerox, Canon, IBM and Rolls-Royce. In fact, the actual composition of the product and service of a PSS spans the continuum between pure products at one end and pure services at the other. Notionally, three types of PSS solutions have been identified (Baines et al., 2007), namely the product-, use- and result-oriented type, each with different emphasis to deliver the required function. In a product-oriented type PSS, the traditional product offering companies are offering more and more service packages comprising of installation, maintenance contracts, overhaul and repair, upgrades and training. This is seen as a win-win situation as customers can have less-personnel involvement in maintenance, at the same time, companies can expand its business opportunity.In the context of the PSS, products are upgraded, remanufactured and used for different purposes through their extended life. Central to the shift towards PSS businesses is that the designing company has greater scope and motivation to learn from its involvement in the in-service activities. This involvement means that in-service information and knowledge become more accessible to the designing company (Ward and Graves, 2006) in contrast to the traditional model where products were designed and manufactured but often, maintained and serviced by different companies. Since the PSS is now a single system, there is also greater incentivization structure to continuously learn from operational and in-service activities and to capitalise on this opportunity to improve the companies' core design and engineering capabilities. Continuous improvement depends crucially upon the implementation of effective knowledge and information management (KIM) systems that can be usefully deployed to enhance engineering decisions throughout the life cycle and beyond. What are the challenges and how should the PSS companies take full advantage of this opportunity to learn from the information captured in service for its continuous improvement?Companies can use insights gained from use and in-service to adapt their on-going support activities and also to feed-forward this knowledge into new design projects. Therefore, it is important that this knowledge is captured, managed and made available, both from the product and system perspective and from the people perspective. To this end, codification strategies seek to embed knowledge in formal information resources (Hansen et al., 1999). Codification methods capitalise on the maturity of information technology tools for storage, organisation and distribution of information. Equally important but not the focus of this paper, is the personalization approaches to knowledge management. Personalization approaches promote the development and retention of knowledge by individuals and communities (Hansen et al., 1999). Focusing on the codification strategies, the problem relates to how information and knowledge concerning the ongoing aspects of in-service operation such as maintenance requirements, performance and reliability of the product can be captured and reused.This paper is not about how to engineer the PSS but discusses information reuse that is considered to be an even more important aspect of a PSS business compared to a product offering business. First, our empirical observation relating to the feedback processes made within large aerospace and manufacturing companies is compared with literature findings, and then our experiences with in-service information capture and reuse are discussed.\n2 In-service feedback: In-service feedback to the engineering organisation can be achieved via two fundamentally different means. The personalisation approach is essentially concerned with the development of communities of practice and socio-technical models for enhancing company performance (Wenger, 2000). This approach emphasises on the dynamic capabilities of organisations to learn in response to changing circumstances. The second approach, codification, is concerned with making knowledge explicit through its capture and formal representation such that it can be reused. Codification strategies require knowledge gained to be codified into suitable representation, stored and organised such that the information may be used at a later stage. In practice, a combination of personalisation and codification techniques are necessary and complementary. This section provides a review of in-service feedback in literature and reports our empirical observations.2.1 Literature review\n3 Methods of codification: It is argued that a PSS business with extended lifecycle will need to make much greater use of codification approaches to enhance its activities compared with traditional business model. As the requirement for extended support may be required for 30 years and beyond for complex systems such as aircrafts, issues such as personnel turnover and distributed teams and supply chain mean that codification approaches are necessary. Focusing on codification approaches, we report our experiences associated with in-service information capture and feedback and suggest methods to enhance opportunities for reusing in-service information collection.3.1 In-service information capture\n4 Conclusions: To this end, feedback from service represents a significant resource for learning in companies embracing the PSS business model and allows enhanced competitiveness through capitalisation of this resource. For instance, the knowledge gained about the functional or operational performance of the product through its use can provide a basis for assessing and updating design knowledge thus designing more reliable and serviceable products. At present, service observation is fed back through unstructured and disparate records making it difficult to collate and analyse. Therefore, learning-from-use relies predominantly on laborious manual trawling through information or on personalisation approaches. Inevitably for the PSS companies to continually learn from use will involve a series of organisation strategies, processes, tools and methods to capture and reuse the data and information to acquire knowledge. We believe that reuse of information collection should be considered from the outset such that its content and representation could be enhanced and made more amenable to computational analysis and organisation for knowledge discovery. This is a major drawback observed in many organisations.In conclusion, we summarise four strategies where we see emphasis can be given to promote success of codification approaches:1. Incentivise the people to capture information effectively. The issue of incentives emerged in many interactions we had with the engineers and is also apparent in many references, for example NASA (2007). This is particularly important when the codification method will require contribution from people such as the lessons learned system. Given pressure to deliver on task or project, capturing lessons learned is often not viewed as a priority by engineers. One of the main reasons for lack of interest in contributing to information capturing is due to the lack of understanding of the purpose or reuse benefits. Providing incentives may alleviate some of these resistances until benefits from reuse become evident. In addition, champions and support teams can be engaged to undertake initiatives and promote awareness, train and encourage buy-in.2. Points of capture and reuse must be embedded within work processes to ensure effectiveness. Information capture and reuse is triggered by the need to carry out a task. Owing to similar reasons stated above, people often develop workarounds and shortcuts when under strict deadlines. Therefore, information capture should be automated where possible to reduce work loads such as through use of templates, assisted systems, etc. Most importantly, reuse must be considered as early as possible where the impacts will be the greatest. One such effort in the company we observed was to incorporate such consideration during initial review meetings.3. Adoption of formal taxonomies (or controlled vocabulary) and standardised information structures and representation to improve reuse. Despite a wealth of information being captured from service, information reuse is often limited due to inconsistency in the representation and structure. We believe opportunities for reuse to improve the maintenance operations as well as the design capabilities of the PSS companies can be enhanced with efforts to develop and standardise taxonomies, vocabulary, information structure and representation (at least within domains/work groups) as well as training engineers to capture information more effectively.4. Improved retrieval and organisation of information to add value to intellectual asset. Information that is not retrievable is lost and cannot be reused. Methods for improving retrieval and organisation of information are critical to ensure information is available to the right people at the right time. Context-based reuse may be efficient but its effectiveness cannot be guaranteed or time-proof. It may also limit collective reuse because the crucial pieces of information may not have been captured. Hence, investment into such activities will add value to the intellectual asset through knowledge discovery.It is in the authors' contention that the benefits from reuse may then provide some means towards incentivization for information capture in the first place.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The adoption of the product-service system business model means that the designing company has greater scope and motivation to learn from experience of its products in use to improve their core design and engineering capabilities. Continuous improvement, however, depends crucially upon the implementation of effective knowledge and information management (KIM) systems within a dynamic learning environment that impinge on diverse communities throughout the product lifecycle. This paper aims to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper consolidates literature reviews and presents empirical observations relating to the current KIM systems and practices within large aerospace and manufacturing companies. In particular, experiences from a case study to enhance reuse of in-service feedback conducted with an aerospace company are reported.\nFindings: - The empirical observations suggest that the feedback processes rely on a combination of formal and informal personalization and codification approaches, but companies are placing greater emphasis on the development of information systems to support learning from in-service experience. It is argued that greater value could be realized from collective reuse of in-service information but should be considered from the outset such that its content and representation could be made more amenable to computational analysis and organization for knowledge discovery.\nResearch limitations/implications: - To achieve the full aspirations of learning from in-service experience, issues and challenges of KIM need to be addressed. These are summarized as strategies to promote success of codification approaches.\nOriginality/value: - The initial value of the techniques for improving in-service information reuse has been demonstrated to the industrial collaborator.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer effects of environmental impact in product labeling	[ "Environmental management", "Labelling", "Information disclosure", "Packaging", "Green 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 article.\n1. Introduction: Today's marketplace is increasingly attractive for marketers of green products. Consumers are expected to double their spending on \"green\" products, reaching $500 billion in 2009 (CBS News, 2008), and many consumers state that they are willing to pay a price premium for these products (Veisten, 2007; Vlosky et al., 1999; Wustenhagen, 1998). Recent studies indicate that 93 percent of consumers say they participate in efforts to sustain environment (Hartmann Group, 2007), and a large segment, 37 percent, feel highly concerned about the environment (California Green Solutions, 2007). Companies have responded to this data with increased development and release of sustainable products. The number of self-labeled \"green\" products released in the USA more than doubled between 2005 and 2007, from 2607 to 5933 (Wasserman, 2009).Despite these positive trends, recent research with green products show cause for concern and foretell a potential limit to the growth in the industry. Studies have found that consumers believe that green products are priced higher and of poorer quality than the non-green alternative (D'Souza et al., 2007). Other authors have determined that green communication is the major area of weakness. Pickett-Baker and Ozaki (2008) found that, except for cleaning products, most consumers cannot identify greener products. This may be because most green messages labels are falling flat and not making an impression in the minds of shoppers (Green Biz Staff, 2009). In a survey of more than 2000 consumers most of the more than 400 green labels currently used on products failed to have any consumer recognition with only two, Energy Star and the widespread recycling arrows, changing consumer behaviors.Consumers have indicated a lack of trust and growing confusion over the plethora of government, corporate and third-party eco-symbols on a wide variety of products (Bhaskaran et al., 2006; Terrachoice Environmental Marketing, 2009). Adding to the confusion are the increasing numbers of companies developing their own proprietary labels in order to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. There is a growing call for clearer communication about the consumer benefits of green products (Pickett-Baker and Ozaki, 2008). The recent State of Green Business Forum (2010) reported that green information needed to be \"accessible in an easily understandable manner right at the point of purchase\" (Mazur, 2010).This project adds to the growing body of literature on environmental labeling, and investigates the effects of different levels of environmental information on key consumer metrics. Misleading, or in some cases incorrect, environmental claims by some companies can negatively impact sales of companies with legitimate green claims, and can increase consumer skepticism towards green product claims in general. How can consumers assess the environmental effects of the products? If the information were clearly presented, would consumers be more likely to view the quality of green products more positively? Currently, companies are not required to disclose all product ingredients or the environmental impact of these ingredients. Even recognizable symbols can have different meanings. For example, the three-chasing-arrows recycling symbol can be used to represent a product that is made out of recycled material or one that is recyclable. Claims such as environmentally safe or packages with an earth and flower on it do not provide consumers with specific information to make an informed decision regarding the environmental impact of the product.Of particular interest in this research is our comparison of environmentally benign products with products that are not required to disclose their possible negative environmental effects. Green products are those that do not harm the environment and contain no potentially harmful elements. Although some green products provide substantive information on what makes them green, this is not the norm. Just as important, products that make no claim to be green are not required to provide information on their environmental impact. A product might fully disclose what makes it environmentally friendly, but may still have factors that create negative impact.For example, food products grown with pesticides are not required to state this information, or to present the harmful effects of pesticides. We conjecture that if \"fair\" and clear explanations of environmental impact, both good and bad, are required, consumer evaluations of green products will improve and, ultimately, a larger percentage of consumers will purchase green products.\n2. Environmental labeling research and hypotheses: In this paper we use the terminology \"eco-labeling\" and \"environmental labeling\" as synonymous descriptors that refer to information a product provides \"about the environmental impacts associated with the production or use of a product\" (Rotherham, 1999). Research in the area of eco-labeling is currently at a stage similar to that of nutritional labeling two decades ago, which provided significant insight into the types of people who use nutritional labels, the desired format and detail of information, and the impacts of labels on dietary changes and purchase behavior. This type of research is just beginning in eco-labeling, but will likely continue as key stakeholders explore the numerous possibilities for communicating accurate information in a cost-efficient and effective manner.Effect of environmental information on consumer judgment\n3. Methodology: We investigate whether results vary by:* product category; and* message (environmental information).Manipulating nature of consumption: direct versus indirect health effects\n4. Data collection: Survey\n5. Results: Descriptive statistics\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of different levels of environmental information on key consumer metrics. More specifically, it aims to evaluate environmentally benign products against those that have negative environmental impacts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Multiple product categories and messages that varied from strongly negative to strongly positive were used to test whether the accuracy/completeness of the information changes consumers' view of green products.\nFindings: - The results show that consumer perception of product quality, value, and purchase intentions does not differ significantly between products with positive environmental messages and those without any message. Products with positive environmental messages are viewed better than products with negative environmental messages. It is also found that the impact of environmental information is greater for consumable products.\nPractical implications: - Clearly presented information can make a significant difference in consumer evaluation of products. If green products highlighted the reasons why products free of harmful ingredients did not have a negative impact on the environment, and if non-green products were required to disclose the harmful impact of their ingredients, green products would be favorably perceived over the non-green alternative.\nSocial implications: - The paper conjectures that if \"fair\" and clear explanations of environmental impact, both good and bad, are required, consumer evaluations of green products will improve and, ultimately, a larger percentage of consumers will purchase green products. The findings suggest that policy makers should require manufacturers to disclose key product ingredients and their environmental impact.\nOriginality/value: - This project adds to the growing body of literature on environmental labeling, and investigates the effects of different levels of environmental information on key consumer metrics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Availability analysis of distillery plant using petri nets	[ "Availability", "Petri net", "Simulation", "Maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Modern engineering systems must be operated at high levels of availability in view of huge capital expenditure on installation, operation and maintenance. The devastating consequences of unreliable behavior of these kinds of equipment and systems have resulted in the desire for higher availability. Therefore, it is expected that these production systems should remain operative for longer durations to achieve the desired targets of production. Since the failure is unavoidable, therefore, the plant engineers need to study the system behavior using various performance parameters. The analysis of performance parameters (availability) helps them to understand the effect of variation of failure and repair rates of various subcomponents/units on the system.\n2. Theory of PN: In 1962, Dr Carl Adam Petri introduced the PN. It has emerged as a powerful graphical modeling tool which addresses the static as well as the dynamic behavior of systems. Its theoretical aspect discusses precisely the analysis of system behavior and modeled system state changes are represented graphically. PN has a wide spectrum of application ranging from computer science to manufacturing. PN can be stated either algebraically or graphically.\n3. System description: The study has been carried out in a distillery plant situated in the northern part of India, having one of the largest Indian made foreign liquor plant. Since 1944, it has produced a large variety of alcoholic beverages and other malted products. The production of alcohol starts with starchy raw material such as sugar cane, which is boiled and converted into molasses. This molasses is further used for the fermentation process in large steel vats where the sugar, including dextrose and maltose is converted into the ethyl alcohol by the action of yeast enzymes under the controlled temperature range of 24-29oC for around 48 h.\n4. System modeling: The detailed arrangement of the system of the distillery is given as follows: The system consists of four subsystems/machines, namely, bottle washing machine (A) six off, filling machine (B) six off, sealing machine (C) six off and labeling machine (D) six off. They are interconnected to each other, thus constituting a production line comprising of four different machines. The flow diagram is shown in Figure 3.\n5. PN model of a system: The PN model of the system under study has been developed and shown in the Figure 4. It represents various places (P1, P4, P7, P10...) for working (P2, P5, P8, P11...) waiting for repair, and under repair (P3, P6, P9, P12...) for all the four machines corresponding to six different production lines. The repair place (Prepaimen) contains tokens representing the number of the repairmen available for repair in a plant at a given point of time. The dynamics of the token change with the random failure of the machines. Two types of transitions (timed and Immediate) are used to the model the system. The timed transitions (T1, T3, T4, T6....) represented in the model fire corresponding the failure or repair, and distribution delay, whereas the immediate transitions (t2, t5, t8...) fires instantaneously if the specified guard conditions are met.\n6. Performance analysis: The system has been evaluated by carrying Monte Carlo simulation of the PN model using GRIF2015. The simulation evaluates various performance parameters in steady state, i.e. plant availability and plant production. The simulation was run for 10,000 replications of period of three years at 95% confidence level. These performance parameters have been evaluated for various value combinations of repair and failure rates to study the dynamics of the system. The plant engineer is consulted in deciding the various combinations of failure and repair times of all four machines (Table I).\n7. Conclusion: The availability analysis of the distillery plant has been carried out using a PN-based approach. The results in Table II show the effect of variation of failure and repair times on the plant availability at different running capacities of the plant. Based on performance analysis, it is concluded that the bottle washing machine has more impact on the system performance as compared to other machines. Therefore, the plant manager needs to focus more on this subsystem. It has been observed that when the plant is working at full capacity the plant availability is 0.5; however, at a reduced capacity, which may down to 16 percent, the plant availability is high. The ultimate effect of the same comes in the plant production. The total plant capacity utilization at present is 80 percent; however, if we take care of bottling machine, the plant capacity utilization improves by 6 percent, which directly renders better monetary benefits. The approach of PN has enabled us to analyze the system behavior in a more efficient manner and to model the repair and failure date with realistic distribution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to prepare a methodology to evaluate availability analysis of distillery plant using Petri nets (PN). The effect of various failures, repair rate and availability of repair facilities on the system has been studied.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The PN model of a system is developed to study the dynamic behavior of the system under various working conditions. Availability analysis of the plant is presented taking into consideration of failure and repair rates of their subsystems and has been carried out using Monte Carlo simulation.\nFindings: The bottle washing machine is the most critical machine from a maintenance point of view which has more compact on the system performance as compared to other machines. The availability analysis of distillery plant helps the management to adopt a suitable maintenance policy to improve upon plant production and plant availability.\nOriginality/value: The application of this proposed PN-based approach is very useful in finding the most critical subsystem and its effect on the performance of the system in terms of availability and plant production. Further, the advantage of the PN approach is that dynamic behavior of the system under consideration is modeled with graphic representation of the system and given distribution can be associated with the subsystems for analysis. The superiority of this approach over others, such as network, fault tree and Markov analysis, is outlined in the paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stay competitive in 2035: a scenario-based method to foresight in the design and manufacturing industry	[ "Strategy", "Scenario planning", "Foresight", "Trend analysis", "Design and manufacturing industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The design and manufacturing industry faces different types of uncertainties, which are hard to forecast but may have a vital influence on the future. Practically, these can result in significant changes in the business. It is not possible to eliminate all such uncertainties, however, any high tech company that wants to stay competitive in 2035 needs to manage these uncertainties. One way to manage uncertainties is to identify change forces, different plausible scenarios and robust strategies (de Sousa Jabbour et al., 2018; Li, 2018; Matos and Jacinto, 2019; van Sluisveld et al., 2018). Neglecting the uncertainties can even result in missing the new chances opening up during significant transitions or socio-technical changes or even disappearance of company (Banuls and Salmeron, 2007b; Chermack, 2011; Godet, 2000; Popper, 2008; Varum and Melo, 2010). The major purpose of this article is to create an enhanced planning method for strategic planning and foresight, which can manage these changes. This is extremely motivated, considering the tremendous difficulties that the design and manufacturing industries will face in the subsequent years.\n2. Method: In the past 50 years, scholars have created diverse methods for scenario-based analysis (Alipour et al., 2017; Bishop et al., 2007; Bryant and Lempert, 2010; Heiko and Darkow, 2010; Lempert, 2013; Parker et al., 2015; Proskuryakova et al., 2018; Saritas and Aylen, 2010). In this respect, the methods by Van der Heijden and Shoemaker have gained the highest citation numbers (Duckett et al., 2017; Rhisiart et al., 2015; Varum and Melo, 2010). Notwithstanding, the consulting corporation Global Business Network (GBN) (Minkkinen, 2015; Ramirez and Selsky, 2016; Schwartz, 1996; Slaughter, 2015; Vieira et al., 2017) and the Royal Dutch Shell methods are the most famous (Bishop et al., 2007; Phadnis et al., 2015; Ramirez et al., 2017; Thomas and Chermack, 2019; Vecchiato, 2019; Wulf et al., 2010). The GBN method was built by Pierre Wack in the 1970s and generalized by Schwartz (1996) and Van der Heijden (2011) for scenario analysis.\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Results of the second phase, Explore, based on Figure 1\n4. Conclusion: The future is uncertain. To be able to deal with this uncertainty, we need to speculate and envision the future. Also, to address these competitive advantages that a successful high-tech multi-national design and manufacturing corporation should have in the year 2035, it is necessary to know how the world of business would be in the year 2035. One way to do that is to develop plausible scenarios and plan, and take strategies to be ready for every possible scenario.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to envision the alternative futures of the design and manufacturing industry using an integrated foresight method based on scenario planning. Also, the authors aim at developing robust strategies for an enterprise that aims to be placed as a leading high-tech international design and manufacturing company in 2035.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed approach is created by integrating several foresight methods such as Delphi, scenario planning, MICMAC and cross-impact analysis.\nFindings: Automation and sustainable development are found as the fundamental driving forces in the design and manufacturing industry. Four scenarios based on these driving forces and expert knowledge are created: innovation adaptation, forced automation (business-as-usual), sustainable era and automationless scenarios. For the developed scenarios, a set of strategies are proposed by asking experts about the strategies which can be taken to make the enterprise competitive in all developed scenarios in 2035. The main macro-level outcome is that economic and technological drivers will be the most important factors for design and manufacturing, followed by environmental and social factors.\nOriginality/value: The proposed method uses the strengths of traditional scenario planning but overcomes its weaknesses by suggesting a systematic process for scenario building and easy application.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Predicting informed trading at merger announcements	[ "Informed trading", "Intraday trades", "Liquidity trading", "Mergers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) (Lintner, 1965; Sharpe, 1964) viewed security returns as being a function of the return on a market portfolio. Empirically, a significant amount of return may be attributed to other factors such as variations in size and book to market values. These CAPM anomalies led Fama and French (1993, 1996) to develop a multifactor model in which security returns were shown to depend on returns due to the market (the original CAPM formulation), small versus large size differences in return and book to market value sensitivities to returns. These variations challenged the CAPM assertion that investors have identical motivations for trading. This paper identifies return variations as represented by differences in trading volume by traders with different motivations and trading strategies. Symbolically, we replace the Fama-French formulatation's SMB (size) and HML (book to market) elements with positive signal effects and negative signal effects on returns, devising an empirical method using elevated trading volume from both types of signals to explain returns.\nReview of literature: The theory originates with CAPM, the CAPM, in which the expected return on a security is the risk-free rate along with the excess return of the stock over the market portfolio (a hypothetical portfolio composed of all the stocks in the market (Sharpe, 1964). Empirically, the market portfolio is proxied by the S&P 500 or some large index. Given that an index portfolio cannot include all stocks of all size and value and growth characteristics as is assumed by the market portfolio, the excess return of a security above the market portfolio cannot explain the entire return on a security. Some of the return on a security is explained by other characteristics, such as size, book to market, and recent performance. Accordingly, Fama and French (1996) created a multifactor model, wherein security returns are a function of excess return above the market, size, and book to market. We contend that at certain times, as at trading prior to merger, dividend, or earnings announcements, certain traders will find another source of excess return in the price run up positive signals and the diminished return in the price decline from negative signals. Such differential returns may be earned through purchase for a positive signal or sale to avoid losses on a negative signal. Trading volume then becomes a proxy for differential return either positive or negative, or the trading volume in this study approximates a Fama-French factor like size or book to market.\nData and sample characteristics: All cash and stock mergers for 2005 were obtained from Factset Mergerstat's comprehensive database of worldwide merger transactions. Data collection was confined to mergers announced in 2005 as intraday stock prices during the financial crisis of 2007-2009, with recession and recovery were excessively influenced by macroeconomic conditions. The authors desired to isolate intraday stock prices due to merger effects. Mergers were filtered by completion, as only acquisitions of complete firms were included. Partial transfers including sales of divisions and assets were not included. All foreign firms (either acquirer or target) were excluded. Although data is available for the past 25 years, only one year of data was included as the vector autoregressions used to test H2 use intraday data. Intraday data is extremely voluminous, with >10 million data points for the sample period. All mergers were examined closely for method of payment, with only full cash purchases and fixed ratios of exchanges of stock between target and acquirer being included. The final sample consisted of 66 cash mergers and 38 stock mergers. Intraday stock trade and quote prices were obtained from the New York Stock Exchange's trade and quotes (TAQ) database. TAQ provided intraday bid and ask quotes for each trade occurring on each stock in the database from 9:30 to 4:00 pm. Trade prices and offer quantities (offer size) were provided as well.\nMethodology: The complete sample of cash and stock mergers were subjected to a volume event study. Volume event studies are based upon the market or CAPM. CAPM is represented by the following equation: Equation 1 The expected return on a stock is a function of the stock's excess return above the risk-free rate weighted by the stock's correlation with the market or the b coefficient. Volume event studies find the cumulative excess return over a period due to abnormal volumes over a benchmark or \"normal\" period usually of a 255 day duration prior to the model period. Volume event studies are particularly useful for our purposes as they can measure the extent of excessive total trading volume during the merger period. Separate volume event studies for cash and stock mergers were used to determine the period to be considered in future analysis; even though the merger announcement period is generally taken to be days -1 to +1 (Mitchell et al., 2004), it is possible for the year in our sample to have a slightly different (wider or narrower) announcement period. As the volume of trading was measured over several days, the two volume event studies tested H1. Center for research in security prices (the CRSP) provided the risk-free rate, market return and beta coefficient, and daily stock closing stock volume inputs into the event studies. The Eventus program used the CRSP inputs to compute CAARs reported in Table I.\nEmpirical results: The entire cash merger sample of 66 events was subjected to a volume event study. 12 events were dropped by Eventus, leaving a final sample of 54 events. Table I reports the results of this event study. The day -1 to day +1 merger announcement period window showed a highly significant CAAR of 50.01 percent (day -1 to 0, 42.2 percent, Patell Z=1.927, p<0.05). Excess volume was confined to the announcement period and day +2, with significant daily CAARs for day 0 of 62.46 percent (Patell Z=2.682, p<0.01), day 1 of 8.42 percent (Patell Z=5.936, p<0.001), and day 2 of -14.22 percent (Patell Z=3.104, p<0.001). The shift in volumes from positive to negative on day +2 indicates the beginning of price reversal, or that the entire trading on the positive signal due to the cash merger is absorbed into prices at the end of day +1. H1a was supported for cash mergers; a significant positive CAAR was found for each day in the announcement period. For the stock mergers, two events were dropped by Eventus, leaving a final sample of 36 events. Table I reports the results of this event study. H1b was partially supported. Significant negative CAARs were obtained for days 3 and 4, (-16.32 and -11.79 percent with Patell Z values of -4.77, p<0.001, and 3.772, p<0.001, respectively). Days 0, 1 and +2 showed highly significant positive CAARs of 275.70 percent on Day 0 (Patell Z=36.249, p<0.001), 86.97 percent on Day 1 (Patell Z=17.873, p<0.001), and 14.17 percent (Patell Z=6.211, p<0.001). The change in sign may be due to both informed buyers and sellers being active in the market. Table II reports descriptive statistics, for liquidity buyers and sellers throughout the announcement period for both samples. The number of trades, mean, standard deviation and maximum and minimum trade sizes are reported. Significant Jacque-Bera values for all days for maximum values suggest a positively skewed distribution. Table III shows the results of the vector autoregressive model for cash mergers relating informed buy volume to stock price changes to liquidity buy volume. On day -1, informed buy volume significantly increased stock price changes in the third lag. Buying by informed traders led to higher stock price changes 15 minutes later (as each lag represents a 5-minute interval), which in turn led to buying by liquidity traders in lags 1-6 or 5-30 minutes later. On day 0, adjustments of stock prices to information proceeds much faster, presumably because it is the day of announcement. Informed buying volume significantly influences stock prices 5 minutes later, which in turn raise liquidity buying volume in the first lag or 5 minutes later. Therefore, H2a is supported for days -1 and 0. It is not supported for day 1. On day 1, the stock price changes significantly increase liquidity buy volume in the first lag, or 5 minutes later. However, informed buying volume has not have any effect on stock price changes, possibly because market makers have learned to identify informed trades, so that an informed trading strategy no longer guarantees excess profits. For stock mergers, H2b was supported for day -1 as informed selling significantly influenced stock price changes in the third and eighth lags, while stock price changes significantly predicted liquidity sales volume in the first lag. Selling by informed traders lowered stock prices about 15 minutes later, which in turn induced liquidity selling 5 minutes later. On day 0, lag patterns were identical to day -1. H2b was supported with informed selling significantly influencing stock price changes in the third lag and stock price changes predicting liquidity selling in the first lag. On day 1, H2b was supported although stock price changes responded more slowly to informed selling volume. Informed selling volume significantly decreased stock prices in the eighth lag only - a full 40 minutes after the initial signal. Stock price changes influenced liquidity selling rapidly in the first lag or 5 minutes. Market makers may have been deliberating about spreads and the information received over several days of informed trading. Spreads may have been lowered so that trading by informed traders may have started to have a more tenuous effect on security prices. H2b continued to be supported on days 2 and 3. On days 2 and 3, informed selling affected stock price changes within 5 minutes and in turn liquidity selling 10 minutes later. Price adjustments were rapid due to market makers finally being able to identify informed trades and therefore, adjusting spreads accordingly. It is possible that full knowledge of informed trading was not gleaned, as some informed trading did affect stock prices and liquidity trading. The link ended on days 4 and 5, with informed trading having no significant influence on stock price changes and liquidity selling, presumably as market makers were able to correctly distinguish between informed and liquidity trades and set spreads accurately. Therefore, H2b was not supported for days 4 and 5.\nConclusions and recommendations for future research: This study has provided empirical proof of the Easley and O'Hara (1992) model. Informed buying and selling volumes act to increase or decrease stock price changes which affect liquidity trading. For cash mergers, transaction fees remained excessive for days -1 to +1. For stock mergers, fees remained high on days -1 to +1, started declining on days 2 and 3, and vanished on days 4 and 5. Uninformed traders may wish to limit their trading until after day +1 for both types of mergers. By examining the pattern of relationships defined by our vector autoregressions, it is possible to forecast the actions of informed traders over the merger announcement period. As long as the link between informed trading, stock price changes, and liquidity trading holds, market makers in the stock market at merger announcements are setting high spreads, raising bid and ask quotes, and impounding information into prices. In other words, market makers are responding to the actions of informed traders, or informed trading is driving prices and uninformed trades. This occurred throughout the -1 to +1 merger announcement period for cash mergers. For stock mergers, the situation was found to be inherently more complex. For days -1 to +1, informed traders influenced stock price changes and liquidity trading. On days 2 and 3, there was rapid inclusion of informed trading in stock prices as stock prices achieved equilibrium rapidly. The existence of some market imperfection was apparent in that some trading on privileged information did have an impact on security prices. However, it is evident that market makers were beginning to infer patterns of informed trading and distinguish them from liquidity trading. Spreads began to be adjusted downwards, and excessive profits were not as easily available to informed traders as on the previous days. On days 4 and 5, all excess profits disappeared as market makers finally adjusted spreads to equilibrium prices and liquidity traders were subject to transaction costs that reflected their true values. This study has provided the first evidence of trading patterns for informed and liquidity traders during merger announcements, where the type of merger or method of payment forms the basis of demarcation. We have found that spreads and prices do not adjust to equilibrium levels for cash mergers during the announcement period. For stock mergers, they adjust over a longer period, i.e. during the fourth and fifth days. H1b was partly supported for stock mergers with shifts from significant positive to negative CAARs during the day 0-+5 period. It is possible that there are multiple groups of informed or liquidity traders. Future autoregressive models should include different types of liquidity traders and trace their activity to different groups of informed traders. Easley and O'Hara (1992) identify the spread as the key linking variable between informed and liquidity traders. In their theoretical model, market makers respond to increased trading by informed traders by setting the spread to have higher widths. The width gets adjusted downwards as market makers obtain more information about the identity of informed and liquidity trades. The width of the spread is a proxy for the extent of uncertainty the market maker feels about his profits. It may be advisable to enter the spread in the vector autoregressive model in lieu of prices, as it is a direct measure of the actions of the market maker in setting prices, rather than our more indirect measure of the price changes resulting from those spreads. The study may then be extended to dividends and earnings announcements as other information-based events in which informed trading may be forecasted by examining levels of uninformed trading.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to propose a method of forecasting the level of informed trading at merger announcements by permitting liquidity traders to adjust their trading based upon signals from informed traders. Informed traders typically take advantage of their knowledge of forthcoming mergers by trading heavily at announcement. For cash mergers, they respond to a positive signal by purchasing stock, and for stock mergers, they respond to a negative signal by selling stock. In response, exchanges (market makers) set wider spreads (charge higher transaction fees) for informed buyers. Uninformed traders are subject to such excessive fees unless they can accurately predict the period during which such fees are charged.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper proposes a technique by which uninformed traders may make predictions by creating a vector autoregressive framework that links informed and liquidity trading through price changes.\nFindings: For cash mergers, transaction fees remained excessive for days -1 to +1. For stock mergers, fees remained high on days -1 to +1, started declining on days 2 and 3, and vanished on days 4 and 5.\nResearch limitations/implications: Most theoretical models of informed trading have viewed informed trading and liquidity trading as tangentially linked. This study finds a direct link between these two trading activities.\nPractical implications: Uninformed traders may wish to limit their trading until after day +1 for both types of mergers.\nOriginality/value: This paper defines the time period during which transactions costs for traders are at the maximum level. Short sellers have more information about the direction of stock movements and may sell during days of informed selling set forth by this study and repurchase stock afterwards.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Accessible luxury fashion brand building via fat discrimination	[ "Fashion", "Branding", "Obesity", "Assortments", "Fat discrimination", "Typical user imagery" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumers tend to judge brands by their users; if consumers have a clear picture of what kind of person would use a specific brand in their minds, the brand takes on similar characteristics (Aaker, 1997; Keller, 2000; Hayes et al., 2008). The tendency to equate brand personality to the personality of the user is particularly pronounced, and particularly relevant for, symbolic offerings that relate to the consumer's self-image (Sirgy et al., 2000). Fashion fulfills these criteria (Levy, 1959; McCracken, 1988) and this is the reason companies display attractive models alongside their products in ads (Vermeir and Sompel, 2014). However, user imagery is not just a result of advertising. It can also be formed through consumers' observation of real-world users (Keller, 1993). From a marketing standpoint, it would therefore make sense, not just that companies would try to attract customers with desirable traits, but also that they would reject customers who display undesirable traits. While advertising imagery has received ample attention from scholars (e.g. Bower and Landreth, 2001; Steadman, 1969; Vermeir and Sompel, 2014), brand building via customer rejection has not. Historically, the emphasis on advertising imagery is understandable, because advertising has until now provided most brand imagery (Sotiropoulos, 2003), making it crucial to consumers' brand perception. However, the marketing environment is changing rapidly. The advent and growth of the Internet makes it increasingly easy for individuals to see what real-world brand users look like. The display of consumption is occurring on an unprecedented scale (Williams, 2003), and nowhere is typical user imagery more visible than on social media (Durayappah, 2011; Copeland, 2011). What is more, social media is becoming increasingly visual in character (DeMers, 2013), which further boosts the number of real-world users consumers are exposed to. The fashion industry is at the heart of this development. Fashion is self-expressive (McCracken, 1986), visual in character (Kawamura, 2007), and one of the most popular product categories to photograph and publicize on social media (Azuma and Fernie, 2003). The trend toward increased display of consumption through new channels of communication means that the study of real-world user imagery is becoming increasingly relevant, and fashion's unique character makes it a suitable object of study.\nTheoretical background and hypothesis development: Brand image can be defined as the sum of all the subjective perceptions (functional and non-functional) of a brand in the minds of consumers (Fournier, 1998; Patterson, 1999; Sutherland et al., 2004; Stern, 2006). It is thus made up of consumers' brand associations (Keller, 1993). Brand associations are in part shaped by a non-product related attribute called typical user imagery (Aaker, 1996).\nMethod: The definition employed for discrimination is treating certain people differently, not because of their ability to pay, but because of other reasons. To test the hypotheses, it is necessary to measure if there is a discrepancy between the relative size of the overweight and obese market segments and the supply of clothes that is available to them. In other words, do overweight and obese consumers have less to choose from than what is motivated by their numbers? To this end, three brands were chosen: Brand 1, Brand 2, and Brand 3. They are all accessible luxury fashion brands. However, they have different owner structures, and they offer different styles, and this is the reason they were selected. While one should be careful to make generalizations based on the findings of a limited study such as this, the diversity of the chosen companies strengthens the validity of the claim that accessible luxury fashion companies build brands by fat discrimination, should the hypotheses be supported.\nFindings: While previous research (Aagerup, 2010) shows that fast fashion companies do not discriminate overweight and obese consumers, the accessible luxury garments measured in this study come in very small sizes compared to the individuals that make up the general population. A comparison between the proportions of garments and individuals per BMI class is presented in Table I.\nDiscussion: The findings of this study fit perfectly with the theory of user imagery. Overweight and obese user imagery would be detrimental for brands that are consumed for symbolic/expressive benefits, and hence, the investigated accessible luxury fashion companies do not cater to obese consumers at all, and to overweight consumers only to a very limited extent. While it is possible that thin people take a greater interest in accessible luxury fashion, and that companies therefore adjust their assortments to reflect demand, the dearth of products for heavier women is so pronounced that it seems incredible that differing consumer preferences would be the only explanation for the composition of assortment of sizes. The study thus provides the first quantitative evidence of brand building via customer rejection.\nImplications: The implication of this study for practitioners is that it is possible to build brands via customer rejection if the brand is symbolic/expressive, if it is conspicuously consumed, if it targets narrow groups of people that are homogenous and distinct from other brand's customers, and if the company is active in an industry where elitist practices are acceptable, or even desirable. However, the practice still entails turning away business, with the associated opportunity costs. What is more, if a company erroneously believes it is a luxury brand, when in fact its customers view it as something else, turning away customers can result in a backlash. When consumers object to a company's ethics, moral avoidance and lost sales can occur (Ward and Dahl, 2014). In addition to the business case, there is also an ethical case against customer rejection for brand building purposes. Rejecting customers with money in hand because they are not attractive enough to buy a company's products is ethically problematic, especially when the products are socially desirable. This is not lost on society. In addition to not offering garments in sizes that fit heavier physiques, fashion companies are widely criticized for offering overweight and obese consumers only unfashionable basic clothes (Scaraboto and Fischer, 2014), and this lack of fashionable clothes is a source of frustration for heavier consumers, especially those with an interest in fashion (Gurrieri and Cherrier, 2013). The types of brand value that thin and plus-size consumers derive from fashion are not the same. Expressive and aesthetic desires often go unfulfilled by the apparel that satisfies the functional needs of heavier consumers (Romeo and Lee, 2015). This leads to a situation where heavier consumers shop for convenience while thinner consumers shop for pleasure (Park et al., 2009). The results of this study would corroborate the notion of companies discriminating overweight consumers with regards to style. Aagerups' (2010) findings in fast fashion do not show the same quantitative underrepresentation of garments for overweight and obese consumers. However, if his results are juxtaposed to those of this study, it becomes apparent that overweight and obese consumers are discriminated against, not for basic clothes, but for fashionable clothes.\nLimitations and future research: The study's scope is limited, and one should therefore be cautious when generalizing its results to other product categories or countries. What is more, the study is a survey. As such, it is not strictly a causal study but one of correlation. It is therefore possible that the demonstrated correlation between garments' sizes and their availability in-store is affected by confounding variables like BMI groups' different levels of interest in fashion, by their different spending power, or by geographical variables (like an underrepresentation of overweight and obese women in London vs the countryside). It is also theoretically possible that the investigated companies are very bad at marketing, and therefore fail to realize that they have overlooked a large, and growing, market segment. The study's results are however so strikingly clear that even if some of the effect were due to extraneous variables, it would be hard to disregard the poor match between overweight and obese women and the clothes offered to them. For future research, it would be of interest to build on the results of this exploration into brand building via customer rejection. Corroborating studies would strengthen the validity of the results presented here, and given the limited geographical and industrial scope of this study such validation would be welcome. The issue of brand building via customer rejection is poised to become a hot topic. As brand communications to an increasing extent moves out of the hands of business, and into the hands of individuals that communicate consumer-to-consumer via social media, companies may feel pressured into discriminatory practices. After all, if companies cannot control who is displayed as a brand user via advertising, they may resort to controlling who is allowed to use the brand in real life.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate if accessible luxury fashion brands discriminate overweight and obese consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The physical sizes of garments are surveyed in-store and compared to the body sizes of the population. A gap analysis is carried out in order to determine whether the supply of clothes match the demand of each market segment.\nFindings: The surveyed accessible luxury garments come in very small sizes compared to the individuals that make up the population.\nResearch limitations/implications: The survey is limited to London stores but the garment sizes are compared to the British population. It is therefore possible that the discrepancies between assortments and the population are in part attributable to geographic and demographic factors. The study's results are, however, so strikingly clear that even if some of the effects were due to extraneous variables, it would be hard to disregard the poor match between overweight and obese women and the clothes offered to them.\nPractical implications: For symbolic/expressive brands that are conspicuously consumed, that narrowly target distinct and homogenous groups of people in industries where elitist practices are acceptable, companies can build brands via customer rejection.\nSocial implications: The results highlight ongoing discrimination of overweight and obese fashion consumers.\nOriginality/value: The study is the first to provide quantitative evidence for brand building via customer rejection, and it delineates under which conditions this may occur. This extends the theory of typical user imagery.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emerging destination mobility: Exploring African and Asian international students' push-pull factors and motivations to study in China	[ "International student mobility", "Push-pull factors", "African and Asian international students", "Study abroad motivation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The push-pull factors and study abroad motivation (SAM) of international students are crucial for understanding student mobility. Studying abroad is considered to be vital for enhancing human capacity (Petzold and Moog, 2018; Min and Falvey, 2018), and its push-pull and motivational factors help to determine what a student receives out of overseas study experience (Salisbury et al., 2009; Anderson and Lawton, 2015). As international student mobility (ISM) continues to drastically increase from 1.3m in 1990 and almost 4.5m in 2013 (OECD, 2013); 5m in 2014 (ICEF Monitor, 2015); and, with the expectation of ISM stretching to 15m by 2025 (Altbach and Knight, 2007), new destinations are emerging. China, one of the world's leading economies, has become a top source country (Jiani, 2017) and the fourth-ranked international study destination, by international student population - after only the USA, UK and Australia (ICEF Monitor, 2017), transcending from insignificant player to a major destination (Ding, 2016). This represents a major shift from east to west in the student flow, with enrollment more widely distributed among a larger field of destinations, including non-English-speaking countries (ICEF Monitor, 2015).\nMaterials and methods: Research design\nResults: Quantitative findings\nDiscussion: Amidst dramatic student mobility upsurge in emerging destinations such as China, this study explored the push-pull factors and SAM of African and Asian international students, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study's findings, ranging from the most critical push-pull and motivational factors, the interplay among these factors to the cross-cultural differences of African and Asian students, provide valuable insights on ISM, particularly to China, a little researched emerging top destination (Pan, 2013; Jiani, 2017).\nConclusion and implications: This study provides insightful contributions to the field of education, and international education in particular by researching on perhaps the most popular emerging ISM destination (China), which considers mobile students from far and near its territorial borders. Employing qualitative and quantitative approaches, we explored the push-pull factors and motivations of African and Asian international students, who constitute the larger portion of students studying in China. The study's contributions relate to the main push-pull factors and motivations of mobile students, relationship of their push-pull factors with SAM, cross-cultural differences between African and Asian students and their gender differences. Besides, the study discovered several new pull factors including citizens' attitude and good report, development potential and hospitality and receptiveness, an essential contribution to the push-pull model. Accordingly, the study therefore highlights some implications for stakeholders such as student affairs personnel to have comprehensive understanding about what pushes, pulls and motivates students to better inform student mobility interventions, particularly in China.\nLimitations and future research: In spite of its contributions to ISM literature, the study is not without limitations because it explored push-pull factors and motivations in the destination country. Future research needs to consider both country of origin and host country to examine whether they matter. In addition, though the study has established African and Asian international students' push-pull factors and motivations, which provides a useful foundation, it is not clear how it relates to students' overall psychological adjustment and satisfaction with their academics and experience in China. It would be appropriate for future research to consider such variables. Besides, since this considered two continents, future research should include other continents and examine whether students push-pull factors and SAM differ, possibly with provision for regional comparisons. In conclusion, this research has provided important empirical evidence about student mobility in China, a little researched emerging top destination by exploring African and Asian students' push-pull factors SAM from different perspectives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the push-pull factors and motivations of African and Asian international students in Chinese universities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Concurrent mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) design was used. The quantitative component included 537 Africans and Asians from five notable universities, while the qualitative aspect consisted of 30 participants in Wuhan and few other cities in China.\nFindings: Findings revealed availability of scholarship opportunities, China's flexibility (visa and program entry) and perception of better education quality as important push-pull factors. It also discovered several new pull factors, including citizens' attitude and good report, development potential and hospitality and receptiveness, while career development and entertainment were found to be the most and least significant motivational factors, respectively. The study also found a significant relationship between push-pull factors and study abroad motivation (SAM) as well as cross-cultural differences between African and Asian students.\nResearch limitations/implications: Most of the participants were drawn from Wuhan city. Hence, the findings cannot be outrightly generalized to other contexts.\nPractical implications: This research provides valuable knowledge for policy makers, higher education institutions, international students and other stakeholders in China to inform better student experience.\nOriginality/value: There was no study found that combines push-pull factors and SAM or comparatively investigates African and international students in China. Knowledge about sojourners push-pull factors and motivations, their relationship and cross-cultural differences is essential for evidence-based interventions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Incorporating sustainability in engineering education: Adapting current practices to mining and petroleum engineering education	[ "Systems thinking", "Sustainability", "Engineering education", "Curriculum change", "Petroleum engineering", "Transdisciplinarity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The challenges many societies face today are broad, complex and interconnected, including widespread poverty, lack of access to potable water and adequate food, megacities, climate change, environmental degradation and increasing demand for renewable and nonrenewable resources to supply the needs of the growing global population and expanding economies. Mineral resources are of particular importance, as they are essential to infrastructure, manufacturing and the technologies being developed to deal with all the aforementioned challenges.\nMoving from sustainability principles to sustainable engineering practices: Sustainable development provides a framework for addressing many types of controversial, multifaceted issues. It has been widely accepted because it explicitly recognizes the interconnectedness of social, economic and environmental systems. As a result, sustainability is often discussed in terms of the triple bottom line: desirable human condition, healthy functioning ecosystems and intra- and inter-generational equity.\nSustainability in the engineering curriculum: The pedagogy of sustainability is just as complex as is the subject itself, so it is not surprising that revising the engineering curricula to incorporate sustainability issues is challenging as well. What competencies should students gain? The approach recommended by Scoble and Laurence (2008) is to define what the future mine will be, which then allows for assessing workforce needs, and by inference, skills and training requirements. Are current teaching methods appropriate and adequate to the task? The Society of Mining Professors is actively addressing how to enhance teaching methods. How can room be made in courses for sustainability concepts, and where is there room for new courses in already crowded and demanding programs (an issue that will be addressed in more detail below)? And perhaps most problematic, are the faculty capable of and motivated to address sustainability in their courses? There remains a general, if unstated, attitude among some, although not all, engineering faculty that sustainability can be addressed as long as:\nSustainability according to the oil industry: The oil and gas industry provides a fundamental energy resource, and it will continue to play a major role in meeting the world's energy needs for the foreseeable future, given the new prominence of unconventional reservoirs which are acknowledged to have shifted in time the depletion of the fossil fuel in the world. Oil and gas companies must, therefore, continue to discover, produce and supply these energy resources, and it is essential that they do so in a safe, environmentally sound and socially responsible manner. This requires safeguarding the environment; respecting the rights of others; and protecting the health, safety and security of workers and the public. Several major oil and service companies have already undertaken the commitment of ensuring that the way they do business reflects the society's expectations of how they should perform (Krishna et al., 2012). This commitment includes: the publication of the sustainability policy, where a common thread among the various company documentations can be found: principles of correctness, transparency, honesty and integrity and adoption of the highest standards and international guidelines in the management of their activities in all the contexts in which they operate; respect for people and their rights and, more generally, the interests of the communities with which they interact; innovation and deployment of advanced technologies that can increase the size of viable recoverable resources, improve product quality and enhance both environmental and end-use performance; development of advanced technologies to meet the growing demand for affordable energy products while improving security of supply and reducing environmental impact; contributions to countries' efforts to develop their natural resources and improve their own communications, transport, health and education systems; and more in general, sustainability of their activities through innovation and achievement of long-term objectives. In other words, sustainable development is emerging as a new business model, capable of adapting and evolving in what promises to be one of the most critical periods in human history (Krishna et al., 2012; Strauss, 2012).\nAn example of sustainability implementation in petroleum engineering: The definition and the economic viability of the best development strategy of a hydrocarbon reservoir mainly depend on the quantity and type of fluids, on the productivity of the wells which need to be drilled to bring the fluids to the surface and on the reservoir location.\nConclusions: The mining and petroleum sectors need individuals who understand the systems nature of mining operations, can work in and lead transdisciplinary teams, understand and apply best practices and innovative technologies and collaborate with communities and stakeholders. As a result, the challenges for universities training the next generation of engineers and providing continuing education to graduates already working in industry and government (and academia) are great. Mining and petroleum engineering has long since divided into ever more technologically sophisticated subspecialties, but, at the same time, engineers are being asked to act as generalists and leaders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the ongoing shift in sustainable engineering and the approaches used by universities for engineering students. At the United Nations Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, participating nations agreed to work together to achieve the goal of sustainable development. Twenty years on, great progress has been made, but many challenges remain and overcoming them and ensuring a sustainable future will require the knowledge, skills and input of engineering professionals. Ethics and costs have long been part of engineering, but broader understanding is now needed because the skill set those engineers will need has grown dramatically.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this paper, the authors describe the ongoing shift to sustainable engineering and discuss a variety of approaches that universities are currently using to introduce engineering students and practitioners to sustainability principles and practice and how those can be utilized in mining and petroleum high education institutions.\nFindings: The authors first place sustainability in an engineering context and vice versa, and then review alternative approaches to incorporating sustainability in engineering curricula, briefly highlighting a few key concepts and documenting an example.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors first place sustainability in an engineering context and then review alternative approaches to incorporating sustainability in engineering curricula, briefly highlighting a few key concepts and documenting an example.\nOriginality/value: The challenge to educators is to ensure that new concepts addressing sustainability are not only instilled in the next generation of engineers but are also being communicated to practicing engineers. Incorporating sustainability into mining and petroleum engineering education is identified as a way to engage students, encourage their enthusiasm and interest them in pursuing engineering as a career that is not only interesting but also contributes to society. Distance education is identified as a way to education practicing engineers about sustainability concepts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Online repatronage intention: an empirical study among Malaysian experienced online shoppers	[ "Malaysia", "Online retailing", "Experienced online shoppers", "Online repatronage intention (ORI)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Most businesses acknowledge the importance of online marketing for cost saving and other strategic reasons. Despite financial crisis has reduced consumer confidence and shopping budgets and subsequently reduce the expansion of retailing, evidence shows that online retailing continue to be a highly viable alternative or complement to traditional retailing (Celik, 2011; Coker et al., 2011). In the area of tough competition in the global economy with the recent crisis all businesses are looking to expand their channel internationally. Porter (2008, p. 36) argues that \"the Internet would break a pattern that had held since Edison invented the phonograph\". This raises concerns about the knowledge of international retailing through the digital channel (Alexander and Doherty, 2010) which affect consumer decision-making patterns and experiences. The internet technology, together with a reduction in political and economic barriers encourages globalization, which relatively encourages online retailing (Myers and Alexander, 2007; Reynolds et al., 2012; Liu and Forsythe, 2010) and created a competitive business landscape that provides opportunities, threats and challenges (Lee et al., 2011; Chiu et al., 2012; Hong and Cho, 2011).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: Laroche (2010) proposes that there is need for modelling internet consumer behaviour for development in several disciplines such as marketing, psychology and economics. Han and Ryu (2012) argue that a theory and model are lacking in explaining repurchase and repatronage intention. Of all the theories, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) which was built on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) is considered the most influential and commonly employed theory in understanding electronic commerce (Tong, 2010) and general adoption of information system (Lau and Woods, 2009; Celik, 2011). TAM has its origins in the TRA of Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and built upon PU and PEOU. According to Ballantine (2005) the TAM components of PU and PEOU are important factors in forming consumer attitude and SAT in online retail channels. Much of the online shopping research using TAM has assuming that shopping online is a goal-oriented activity and is more likely to be motivated by functional benefits (Kim and Forsythe, 2007; Taylor and Strutton, 2010). This study is an attempt to extend TAM beyond functional benefits, acceptance and adoption while focusing on experienced online shoppers to determine ORI. Figure 1 depicts the theoretical research framework.\n3. Research methodology: The target population of this research was university students in Malaysia, from both gender aged between 18 and 31 years old who regularly use online retailing for shopping purpose. To understand the repurchase of experienced online shoppers, the target population of study was divided into two groups. Table I depicts summary of demographic characteristics of respondents. The first group included males and females between 18 and 24 years old (undergraduate students) and the second group between 25 and 31 years old (postgraduate students). In this study, data were collected from five universities (UTM, UKM, UPM, MMU, and Limkokwing University) using an online questionnaire. We employed a self-administered online survey technique to acquire consumer's responses to the questionnaire. Online market research using internet technology has been recommended by previous studies (Wiley et al., 2009; Sethuraman et al., 2005; Stieger and Reips, 2010).\n4. Results: The online questionnaires were distributed via e-mail to students from five universities, as mentioned above. A total of 290 e-mails were sent to respondents from which 180 valid questionnaires were collected. In addition to the e-mail survey, an online questionnaire was embedded in Facebook for those who did not receive the survey via e-mail. A total of 39 valid questionnaires were collected through Facebook. Hence, the overall sample size was 219 respondents from whom questionnaires were collected within 31 days. In the first section of the online survey the respondents were asked to provide some demographic information about their gender, age, marital status, current town/city, and university and education level. Table I shows a summary of the demographic characteristics of respondents.\n5. Discussion of findings: The focus of this study was to determine factors influencing ORI to set and discover strategic competitiveness for online retailers. This paper provides preliminary evidence suggesting that ORI is determined by different factors specifically to firms with an established customer base. It is important to understand the factors that influence individuals' post-adoption behaviour and attitudes, in respect of the significant influence of continued usage on the long-term viability and profitability of online retail. Furthermore, for a newly established online venture, it is important to track attitude and behaviour of experienced customers in order to retain its customers. This study is among the few attempts to examine attitudes and behaviour of experienced online shoppers who shop online and have formed relevant experiences and skills rather than initial shopping in a Malaysia context. In addition, we empirically examine and distinct user perception of online retail attributes (PU, PEOU, PV and PR), pre-purchase user attitudes (TRT, PC, IL) and post-purchase users attitudes (SAT) of experienced online shoppers in forming ORI simultaneously. Due to the lack of clear distinction in the literature concerning experienced and inexperienced shoppers and broad sample as the target population, our results show inconsistencies with prior research in examining ORI. Some of the research hypotheses were supported while others were rejected in which all the factors affecting ORI occur similarly across the study sample. Our findings indicate that the behaviour of experienced online shoppers was found to be different from previous literature that examined initial adoption and intention. Our findings contribute to the literature in several ways. Factors that influence experienced online shoppers should be distinct from initial shoppers. On the other hand, the antecedents of future intention of online shopping are influenced by various variables because the human behaviour is sophisticated in nature. This implies that the human attitudes and behaviour could be affected by several elements which need to develop a multivariable model in theoretical understanding of consumers. Thus, academicians and practitioners should realize the implications of examining their target population/market based on an assessment of different antecedents and not rely on a single construct. In the following subsections these factors are discussed accordingly.\n6. Managerial implication: By realizing the differences between inexperienced shoppers, adopted shoppers and post-adopted shoppers, online retailers should segment these groups more effectively and should implement a different marketing strategy to target the right segment, right shopper along with the right marketing tactic. We conclude that the success of online retail depends more on post-adoption use of the channel for purchasing rather than on the initial decision to use the channel. Drawing upon the findings of this study and the study by O'Cass and Fenech (2003), online retailers need to focus on the internet user's online purchasing intention as a strong mechanism to attract them. This is imperative for internet retailers to consider in formulating their business strategies, in general, and their retailing strategies in particular. For the managers of online stores the critical issue remains that of experienced shoppers (Zhu et al., 2010). In practice, firms commonly emphasize SAT, and assess their ability to deliver it, and believe it to be the best solution to ensure customer retention (Voss et al., 2010).\n7. Limitations and direction for future research: This study has some limitations and provides some suggestions for future researchers. First, the results of the study could be interpreted based on different cultural groups. Malaysia is a country with a diversified culture in which there is an opportunity to conduct a research regarding the ORI. Few studies have explored the impact of cultural differences on ORI (Toufaily et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2011; Henderson et al., 2011). Thus, future studies should explore the role of culture on ORI in the context of internet retailing. Second, future research should adopt the proposed research model (Figure 1) to assess online store interface and overall ORI. According to Kotler (1973) the design of the store atmosphere is an important and highly relevant factor for retailing. In the brick-and-mortar context, McDonalds and Starbucks are the best exponents of using store atmosphere in their marketing strategy in marketplace. Since human behaviour is complicated in nature, relying solely on the attitudes of consumers would not lead to strategic competitiveness. The online store interface aimed at representing products online is, therefore, the most direct tool designers and retailers have to manage effectively (Fiore and Kelly, 2007).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Prior studies mostly investigate initial shopping intention in developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to sketch and determine the impact of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived value (PV), trust (TRT), perceived risk (PR), privacy concern (PC), internet literacy (IL), satisfaction (SAT) on online repatronage intention (ORI) among Malaysian experienced online shoppers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 219 valid questionnaires were collected via an online survey among experienced online shoppers across young and old students aged 18-31. Subsequently, the two-step structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed to empirically examine the proposed integrative theoretical research framework and model fit with maximum likelihood estimation.\nFindings: The statistical analyses support the relationships between PU, PV, TRT and SAT with ORI while the relationships between PEOU, PR, PC and IL with ORI were rejected in which all the factors affecting ORI occur similarly across the study sample. The behaviour of experienced online shoppers was found to be different from findings of previous literature that examined initial adoption and intention. Due to the lack of distinction in the literature concerning experienced and inexperienced shoppers, our results show inconsistencies with prior research in examining ORI.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper suggests that future research consider multicultural analysis, atmosphere design, developing internet methodology and the role of flow experience in determining ORI. The research limitations and implications are also discussed.\nPractical implications: By realizing the differences between inexperienced shoppers and experienced shoppers, online retailers should segment these groups more effectively and should implement a different marketing strategy to target the right segment, right shoppers along with the right marketing tactic. The antecedents of future intention of online shopping are influenced by various variables because the human behaviour is sophisticated in nature. Thus, academicians and practitioners should realize the implications of examining their target population/market based on an assessment of different antecedents.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the few attempts to examine attitudes and behaviour of Malaysian experienced online shoppers who have formed relevant experiences and skills in online shopping. Additionally, the paper empirically examine and distinct user perception of online retail attributes (including PU, PEOU, PV and PR), pre-purchase user attitudes (including TRT, PC, IL) and post-purchase users attitudes (including SAT) in forming ORI simultaneously.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cluster strategy and supply chain management: The road to competitiveness for emerging economies	[ "China", "Supply chain management", "Small-to-medium-sized enterprises", "Competitiveness", "Industrial clusters", "Specialized markets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Globalization asks for ideal horizontal and vertical relationships, regardless of location (Blakely, 2001). However, cluster strategy defies this view and calls for capitalizing on cost advantages accruing through geographic proximity (Porter, 1998). China's low-cost competitive advantage further endorses the implications of industrial clustering; though the supremacy is often attributed to low-labor cost, but prevalence of numerous industrial clusters refutes the notion that low-labor cost is the sole source of competitive advantage (Autor et al., 2016). In fact, the supply chain in China is lurching because of rising real wages. Though labor cost increased more than five times from the late 1970s to 2012 (Li et al., 2012) and cost of other factors of production is also increasing (Cunat, 2013), still China's competitive advantage is unshakeable and is the most sought after global sourcing destination. Several studies and popular media reports attributed the idyllic competiveness to indigenous industrial clustering (Bellandi and Lombardi, 2012; Ruan and Zhang, 2009; Wu et al., 2006).\nLiterature review: Industrial cluster theory\nResearch methodology: The paper adopts case study approaches of both (Yin, 1981, 2013; Eisenhardt, 1989). Interview protocol is based on a set of analogous questions (see Appendix), and was first pilot tested on three representative companies of the region (namely, Shaoxing Dandi Textile Co., Shaoxing Ya's Textile Co., and Nateng Textile Co.). Afterwards, in-depth interviews, lasting more than 30 min each, were conducted from two representatives of the Shaoxing Mulinsen Textile Co., namely, the international representative and the general manager. Most of the companies in the region are performing both the manufacturing and trading function. And the textile companies in this historic cluster are, more or less, of the same classification. Thus, our sample can be considered representative in non-statistical sense. The real-life setting of the textile industrial cluster and naturalistic approach of the study, triangulation with the literature and archival data enhanced validity and reliability of the study. Though it is a qualitative study, extensive efforts were made to ensure the validity of data. In the paradigm of qualitative research, researchers categorized data validity into following dimensions: credibility, transferability, dependability and triangulation (Golafshani, 2003). After completion of the findings, we followed up the respondents with email and QQ communication (famous Chinese messenger) in order to ensure credibility. Two fieldwork visits (April and December 2014) not only entail case study of the textile cluster, but also take care of the changing context and dependability issue. The results are transferrable to numerous other contexts because industrial clusters are widely prevalent in China and many parts of the world, hence the study provides broader benchmarking practices which can act as a roadmap for emerging economies. Research validity is also concerned with the inferences of observations (Silverman, 2016, p. 213), and our comprehensive depiction of textile value chain (Figure 1) endorses this criterion.\nCase study: We begin by giving brief overview of the Zhejiang region in general and Shaoxing county in particular. Then, we present a framework to illustrate the textile supply cluster and highlight the imperative role of support agencies and traders' network in the internationalization of the region. Following that, we narrate the scenario of a representative textile company as an example.\nCase examples: The following case examples illustrate the essential arguments of cluster framework and its application to the Shaoxing textile cluster.\nDiscussion and conclusions: The applicability of the linkage between cluster framework and supply chain management to the Shaoxing textile cluster endorsed research propositions that we formulated. The purpose of the study was to document an actual case that illustrates the implications of an indigenous industrial cluster with respect to SCM practices. By establishing an illustrative framework that incorporates the underlying interdependent stakeholders, we identified significant organizational and structural characteristics of supply clusters and exhibited that proximity can lead to desired level of supply chain excellence. The adjacency of specialized markets and manufacturing cluster facilitates enterprises by providing efficient marketing and distribution channels. Provision of phase and distributions markets help in forging the industrial chain by creating prerequisite linkages and subsequently these linkages are transforming the cluster to be an extensive one in a sense that the core segments of value chain are located inside the cluster. The horizontal and vertical linkages of supply clusters results in synergetic benefits: enterprises in an industrial cluster can exploit economies of scale by pooling their resources, and proximity of the members of value chain expedites efficient inventory management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the characteristic role of specialized markets and traders in the internationalization of emerging economies by examining the linkages between supply chain management (SCM) and industrial clustering in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Multi-method approach was employed as primary data were collected from a case study of Shaoxing textile cluster, and was supplemented with secondary data to triangulate the findings. The proposition that competitive advantages of industrial clusters facilitate effective SCM was explored.\nFindings: The authors reveal that China's cost advantage is manifested in the entire value chain. The provision of business friendly amenities as a result of synergetic benefits of vertical and horizontal integration of supply clusters promotes competitiveness of SMEs and region as a whole. Moreover, specialized markets and international traders found to play significant role in sustainable cluster development.\nResearch limitations/implications: As with fieldwork and case studies, generalization should be drawn with care. Systematic synthesis of relevant case studies is recommended.\nPractical implications: The study endorses the construction of local supply chains and suggests implementation of cluster strategy by focusing on environment-specific execution of triple helix model.\nOriginality/value: The article elaborates the linkages between cluster theory and SCM both within cluster and between interspersed clusters. It also explains how specialized markets and global players are enabling concentrated supply networks. The paper recommends extension of \"Triple helix + 1 model\" by making local community part of the underlying framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adopting a photo-sharing site as a library tool: a web-based survey	[ "Collection development", "Digital preservation", "Website", "Social media", "Web 2.0", "Image sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the emergence of smart phones having high-resolution cameras, photo-sharing sites have received increasing attention among the younger generation. This fact is evident from the report of Lenhart (2015) published at the Pew Research Center (Figure 1) which stated that, because of convenience and constant access offered by various mobile devices, mainly smart phones, 92 per cent of teens in the USA go online daily, with 24 per cent admitting that they are online throughout the day. The report further added that Facebook is the most popular social media platform, followed by Instagram among American teens between the ages of 13 and 17. In a recent survey (January 2017), Goggle www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/mobile-measurment-challenges-drive-sales-growth.html discovered that mobile phones are used at an average of 13 times per hour. Libraries are taking this opportunity to engage users in their mobile moments.\n2. Review of the literature: 2.1 Social media\n3. Objective of the study: Libraries all over the world are embracing the emergent technology to manage their digital resources; however, there is a lack of recent investigation through in-depth website survey on the application of photo-sharing sites, covering wider range of libraries. Highlights include use of a specific photo-sharing tool or the application of individual technology on a particular library setting. Case studies/country focus studies are also noticed on projects around a collaborative visual resource base, even though, they scarcely focus on characteristics and offerings of photo-sharing apps. Therefore, there is a need to measure the state of photo-sharing practices in libraries across the nations to find an overview of the implementation. The present study proposes the following objectives:\n4. Methodology: The present study relied upon a very similar methodology that has been used earlier by Linh (2008), Chua and Goh (2010) and Mahmood and Richardson (2011) to evaluate various web 2.0 tools of a large sample of libraries. Authors of all the above studies used content analysis approach to gather data for their respective research purposes. They developed a coding scheme and prepared a set of parameters for their respective studies to examine the use of social media tools among libraries in different regions. The present exploratory study also used web content analysis to gather data along a set of parameters from among academic and other category of libraries of four continents. The steps followed to conduct the research are outlined below.\n5. Analysis, findings and discussion: 5.1 Level of implementation of photo-sharing sites\n6. Conclusion: Collaborative visual resource sharing platforms support development of user controlled image repositories and facilitate informal exchange of ideas, enabling a wide range of virtual members to get access to visual contents beyond the physical boundaries of the library. While discussing social media applications in the context of digital library, Ibba and Pani (2016) noted that:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study demonstrates how libraries are incorporating photo-sharing applications into the collection development and service provision to encourage improved user participation around digital inclusion. Investigating the steps to increase accessibility to photo-sharing sites and current photo-sharing practices, the paper seeks to highlight the extent of implementation across the world.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Stratified sampling method was used to select libraries from four continents. Content analysis was used to collect data from 160 libraries along the lines of evaluation models prepared for the purpose.\nFindings: With the comparative account of implementation of photo-sharing apps, the study showcases the relevance of different approaches adopted by libraries and also presents an overview of the implementation with supportive examples.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present investigation is limited to selected libraries of four continents and restricted to English websites only. The study may further be extended to include other types of libraries in different areas, including libraries using non-English websites, to get a fuller picture of implementation.\nOriginality/value: The paper makes an attempt to improve the understanding of the budding library professionals toward the usage pattern of photo-sharing sites. The guidelines, based on a brief synthesis of the functions/purposes of photo-sharing sites, will make a stronger case for the implications of this research to future photo-sharing practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Labour resistance and worker attitudes towards trade union reform in China	[ "China", "Industrial relations", "Trade unions", "Labour movement", "Labour resistance", "Wildcat strike" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Industrialization leads to labour resistance and the development of a labour movement to check the power of capital as well as that of the state (Silver, 2003). In the past four decades, in authoritarian states where trade unionism is completely state-controlled and freedom of association is repressed, the combined force of globalization and industrialization has not only fuelled worker insurgency but has also driven workers to organize independently outside of the official trade unions, so that independent labour unionism has come to the forefront, as has been seen during the democratization process in South Korea, Mexico and Taiwan (Koo, 2001; Solinger, 2001; Soonok, 2003). Experience of joint struggle plays an essential role in raising the group consciousness of workers, whose demands have evolved from the economic to the political (Koo, 2001; Silver, 2003). Labour resistance acts as a catalyst to translate grassroots discontent into institutional change.\nMethodology: A longitudinal cohort study approach was used between 2006 and 2015. The target sample group was defined to have the following four characteristics:\nFindings: Increase in collectivized dispute and labour action\nConclusion: Industrialization, globalization and domestic marketization in China heighten labour resistance, similar to the development in other industrialized countries. However, unlike the tendency in other authoritarian and former communist states where labour resistance has become a catalyst to escalate labour discontents into institutional change, the Chinese worker's resistance has a more sophisticated effect on worker attitudes towards organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Drawing its arguments and conclusion from a ten-year survey on workers' experiences of labour disputes, along with anticipation of trade union reform, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the interaction between labour resistance and its potential for institutional change in the field of labour relations in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses a longitudinal cohort study carried out between 2006 and 2015. The survey was conducted every two years, specifically in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015, in Guangdong Province, China. Questionnaire and interview methods were used; 2,166 valid sample questionnaires were collected, and 215 interviews were carried out over the research period.\nFindings: An increase in collectivized disputes in China has given rise to an escalation of labour action, characterized by wildcat strikes. Joint action has strengthened the bonds among work colleagues, and it has become more important for workers to pay attention to their rights and interests. In terms of organization, two viewpoints towards union reform were revealed: the pragmatist and the idealist perspectives. Workers with greater experience of resistance were more modest in terms of demands for union reform, while workers with some experience called for their union's independence from the party-state.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data contained industry bias, as too many respondents were from electronics-manufacturing and textile and apparel plants.\nOriginality/value: This paper is original, and increases awareness of the development of the labour movement in China.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer trust in organic milk of different brands: the role of Chinese organic label	[ "Milk", "Influencing factor", "Consumer trust", "Ordered logistic model", "Organic label" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recurring food safety incidents have greatly increased Chinese consumers' food safety concerns. The melamine milk powder incident in China's dairy industry undermined Chinese consumer confidence in its domestic dairy products (Wu et al., 2014). With the development of the Chinese economy and the increase of domestic income, the proportion of milk and other dairy products in the consumer food consumption is rather high, indicating that milk has become a necessity in food consumption of many Chinese families (Ministry of Agriculture of China, 2014). Hence, Chinese dairy safety has become an important issue in China. In recent years, the Chinese Government has undertaken various policy measures (such as stringent regulations on the dairy industry) to improve safety and quality of dairy in an effort to enhance consumer confidence[1].\n2. Literature review: Since the late twentieth century, exhaustive reviews have addressed the topic of consumer preference for organic food (Aertsens et al., 2009; Falguera et al., 2012). Janssen and Hamm (2012) studied the willingness to pay (WTP) of European consumers for different organic labels, and found that consumers were willing to pay higher price for the familiar labels. Napolitano et al. (2010) found that consumers who were more knowledgeable about organic products were receptive to organic beef and willing to pay higher price for the meat. Gracia and Magist (2008) constructed a discrete choice model to study organic food purchasing behavior of consumers in Southern Italy, and suggested that consumer awareness of and trust in organic food were significantly related to the continual expansion of the organic food market. Roitner-Schobesberger et al. (2008) conducted a sample survey in Bangkok, Thailand. Taking organic vegetables as the subject, they found that consumer WTP was positively affected by age, years of education, income, and other variables, but was restricted by recognition and trust. Janssen and Hamm (2014) analyzed consumer WTP for a variety of governmental organic labels and farmers' association labels, and found that consumers who were familiar with more than one organic label might had a higher level of trust and WTP for certain labels. Vitterso and Tangeland (2015) discussed the observed changes in perceptions of barriers toward purchase of organic food among Norwegian consumers. The results indicated that organic food was considered more available in the stores in 2013 than in 2000. However, for other factors such as trust in the labeling system and the quality of organic food the perceptions had become more negative. A lot of literature reviewed on Chinese consumers' demand for organic food, however, these studies were mainly written in Chinese (Dai et al., 2006; Chen et al., 2014; Yang, 2015). Very few English literature focussing on Chinese consumers' preference and WTP for organic food have been conducted (Xu et al., 2015). A closely related study is Yin et al. (2010), who conducted a survey of 432 consumers in China, and reported that intent to purchase organic food of Chinese consumers was strongly affected by factors, such as income, degree of trust in organic food, and consumer concern on self-health.\n3. Hypothesis and econometric model: The concept of consumer trust\n4. Survey design and variable descriptions: Survey design\n5. Results and discussions: Description of consumers trust in organic milk\n6. Conclusions: Based on a survey and analysis of consumer trust in organic food, an ordered logistic model was built to study the fundamental factors affecting consumer trust in organic food. Several conclusions were derived from the study. First, consumers generally lack trust in organic milk. Hence, improving the reliability of organic labels is important for the development of the organic milk market in China. Second, variables, such as consumer age and years of education, positively and significantly affected the level of trust. This conclusion indicated a possibly enlarged market scale of organic milk along with the aging of population and popularization of high education. The organic food market of China would probably develop quickly because of the growing trend of population aging and higher education popularizing. Third, variables of product knowledge and purchase convenience, for example, had positive impact on consumer trust. To encourage more consumers to buy organic milk, organic food suppliers should implement reliable marketing strategy, such as correct pricing, and build a more extensive and convenient distribution network. Fourth, concerns over food safety and evaluation of government supervision had significant impact on consumer trust. Chinese consumers have shown growing concern for food safety. This concern provides opportunities in developing the organic food market in China. Moreover, strengthening supervision of organic food is necessary. Improving consumer trust requires promoting institutional arrangement and strengthening supervision in production, certification, and circulation of organic products.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Organic certification system became important means to restore consumer confidence in China. The purpose of this paper is to focus on consumer trust in organic milk of different brands and its influencing factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 876 randomly selected consumers in Shandong Province, China. And an ordered logistic model was established to analyze influencing factors of consumer trust.\nFindings: Chinese consumers generally lack trust in organic milk. Consumer trust for different brands of organic milk was different, and was not high in general. Various factors, namely, age, education years, food safety awareness, evaluation of government regulation policy, evaluation of organic milk price, and purchase convenience, have a significant impact on consumer trust. Factors, such as income, environmental protection consciousness, and risk consciousness, are not significant.\nOriginality/value: This research is of academic value and of value to policy makers and suppliers. Government should promote institutional arrangement and strengthening supervision in production, certification, and circulation of organic products. Organic suppliers should implement reliable marketing strategy, such as correct pricing, and build a more extensive and convenient distribution network.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital and non-profit organizations in the knowledge economy: Editorial and introduction to special issue	[ "Intellectual capital", "Non‐profit organizations", "Strategic management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe contemporary non-profit challenge: Since the 1980s the changing landscape of the public sector environment through the extensive use of commercialization, competition and contracting out in service delivery has invariably driven non-profit organizations to adopt changes in their spheres of endeavor. Non-profit organizations are today commonly operating in a highly competitive environment that is characterized by increasing demand of services from the community, growing competition for contracts with the public and for-profit sector, declining volunteer support and a generally tighter government funding source.Non-profit organizations are now required to utilize their existing organizational resources and generate new resources effectively in order to create new opportunities and shape the organizations' future environment. This involves new knowledge and skills in, but not limited to, strategy formulation, human resources management and public relations. All these phrases were unprecedented in the non-profit sector before the introduction of public sector reforms. Accordingly, like their for-profit and public sector counterparts, non-profit organizations must leverage the knowledge available to them to gain strategic advantage in the competitive non-profit environment.Originally derived from for-profit strategic management techniques, some scholars have argued that intellectual capital, which encompasses three primary interrelated components namely human capital, structural capital and relational capital, provides a conceptual framework for non-profit strategic management (See, e.g. Kong, 2007; Kong and Prior, 2008; Kong and Thomson, 2006). Despite of the recent growing interest of intellectual capital in the field, the concept remains unclear to many nonprofit strategy scholars and practitioners. The diversity of nonprofit organizations perhaps makes it even more challenging to understand how intellectual capital can be applied in the nonprofit context. This special issues aims to address this.\nThe diversity of the non-profit sector: The role of the non-profit sector is widely recognized as its activities influence almost every imaginable human need or interest in society (Lyons, 2001). According to the International Classification of Nonprofit Organizations (ICNPO), nonprofit organizations include 12 different groups:1. culture and recreation;2. education and research;3. health;4. social services;5. environment;6. development and housing;7. law, advocacy, and politics;8. philanthropic intermediaries and voluntarism promotion;9. international;10. religion;11. business and professional associations, and unions; and12. organizations that are not elsewhere classified (see Appendix).The non-profit sector is diverse and includes philanthropic foundations, large institutions that are involved in the provision of a wide range of services, community-based entities providing services for the specific needs of a community, self-help groups and many others (Lyons, 2001; Sheppard et al., 2001). Some non-profit organizations may have a charitable purpose but do not necessarily have a religious background. An example of this is the Red Cross. Also, a sports club may be a non-profit entity but may not carry a charitable purpose for the benefit of the general public since it serves its members as a member-serving non-profit organization only. An example of this is the Jockey Club. Some non-profit organizations have a religious background, a charitable purpose, and at the same time they may carry out some commercial operations generating unrelated business incomes. However, such commercial operations are in aid of a charitable purpose. The Salvation Army, whose Store Division has shops in different areas which generate income for the broader charitable purpose, is an example of this.The wide variety of non-profit organizations, which represent the larger umbrella of organizations in all non-profit fields, highlights the diversity in the sector and suggests that the range of activities they undertake may be very different across the non-profit sector (Salamon et al., 1999). For instance, within the social service portion organizations there is significant variation in terms of mission, origin, structure, size, and financial means. The special issue provides an opportunity for both practitioners and researchers to discuss the role of intellectual capital within the non-profit context.\nThe papers: After a double blind peer review process eight papers were selected for publication in this special issue. These papers summarize the state of the art in relation to the management and application of intellectual capital in non-profit organizations. The papers embrace an eclectic mix of topics and methodologies. A brief introduction of the key ideas of the selected papers is presented here.The first paper, by Sillanpaa, Lonnqvist, Koskela, Koivula, Koivuaho and Laihonen, uses qualitative case study analysis, utilizing interviews as the primary data collection instrument to examine the role of intellectual capital in non-profit elderly care organizations in Finland. Their study suggests that even though intellectual capital is already being managed in the non-profit elderly case organizations through various managerial tools, more practical tools are still required.In the second paper, by Cortini and Benevene, examines the relationship between human capital and structural capital in Italian non-profit organizations. The paper suggests that intellectual capital can be an effective tool to address Italian non-profit organizations self-referential knowledge and overcome their gaps in strategic management of human resources.Secundo, Margherita, Elia and Passiante discuss the role of intangible assets in higher education and research institutions. The authors present a dashboard of indicators which assists the measurement of intangible assets in higher education and research organizations.Very little research has investigated the role of intellectual capital in innovation processes in social enterprises. The fourth paper presented by Kong aims to address this. Using a critical analysis of current literature, the paper argues that intellectual capital can be utilized in innovation processes in social enterprises. An intellectual capital conceptual framework is proposed which helps social entrepreneurs to visualize intellectual capital and its components for the development of effective innovation-based strategies in social enterprises.Bezhani examines intellectual capital reporting at U.K. universities. His findings suggest that intellectual capital disclosure is still at its early stages at UK universities and thus intellectual capital information disclosed in their annual reports is low. Besides, the author also finds that universities in the UK are over regulated and having low awareness of intellectual capital.In his paper Mesa explains how intellectual capital is enacted and used in non-profit symphony orchestras from an organizational behavior perspective. The paper offers management guidance to non-profit organizations orchestras for improving volunteer participation, motivation, and meeting personal goals, and for organizational change.Reychav and Sharkie examine the antecedents of perception of trust as a foundation for extra-role behavior in the public sector non-profit organizations. Their findings suggest that there are similarity in employee perceptions about trust in public sector and non-profit organizations.The final paper in this special issue is written by Ramirez. The paper examines existing theoretical and framework oriented intellectual capital literature and applies it in four case studies. The paper provides a basis to understand how Spanish public organizations are measuring and managing their intellectual capital.Overall, the selection of papers covers a good sample of non-profit organizations from different countries. As intellectual capital is a relatively new research stream in non-profit strategy research, the special issue is considered as a starting point and serves as a milestone in examining the management and application of intellectual capital within the non-profit context.I wish to express my deepest appreciation and respect to the contributors and reviewers of this special issue. My second deepest thanks also goes to the readers of the Journal of Intellectual Capital in academia, industry, government, and in society in general. Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Editor-in-Chief, Rory Chase, and all the staff that give support in all the stages of production of the special issue.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this editorial is to introduce the background and rationale to the special issue, \"Intellectual capital and non-profit organizations in the knowledge economy\". It aims at helping in communicating and disseminating relevant recent intellectual capital research studies within the non-profit context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The call for papers for the special issue was made publicly available in the journal web site. Authors from Australia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the USA were attracted, submitting their manuscripts for the consideration of publication in the special issue. All submissions underwent a double-blind refereed selection process. Following a brief discussion of the contemporary non-profit challenge, the main ideas of the eight papers selected are then presented.\nFindings: - The selected papers summarize the state-of-the-art in the research of intellectual capital in the non-profit sector in the knowledge economy. The papers embrace an eclectic mix of topics and methodologies.\nResearch limitations/implications: - As a collection, the special issue sets the groundwork for many years of future hypothesis development and testing in intellectual capital research studies within the non-profit context.\nOriginality/value: - The special issue is the first to bring together theoretical pieces that link context to theory, empirical works, and case studies that address the application of IC in non-profit organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of quality management practices on performance: an empirical study	[ "Six Sigma", "India", "SEM", "TQM", "Quality performance", "Quality practices" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the present world the major challenge for organizations is to meet the ever-increasing demands of the customer. This pushes many organizations to shift their manufacturing activities to the developing nations. They are either outsourcing their production to the organizations in the developing countries or establishing their own manufacturing bases in those countries. This has given rise to a new category of organizations in the developing countries which have acquired world class manufacturing practices and are also rated among the best. These manufacturing organizations are at par with the best in the world. They are continuously enhancing their performance by improving quality of their products and services through various quality management (QM) practices (Patyal and Koilakuntla, 2015b). The policy makers in these countries are also insisting on product quality, efficiency, and productivity for their manufacturing competitiveness. Recently, Government of India launched \"Make in India\" campaign that aims to increase the share of manufacturing in GDP from 16 to 25 percent by 2022 and create 100 million jobs (Quartz, 2016). There is a need to understand the role of QM practices in improving the performance of manufacturing organizations in these emerging economies.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: Flynn et al. (1995) have outlined the categorization of QM practices into core and infrastructure. This categorization effectively examined the complex relationships between QM practices and performance (Sousa and Voss, 2002). In the case of core QM practices, the aspect of QM involves a range of production techniques such as statistical process control and quality function deployment, reflecting the production orientation of the QM gurus. On the other hand, infrastructure QM is more concerned with customer awareness and the management of human resources (Flynn et al., 1995). The prior literature on QM stands undecided on how different QM practices, specifically infrastructure and core QM practices, affect performance (Sousa and Voss, 2002). According to Zu (2009), the mixed results of both (infrastructure and core) QM practices and performance might be due to arbitrary categorizations of QM practices, different levels of performance measures, and use of diverse analytical methods. The confounding categorization of both infrastructure and core QM practices is evident in several studies (Ho et al., 2001; Taylor and Wright, 2006; Zeng et al., 2015). A few studies have attempted to formulate the interrelationship between infrastructure and core QM practices and how either impacts quality and business performance. For instance, Naor et al. (2008) reported that infrastructure QM practices have a greater impact on manufacturing performance than core QM practices, and infrastructure QM practices do not affect core quality practices, positively impacting performance without their presence. Contrastingly, Zu (2009) mentioned that core QM directly leads to improved quality performance and the infrastructure QM contributes to quality performance by supporting the core QM. This observation was reconfirmed by Zeng et al. (2015). Hence, it may be concluded that the above mentioned studies have shown mixed results and are therefore, inadequate for drawing any definite conclusions about which dimension is more important to yield superior performance in QM practices-performance relationships (Kaynak, 2003; Sousa and Voss, 2002).\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Questionnaire design\n4. Results and data analysis: 4.1 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)\n5. Findings and discussion: The overall objective of this study is to examine the nature of QM practices and its relationship toward quality and business performance in the Indian manufacturing organization:\n6. Conclusion: This study provided an experimental proof of the roles of infrastructure and core QM practices in determining quality and business performance. The structural model supports the indirect and direct effects of infrastructure and core QM practices on quality performance, respectively, and hence, help to ascertain how these two types of QM practices influence quality performance. This study contributes significantly to the body of knowledge of the QM literature in a number of ways. First, this research provided a theoretical framework that integrated Six Sigma practices with TQM practices. In addition, the study tested a new set of infrastructure and core quality practices in the context of Indian manufacturing organizations. Second, this study contributed to the QM literature by re-examining the relationship between QM practices and performance. As, Nair (2006) and Sila (2007) pointed out that it is important to retest this relationship because the past studies have obtained mixed results (Hendricks and Singhal, 2001; York and Miree, 2004; Flynn et al., 1995). Third, this study explored the relationship between infrastructure and core QM practices. Sousa and Voss (2002) recommend the elucidation of the interplay between these two dimensions, while some studies (Zu, 2005, 2009) affirm that the integration between infrastructure and core quality practices is crucial to enhance performance. Other studies (Dow et al., 1999; Powell, 1995; Naor et al., 2008) suggest that infrastructure practices can improve performance even without core practices. This study aligns with the first view, indicating that infrastructure quality practices do not affect quality performance directly but indirectly through core practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between quality management (QM) and performance, specifically how the infrastructure and core QM practices affect quality and business performance, in Indian manufacturing organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this study, the empirical data were drawn from 262 manufacturing organizations in India. The research model was tested using the structural equation modeling technique.\nFindings: The findings of the empirical study revealed that infrastructure QM practices have a positive effect on core QM practices and indirectly on quality performance, whereas, core QM practices have a positive effect on quality performance. Also, quality performance has a positive effect on business performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study considered QM from two dimensions (infrastructure and core quality practices), the study further contributes to the understanding of the different roles played by diverse QM dimensions in determining business performance in terms of increased return on investment, shareholder and stakeholder value.\nPractical implications: The study showed that infrastructure quality practices support the application of core quality practices. Therefore, managers must develop and maintain their organization's quality system and sufficient resources need to be allocated to both types of practices in order to achieve the superior business performance.\nOriginality/value: This study considers both total quality management and Six Sigma practices for defining a new set of infrastructure and core QM practices in Indian manufacturing organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How organizations learn: models uncovering the black box	[ "Knowledge transfer", "Organizational learning", "Unlearning", "Adaptive and generative learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Anthropomorphism has attributed human-like abilities, with learning being one of them, to organizations. Learning determines organizational competitiveness and effectiveness. However, it is simply assumed that organizations can learn, without questioning the underlying mechanism guiding this process. Some studies have prescribed models and frameworks to depict the process of organizational learning (OL) to a certain extent. As evident from Table I, this paper discusses the OL mechanism from the purview of two dominant schools of thought, where:\n2. Discussion on OL mechanism: The idea that organizations learn, adapt, and interact with their environment is a direct descendant of systems theory (Forrester, 1985). However, OL process operate in a black box because researchers are not unanimous as to how organizations learn. Contemporary studies approach their arguments assuming that this process is already well articulated.\n3. Implications for future research and practice: Future research can endeavor to explain this inconspicuous aspect of OL. If individuals are the agents through which organizations learn, then how individual knowledge becomes the constituent of organizational memory is unexplored. Moreover, research can enumerate organizational factors that enable knowledge sharing and promote lifelong learning at the workplace. Future studies can discuss the mechanism of how organizations learn from their environment.\n4. Conclusion: This paper introspects existing knowledge of OL mechanisms from two perspectives: learning from the environment and learning from individual members. However, it does not consider other aspects of OL like how organizations learn from success and failures, vicarious learning, and exploratory and exploitative learning. Undoubtedly, rapid strides have been made to suggest that learning serves as the only sustainable competitive advantage to organizations; yet, research has not explored the mechanism that describes how organizations engage in learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As contemporary organizations' focus shifts from knowledge orientation to learning orientation, this paper aims to articulate the need for models that describe the learning process in organizations. Simply assuming that organizations learn without any support of tangible framework or models highlights this need. The paper presents limitations of two prevalent themes of organizational learning, i.e. learning by adapting to environmental disturbances and learning from organizational members.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the literature review on organizational learning, studies that depict the mechanism of organizational learning were selected. These were grouped into two categories: one that focuses on how organizations learn from its environment and other on how organization learn from its members.\nFindings: This paper suggests the need for developing models and frameworks that eloquently describe the learning process in organizations. The literature focuses on organizational learning from individuals and adapting to the environment. Organizations tend to attribute the cause of failure to environmental shocks. Then, instead of the environment being a source of learning, it becomes a cause of failure. If individuals are agents of organization through which the latter learns, how this tacit knowledge becomes institutionalized in organizational memory is unknown.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a retrospective view on organizational learning. It attempts to question the black box of organizational learning, i.e. how the learning of individuals is transferred to organizational memory, or simply put, how the organizational learning mechanism works. There is a dearth of studies that address this question, and it has been simply assumed that somehow organizations do learn, but how?\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
IT-enhanced order and delivery process of a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company: A case study	[ "Business performance", "Modelling", "Business process re‐engineering", "Information", "Technology led strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the business world, it is common that companies explore ways to increase their sales by applying new management concepts, so as to react to the changing environment faster. One approach is to develop direct selling in a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company. Although implementing direct selling is a good idea, the monitoring of its execution from order taking to delivery is critical to the success of the strategy. This paper shows how a consulting company assists a local FMCG company to leverage IT as a change agent to benchmark its performance in order to sustain competitiveness. In fact, the concept is not limited to the company mentioned in this paper. It can also be replicated to other companies in similar situations.Benchmarking is recognized as an essential tool for continuous improvement of quality. Vermeulen (2003) suggests that the goal of benchmarking is to provide key personnel in charge of the processes with an external standard for measuring the quality and cost of internal activities, and to help identify where opportunities for improvement might reside. Benchmarking helps organizations to focus on the external environment and to improve process efficiency. Benchmarking is therefore a positive, practical process to change operations in a structured fashion to achieve superior performance.Although using computer applications for order processing is very popular nowadays, most companies only use it for a small part of their ordering and delivery operation and handle the rest manually. Thus, the problem of unsatisfactory order accuracy, low delivery efficiency and poor customer services are very common to these companies. In this respect, it is worth reviewing the existing ordering and delivery operation practices of a company again based on the generic business model (Chung and Yuen, 2003) to look for opportunity to benchmark its performance with the past to create value for all related parties.The opportunity for systems implementation begins with studying the key business process for redesign to create value. The gap analysis and business process re-engineering (BPR) together lead to an understanding of the problems of the existing business practice so that possible new processes may be proposed. Based on the new process, IT/IS may be used as an enabler to develop suitable information systems to improve the speed and accuracy in the information communication process. Furthermore, key performance indicators (KPI) that may be applied to the new process are created for the measuring and monitoring of the new operation performance. Apart from addressing the importance of IT and procedures/processes, the human factor also needs to be considered in the project. Thus, a gradually change approach is proposed so as to enable various parties to get an early success and to support the subsequent project implementation. The objective is to eliminate non-value added activities in the short-term. In the medium and long-term, process improvement is required for a more streamlined, focused and responsive organization. It is also required to change the management thinking from a traditional mind set to a technology enabled mind set during the change. Articulate with training and education, it is expected the following benefits be achieved:* improve productivity;* rationalize the requirements for human resources;* streamline the organization structure and processes;* offer a better quality of working life to employees through increased motivation and job satisfaction;* ensure the highest standards of quality and services are maintained consistent with a strong customer orientation and focus; and* improve profitability.\nReview of existing practices: The current business model of ABC Company shows that it is uncompetitive because it has no interaction or lacking of customer focus and most tasks are handled manually (Figure 1).With use of advanced technology and updated equipment, ABC Company is strong in production and manufacturing. However, according to feedback from internal surveys, the core activities of the company no longer are confined to the production and assembly of products and services. It increasingly depends on the systematic processing of knowledge to create value for customers. In order to enhance its market position, the consultant recommended that the information system be introduced to the organization using a new business model to manage changes in the organization.\nNew business model: The model was developed by the Manufacturing Information System Unit of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This is a model for competence development in leveraging the power of information technology/information system for creating new business opportunities linking suppliers, customers, designers, software vendors, business associates and other stakeholder.The reason why the consultant selects this new business model to implement the information technology in ABC Company is that this model has been successfully used in Hong Kong over the past ten years. Many researchers, industrial companies, technology providers, professional associations, consultants, software vendors and business associates have been involved as partners and they had been useful to gain competitive advantage in the many companies.Migar Tam, an ERP consultant in Hong Kong pointed out that:To be successful in the global market, a company should strive to become a learning organization by continuously adopting new management and organization skills to accommodate new technologies. If a company does not adopt a new manufacturing paradigm, its success may not be sustainable in the future.Based on the new business model, the new components of the business model are shown as in Figure 2. With the new business model, the ABC Company can:* create a new process for the ordering and delivery of product by using information technology;* develop the skills to build up core company competence; and* successfully create value for the customers.According to Stock and Lambert (2001), greater inconsistency is associated with slower methods of order transmittal. Manual methods of order transmittal require more handling by individuals, and consequently there is greater chance of a communication error. Management can evaluate methods of order transmittal on the basis of speed, cost, consistency, and accuracy. Order transmittal should be as direct as possible; transmitting orders electronically rather than manually minimizes the risk of human error. No component of the logistics function has benefited more from the application of electronic and computer technology than order entry and processing (Figure 3).Apart from speed, the information quality is also important and there are three related issues (Coyle et al., 2003). First is the availability of the information required to make the best possible decision. Second is the accuracy of the information. Third is the effectiveness of the various means that are available to communicate needed information.Gap analysis\nProcess mapping of order taking and delivery: To use the above management tools effectively, a basic understanding of the existing processes and problems is essential. Thus, the following personnel are interviewed to understand the processes related to sales order taking and delivery:* senior management of the sales and logistics department to understand their expectation of the project;* middle management of sales and logistics department to understand the challenges that they are facing and the potential operational issues;* the operations staff to understand their view from the operations side; and* carry out gap analysis by interviewing customers to ensure the proposed solution may meet customer expectation (Figure 4).Direct sales team\nMeasures of performance: Unsatisfactory order fulfillment rate\nOperational concerns: Salesman and order taking clerk\nData collection: Based on the above information, a rough estimate on the current situation can be done. This information is very useful as they can be used to evaluate the efficiency improvements after installing the new system.\nSuggested solutions: Short-term solution\nApplication software requirements: After selecting the hardware, the next step is to determine the functions that should be developed for the mobile communication device. As order taking is the major reason of using this device, the following are some of the functions relating to the order taking process:1. Customer master data update including:* customer name;* customer number;* customer address;* credit status;* call plan; and* delivery schedule.2. Product master data update including:* product name;* product number; and* stock level.3. Enquiry of master data.4. Enquiry of order delivery status.5. Enquiry of customer sales history.6. Customer creation.7. Order taking.8. Order upload.In future, more advance function and capability can be further developed. This capability provides additional flexibility to the online communication mode of operation.Delivery optimization system\nLong-term solution: Routing optimization system (ROS)\nBenefits: Each of the aforesaid solutions may improve part of the sales and delivery process and all of them may contribute to customer satisfaction.To summarize, each of them may bring the benefits to the company (Table VIII).Apart from the intangible benefits, the proposed solutions may be grouped according to their ease of implementation and benefit to the company as shown in Table IX.\nConclusion: If the objectives and benefits of this project are reviewed and compared, it is found that all the objectives could be met by just implementing the short- and medium-term process improvements of the project. However, the long-term process improvement provides further efficiency gain to the overall process.In terms of value creation for various parties, customer may carry a lower safety stock level and the chance of having stock out can also be reduced. Furthermore, they may enjoy a better service under the new process. For sales, salesman may get a better incentive due to the increase in customer order. At the same time, the order-taking clerk may learn something new and contribute more to the department. For logistics, the process will be faster and more accurate. This may also help to reduce the inventory level.This project uses the gap analysis to obtain a detailed understanding of customer expectations, followed by BPR with information technology as a means to achieve a breakthrough in the handling of the sales order taking and delivery process. If only gap analysis is used, the customer expectations could be identified, but there may not be much improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes. If only BPR is used, the processes may be improved but not in the right direction. This is why both tools should be used together in this project.In future, further study will be focused on the more in-depth research related to the return on investment and implementation for the actual environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to present an in-depth case study on the adoption of IT by a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company. The objective is to describe an approach to benchmark the performance with and without IT use in its business process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The unique approach ties together the concepts of generic business model, business process re-engineering and gap analysis with IT as an enabler to improve order and delivery processes, overall cost-effectiveness and efficiency.\nFindings: - The use of this approach is very important nowadays because more firms are working together as partners in strategic outsourcing using China as \"factory of the world\". Without the necessary IT skills to operate the inter-organizational information systems and to support running the business, it would be difficult to compete and survive in the global marketplace.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The generic business model embodied in the approach serves as a map to guide practitioners and academicians to build similar enterprise systems in response to change requests from customers.\nPractical implications: - The benefit from the use of this change initiative is not limited to small and medium enterprises in this industry but applicable to other firms in related industries as well.\nOriginality/value: - The paper fulfills an identified information/resources need and offers an example of the application of a theoretical model in business process renewal for executives starting out on a POM career.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How do Muslim consumers perceive service quality?	[ "Islamic values", "Service quality", "Validity", "Reliability", "Instrument development", "Islam", "Consumers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Service providers and researchers are paying closer attention to the creation and delivery of quality of services because it is a critical factor for establishing a superior advantage for an organization (Olorunniwo et al., 2006). For example, some studies have indicated that organizations could increase sales, profit and cost savings by focusing on satisfying their customers through service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Zeithaml, 2000; Kassim and Abdullah, 2010). Quality services that satisfy customers will promote the circulation of positive word-of-mouth about the service providers, repeat purchase behavioral patterns and attract new customers (Bolton and Drew, 1991). Woodall's (2001) Six Sigma service quality model, however, suggested that perceptions and expectations have now taken over from reality and needs of customers. Further, Farrell et al. (2001) showed that a consumer will evaluate service quality on the basis of the behavior of the employee of the service provider rather than that of the employee's attitude. Therefore, the service quality perceived by service providers to have been provided may not necessarily be what customers perceived it to be (Gronroos, 1993).\n2 Background: 2.1 Service quality, culture and Islam\n3 Method: In this research the framework for developing marketing constructs recommended by Churchill (1979) was adopted. In addition a mixed method approach that involved verbal protocol interviews and a survey was employed. This two-stage method was likely to improve the analytical power of the study (Sandelowski, 2000) and accuracy of one's data (Denzin, 1989), and helped in enhancing the understanding and clarification of the results (Jick, 1979).\n4 Results: The results of initial EFA revealed eight factors with eigenvalues of over one. These eight factors explained approximately 72.6 percent of the variance. Seven items that were cross-loaded and had a loading of less than 0.50 were removed. Factors that had less than two items were also removed. The remaining 35 items were loaded into six distinct factors, which explained 71.3 percent of the variance. Items for humaneness and trustworthiness converged to form a distinct factor. Table III displays the results of EFA, CFA, with the two sample sets.\n5 Discussion: In spite of growing interests in the use of Westernized service quality frameworks in different cultural and religious contexts (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Rust and Oliver, 1994; Mattila, 1999), little attention has been given to the examination of service quality in an Islamic context (Chaker and Jabnoun, 2010). The lack of appropriate and available measure to assess Muslim consumers' perceptions of service quality renders it challenging to conduct research in this market segment. Yet, Muslims make up the second largest religious group and Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world (Seibel and Agung, 2006). Thus, the present study contributes to the extant literature by developing a service quality measure that is relevant to the Islamic context.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to report the development of an Islamic service quality scale that is derived from the literature, verbal protocol method interviews, and survey. Design/methodology/approach\nDesign/methodology/approach: Verbal protocol interviews were conducted with 24 men and 12 women from Indonesia. A pilot testing of the questionnaire was conducted with four Indonesian students. The items were further refined and pilot tested with six Indonesian students. Exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis (n\nFindings: The results indicate a robust measure of Islamic service quality: general Islamic values, Halal/Haram, attention to Islamic religious activities, honesty, modesty, and humaneness and trustworthiness. Future researchers can apply the Islamic service quality measure to Muslim consumers in other countries. Successful service providers need to be cognizant of the intrinsic roles played by Islamic values and practices among the Muslim consumers.\nResearch limitations/implications: Major limitations include the recall ability of consumers during the verbal protocol method of interviewing, potential blending of Islamic values and Javanese culture, and the extent of separation of state and religion. Future researchers can apply the Islamic service quality measure to Muslim consumers in other countries.\nPractical implications: Successful service providers need to be cognizant of the intrinsic roles played by Islamic values and practices among the Muslim consumers.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the extant literature on Islamic marketing by developing a unique measure of service quality that is pertinent to Muslim consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A framework of intelligent decision support system for Indian police	[ "Data envelopment analysis", "Crime data mining", "Intelligent decision support system", "Police information system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City and the Pentagon, most of the governments initiated efforts to modernize law enforcement authorities' intelligence collection and processing capabilities (Bella et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2003; Chung et al., 2006; Gupta and Mitra, 2005; Krishnamorthy, 2003). It also saw increasing global cooperation among policing units of various countries. The major challenge before police organizations was and still is to handle large number of information and huge volume of records pertaining to crime and criminals. Intelligent support systems can play a vital role in improving outcome in the crime investigation, criminal detection and other major areas of functioning of police organization by facilitating recording, retrieval analysis and sharing of the information.\n2. About Indian police: As per the constitution of India, police is a subject allocated to State. However, the Union Government have raised its own police forces called Para Military Forces for specific purposes. This consisted of Central Reserve Police Force for counter-insurgency operations, Border Security Force for guarding the international border, Indo-Tibetan Border Police guarding Indo-Tibet Border, Central Industrial Security Force for security of vital installations and government buildings and Special Security Bureau deployed on Indo-Nepal Border apart from undertaking the tasks of preparing border population to counter subversive activities from across the border. Given their unique nature of duties, Para Military Forces have very limited interface with common people (Mitra and Gupta, 2008).\n3. Evolution of information systems in Indian police: Computerization in Indian Police dates back to 1986 when NCRB was created with the aim to help the investigating agencies by providing them with extensive and updated information on crime and criminal data at State, National and International level such as modus operandi, personal data, finger print, photograph, criminal history and details of property which may be subject matter of crime. This led to development of islands of police information systems covering different subjects such as Fingerprint Analysis and Criminal Tracking System (FACTS), Motor Vehicle Coordination System, Talash Information System, Portrait Building System, etc. At the state level, several initiatives have been taken like, e-Cops in Andhra Pradesh, Police IT in Karnataka, Thana Criminal Tracking System (TCTS) in West Bengal, CAARUS in Tamil Nadu and HD-IITS in Gujarat. Figure 3 shows the evolution of Indian police information systems.\n4. Proposed architecture of IPS: The proposed intelligent police information system (IPS) (Chandra et al., 2007; Gupta et al., 2007, 2008) is an outcome of the research project and motivation toward IPS has come after series of interviews and discussion with law enforcement professional. An IPS is required to catch criminals and to remain ahead in the eternal race between criminals and law enforcement. The architecture of IPS is shown in Figure 5.\n5. Current status of IPS prototype on Indian crime records: As a proof-of-concept and to demonstrate the utility of IPS as an IDSS for the Indian police, we have implemented a prototype of IPS on Indian crime records at NCRB. The IPS prototype incorporates the crime analysis model, an AQI, KAS, DBMS for crime database, MBMS along with a model base which stores several models required for crime data mining and performance measurement and visualization modules to provide information to the end user. The remaining systems such as Web-Base Management System (WBMS) and geographical information system (GIS) will be implemented in the future course of action. The details of each component and its significance are given in the subsequent section of the paper.\n6. Conclusion: This research was supported by India's NCRB with specific mandate to develop the architecture of IPS having capability of analytical tool in combination with key utilities like crime hot spot analysis and performance analysis, for which advance data mining tools and DEA have been suitably tested and integrated. This research is a timely response to meet the emerging need of building analytical power into the existing police systems. As is known, crime and control system are required to pool and feed data from myriad of sources in order to meet the requirements of justice system. The main contribution of the paper is the framework for police DSS with specific reference to Indian police force, which is quite large in size and deals with high number of crime under strict police hierarchy. This framework has several intelligent features which are illustrated with crime data in Indian settings characterized by large volume and high rate of crimes that are incomparable any police force elsewhere in the world. It is named IPS, architecture of which is based on the current decision support and data mining techniques in order to carrying out police activities efficiently.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce architecture of an Intelligent Decision Support System to fulfill the emerging responsibilities of law enforcement agencies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed Intelligent Police System (IPS) is designed to meet the emerging requirements and provide information at all levels of decision making by introducing a multi-level structure of user interface and crime analysis model. The proposed framework of IPS is based on data mining and performance measurement techniques to extract useful information like crime hot spots, predict crime trends and rank police administration units on the basis of crime prevention measures.\nFindings: IPS has been implemented on actual Indian crime data provided by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which illustrates effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed system. IPS can play a vital role in improving outcome in the crime investigation, criminal detection and other major areas of functioning of police organization by analyzing the crime data and sharing of the information.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research in intelligent police information system can be enhanced with some important additional features which include web-base management system, geographical information system, mobile adhoc network technology, etc.\nPractical implications: IPS can easily be applied to any police system in the world and can equally be useful for any law enforcement agencies for carrying out homeland security effectively.\nOriginality/value: The research reported in this manuscript is outcome of the research project funded by NCRB. This paper is the first attempt to build framework of IPS for Indian police who deal with large volume and high rate of crimes that are unmatched to any police force of the world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Linking power, risk, and governance: a survey research in new product development relationships	[ "Power", "Risk", "Trust", "Control", "Governance", "New product development", "Channel relationships", "Iran" ]	[ { "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: While the business literature has already addressed a number of outcomes for companies actively engaged in strategic alliances, there is a growing body of evidence of high failure rates in these arrangements (Smith, 2008).Thorelli (1986) argued that the key ingredients for success in inter-firm relationships include collaboration between members and the governance mechanism. Das and Teng (2001a) also believed that appropriate governance decreases the probability of failure in strategic alliances. These arguments are rooted in transaction cost economics (TCE) (Williamson, 1975), where there are important implications for inter-firm relationships. According to TCE, power asymmetries function as the determinants of opportunistic behaviors, while governance mechanisms are used to limit the risk of opportunism. This implies that governance mechanisms entail the management of power asymmetries and risks of opportunism. Based on these arguments, through current research, we examine the relationship between power, risk, and governance.Mintzberg (1983, p. 4) defined power as the capacity to affect organizational outcomes. In the present research, outcomes are governance mechanisms, which have rarely been studied empirically as the effects of power asymmetries. Regarding the concern of the current research, there are comparable studies, all of which are dominated by the idea that power influences outcomes through relational constructs (Table I). However, the mechanism through which relational constructs themselves are influenced by power asymmetry is less well understood. In the current research, drawing from TCE, it is supposed that there should be an implicit construct (i.e. risk perception), which has been largely neglected in previous studies, and therefore this study tries to address that research gap.In order to achieve the aforementioned objective, first, a theoretical model is derived that explains the relationships between power, risk, and governance. This model is based on:* the TCE's notion of association between power asymmetries and the risks imposed on partners;* the regulating role of risk perception on governance (e.g. Das and Teng, 2001b); and* the underlying ingredients of governance (i.e. trust/control; Nooteboom, 2002).This framework is an effort in line with the direction that has previously attracted attention by proposing various models such as the interaction model of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group (Hakansson, 1982) and the commitment-trust model (Morgan and Hunt, 1994).Second, this theoretical model is tested using the survey data of 112 firms engaged in NPD projects. NPD is a major driver of the firm growth and sustainable competitive advantage, yet risks are intrinsic in NPD in all industries (Kwak and LaPlace, 2005). In fact, NPD processes may be riskier than any other process in organizations. A review of the extant literature on networks and strategic alliances reveals that little is known about NPD network governance and its determinants. These are very important issues; however, they have been largely neglected in the previous research (Oke et al., 2008).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Relational risk perception\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Sampling and data collection\n4. Results: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to test the hypotheses. Holmbeck (1997) suggested that mediation models are best estimated using SEM.Table IV presents the means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations among the studied variables. Zero-order correlations provide an initial examination of the hypotheses linking the variables.Figure 1 displays the causal model when all the predicted paths are included. The fit indices of this structural model shows a good fit to the data (kh2=218.15, df=203, NFI=0.85, TLI=0.97, CFI=0.97, GFI=0.85, RMSEA=0.026).As shown in Figure 1, the results of the structural equation modeling reveal a negative link from relational risk perception to trust (b=-0.88, p<0.01), a positive link from relational risk perception to vertical control (b=0.80, p<0.01), and a negative link from relational risk perception to the norm of information sharing (b=-0.59, p<0.01), providing support for H1-H3. Results also reveal a positive link from coercive power to relational risk perception (b=0.35, p<0.01), and a non-significant negative link from non-coercive power to relational risk perception (b=-0.09, p<0.01) providing support only for H4.H6 predicted that relational risk perception would mediate the effects of power asymmetries on governance modes. This hypothesis was tested through comparison of the rival models (Figure 2). An emerging consensus in structural equations modeling is that research should compare rival models, not just test a proposed model (Bollen and Long, 1992). A non-parsimonious rival view that is equally extreme would be one positing only direct paths from each of the antecedents to the outcomes, thereby making relational risk perception similar to the antecedent (i.e. power asymmetries). Although the results (Ddf=6, Dkh2=4.71, p=0.58; see Table V) show that there are no considerable differences between overall the goodness of fit of the two models, all paths from coercive power to governance modes are not significant, and paths from relational risk perception to both vertical control and the norm of information sharing are contrary to primary expectations.Although the results of the rival model indicated good fit indices, they were not consistent with previous studies and with the authors' expectations. Hence, a series of nested model comparisons were tested. A nested model test, commonly adopted in causal model analysis, is used where the indirect effects model that proposes mediating effects is compared to the direct effects model (Oke et al., 2008). Table VI shows the results of nested model comparisons.In models 2-4, direct links were added from non-coercive power to governance modes. In models 5-7, direct links were added from non-coercive power to governance modes. Model 8 was a fully saturated model in which direct paths were added from both non-coercive power and coercive power to governance modes. The mediation hypotheses would be supported if the fit of nodel 1 would not be improved by adding direct paths.As shown in Table VI, the differences between kh2 values were not significant for model 1 compared with models 2-8. Under the rules of model parsimony (see Oke et al., 2008), these results suggested that the basic model best fitted the data. Hence, it is concluded that relational risk perception mediated the relationships that power asymmetries have with governance modes. Furthermore, none of directly added paths were significant. H6 is therefore supported by the data.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: 5.1. Theoretical contribution\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Inter-organizational arrangements are increasingly playing an important role in new product development (NPD). This article aims to investigate the links among power, risk, and governance in these kinds of relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors investigated the links based on the data collected from 112 respondents representing 112 different NPD relationships.\nFindings: - The results of structural equation modeling revealed that, in the situation where coercive power is imbalanced between partner firms, the weaker partner perceives relational risk while imbalances in non-coercive power do not influence relational risk perception significantly. The results also showed that relational risk perception is strongly associated with governance modes in such a way that negatively influences trust and the norm of information sharing, and positively affects vertical control, respectively. Further investigations revealed that the influence of power bases on governance modes was mediated through the relational risk perception.\nOriginality/value: - This article contributes to a better appreciation of the factors that account for important determinants of opportunistic behavior of partner firms (i.e. power asymmetries) and governance modes that are available for companies in order to impede relational risks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Work-family conflict: An exploration of the differential effects of a dependent child's age on working parents	[ "Family life", "Parents", "Human resource development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An ideal work/life balance coordinates and balances private needs such as family, hobbies, vocational interests (such as further education and training) or activities beneficial to society (such as voluntary work) with paid work both at specific stages in an individual's life as well as over their entire lifetime (Naegele et al., 2003). Indeed, achieving a work life balance was ranked as the number one personal challenge facing Irish managers in a recent survey conducted by Irish Management Institute (O'Connor, 2003). De Cieri et al. (2005) argue that in the current highly competitive labour market, where the attraction and retention of valued employees is difficult, greater awareness needs to be given to employee work-life balance concerns. Balancing work and non-work domains is an important work-related concern which has the potential to affect a broad range of employee work related factors such as employee turnover, stress, job satisfaction, and productivity (Rice et al., 1992, Parasuraman et al., 1996; Veiga et al., 2004; Thomas and Ganster, 1995).Changes impacting on the work environment over the past ten to 15 years such as globalisation of competition, changes in the patterns and demands of work, and the fast pace of technological innovations have put extra time demands on employees (Coughlan, 2000; DFEE, 2000; Fisher, 2000). Coupled with these organisational and work design changes are increased female participation rates (Houston, 1999; Bates et al., 2002), growth in the diversity of family structures (Duxbury and Higgins, 2001), long commuting journeys (Coughlan, 2000), and changing worker expectations (Zemke et al., 2000; Greenblatt, 2002). The latter have created demands for time to meet social needs such as time for learning and caring, personal, family and community activities. This has forced policy makers and organisations to re-examine the options made available to employees to assist them in achieving a healthy balance between their work and non-work obligations.These changes have been far reaching and have impacted upon all industries and sectors and the Irish hospitality sector is no different in this regard. Although a number of commentators have argued that there is a need for the hospitality industry as a whole to address employee work-life balance issues (Dermody and Holloway, 1998; Stalcup and Pearson, 2001), very few studies have empirically attempted to do so. Harris et al. (2003) argue that the hotel industry would benefit from close examination of conflicts faced by employees regarding their work and non-work life commitments. They argue that, based on the challenges and difficulties the hospitality industry has historically faced with work-family conflict, \"individual hotel organisations may be able to achieve strategic advantage by effectively addressing work-family issues\" (p. 1).From a human resource development perspective the issue of work life balance offers the profession an opportunity to contribute at the highest possible level within organisations. Human resource development (HRD) professionals, in partnership with organisational leaders are continually attempting to find ways to improve the performance of their organisation and employees. Increasingly the role of the HRD professional encompasses effective change management in order to effect greater performance potential through the design and introduction of interventions which have the potential to reduce the negative impact of work family conflict (Madsen, 2003). The ability to design and implement specific targeted responses to employees work life needs is an area where HRD can make a real and significant contribution. Strategic HRD has the potential to reduce the misappropriation of organisational resources by ensuring a focused and targeted response thereby minimising the fruitless pursuit of \"one size fits all\" approaches to this complex issue. The ability of organisations to support both employees and managers through not only the introduction and availability of such initiatives but crucially by providing training at a number of levels will impact upon the effectiveness of such a strategy.This paper seeks to examine the impact of life cycle stage, specifically parenting stage, on work family conflict. The research examines work family conflict among working parents within the hotel sector to determine if discernable differences are evident among those individuals at the early stage of their parenting cycle compared to those with older children. It is proposed that individuals with younger children, pre-school age, are likely to report higher levels of work family conflict and that this conflict reduces as the age of the youngest child increases. In addition the research attempts to explore the different factors which impact upon work family conflict for these differing groups of parents and so examines the impact of job stress, job involvement, managerial support and colleague support to ascertain if these factors have an impact and if so, is it the same for all parents irrespective of their stage in the parenting cycle.In doing so it is hoped that the first key foundation stones will be laid supporting the importance of framing the debate in relation to work life balance in terms of the entire working lives of individuals and not just specific snap shots during the course of that employment. In addition the findings raise important policy and practical implications for both organisations and policy makers and further add to our knowledge and understanding of the antecedents of work family conflict among this particular group and sector. The hospitality sector has been specifically identified as one where there is a lack of theoretical and empirical research (Harris et al., 2003). This combined with the importance of the hospitality sector to the Irish economy underscores the contribution that this paper makes to the area.Work-family conflict\nResearch methodology: The hotel industry in Ireland\nDiscussion and conclusions: These findings shed new light on our understanding of the antecedents of work family conflict. Support was found for the majority of the hypotheses proposed and notably for the key proposition that depending on the age of an individual's child they are likely to experience differing antecedents of work family conflict, albeit tentative support. It is clear from the correlation analysis that differences did exist within our sample population between the reported antecedents of work family conflict among the three parenting groups. It was found that work family conflict was highly negatively related to colleague support among parents of pre-school children (those aged five or less). However work family conflict was found to be highly positively related to job involvement only among those parents of children aged 6-12 years of age. Both job involvement and job stress were found to be significantly positively related to work family conflict among those parents of children aged 13 years or more. These findings suggest that, certainly among our sample, that parents experience differences as their children age and that the factors which influence work family conflict are not static but rather change over the course of a dependent child's life. The findings provide support for undertaking further research to discover the potential causal nature of the relationships suggested by this initial analysis however given the sample size of the current population it is suggested that these findings are treated as indicative and that suitable caution is applied in the interpretation and analysis of any such findings.Further analysis was undertaken to establish if any of the factors highlighted could be seen to predict work family conflict. Overall for all parents with dependent children it was found that job involvement, job stress and colleague support all had predictive powers in terms of explaining the antecedents of work family conflict. Upon further analysis of each of the parenting groups it was found that the factors influencing work family conflict differed. For those parents of children of pre-school age colleague support was the key factor influencing their work family conflict. It is likely that during the early years of child rearing greater work flexibility is required in order to deal with unforeseen problems in relation to illness and general medical visits such as vaccinations, developmental tests etc. In addition it is likely that those individuals who avail of flexible working arrangements do so when their children are very young. Given this situation it is clear to see the importance of colleague support to these parents.For parents of children aged 6-12 years job involvement was found to be the key predicting variable in terms of an individual's work family conflict. It was found that as job involvement increases so too does work family conflict. Further research is required to examine the fundamental nature of job involvement, i.e. is it cyclical in nature whereby a new parent opts to recede from the level of involvement they have in their work when they have young children only to return to a more engrossed stage once their children are older and they have more time and energy to expend. For now we can only hypothesise but it would appear likely that those parents of older children tend to work longer and would appear to have more time to invest in their jobs leading to higher levels of involvement.Finally we examined parents of children aged 13 or more. As with the parents of children aged 6-12 years of age, job involvement was found to have predictive qualities in relation to work family conflict. Again this relationship was found to be positive so as an individual becomes more involved in their job, the more likely they are to experience higher levels of work family conflict. It would be interesting to examine the issue of job involvement both from a gender perspective to ascertain if male and female parental experiences are similar. It was not possible to do so with this particular data set as the sample sizes proved too small when separated into male and female parents.These findings have implications for both organisations and policy makers alike. While this research is seen as a foundation block it is clear that examining work family conflict and indeed work life balance from a life cycle perspective can produce valuable insights. It is essential that we begin to move towards examining the work life balance issues in a more holistic manner, examining both the immediate and long term consequences of availing of any one policy or approach.Our analysis suggests that organisations need to re-think what they offer their staff in terms of family friendly policies and move away from the \"one size fits all\" approach. Organisations that persist in adopting such a \"one size fits all\" approach run the risk of failing to directly meet the needs of their employees but are also likely to incur a considerable waste of valuable financial resources. Organisations need to get smarter in terms of how they approach the issues and complexities of modern day living for their employees and begin to target specific groups with tailor made work life balance initiatives.HRD has the potential to make a significant contribution in this regard. The need to design and roll out focused and targeted responses to this complex issue falls within the remit of the strategic HRD function. The role of the function is not simply limited to designing such initiatives but crucially is required to ensure that training is provided at a number of levels within the organisation to ensure that the initiatives developed do not remain a policy document but rather are actively absorbed into the daily life and values of the organisation. Training should not be restricted to those contemplating availing of such initiatives but need to embrace both colleagues and supervisors/managers. If we are to move away from the common misperception that work life balance initiatives are the sole preserve of female employees or that by opting to for such an initiative an individual is signalling that they are no longer fully committed to the organisation, we need to ensure that all members of the organisation are fully trained in both the practical implications of managing and working in a diverse workplace and the culture implications of developing a family friendly workplace.Indeed the current research suggests the importance of nurturing a supportive culture in terms of embracing work life balance concepts. Without the implicit, as well as explicit, support of managers and colleagues it is clear that most work life balance initiatives will fail to deliver their desired results. Organisations would be wise to pay particular attention to the views of those individuals who are not eligible to avail of certain family friendly policies. They need to work with them in order to ensure that resentment is minimised by shifting the emphasis to outputs and performance rather placing it on presenteeism and long work hours. The role of training in this regard should be emphasised.There a number of limitations to this study not least of which is the limited sample size. In addition, the youngest child of each working parent was considered for analysis however future research would benefit from an analysis of working parents in terms of all of their children and not simply limited to the youngest.The study did not attempt to segregate male and female parents for separate analysis due to the relative small sample size and the danger of over analysing the current sample. However an interesting finding from recent research is that no gender differences were found between men and women's experiences of conflict. Men and women reported experiencing similar levels of both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict (Anderson et al., 2002; Parasuraman and Greenhaus, 2002). Future research should focus on examining the possible gender issues inherent herein and also developing a model to incorporate all children of a working parent.It would also be desirable and interesting to examine job involvement and stress within this context to ascertain if, as suspected, it is cyclical in nature. It would also be instructive to replicate the study in different sectors and different countries.Finally it is the authors' intention to broaden out the debate further and begin to examine all aspects of both work family conflict and work life balance using the life cycle approach and we would encourage others to do likewise.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of life cycle stage, specifically parenting stage, on work-family conflict among working parents to determine whether discernible differences are evident among those individuals at the early stage of their parenting cycle compared with those with older children.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An explorative study was undertaken among parents employed within the Irish hotel sector. The questionnaire was distributed to 22 hotels and 76 individuals who reported having children responded. A number of measures were used to assess the impact which a number of factors, namely job stress, job involvement, managerial support and colleague support, may have on working parents' work-life conflict. Correlation and regression analysis are performed to test the hypotheses proposed.\nFindings: - The research findings provide initial support for the possibility that the factors influencing work-family conflict differ for each of the parenting groups analysed. For all parents with dependent children it was found that job involvement, job stress and colleague support all have predictive powers in terms of explaining the antecedents of work-family conflict.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings provide a compelling case for the need to begin to address work-family conflict in a more holistic manner, examining both the immediate and long-term consequences for employees with childcare responsibilities.\nPractical implications: - The ability to design and implement specific, targeted responses to employees' work-life needs is an area where HRD can make a real and significant contribution. Strategic HRD has the potential to reduce the misappropriation of organisational resources by ensuring a focused and targeted response, thereby minimising the fruitless pursuit of \"one size fits all\" approaches to this complex issue.\nOriginality/value: - The paper seeks to lay the first key foundation-stones in framing the debate in relation to work-life balance in terms of the entire working lives of individuals and not just specific snapshots during the course of that employment. The paper is critical of current organisational thinking in relation to employees' work-life balance needs and challenges HRD professionals to begin to examine this important and complex issue in a more holistic manner.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Design innovation and marketing strategy in successful product competition	[ "Product design", "Innovation", "Marketing strategy", "Computers", "Electronics industry", "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.\n1. Introduction: Design innovation is closely related to marketing (Roy and Bruce, 1984; Souder and Moenaert, 1992; Prabhaker et al., 1995; Woodside et al., 1999; Zhang and Ma, 2007). In developing new products, marketing departments should constantly interact and exchange information with design departments (Petiot and Grognet, 2006; Lackman, 2007; Rossler and High, 2007). An effective connection between marketing and design activities will trigger product innovation (Gupta and Wilemon, 1990; Sherman et al., 2000). More importantly, numerous enterprises confer on the concept that \"product design should lead marketing to meet market requirements\", and \"firms sell both products and designs\" (Beckman and Barry, 2008). Not only can a good design help an enterprise achieve profits, but it also offers consumers product values associated with enterprise image (Olins, 1990).Taiwanese made computer and electronics products possess advantages in design, innovation, quick response, and flexibility in the global 3C (Computer, Communication, and Consumer Electronics) market, and Taiwan has many famous brands like ACER, Benq, ASUS, Mitac, PQI, and MSI. However, intensifying market competition has considerably impacted Taiwanese enterprises. Consequently, marketing personnel and product designers in these enterprises should closely monitor their competitors to cope with the conflicts and challenges from the changing global market environment. Additionally, such enterprises should develop new products based on the goal of innovation in marketing strategy (Hsieh et al., 2006; Tsai, 2006).Souder and Moenaert (1992) posited that the successful application of techniques depends on the integration of R&D and marketing departments. In a study of the interaction between R&D and marketing departments, Gupta and Wilemon (1990) found that product innovation in the high-tech industry depended on a close match between R&D and marketing. Therefore, Sherman et al. (2000) pointed out that the functional incorporation of innovation in R&D and marketing departments was an important factor in the product development stage. Many researchers have also mentioned that the integration of product design procedure in an enterprise enhances new product development performance (Carlsson, 1991; Griffin and Hauser, 1996; Gupta et al., 1985; Ruekert and Walker, 1997; Pinto et al., 1993; Rusinko, 1997; Song et al., 1997; Olson, 1994; Sobek et al., 1998; Woodside, 2005; Lau et al., 2007). Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that design represents a key integrated resource in an enterprise, and is not merely an important mechanism of the functional incorporation of product development, but also a significant serial loop in the entire enterprise value chain (Baxter, 1995; Olins, 1990; Fujimoto, 1991; Bruce and Jevnaker, 1998; Twigg, 1997, 1998; Ge and Wang, 2007; Aydin et al., 2007; Kumar and Kumar, 2004; Lackman, 2007). Chang and Hsu (2004) and Hsu (2006) also found that Taiwanese enterprises have new strategies and actions in product design innovation. However, the literature on the practical incorporation of product marketing strategy and product design innovation, namely the matching of product design innovation and marketing in enterprises is limited.Consequently, this study cited Taiwanese computer and electronic firms with marketing and product design departments as examples for exploring design and marketing strategies via questionnaire survey and case studies. This investigation has three objectives:1. explore current manager execution of marketing and design strategies in the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry;2. analyze types of marketing strategies and practical actions in product design innovation; and3. provide an incorporated model for matching marketing and design innovation strategies.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Product-marketing strategy\n3. Methods: This investigation comprised two stages, namely questionnaire survey and case studies.Stage 1\n4. Characteristics of firms implementing different types of marketing strategies: 4.1 Firms in the market leader group\n5. Design strategies adopted by firms of different marketing strategies: Following content analysis of the interview, Taiwanese computer and electronics firms adopt the following 18 strategies regarding product innovation: reducing production costs, facilitating manufacturing and maintenance, including increasing product added value, uplifting product quality, improving product design and development procedures, enriching marketing information and response ability, reinforcing technical cooperation, increasing product diversity, exploring new target markets, designing better human machine interfaces, developing unique product functions, increasing R&D budgets, reinforcing the R&D divisions of counterparts, developing unique product forms, uplifting design images of the company, uplifting brand images of the company, emphasizing social and cultural performance, and considering environmental design. Table VI lists the design strategies adopted by different Taiwanese computer and electronics firms.Table VI clearly shows that all firms involved in the present case study tended to adopt the following six design strategies: reducing production costs, making it easy for manufacturing and maintenance, including additional value to products, uplifting product quality, improving product design and development procedures, and enriching marketing information and response ability. Firms strongly emphasized these design strategies because they helped guarantee product commercial success.More importantly, a close investigation of the design strategies of firms belonging to certain marketing strategic groups, as shown in Tables V and VI, revealed a relationship among enterprise scale, business categories, and product development types. Specifically, in different marketing strategic groups adopted different approaches to design innovation.5.1 Design innovation of firms in the market leader group\n6. Managerial implications: Based on the strategies they employ to deal with global competition, Taiwanese computer and electronics enterprises can be classified into market leader, market focus, market challenge, and market niche groups, based on the marketing strategies they adopt. The largest of these groups is the market niche group (26.77 percent of all Taiwanese computer and electronics enterprises), followed by the market challenge group (26.13 percent); market leader group (24.84 percent), and market focus group (22.26 percent).Six design innovation strategies were adopted by all the firms interviewed, including reducing production costs, simplifying manufacturing and maintenance, adding product value, uplifting product quality, improving product design and development, and enriching marketing information gathering and responsiveness. These six design strategies are essential to R successful design innovation in the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry. Furthermore, the design innovation models employed by different strategic groups were closely related to enterprise scale, business type and product development category.An integrated model, as shown in Figure 1, illustrates the mapping of marketing strategic types and design innovation approaches for firms in the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry. Figure 1 shows that firms in the market leader group are characterized by aggressive innovation in their marketing strategy. While employing diverse design strategies, firms in this group share the common characteristic of developing new products and seeking new opportunities. These firms offer innovative products and services, and are willing to undertake R&D risk. Because of their large scale, firms in this group have wide product lines and intensive high techniques. With B2C (OBM) as their major business type, firms in this group are diverse in their product lines.Firms in the market focus group feature the trend of innovation focus in their marketing strategy. With their concentrated R&D resources, firms in this group outperform their competitors in terms of innovation efficiency, quality and speed. The design strategies of firms in this group are the same as those of firms in the market leader and market challenger groups. Firms in this group stress aggressive innovation in specific market segments and maintain stable growth in other segments as they seek to maximize flexibility and profitability. Firms in the market focus group are medium and large scale enterprises, primarily involved in B2B (ODM), and develop fewer new product lines.Firms in the market challenge group display the trend of innovation integration in marketing strategy. Firms in this group hope to increase the popularity of their brands after entering the market after those in the market leader group. Firms in this group are medium scale and mostly involved in B2B (ODM). In terms of practical innovation, firms in this group first select specific brands or market segments for performing product redesign or innovation. Firms in this group then apply their design techniques to enhance the efficiency of their R&D activities, and increase their competitiveness by cooperating in product design, R&D, and manufacturing with their partners and project subcontractors.Firms in the market niche group display flexible innovation. This group comprises small scale enterprises. Despite diverse product lines, firms in this group focus on specific product lines to maximize profits because of their ability to control R&D techniques and skills. In combination with marketing activity, firms in this group can quickly increase the depth of their product line owing to their flexibility and R&D advantages. Firms in this group produce a constantly changing array of innovative products, but can help firms that produce them achieve profits through increasing added value.\n7. Conclusions: Based on a questionnaire survey and case studies, Taiwanese computer and electronics firms pursue marketing strategies that include \"market leader\", \"market focus\", \"market challenge\" and \"market niche\". Firms pursuing different marketing strategies employ different design innovation strategies in product design. The design strategies adopted by enterprises in the market leader group incorporate aggressive innovation in product design; those adopted by firms in the market focus group focused on innovation in product design; those in the market challenge group exhibited strong innovation integration in product design; and those in the market niche group displayed flexible innovation in product design. The innovation models adopted by enterprises in the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry were related to enterprise scale, business type, and category of product development.Competition in the global computer and electronics product market is so intense that only enterprises with advantages in design, innovation, rapid response and flexibility can survive. This study discussed practical examples involving typical Taiwanese firms. Examples of marketing and design innovation approaches from the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry discussed in this investigation provide a reference for enterprise R&D and product promotion. Besides, our findings may be applied to other industries, such as many in consumer goods whose business type are B2C firms, whereas computer and electronic manufacturing industries often consist of B2B. Consumer goods and services in industries that do not embody advanced manufacturing technologies, such as the telecommunication industry, banking industry, and insurance industry, generally provide an opportunity to design innovation, thereby approach service innovation and design trend.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Taiwanese computer and electronic products possess advantages in design, innovation, rapid response, and global market flexibility. This study aims to examine Taiwanese computer and electronics firms to explore the product marketing strategies they adopted to deal with global competition. Furthermore, it is intended to analyze firms in different marketing strategic groups in terms of their product design strategies and how they incorporated design and marketing strategies into design innovation. This analysis is applied as an integrated innovation model for allocating design and marketing strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on a questionnaire survey and case studies, the marketing strategies adopted by the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry can be classified into the categories of \"market leader\", \"market focus\", \"market challenge\" and \"market niche\".\nFindings: - Firms employing different marketing strategies employed different design innovation strategies in product design. The design strategies adopted by enterprises in the market leader group incorporated aggressive innovation; those in the market focus group were characterized by focus innovation in product design; those in the market challenge group exhibited strong innovation integration in product design; and those in the market niche group exhibited flexible innovation in product design.\nOriginality/value: - The innovation models adopted by the Taiwanese computer and electronics industry were related to enterprise scale, business type, and product development category. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for enterprises with regard to R&D and marketing in relation to product innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teacher agency in a multiyear professional development collaborative	[ "Professional development", "Literacy", "Discussion", "Teacher agency", "Multilingualism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Teachers make active choices about the nature and scope of their participation in professional development (PD), and these decisions can affect their professional learning and classroom practice (Dillon et al., 2011; King and Nomikou, 2017). Teacher agency describes the capability of teachers to make choices and act on these choices in ways that have professional importance (Maulucci et al., 2015). Teacher agency mediates how and when teachers choose to participate in PD, along with the nature and quality of teacher participation, and their implementation of new initiatives and curricula (Nir and Bogler, 2007; Palmer et al., 2016). Despite the important role that teacher agency plays in the professional growth of teachers, the nature of teachers' choices and engagement over time has not been extensively explored in research on PD. This includes consideration of ways that teacher agency may support, rather than hinder, long-term outcomes of PD.\nTeacher agency and professional development: Our conceptualization of teacher agency is grounded in sociocultural and ecological models of learning and change to consider how teachers operate within social and institutional systems that reciprocally inform their decisions about when and how to participate in the processes of teaching and learning in schools (Biesta and Tedder, 2007). Teacher agency is framed by structures that include those that are physical or embodied, such as classroom resources or the physical spaces of schools, and generalizable procedures, such as curricular guidelines or demands driven by assessments (Sewell, 1992). Teacher agency is both enabled in the creation and recreation of these structures and constrained by the accessibility of these structures, the power of persons to enact change, and the durability of these structures (Hays, 1994). The achievement of agency is interplay between the individual and the social and structural conditions of the environment, and may either reproduce or transform these structures.\nProfessional development to support language and instruction: PD aims to change teachers' knowledge and practices in ways that foster improved student learning. Recent reviews of research on the characteristics of effective professional learning models suggest that these programs are sustained in duration; nurture collaboration and collective participation among teachers; promote active learning through teaching, observation and reflection; and maintain coherence with teachers' existing concerns about standards, curriculum and reform initiatives (Darling-Hammond and Richardson, 2009; Penuel et al., 2007). Within the field of literacy, effective models of PD have also been shown to use school-based designs, adopt a long-term focus, enable collaborative planning and build a shared vision for change (Dillon et al., 2011; Dole, 2003). These models also stress the role of instructional coaching as a central component to effective PD for literacy instruction (Sailors and Price, 2010).\nContext of the collaborative: The collaborative that is the focus of this study emerged from a mayoral mandate in a large city in the United States that assigned local universities as partners to selected schools. The program allowed schools and their university partners to decide how to cooperate to improve student outcomes.\nMethods: We used a longitudinal case study design (Yin, 2014) to present a detailed view of how two teachers participated in this initiative and made choices to change their practice over time. Data sources for this case study include field notes from PD meetings, videos of classroom instruction, reflections and comments on video-recorded lessons posted online by the teachers, and end of year interviews with the teachers.\nCase study 1: Prentiss: Engagement in the professional development collaborative\nCase study 2: Brennan: Engagement in the professional development collaborative\nSupporting sustained changes in teaching and learning: In this study, we described the experiences of two teachers who participated in this PD initiative, and reported on the decisions they made and changes in their teaching practices that targeted the needs of multilingual learners. Our examination of their changes explored the interplay between the teachers and two structures in the classroom environment: their existing literacy curriculum and instruction, and a PD initiative focused on DR that cultivated opportunities to alter existing curriculum and instruction. The stories of these choices and their implications illuminate important findings from our work about teacher agency, the nature of change in teacher practices and the role of sustained partnerships in supporting teachers.\nImplications for practitioners and researchers: The story of our work with the teachers at this elementary school provides lessons for other practitioners who seek to improve learning outcomes. Administrators, teachers, and others involved in PD need to recognize that the process of teacher learning can be long, winding, and that hurdles are likely to be encountered. While learning can and does happen, expectations that teachers will always be engaged, learn consistently over time, and apply new practices quickly are often unrealistic. Teacher agency plays a central role in how teachers engage in PD, and how they adapt and apply learning inside their classrooms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to report on the decisions two teachers made about how to engage with a five-year school-university collaboration that used professional development (PD) to foster changes in language instruction for teachers of multilingual learners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A longitudinal case study was used to examine the experiences of two teachers to provide insights into classroom-level decisions and changes in instructional practices.\nFindings: Changes in instructional practices occurred when teachers made active, engaged choices about their own learning and teaching in the classroom. Teacher learning did not follow a consistent trajectory of improvement and contained contradictions, and early decisions about how to engage with PD affected the pace and nature of teacher learning. Through personal decisions about how to engage with PD, teachers adopted new instructional practices to support multilingual learners. Positive changes required extended time for teachers to implement new practices successfully.\nPractical implications: This collaboration points to a need for long-term PD partnerships that value teacher agency to produce instructional changes that support multilingual learners.\nOriginality/value: PD can play a key role in transforming literacy instruction for multilingual learners. Teacher agency, including the decisions teachers make about how to engage with professional learning opportunities and how to enact new instructional practices in the classroom, mediates the efficacy of PD initiatives. This longitudinal case study contributes to the understanding of effective PD by presenting two contrasting case studies of teacher agency and learning during long-term school-university collaboration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Readers' interest criteria in fiction book search in library catalogs	[ "User studies", "Reading", "Books", "Book selection", "Fiction readers", "Interest criteria", "Library catalogs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is some evidence (e.g. Ross, 2001; Saarinen and Vakkari, 2013) that book selection in physical libraries is influenced by a complex combination of previous reading experiences, elements from the books themselves, affective and personal factors and the informational needs of a person (Ross, 2001). In physical libraries, fiction readers have developed effective selecting strategies for fulfilling these multipart desires for recreational reading materials. In addition to known item searches, \"looking around\" at the shelves with the help of \"behind the eyes\" knowledge is constantly involved when considering a selection or a rejection of any particular book (Goodall, 1989; Ross, 2001).\nLiterature review: Book selection in physical libraries\nMethod: Participants\nData and analysis: The search logs and participants' speech were recorded with Morae-software (www.techsmith.com/morae.html). For the purposes of this study, 80 participants' interviews and conversations with the researcher were transcribed. The audio material was transcribed word for word and qualitatively analyzed. The purpose of the qualitative data analysis was to identify the categories for the interest criteria for novels mentioned by the participants, and apply these criteria for examining participants' book selection behavior. To guide the qualitative data analysis, findings from previous research (Reuter, 2007; Ross, 2001; Saarinen and Vakkari, 2013) were taken into consideration. Particularly, the coding scheme for children's' book selection in a digital library developed and applied by Reuter (2007) supported the design of an initial coding scheme for this study.\nResults: Readers' interest criteria for novels\nDiscussion: The primary motivation for undertaking this research was to understand fiction readers' book selection process in library catalogs and to identify the criteria for selecting a particular item in various search tasks. In this section, the findings are discussed in depth.\nConclusions: The aim of this paper was to investigate fiction readers' interest criteria for novels in library catalogs. A categorization of readers' interest criteria was created based on conversations and interviews with 80 genuine fiction readers. The study shows the basic characteristics of fiction book selection in various search tasks in library catalogs. The study confirmed that the fiction readers' book selection process in library catalogs resembled that in physical libraries. Readers' prior literary knowledge and the novel's title had a major role in book selection. However, book selection in library catalogs was found to be a highly context-related process, where a combination of readers' search capacities, \"behind the eyes\" knowledge, personal and affective factors and a well-functioning interaction with the system being used resulted in a successful book selection. Diverging from the previous, the rejection of a novel turned out to be a quick and simple process where a single (or missing) metadata element determined a book to be rejected.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate fiction readers' interest criteria when selecting novels in library catalogs for various search tasks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data of the book selection behavior from 80 genuine fiction readers were collected using recorded interviews and conversations. The data were qualitatively analyzed. Reuter's categorization of the components of aesthetic relevance has contributed to the construction of interest dimensions.\nFindings: A five-dimension categorization of interest criteria is presented based on fiction readers' interpretations of the influential factors in fiction book selection in different search tasks. The findings revealed that readers apply the identified interest criteria in a flexible and multiphase way depending to the search task and the system used. The findings showed a context-related pattern in readers' fiction book selections. A combination of readers' search capacities, \"behind the eyes\" knowledge, affective factors and a well-functioning interaction with a system used results in a successful book selection.\nOriginality/value: A five-dimension categorization of adult fiction readers' interest criteria was created based on their search behaviors in library catalogs. The results provide a systematic step toward a comprehensive understanding of readers' fiction book selection in digital environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Predicting good deeds in virtual communities of consumption: The cross-level interactions of individual differences and member citizenship behaviors	[ "Exchange ideology", "Virtual communities of consumptions", "Citizenship behaviours", "Prosocial values" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The advance of internet technology has facilitated the advancement of specialized consumer knowledge reservoirs in the form of virtual communities of consumption (VCC). VCCs offer consumers and companies unparalleled platforms for resource exchange. Consider, for example, how consumers nowadays tap online communities on a regular basis to read product reviews that help their purchase decisions or to seek peer-to-peer support for solving problems with product use. Firms may also benefit from access to the various resources embedded in the communities, such as consumer reviews of products, ideas for innovation, and a medium for shaping consumer attitudes toward their products. Although VCCs may consist of members who do not visit the communities solely for consumption matters, many VCCs are \"implicitly or explicitly structured around consumption and marketing interests\" (Kozinets, 1999, p. 254). Different from firms' official websites, content in VCCs is primarily contributed by their members who take over service functions traditionally provided by the firms' employees, oftentimes without getting any monetary rewards. For example, VCC members might volunteer to answer other consumers' questions regarding particular products. Thus, active participation of the members is key for VCCs to prosper and grow (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002).\n2. Theoretical background and hypothesis development: 2.1. Virtual community and VCCB\n3. Method: 3.1. Procedures and samples\n4. Results: Table I reports the descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, correlations, and a coefficients) of all the research variables. As Table I shows, the correlation coefficients between research constructs are all below the suggested cutoff value of 0.8 (Asher, 1983) while the a coefficients indicate acceptable internal consistency. The square root estimates of AVE for the constructs are greater than their correlations with all other constructs, indicating good discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).\n5. Discussions: This study models consumers' participation in the context of VCCs from the lens of organizational citizenship behavior, reciprocity, and situational strength theory. The findings suggest that individuals' dispositions to act prosocially toward others (i.e. prosocial values) and to care more about what they receive than what they give (i.e. exchange ideology) are both important predictors of consumer VCCBs. The present work offers new insights by finding that community-level MCBs, through top-down processes, not only have a direct effect in shaping individual VCCBs but also constrain the negative effects of exchange ideology on individual VCCBs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Motivated by situational strength theory and multi-level theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose a cross-level model to examines whether virtual community citizenship behaviors (VCCBs) are affected by consumers' individual differences on reciprocity, other consumers' collective citizenship behaviors at community-level (members citizenship behaviors, MCBs), and their interaction effects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research model is tested with a sample of 340 consumers collected from the 34 virtual communities of consumptions (VCCs). Because consumers are embedded in communities, the authors employ the hierarchical linear modeling for data analyses.\nFindings: The findings reveal positive effects of individual's prosocial values and community-level MCBs, and a negative effect of exchange ideology, on VCCBs. There is a significant cross-level moderation effect of MCBs such that MCBs reduce the negative influence of exchange ideology on VCCBs.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research suggests that participation in VCCs could be simultaneously driven by the dispositions to help and to get fair reciprocity, while such effects are constrained by others' citizenship behaviors within the VCC. Future research should identify other contextual factors that could confine or amplify the personality-behavior links in the context of VCCs.\nPractical implications: Managers who intend to build a VCC of high co-creation should establish mechanisms that could facilitate norm of VCCBs. Also, it is crucial to take into account the participants' dispositions on reciprocity in recruiting community members and developing member portfolio.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies to offer insights regarding the role of community-level citizenship behavior as a strong situation to mitigating the influences of individuals' reciprocity-based dispositions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Insatiable demand or academic supply: the intellectual context of entrepreneurship education	[ "Entrepreneurs", "Education", "United Kingdom", "Management development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade in the UK, debates on education have tended to focus on the issues of achievement and output. This is reflected in, for example, policies based around increased testing at all ages, from primary through secondary and onto further and higher education. The aim of this paper is to consider education in a broader context. In focusing on management and entrepreneurship education in the higher education sector, the paper considers the extent to which it is fit for purpose. The paper uses a metaphor derived from basic economics and examines the relationship between demand and supply. We argue that rather than creating a state of equilibrium where the requirements of both the provider and user are met, the dynamics of the relationship have resulted in a state of uncertain disequilibrium which questions both the purpose and form of this type of education.Management education neatly combines two of the more prominent obsessions of UK policy makers since 1997; improvements to both management and education. Whilst there is a general consensus about the relationship between improved education and economic performance, a more specific case is often made for management education (Adcroft et al., 2004a). Nobel Laureates will be aware of the dictum that \"in science, the truth always wins\" and it is worth examining some of the numbers which underpin this relationship. For example, between 1997 and 2001 in the UK the number of enrolments onto postgraduate business and management programmes increased by over 25 per cent such that well over 30,000 students were studying MBA programmes by 2001; on the output side, this is an activity which produces over 12,000 new graduates each year. Thus, one in five postgraduate students in the UK studies business and management and, at undergraduate level, the figures are no less startling; in the same period of time, enrolments onto undergraduate programmes have increased by over 10 per cent such that almost 120,000 new undergraduates enter into business and management programmes each year. Management education has set an example to the rest of the economy; postgraduate business and management programmes in the UK generate over PS500 million of overseas earnings from almost 20,000 foreign students (QAA, 2002).Against this background of market growth, the Secretary of State for Education is famously \"relaxed\" about the trend for students to turn away from academic disciplines like Classics and towards more vocational courses like management and business studies. The case for past and future growth in provision and take-up of management education rests on there being some sort of causal relationship between organisational performance and management. For example, in their discussion of the nature of MBA programmes, Kangis and Carman (2001) make the link between better managers and management education when they argue for \"learning outcomes relevant to students as present or future senior managers\". This reinforces the point that \"the objective of business and management programmes is to educate individuals as managers and business specialists, and thus improve the quality of management as a profession\" (QAA, 2002). Again, this rests on the assumption that higher quality management delivers improved organisational performance.The leap from generalist management education to the more specific entrepreneurship education, which is the focus of this paper, is a natural one to make. Anderson et al. (2003), for example, note both the drivers of the growth in this educational activity and also the form and content of entrepreneurship education. In more general discussions of the form of education, two points are common across much of the literature: first, is the relationship between education and the twenty-first century (new) economies and, second, is the view that education is about equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills required to prosper in such working environments. Kirby (1992) suggests that the purpose of entrepreneurial education is to develop in the student \"the skills, attributes and behaviours characteristic of the enterprising individual\". This paper, however, is not so much concerned with the form of entrepreneurial education as the main drivers behind its growing prominence.The argument that we make in this paper is necessarily indirect and possibly circumstantial. Rather than provide a whole range of quantitative data, we prefer a more gentle and scholarly approach and so make suggestions rather than draw absolute conclusions. Our proposition is that the growth in prominence of entrepreneurship education is a reflection of three broad intellectual and policy trends in both the UK and a wider international environment over the past two decades. The first trend is the increasing acceptance of a causal relationship between economic prosperity and levels of education. The second trend is the growing emphasis placed on management as the main cause of organisational success in the ever expanding literature on globalisation. The final trend is based around government attitudes to the public sector and a long history of policy changes aimed at remaking the public sector in the image of the private sector. The main arguments of the paper are laid out in Figure 1.\nInsatiable demand: It is the economy stupid\nAcademic supply: geographic chronology and the purpose of entrepreneurial education: The growth in entrepreneurship as a key component of management education should come as no real surprise. As Kirby (2003a, b) has pointed out; \"business and entrepreneurial development has been listed as one of the four strategic goals of British universities\" and the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (1997) recommended that universities should \"consider the scope for encouraging entrepreneurship through innovative approaches to programme design\". This centrality of entrepreneurs and their activities is not a new idea. For example, Schumpeter (1934, 1939) argued for the key role of innovation in driving forward capitalist development and the key agent of this was the entrepreneur through the creation of \"new combinations\". For Schumpeter, therefore, entrepreneurs were the cause and not the effect of long-term economic progress. Given the context in which management education has flourished over the past few years, entrepreneurship education would almost seem to be a natural outcome; Hamel's propositions for organisational transformation and revolution, for example, fit in neatly with Chaharbaghi and Willis's (1999) definition of entrepreneurship as the creation of \"new market values\".One of the crucial questions for entrepreneurial education centres on the extent to which this is a form of activity that can be taught. This question, whilst never being fully resolved, is usually considered at two levels; the entrepreneurs themselves and the activities they carry out. In terms of the individual entrepreneur, research suggests that these people do have certain characteristics and character traits that make them stand out (Burns, 2001). These traits are well documented in the literature on the subject and include; risk taking and the need for achievement (McClelland, 1961), locus of control (Rotter, 1966) and the desire for autonomy and deviancy (de Vries, 1977). If these are the fundamental ingredients of the successful entrepreneur, does management education have a role in mixing them and blending them into the finished form? In the context of management education, the debate on this issue broadly reflects the wider debate about entrepreneurship in general. At one end of the spectrum, Chaharbaghi and Willis are sceptical about the value of this type of education. They argue that \"entrepreneurs cannot be manufactured, only recognised\". On the other hand, Kirby offers a more optimistic assessment. In discussing the characteristics of entrepreneurs, he argues \"these attributes can be developed ... but not by using the more traditional pedagogic teaching methods\" and concludes that, wherever possible, business schools should \"retain their premier position in the creation of entrepreneurs\".Resolving this debate is clearly beyond the scope of this paper. Whilst we would prefer to illustrate the debate rather than engage in it, we would also point out that is raises a fundamental question as to the purpose of entrepreneurial education; does it take place in order to recognise the activity when it is happens or does it take place to foster and engender higher levels of the activity? In either case, there are issues to be discussed. If it is simply about recognition then we would ask whether there is any more value in a management student analysing an entrepreneurial event than there is in, say, an art student analysing a great sculpture. If it is about promoting higher levels of the activity, we need to recognise the complexities of the entrepreneurial equation. Social sciences, like sociology, economics and management, are, more often than not, careful to place any organisational analysis into a broad environmental context where the conditions of one are both reflected and dependent on the conditions in the other. The same is true of entrepreneurship.Entrepreneurial events need to be analysed from two perspectives: first is those who do it and the skills they have and require; second, is the external context in which it takes place. For example, Dhaliwal (2001), in discussing the nature of second and third generation Asian entrepreneurs in the UK, draws attention to a number of external support mechanisms and systems which must be in place to facilitate the event such as family, access to finance and training organisations. On this side of the equation there is also the issue of chronological geography; the entrepreneur being in the right place at the right time which may involve elements of judgement but also involves elements of serendipity. The other side of the equation is having both the character traits and the necessary skills to take advantage of whatever opportunity has either presented itself or been created. In so far as the purpose of entrepreneurial education as being about increasing the volume of activity, we would recognise the contribution of management education to providing the skills (after all even Tiger Woods has a coach) but question the contribution that can be made to the geographic chronology which is part and parcel of the activity.\nConclusion: the dog that did not bark: In the Sherlock Holmes mystery, \"Silver Blaze\", the key to solving the case was not in what happened but rather in what did not happen; the great detective was able to make more crucial deductions because the dog did not bark than because the dog did bark. Similarly, the documented growth in management and entrepreneurship education is as significant for what it does not contain as it is for what it does contain. Both the growth in, and the form of, this type of education reflects an increasingly accepted assumption of the universality of management; under whatever conditions, global or national, public or private, the key determinant of organizational success is management.Williams et al. (1992) suggested that whilst an earlier age believed in miracles, this age believes in management. In defining and explaining organizational success and failure, like Fromm (1960), we reject the benefits of \"reciting optimistic formulae\" as being simply too uni-dimensional whether discussing the success of a global corporation in securing new market space or a public sector body improving the quality of service provision; we note the important contribution that can be made by management but also recognize the important contributions made elsewhere. No discussion of Japanese success, for example, would be complete without a discussion of industry structures, market conditions and comparative labour costs and, similarly, no discussion on improvements to NHS performance would be complete without a consideration of the availability of new resources. There will always be factors both inside and outside the boundaries of the organisation that are beyond the control and influence of management. Management is only ever one part of the equation and whilst there are clearly merits in improving the quality of management as a profession this should not happen at the cost of \"looking in the wrong direction\" (Adcroft and Willis, 2002) deliberately or otherwise.The specific case of entrepreneurship education is instructive on this point as it reflects McCloskey's (1990) question \"if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?\" which the management educator has no simple answer to. Is entrepreneurship education there to just recognize, analyse and appreciate those who have become rich or is it there to instil in others the skills that will make them rich? The case for the entrepreneurial skills of creativity, leadership and innovation is made in the globalisation literature, by the management gurus like Gary Hamel and in the imposition of private sector management on the recalcitrant public sector. Chell et al. (1991) ask the question as to whether entrepreneurship education is for entrepreneurs or simply about them. If we accept the argument that these people are born then the role of education must be about identifying them and then providing resources to allow them to flourish. However, if entrepreneurs can be made or taught, the role of education must begin with the identification of a generic set of skills. However, unless and until the tension between recognition and promotion is reconciled, the suspicion will remain (to the outsider at least) that it is little more than a case of academic supply creating an insatiable and unrealistic public and private sector demand.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To consider whether the growth in management and entrepreneurship education is driven by (external) demand or (internal) academic supply.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Three key elements of the intellectual context of management and entrepreneurship education are considered: the apparent causal relationship between improved management and economic performance; the privilege afforded to management as an agent of change in the context of globalisation; reforms in the public sector which define problems in terms of management rather than resources.\nFindings: - There is a lack of clarity as to whether the purpose of entrepreneurship education is about promoting higher levels of activity or better recognising entrepreneurial activity.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers an alternative perspective on entrepreneurship education through an examination of its purpose rather than its form and content.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Incidence of psychographic variables on purchasing behavior in an emerging olive oil market	[ "Chile", "Olive oil", "Psychographic", "Food neophobia scale", "List of values" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the last few years, both the markets for agricultural products and functional foods have experienced significant growth worldwide, and it is hoped that this trend will continue in the future (FAO, 2017). Regarding demand, the incorporation of new innovative processes by companies has generated a new range of agri-food products. Coupled with globalization and trade, this has allowed consumer exposure to more available products that consist of both \"traditional\" and \"new\" agri-food products generated by local or foreign companies.\n2. Materials and methods: A survey was specifically designed to achieve the research objectives of the present study. It was applied to a representative sample in the city of Chillan in the Biobio Region (the second most important region in terms of economy and population). The survey respondents were older than 18 years and responsible for household purchasing decisions. A total of 221 participants were selected from a sample stratified for sex, age and residential area. The information to stratify the sample was obtained from the Chilean National Institute of Statistics (INE, 2012).\n3. Results and discussion: This section shows the main results obtained in the present study. First, results of the sample characterization are disclosed based on olive oil purchasing frequency. These are followed by the results of the FNS and LOV scale factor analysis. Finally, the results of the MNL model estimation are provided. Table II displays the sample characterization. The olive oil consumption frequencies are also defined.\n4. Conclusions: The objective of the present study was to determine to what extent the FNS and LOV psychographic variables influence olive oil purchasing frequency of Chilean consumers. Although market segmentation using psychographic variables is more complete and appropriate than sociodemographic variables, the use of multi-segmentation (psychographic and sociodemographic) provides more market information and is a powerful tool for companies when segmenting the market. The results should be considered taking into account two important elements: the important process of commercial openness occurring in Chile in the last two decades, which has allowed the entry of new food products into the market and Chile has traditionally not been a country open to the entry of foreigners. This has changed in the last five years with the arrival of immigrants of different nationalities from Latin America (especially from neighboring countries) and Spain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study focused on the Chilean olive oil market. The purpose of this paper is to determine the incidence of psychographic variables in the purchasing frequency of this product in an emerging market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A face-to-face survey was applied to a stratified sample in the Biobio Region (Chile). The food neophobia scale (FNS) and list of values (LOV) were used simultaneously to measure psychographic variables. A multinomial logit model was estimated to determine the relationship between olive oil purchasing frequency and psychographic variables.\nFindings: Results suggest that psychographic variables can explain olive oil purchasing frequency in the Chilean market. For a new food product, neophilia and the values of external and hedonistic dimensions can explain the higher purchasing frequency of the product. Just as in other research studies, the combined use of psychographic and sociodemographic variables performed well in segmenting a new food market.\nResearch limitations/implications: Results should be interpreted for the purchasing behavior of a new food in the context of an emerging market. Future research should expand the geographic zone to apply the survey and incorporate other variables such as ethnocentrism or ethnic identity.\nOriginality/value: Most available research studies have investigated separately the incidence of both variables in food consumption in developed, cosmopolitan and intercultural markets. This is the first approach in jointly applying the psychographic variables FNS and LOV in an emerging market and using olive oil as a case study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate social responsibility and corporate performance: the case of Italian SMEs	[ "Organizational behaviour", "Social responsibility", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Stakeholder analysis", "Italy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is not simple to propose a univocal definition of corporate social responsibility despite there being a vast amount of literature on the subject. However, the essential point of the concept can be recognized in the voluntary undertaking of a commitment, towards third parties, by the management of a business. The commitment undertaken goes beyond the legal obligations that weigh heavily on the management of the company's activity[1].There are two fundamental reasons for the difficulty encountered in providing a univocal definition:1. it is not possible to fully define how far the responsibility extends, both on account of its complexity and of the manifold nuances it takes on with respect to the different stakeholders of the company; and2. the only partial acceptance by experts of economic matters to unite in a single vision, with no priorities, the economic responsibility of the company towards third parties, in particular with respect to holders of capital at risk, with social responsibility (Matacena, 1984).The first point will be discussed throughout the study, especially when we analyse the research methodology adopted and describe the model of corporate social responsibility that is referred to. At this stage, however, we think it more important to give specific attention to the second point.The position of Milton Friedman (1962) on the subject is well known. In accordance with classical theory, he maintains that companies should behave as simple economic entities with the single goal of making the maximum profit.Opposition to this standpoint is provided by \"a stakeholder approach\" by Freeman (1984). According to Freeman, companies are responsible to various groups of stakeholders and the survival of the company depends on the fact that it contributes in an adequate degree to the welfare of these stakeholders: it is this that legitimises[2] the company and guarantees it medium to long-term survival.If, on the one hand, the sole intent to maximize the wealth of the shareholders might seem a somewhat restrictive objective and one open to criticism, on the other hand it must be remembered that the handling of the financial resources of others brings with it specific obligations. However, it is also true that the profit of a company represents only a part of its total activity and if the company is analysed from this angle alone it remains isolated from the context in which it operates. If only the financial and economic terms are taken into account predominance could easily be given to both the negative aspects of the social responsibility and the onerous aspect, namely the cost of the social options, in that all operations related to the respect of commitments have a cost (Matacena, 1984).Within the described context, small and medium-sized businesses play an important role. They do in fact represent the largest quota of European entrepreneurial organizations, as also stated by the Commission of the European Communities (2002) in its Communication 347.The small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are particularly sensitive to the problems surrounding social responsibility: the small entrepreneur \"experiences\" in person, together with his family and his employees, the territory in which he operates, and shares with them both results and worries. The relationship he holds with the local authorities is far closer and more direct than that of a large business.The present study examines a group of small and medium-sized companies belonging to various industrial sectors and operating in the Emilia Romagna region in Italy. It has the following objectives:* to identify the various actions of social responsibility adopted by the companies and analyse the motives that lead companies to their initiatives; and* to define an initial reference model for the SMEs in which the instruments and basic policies for the implementation of social responsibility are defined and hence clarify the role that such initiatives play in each company's attempts to render its operations competitively advantageous.After analysing pertinent literature and determining a social responsibility model, the working methodology has been organized into three phases:1. analysis and development of a \"grid of values\" to use as a support for the model;2. drafting and drawing up of a questionnaire for the retrieval of information; and3. defining of the sample companies to be analysed.\nCorporate social responsibility and theoretical reference model: It is clear from the literature examined that the problems surrounding social responsibility are problems that concern the way a company is governed and run as well as the kind of relations it holds with its stakeholders.In the entrepreneurial world the choice of aims to be pursued is a matter that is frequently trivialized and does not receive the attention it deserves. The objectives of a company are taken for granted and are identified, from case to case, with the profit or the production of wealth or the creation of value for the shareholders; and the matter ends there (Coda, 2002).Which is the objective that administrators and managers should pursue? Should it be that of making the maximum profit or should the objective be a vaster one, in order to create value for all the stakeholders? In the latter case, what does this vaster objective consist in? Who are the stakeholders of the company and what are their expectations regarding value? Are the responsibilities of administrators and managers only those established by law or do these people have further responsibilities in addition to the legal ones, namely responsibilities of a ethical and social nature which oblige them to serve their customers' needs in the best way possible, to respect and make the most of collaborators, to participate in environmental issues beyond the limits prescribed by law, and so forth?Important contributions to the subject have been obtained thanks to the studies carried out by Carroll, who classifies corporate social responsibility into four classes (Carroll, 1979):1. Economic responsibility. The primary aim of any company is to make profit: without profit it is destined to close down. For this reason the company has, above everything else, an economic responsibility and only subsequent to this can any other kind of responsibility be taken into consideration. To honour this economic responsibility the company has the obligation to manufacture the goods and services society needs and sell them, thereby generating a profit.2. Legal responsibility. Companies operate within a society that has specific regulations, laws and standards of behaviour; society expects companies to respect these throughout their business activity.3. Ethical responsibility. The two classes of responsibility analysed above follow ethical codes of behaviour that society defines in the form of laws or by means of explicit expectations that companies cannot ignore and disappoint. By undertaking a moral responsibility companies voluntarily decide to satisfy certain expectations that, despite their not being explicit or backed up by regulations, are nevertheless expectations that society wants business to fulfil. Therefore, such expectations regarding the behaviour of companies transcend mere economic and legal considerations.4. Discretionary responsibility. Companies satisfy, once again voluntarily, expectations that have not yet become apparent in its interlocutors; it is the companies that anticipate needs and necessities and they satisfy them before they actually arise.With regard to the economic and legal areas, analysis of the same can be consulted in the copious literature available.The present study concentrates entirely on the moral area of responsibility. The aim is to ascertain in what measure both small and medium-sized businesses exercise this kind of social responsibility with respect to their stakeholders.Certain considerations will also be developed, in terms of data analysis, regarding the philanthropic area.\nData and methods: Analysis and development of a \"grid of values\" to be used as a support for the model\nEmpirical results: The most widely-diffused social behaviour and instruments\nThe \"socially responsible\" companies: In the data analysis process we have considered it opportune to select those companies most sensitive to the social responsibility issue in order to succeed in carrying out a more significant enquiry. Two categories of company have therefore been identified:1. companies that adopt a \"socially responsible\" behaviour with respect to their own stakeholders; and2. companies that do not adopt a \"socially responsible\" behaviour.Referring to the previously described grid we define companies as \"socially responsible\" those that demonstrate social behaviour satisfisfying the expectations of at least half of the value classes identified for each stakeholder[4]. Since for each value class different possibilities have been foreseen, we have considered even \"a single\" positive reply from the company as sufficient enough, and hence the adoption of a single social behaviour or instrument inside each class sufficient enough, to register as satisfied the stakeholder's expectation relative to that value class.The analysis has its limitations, typical of the explorative phase that characterizes this first level of study. First of all the questionnaire was addressed to and compiled by the managers of the companies of the selected sample. The data obtained represent the self-assessment of SME management responses, therefore almost impossible to be verified. Another limitation consists in the fact that the result could be more significant if we were to assign \"relative weights\" to each social behaviour or instrument. However, such an approach lies outside the objectives and the research methodology adopted in this work; the in-depth study of the expectations of the stakeholders, carried out with these persons as principal interlocutors in the process of analysis will constitute the successive phase of the study. Finally, the sample examined is homogeneous only with respect to size, in that they are all small and medium-sized companies, and with respect to territory; otherwise the companies belong to different industrial sectors. On the other hand, the expectations of the stakeholders vary, and not only according to the industrial sector, but also with regard to the territory in question and the period in which the analysis is made (Chrisman and Carroll, 1984; Meznar et al., 1992).On the basis of the described methodology, we identify 39 companies that adopt a \"socially responsible\" behaviour (63 percent), and 23 that do not adopt a \"socially responsible\" behaviour (37 percent) (see Figure 9).It is interesting to note how out of the 39 companies that, according to our method of analysis, adopt a \"socially responsible\" behaviour, 20 companies (51 percent) declare that they only do it for ethical reasons (the question used to obtain this information is: \"Which are the motives that made your company adopt social policies? and the companies simply answered: \"Ethical motives from the top people in the company\"). Fourteen companies combine \"ethical motivation\" with \"other motives\" too: to increase market share, to improve company image, to improve relationships with employees, to improve relations with the community; this shows that the companies have understood the importance of adopting a socially responsible behaviour if one wants to obtain an advantage over competitors.Those companies that declare their social operations are only as a result of \"other motives\", mainly for the enhancement of their image, are all (except for one) companies that, according to our methodology, do not turn out to be \"socially responsible\". Such an outcome is an encouraging one for the methodology we have used in order to establish which companies are \"socially responsible\" and which are not: it is very difficult that a company pursuing image-related objectives alone and with no ethical motivations at all can be termed as \"socially responsible\".Finally, among the 13 companies that do not reply to the question regarding their motives, on the basis of our methodology, four of these can be retained as \"socially responsible\" (see Figure 10).This result confirms the assertions of certain authors but also those of some entrepreneurs, according to whom small and medium-sized companies are, in their very nature, \"unknowingly\" socially responsible.Analysis of future company orientation\nConclusions: During the course of the study we have defined as \"socially responsible\" those companies whose objective is to satisfy, in terms of an integration, the expectations of its interlocutors, by means of the voluntary adoption of various kinds of behaviour and instruments suitable for the achievement of social value.In our opinion, there are two aspects that characterize the contribution the present research methodology brings:1. the integrated approach towards all the interlocutors; and2. the analysis and development of \"value classes\" to measure the creation of social value.With regard to the integrated approach, this study has dealt with the subject of social responsibility with reference to the creation of social value for all the company stakeholders. The models and empirical studies existing on the subject (Aupperle et al., 1985; Joyner and Payne, 2002) neglect this approach, privileging the creation of social value for the environment alone or for the employees, or otherwise concentrate their analysis only on the philanthropic component which, as already mentioned, is moreover considered by us as being insufficient for the definition of a \"socially responsible\" company.In fact, as there is no integrated approach, there exists no model in the literature that summarises the expectations of the stakeholders and the associated categories of value for these expectations. The \"grid of values\" developed in the present study constitutes a first level of such a model and a useful reference for the development of future research.The empirical contribution has been obtained by referring to a group of SMEs operating in the Bologna province territory.On the basis of the analysis carried out using data collected from the company sample, it has been possible to identify the principal managerial instruments used by the companies for the creation of social value. In addition, it has been possible to identify those companies (approximately 63 percent) that adopt an integrated social responsibility approach.The majority of small and medium-sized companies we have analysed have therefore perceived the social responsibility concept and welcome it not only because they have moral or ethical reasons for doing so (as is declared by 51 percent of the companies examined), but also because they maintain that this contributes to the growth of the company's own value, by means of an improvement in company image, ensures the fidelity of customers and an improvement in relationships with employees and with the local community.\"A number of companies with good social and environmental records indicate that these activities can result in better performance and can generate more profits and growth\" (Commission of the European Communities, 2001); \"(...) social activity can lead to economic rewards and business should attempt to create such a favorable situation\" (Chrisman and Carroll, 1984).No direct link has yet been demonstrated between social responsibility and economic reward; in existing literature authors express varying opinions, at times contradictory, on the subject (Sturdivant and Ginter, 1977; Cochran and Wood, 1984; Meznar et al., 1992; Wood, 2000). The relationship between social performance and company profitability constitutes, at present, one of the main subjects of study and research on the theme of social responsibility. However, apart from the recognition of a direct link with the achievement of higher profit, it is clear that companies witness the market's request for greater efforts on their part with reference to risks concerning product quality, but also with respect to risks connected with their manufacturing impact on the environment, health and safety and social responsibility directed at their employees.Italian companies do not seem at all impervious to these requests: Italy is in fact avant-garde in the acquisition of Standard SA8000 and companies are beginning to circulate its first corporate social audit and ethical codes. Initially, the relative investment was made above all by the large companies (Granarolo, Palmera, Eni, Agip, Enel, Coop), but this is now spreading, as was found during the study, to the small; 10 percent of the companies examined produce a social audit, and one of the companies also holds the SA8000 certificate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The research has the following objectives: to contribute to a clear understanding of the present social commitment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), analyzing the characteristics of CSR in them; making it easier to identify, develop and spread the instruments suitable to the SME specific demands in the creation of social value.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Surveys a set of SMEs, belonging to different industrial fields and operating on the Italian territory in the region Emilia Romagna.\nFindings: - On the basis of the analysis carried out in the paper, it has been possible to identify the principal managerial instruments used by the companies for the creation of social value and to identify those companies (approximately 63 percent of the reference sample) that adopt an integrated social responsibility approach. The majority of SMEs analysed have therefore perceived the social responsibility concept and welcome it, not only because they have moral or ethical reasons for doing so, but also because they maintain that this contributes to the growth of the company's own value.\nPractical implications: - As there is no integrated approach, there exists no model in the literature that summarises the expectations of the stakeholders and the associated categories of value for these expectations. The \"grid of values\" developed in the present study constitutes a first level of such a model and a useful reference for the development of future research.\nOriginality/value: - In the opinion of the authors, two aspects characterize the contribution of the present research methodology: the integrated approach towards all the interlocutors; and the analysis and development of \"value classes\" to measure the creation of social value.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational change and development: The efficacy of transformational leadership training	[ "United States of America", "Manufacturing industries", "Productivity rate", "Transformational leadership", "Management development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A recurring theme in contemporary management literature is that fundamental shifts in the nature of competition will require new and more effective leadership responses (Bennis, 2001; Hitt, 2000; Zahara, 1998; Hitt et al., 1998; Bettis and Hitt, 1995; D'Aveni, 1994; Kanter and Stonham, 1994). This call for leadership transformation has been heard before. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the ascendancy of the Japanese and German export-based economies, along with vexing macroeconomic conditions, created generalized concerns and a loss of confidence in American firms' ability to remain competitive in global markets (Peters and Waterman, 1982). Adherence to traditional forms of organization and management was seen as a recipe for commercial disaster (Hayes and Abernathy, 1980). The means by which leaders could transform and revitalize organizations dominated the interest of many management researchers (Yukl, 1989).\nLiterature review: Burns' (1978) seminal study of leaders of large-scale political systems undergoing radical and destabilizing change attracted considerable attention. He opined that leadership could be characterized as either transacting or transforming, with the latter much more effective than the former. This theory attracted considerable attention among management researchers who sought to explore its validity and applicability to other forms of organization. Utilizing factor analysis, Bass (1985a) operationalized transformational leadership as being a composite of charisma (later described as idealized influence), intellectual stimulation, individualized attention, and inspirational motivation, factors that have become known as the four I's of transformational leadership. These four I's are part of a full range of leadership (Avolio, 1999; Bass and Avolio, 1990) describing a range of influence styles characterized on passive-active and ineffective-effective continuums.Bass's work inspired numerous studies, across a wide variety of organizational settings, on the efficacy of transformational leadership (Bass, 1985b; Bass et al., 1987; Avolio et al., 1988; Hater and Bass, 1988; Atwater and Yammarino, 1993; Howell and Avolio, 1993; Yammarino et al., 1993; Sosik, 1997). These works, like virtually all the transformational leadership studies, have been correlational in nature. They consistently support the contention that the use of transformational leadership behaviors is strongly associated with various measures of organizational effectiveness (Lowe et al., 1996).Bass (1998) reported that numerous intervention efforts use the transformational and full-range leadership typology and that it is clear that transformational leadership can be effectively taught. However, despite the considerable evidence that transformational leadership seems to have on desired organizational outcomes, only a handful of well-done studies explore the degree to which transformational leadership behaviors can be taught and efficaciously deployed.At least two studies (Howell and Frost, 1989; Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1996) utilizing experimental designs and student subjects have concluded that transformational leadership is a significant predictor of performance. Studies with more specific efforts to develop transformational leadership skills include one conducted by Crookall (1989), who reported significant increases in productivity and personal growth variables among prison inmates whose supervisors had attended a transformational leadership training workshop. However, no commentary is provided as to the extent to which transformational leadership behaviors had increased among the supervisors. Popper et al. (1992) concluded that a transformational leadership training program for Israeli infantry cadets resulted in increased commitment among participants; however, the ability to generalize results are limited by certain analytical issues and reliance on self-reported dependent variables.Avolio and Bass (1994) reported on a large-scale, quasi-experimental pre- and post-test program in which several hundred community leaders were provided with transformational leadership training. Significant increases in two self-reported elements of transformational leadership and two subordinate-rated elements were observed between the pre- and post-training assessments. Although only 16.5 percent of the pre-test participants were available for the post-test, their reports of the impact of their training on organizational outcomes tended to be very positive.A more recent study, with stronger research designs, by Barling et al. (1996) utilized a quasi-experiment to assess the effects of short duration transformational leadership training on bank managers. Barling et al. concluded that the training resulted in significant effects on subordinates' perceptions of leaders' transformational leadership, organizational commitment, and two aspects of financial performance in their branches. In another field study, Dvir et al. (2002) reported significantly more positive personal development and performance among followers whose leaders went through transformational leadership training than those whose leaders received eclectic leadership training. Parry and Sinha (2005) put 50 mid-level managers through a training program intended to increase each of the previously described elements of transformational leadership and reported increases in each (as stated by 500 raters), as well as increases in follower extra effort and effective goal setting.To be sure, the transfer of ideas or management concepts into the day-to-day behaviors of working leader-managers has been one of the most persistent and vexing problems confronting managers and management interested in increasing performance (Fisher et al., 1987; McCall et al., 1988; Tetrault et al., 1988; Waters, 1980; Conger and Benjamin, 1999; Day, 2000). It may be the case that transformational leadership training presents a particularly vexing challenge in being transferred to the operating surfaces of the workplace. In the original validation studies of transformational leadership, almost 60 percent of the explanatory power of the transformational leadership model was attributed to the idealized influence (charisma) factor (Bass, 1990). Unlike intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation, charisma tends to be viewed by followers more in terms of a personal attribute of the leader (Bass and Avolio, 1993) than a behavior that is amenable to training (Bass, 1998).At this point, the strong correlation of transformational leadership behaviors with desired organizational outcomes seems well established. Groups or organizations across a wide variety of settings report a strong positive relationship between the presence of transformational leadership, performance, and other organizational outcomes. What is less well understood or conclusively established in the literature is the extent to which organizations seeking to change themselves are able to do so by increasing the levels of transformational leadership behavior among the current leadership and management team.\nBackground: A manufacturing unit in a large international technology company had made major investments in new capital equipment, attempting to improve productivity and better position themselves in a dynamic and hypercompetitive marketplace. As the new equipment came on line, expected productivity improvements were not realized. Initially, top management's intuition was that the productivity shortfalls were rooted in the industrial engineering of work processes. Several different forms of work arrangements were tried, none of which had a significantly positive impact on productivity. Under intense market and corporate pressure to increase productivity, management called upon academic-based consultants to assist them in assessing the role human factors played in their manufacturing operation and to provide a program to positively impact those factors.The first part of our study, referred to as the base-line study, examines the extent to which the positive correlational relationship among transformational leadership, organizational outcomes, and productivity, extensively reported in the leadership literature, can be affirmed. The objectives in this part of the study were to determine the extent to which the relationships between certain leadership behaviors were associated with productivity and organizational outcomes, permitting a comparison to the previously cited correlational studies on transformational leadership.The second part of the study, the intervention period, is clearly more important and significant, describing a year-long leadership development program which had the objective of raising transformational leadership levels among supervisors and managers in a large manufacturing organization. This study takes its place as one of the few reported attempts, and perhaps the first with objective productivity measures, to examine the extent to which transformational leadership behavior can actually be increased in an organization and the impact of those changes on productivity and organizational outcomes.\nHypotheses: Hypotheses for the base-line study\nMethod: The base-line study\nSummary and conclusions: A strong relationship between contingent reward and transformational leadership and desired organizational outcomes is well established in the literature, and is confirmed by this study. Bass (1998) has reported that working leader/managers can be taught the precepts of contingent reward and transformational leadership. The notion that organizations could train their managers to utilize these leadership behaviors to impact organizational outcomes is intuitively satisfying but heretofore unexamined in an industrial setting in which objective productivity measures were available.The main findings of this study are:(1) contingent reward and transformational leadership were shown to be significantly correlated with productivity in a large manufacturing setting;(2) an intensive year long transformational leadership development and training program resulted in significant increases in contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors among first-line supervisors; and(3) the increases in transformational leadership were accompanied, in an otherwise stable and unchanged operating environment, by significant increases in productivity and satisfaction with supervision.The success of the transformational leadership development process described in this study may have been catalyzed by several factors:(1) the intense competitive pressure the organization was feeling, which was probably sufficient to unfreeze the situation and make employees ready for change;(2) a high degree of personal involvement and the publicly intense commitment and involvement of the top manager to making changes in his own leadership behavior;(3) the quantitative feedback from the base-line study, which helped to convince managers and supervisors of the efficacy of contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors; and(4) a strong contingency between demonstrated efforts to improve contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors and access to organizational rewards.The large sample, the pre- and post-test design of the study and the fortuitously stable nature of the environment during the transformational leadership development intervention provide strong support for the notion that not only is transformational leadership capacity beneficial to an organization, it also can be developed and increased. The ability to generalize the results may be limited by the fact that the study is from a single industry; however, the results should be of interest to those seeking to develop the leadership capacity of individuals and/or organizations. Additional studies from a variety of industries with large numbers of participants will be helpful in more fully understanding the ways in which contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors can best be developed and deployed in organizational settings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The correlation between transformational and contingent reward leadership behaviors and desired organizational outcomes is well established. The degree to which these behaviors can be taught and deployed for organizational benefit is considerably less well documented. Explored even less is the extent to which transformational leadership training impacts desired organizational outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the positive correlational relationship among transformational leadership, organizational outcomes, and productivity, extensively reported in the leadership literature, can be affirmed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A large manufacturing organization, which had failed to achieve expected productivity improvements following major capital expenditures, undertook a comprehensive program to increase first-line supervisors' contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors.\nFindings: - Consistent with prior studies, a significant positive relationship between the leadership behaviors of interest, affective measures, and an objective productivity metric were observed prior to the beginning of the training program. Following a year-long training program, contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors increased significantly, as did objectively measured productivity and job satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Results and conclusions may be limited by the fact that the study is from a single industry. Additional studies from a variety of industries with large numbers of participants will be helpful in more fully understanding the ways in which contingent reward and transformational leadership behaviors can best be developed and deployed in organizational settings.\nPractical implications: - The elements of the training program are discussed, along with implications and advice for the use of leadership training to increase productivity.\nOriginality/value: - An objective dependent variable and a large sample, pre- and post-test design provide strong support for the impact of a transformational leadership development intervention on productivity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Russian S&T Foresight 2030: identifying new drivers of growth	[ "Foresight", "Russia", "Grand challenges", "Science and technology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past decade, both developed and emerging economies have faced a number of challenges that can hardly be responded with traditional policy instruments. Science and technology (S&T) and innovation, being a key driver of socio-economic development, in particular requires smart, well-informed and transparent policies aimed at fostering competitive advantages under conditions of emerging new markets, breakthrough technologies and alternative business models, consequent dramatic changes in the composition of global value chains and gradually fading traditional businesses. Using S&T Foresight as a tool for anticipatory evidence-based polices has been a major trend in both development and emerging economies across the world during the recent decades (Meissner et al., 2013; Gokhberg et al., 2016; Miles et al., 2017). It is used to shape S&T and innovation policies, particularly by setting priorities for allocating R&D funding, designing appropriate institutional frameworks and economic mechanisms and making better informed strategic decisions in the light of those priorities. Obviously, in identifying the priorities and establishing criteria for their selection, one must keep in mind the \"big picture\" of the future, grand challenges and allied major windows of opportunity, technological wild cards and the available S&T capacities. Such a level of complexity requires use of Foresight at the national level with the involvement of key stakeholders and experts representing all S&T areas, as well as the sectors of the economy (Zweck et al., 2014).\n2. Methodology: The methodology applied in the S&T Foresight-2030 combined both \"traditional\" instruments widely applied in international practices and novel tools that were developed to address particular issues specific for the study. One of the major methodological problems was to find a proper balance between long-term challenges to be addressed and available resources required to respond to these challenges. A combination of \"market pull\" and \"technology push\" approaches was used to choose R&D areas that would be required for developing relevant \"technology packages\" and innovative products/services with a promise of major economic and social effects (Figure 2).\n3. Results: The Foresight study identifies future-oriented S&T areas and results to be achieved, which may serve as drivers of economic competitiveness and potential Russia's \"entry points\" to global value chains to increase its niches in global markets (see Figure 3). The study has also revealed a number of \"white spots\" where domestic S&T is significantly lagging behind the world leaders. The results of the S&T Foresight-2030 were mentioned in the annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly[1]. A high-level Interdepartmental Commission on Technology Foresight established in April 2013 was headed by the Minister of Education and Science and included top-level officials from government agencies, heads of large high-tech companies and leading research centres and universities. It has been playing an important role in establishing and promoting the overall national S&T Foresight system. The S&T Foresight-2030 recommendations were discussed at the commission meetings with a focus on their wide dissemination and implementation. Furthermore, this study was listed by the OECD amongst six recent national and international Foresight exercises for the purpose of mapping emerging technologies for the future (OECD, 2016).\n4. Conclusions: The results of the S&T Foresight-2030 have been widely discussed at regular high-level expert panels, series of national and international conferences and workshops. The dissemination of results included numerous presentations at the sites of federal and regional authorities, development institutions, business associations, companies, technology platforms, innovative regional clusters, domestic and foreign universities and research centres and international organisations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the recent Russian Science and Technology Foresight - a full-fledged study targeted at the identification of the most promising areas of science and technology (S&T) development in Russia towards 2030 to ensure the realisation of the nation's competitive advantages. It was organised as a complex project involving dozens of organizations performing particular tasks under the overall coordination by the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) and more than 2,000 experts in various S&T fields.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Its methodology embraced a set of qualitative and quantitative methods and combined technology push and market pool approaches. For seven S&T areas (information and communication technologies, biotechnologies, medicine and health, new materials and nanotechnologies, rational use of nature, transportation and space systems, energy efficiency and energy saving), the following types of results have been obtained: global trends, national challenges and windows of opportunities; new markets and niches; innovation products and services; prospective technologies and R&D fields (50 thematic groups, over 1,000 items for all areas); assessment of the country's positions vis-a-vis global leaders; recommendations for S&T and innovation policies.\nFindings: The paper covers prospective drivers of economic growth and relevant implications for anticipatory evidence-based policy; discussions of national challenges and building a common vision of the future among key stakeholders; the role of Foresight in particular as a communication platform that helps integrating stakeholder interests; strengthening existing and developing new capacities to increase national competitiveness; and to move up along existing and emerging global value chains.\nOriginality/value: The Russian S&T Foresight, being deeply integrated in the national policy, can be considered as an exemplar tool for \"wiring up\" the national innovation system (NIS) of an emerging economy with its specific features and problems facing large-scale challenges.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Most courses are not born digital : An overview of the Quality Matters peer review process for online course design	[ "Higher education", "Standards", "Learning", "E-learning", "Design", "Quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today's students may have been \"born digital,\" but most courses were not. While students graduating from high school today may not remember a time before computers, their courses are probably being taught by faculty that most certainly do. And even innovative faculty may not be aware of best practices for using digital technologies to enhance hybrid or totally online courses. Such best practices do Not include uploading a slide presentation that could be a useful tool in a face-to-face presentation but in an online environment becomes \"death by PowerPoint.\" Brilliant content experts and gifted lecturers are not necessarily knowledgeable about tools that will enhance online learning and the resources that online students must have access to. But the growth of online learning is not the first time that a change in technology has led to the prediction of an overhaul of education.\nFrom on ground to online: benefits and barriers: In the past it was predicted \"Books will soon be obsolete in the schools. Scholars will be instructed through the eye [...]. Our school system will be completely changed in 10 years\" (Saettler, 1990, p. 98). This prediction was made over 100 years ago, in 1913, by Thomas Edison. While Edison was talking about the motion picture, similar predictions are being made about digital content and online learning, and bookstores and print media are going out of business as digital consumers learn to access information in alternative ways. As usual, emerging technologies introduce both benefits and barriers.\nThe history of Quality Matters (QM): The exponential growth in online course offerings, coupled with the concerns of administrators and faculty, has motivated the development of standards encouraging quality in an online environment. Several systems have emerged, but that which has gained the most traction in the USA is QM (www.qualitymatters.org).\nThe QM rubric for higher education: While QM has copyrighted its rubric, it is possible to share the eight general standards of the 2011-2013 rubric, each of which is associated with from four to eight specific standards for a total of 41. Each of the specific standards is explained in the Rubric Workbook that is offered to participants in the entry-level workshop, \"Applying the Quality Matters Rubric\" (APPQMR). This rubric can be used to guide instructors who are developing brand new online or blended courses, converting on-ground courses to online, or improving existing online courses. It is also used by reviewers conducting a QM course review. All of the standards are written so that faculty and reviewers are encouraged to approach a course through student eyes. In the Rubric Workbook, detailed annotations on each specific standard provide more information and examples of situations that would or would not meet QM expectations.\nThe QM peer review process: The QM rubric can be used informally to guide online course design or conduct internal, unofficial course reviews. In addition, it can be used for official QM reviews by a trained peer review team that can QM certify courses that \"meet expectations\" by demonstrating appropriate alignment among course components and other elements of good course design.\nThe Ohio QM Consortium (OQMC): The Ohio Quality Matters Consortium (2014) is a statewide system that has demonstrated both commitment to the QM program and innovation in leveraging shared resources to manage reviews at a state level.\nFuture directions: As online learning grows, more courses are being born digital, and courses that were not born digital are converting with varying degrees of success. Simultaneously, faculty, administrators, and students are seeking assurance that online courses represent the same quality expected in face-to-face offerings. This is even more important for the newest version of the online course, Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which have the capacity to reach tens of thousands of students simultaneously. As Mazoue (2013) points out, \"Addressing the quality of the learning experience that MOOCs provide is [...] of paramount importance to their credibility and acceptance\".\nConclusion: A program such as QM offers multiple benefits. With respect to any type of online offerings, assurances of quality that are recognized by all shareholders in education - including institutions, faculty, students, and potential employers - can facilitate student degree completion by allowing a seamless transfer of credits. The New America Foundation points out two additional benefits: a shared-contract approach, such as that of state consortia, can make program administration more affordable (Fishman, 2013, p. 14), and QM emphasis on course design can encourage faculty buy-in since faculty are clearly left in control of course content (p. 37). Importantly, a growing number of research studies are finding positive effects of QM implementation on learner satisfaction, student learning, professional growth, and impact on organizations (Shattuck, 2012). The QM approach to course design and peer review is encouraging a culture of innovation and best practices that can make education even more accessible, more affordable, and more successful for students.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss benefits of and barriers to online learning and describe utilization of the Quality Matters (QM) peer review process as a method to assure the quality of online courses. It outlines the QM higher education rubric, explains how the collaborative QM peer review process facilitates online course design and certification, reports on the development of a statewide consortium in Ohio, and explores future directions in online courses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper offers a brief historical review of the incorporation of technology into teaching and learning. It describes attitudes toward online learning and the creation of the non-profit QM program as a vehicle for improving online course design. It summarizes the eight standards of the QM rubric, describes the QM peer review process, and discusses the implementation of the Ohio QM Consortium (OQMC) as a shared services model.\nFindings: Given existing barriers to online learning, the QM program can improve learning outcomes by offering best practices in online course design, validating the quality of online courses, encouraging faculty buy-in through a focus on design rather than content, and facilitating degree completion through recognition of quality courses.\nPractical implications: Institutions that seek to validate online course quality in a cost-effective manner can explore a shared services model such as that developed by the OQMC.\nOriginality/value: This paper introduces to an international audience a program and process, widely implemented in the USA, which encourages inter-institutional cooperation and promotes a supportive culture among online educators.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Inequality aversion, social discount, and time discount rates	[ "Inequality aversion", "Social discount", "Time discount", "Japan", "Stochastic games", "Individual behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Economists have long assumed that homo economicus is only concerned with its own payoff. However, with the development of behavioral economics, economists have come to understand that altruism cannot be completely excluded either from laboratories or from an understanding of the real economy. A good example that shows the existence of altruism is a comparison between ultimatum and dictator game experiments. Ultimatum games involve a giver or dictator (D) and a recipient (R); a certain sum of money is the value of the gain from exchange that would be lost if R rejects the offer. D offers share s to R, leaving himself with the remainder, 1-s. R can either accept the offer or reject it, in which case both receive nothing. The previous literature found that most offers are between 0.4 and 0.5 of the surplus; there are almost no offers below 0.2, and the low offers are frequently rejected. Dictator games are different from ultimatum games because R's ability to reject an offer is removed. The first comprehensive surveys of both games (Forsythe et al., 1994) indicated that D offers on average about 20 percent, which is much lower than the figure in ultimatum games but still remains positive.Behavioral economics has recently investigated social preferences as well as time and risk preferences. Fehr and Schmidt (1999) modeled fairness as self-centered inequality aversion. In the inequality aversion model, one's utility is determined by one's own payoff and by distributive inequality: the larger the inequality between oneself and the opponent is, the lower one's utility is. Concurrently with inequality aversion research, social discounting research has been accumulated (Jones and Rachlin, 2006, 2009). In this literature, social distance is defined as the degree of reciprocity that subjects believe exists within a social interaction. The social distance, therefore, indicates how close subjects (friends, friends of friends, and so on) are to each other. Altruistic behavior decreases with social distance, which is predicted by the inverse distance law of giving (Goeree et al., 2010). Much research has been conducted based on the following factors and procedures:* \"earned\" right to become the dictator (Hoffman et al., 1994);* double and single blind procedures (Hoffman et al., 1996);* silent identification and face-to-face communication (Bohnet and Frey, 1999);* complete double blind procedure (Johannesson and Persson, 2000);* picture viewing procedure (Burnham, 2003);* poverty and medicine instead of money (Branas-Garza, 2006);* degree of anonymity and gender (Dufwenberg and Muren, 2006);* opportunity to make a request (Rankin, 2006);* family name of recipient (Charness and Gneezy, 2008);* request and communication effects (Yamamori et al., 2008);* gender and expectations (Aguiar et al., 2009);* directed altruism and future interaction (Leider et al., 2009);* friendship networks (Goeree et al., 2010); and* social integration (Branas-Garza et al., 2010).Note that although inequality aversion and social discounting are both social preferences, they are clearly differentiated. The results of dictator games indicate that D offers a certain share even to a stranger. Such altruism can be explained by inequality aversion. Interestingly, the share that D offers to R increases if R is no longer a stranger but an acquaintance. This phenomenon can be explained by social discounting. This paper proposes a method for simultaneously estimating the inequality aversion rate and the social discount rate.In addition, this paper integrates the time discount rate estimation with the simultaneous estimation of the inequality aversion rate and the social discount rate[1]. Some previous studies have simultaneously investigated time and social discounting (Rachlin and Jones, 2008b). This paper is the first to explicitly measure the inequality aversion rate, the time discount rate, and the social discount rate in the inequality aversion model. We conducted dictator game experiments with social distance and time delays using conjoint analysis. Responses from 1,347 Japanese adults were collected through online surveys, and their responses were analyzed using a random parameter logit (RPL) model.We obtained the following results. First, the marginal utility derived from one's own income is twice as large as the marginal utility derived from inequality aversion. This means that one will be better off if the change in one's own income is more than half of the change in inequality. Second, social preferences for a stranger's present income equal social preferences for the income of an acquaintance 140 days later, of a close friend 224 days later, and of a family member 255 days later. Third, these social preference parameters are correlated with each other as well as with individual characteristics such as gender and age.The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 explains the survey design. Section 3 formalizes our dictator game, which considers both social and time discounting in its conjoint analysis. Section 4 displays the estimation results for the substitution between own income and social preferences and between the social preferences. After discussing the general implication in Section 5, Section 6 provides concluding remarks.\n2 Survey and data: 2.1 Various dictator game experiments\n3 Dictator game with social discounting and time discounting: 3.1 Conjoint analysis\n4 Analysis results: 4.1 Substitutability between own income and social preference terms\n5 Discussion: 5.1 Correlations between the social preference parameters\n6 Conclusion: This paper investigated a hypothetical dictator game that considered social discounting and time discounting in combination and that also simultaneously estimated the following social preference parameters: the inequality aversion rate, the social discount rate, and the time discount rate. First, we measured the MRS between own income and distributive inequality, between own income and social distance, and between own income and the time delay. Second, we measured the MRS between inequality and social distance, between inequality and the time delay, and between social distance and the time delay. The tradeoff between economic growth and distribution has been an important issue in macroeconomics. With the development of micro-econometrics, research on social preferences at the individual level has also been accumulated. The conclusions obtained in this paper will provide ample implications for policy discussions with respect to social preferences. However, some problems remain. For example, these results were based on particular assumptions regarding functional forms. Conducting the analysis with different functional forms will be a task for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to conduct a hypothetical dictator game with social distance and time delays using conjoint analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Responses from 1,347 Japanese adults are collected through an online survey, and their responses are analyzed using a random parameter logit model.\nFindings: - The paper finds that social preference for the present income of a stranger equals social preference for the income of an acquaintance 140 days later, of a close friend 224 days later, and of a family member 255 days later.\nOriginality/value: - The paper simultaneously estimates social preference parameters, including the inequality aversion rate, the social discount rate, and the time discount rate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The moderating effect of supervisor and coworker support for error management on service recovery performance and helping behaviors	[ "Error management", "Service recovery performance", "Coworker support", "Supervisor support", "Helping behaviours" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While there are many compelling reasons to pursue employment in the hospitality industry, the stressful nature of work in many operational settings is considered to be among the most significant concerns in the industry today (e.g. O'Neill and Davis, 2011). Hospitality jobs are stressful because of working long and irregular hours, lack of flexibility, strenuous working conditions, and competing demands from guests. As a result, mistakes and errors at work are inevitable, and their prevalence and severity may be more salient under stressful conditions (e.g. Hales and Pronovost, 2006). Therefore, effectively managing the service errors and failures is an operational priority.\nBackground and hypotheses development: Because service recovery strategies rely, in part, on the ability of front-line staff to correct service errors, it is critical to understand the key drivers of the employee behaviors needed for effective service recovery performances. As noted above, employee perceptions of support have been shown to influence a wide-range of employee- and firm-level outcomes, including indices of employee service performance. Based on organizational support theory and social exchange theory, empirical studies have indicated that employees who perceive high levels of organizational support, which is characterized as general beliefs about how much the organization values contributions and cares about their well-being (Rhoades et al., 2001), feel obligated to reciprocate through positive attitudes and behavior (Eisenberger et al., 1990; Moorman et al., 1998). In one meta-analysis of 73 studies, Rhoades and Eisenberger (2002) found strong evidence that perceived organizational support was significantly related to reduced employees strain, reduced withdrawal behavior, and high job involvement. In a more recent meta-analysis involving 167 studies, Riggle et al. (2009) found significant positive relationships between perceived organizational support and measures of employee task and contextual performance, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction, and negative relationships with intention to leave. There is even evidence that perceptions of organizational support may influence an individual's behavioral intentions to provide quality customer service (Schmit and Allscheid, 1995) and extend their support to others to ensure that appropriate service-related behaviors are ultimately delivered to customers (Susskind et al., 2003). In sum, perceptions of organization support have very broad implications for wide array of employee attitudes and behavior.\nMethod: Sample and procedures\nResults: Analytic strategy and preliminary analyses\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to amend and extend the emerging research that has utilized an employee-focused approach to examining the service recovery process. In doing so, the authors examine the influences of supervisor and coworker support for error management on two measures of employee service performance: service recovery performance and helping behaviors during service failure and recoveries. Specifically, this study examines the linear and non-linear interaction effects of supervisor and coworker support for error management on the outcome variables.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine the proposed relationships, the authors conducted a field study that utilized survey data from a sample of 243 restaurant employees and their immediate supervisors. Employee ratings of supervisor and coworker support for error management were matched with the data gathered for the two dependent variables (i.e. supervisory ratings of service recovery performance and helping behaviors). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the linear interaction effects on the outcome variables. To examine the non-linear interaction effects on the outcome variables the authors utilized polynomial regression and response surface modeling.\nFindings: The results showed that the interaction effects of supervisor and coworker support for error management was significantly positively related to both service recovery performance and helping behaviors. In addition, an alternative analysis of the shape of the interaction effects using polynomial regression and response surface modeling showed that the moderating effects may be better conceptualized as non-linear.\nOriginality/value: These findings offer new insights about the roles and impact of various forms of support in the service recovery process. First, the current study focuses specifically on supervisor and coworker support for error management and the impact on employees' service recovery performance and helping behaviors. Second, this research investigates the interaction effects of these two forms of support on service recovery performance and helping behaviors. Third, along with linear interaction effects, the current work examines non-linear interaction effects. These relationships examined in this study have not been tested before. Thus, the findings of this research make a unique contribution to research in service management. The findings of this study provide more prescriptive insights about the means to prevent and respond effectively to service errors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mobile apps usage by Malaysian business undergraduates and postgraduates: Implications for consumer behaviour theory and marketing practice	[ "Marketing", "Consumer behaviour", "Mobile apps", "Theory of planned behaviour", "Exploratory research", "Malaysian undergraduates and postgraduates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Mobile apps have been in the business and commerce, health and numerous other domains for a number of years now, all available on a variety of mobile platforms including smartphones, (the fastest growing) tablets, e-readers and laptops using mainly either Android or Apple platforms. Mobile devices are increasingly being used in the education environment (Chen and Denoyelles, 2013; Bomhold, 2013). Not only has this trend enabled \"consumption\" but also enabled \"discovery and production of content\" (Chen and Denoyelles, 2013). Bomhold (2013) found that the principle use of smartphones was for social and communication purposes, followed by search engines, tools and productivity, games, music, sports, referencing and hobbies. Song and Lee (2012), in their study on doctoral and masters international students found the principal uses were for communication (e.g. texts), social networking (e.g. Facebook), information (e.g. databases), entertainment (e.g. gaming) and other (e.g. shopping). Persaud and Azhar (2012) found that there were significant differences in the use of smartphones according to age. The younger consumers, including those in the undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) age groups, i.e. 18-25, tended to use smartphones for texting, taking photographs, social networking and viewing videos, whilst the older age groups, especially those aged between 35-54 years, favoured smartphone use for e-mail, maps, news and information. However, these findings were in contrast to those of Song and Lee (2012) who questioned whether UGs and PGs (despite both being in Persaud and Azhar's, 2012 \"younger\" age group) displayed similarities or differences in their use. There are still concerns over usability, connectivity, marketing, \"spam\" and trust in the use of mobile apps (Ku, 2012; Tan et al., 2012; Persaud and Azhar, 2012) and no more so, as the authors have been experiencing in their role as university tutors, in their use by UGs and PGs in higher education (HE).\nLiterature review: The following literature review looks at the three constructs of the TPB and identifies some key research which has been conducted, albeit in a quantitative way, on the numerous variables associated with these constructs, identified in Figure 1 and the introduction above.\nMethodology: The methodology used in this paper was based on a phenomenological approach, using a qualitative methods strategy. Qualitative research using case studies can also accommodate a rich variety of data source such as in-depth interviews, survey data, ethnographies, observation and archival data (Kapoulas and Mitic, 2012; Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). As a framework for the enquiry we used the TPB as it has been ubiquitously examined in numerous scholarly works related to mobile researches and where \"purchase\" or \"use\" is an outcome (e.g. Magrath and McCormick, 2013). The research reported on here, was mainly to populate the \"attitude\", \"subjective norms\" and \"perceived behavioural content\" constructs on the TPB model and to explore their effect on behaviour intention and actual use of mobile apps, using a qualitative approach rather than the more hypotheses testing approach. As the samples used were quite small, from one HEI only and the research was qualitative, the study can be regarded as exploratory in nature.\nAnalysis and discussion: Using Dey's (1993) theory-driven and data-driven categorisation, the analyses were based on TPB model as our basis for investigation and followed by the emerging themes. We found more commonalities than dissimilarities from both the UGs and PGs findings despite differences in terms of age, experiences and interest. The analysis of the results based on the sample of UG and PG respondents is given in Table AI. Whilst the results are based on the responses of all 20 UGs and PGs, where individual students have made notable comments, these have been identified and highlighted.\nImplications for theory and practice: Theoretical implications\nLimitations: The qualitative research described here has no exception to limitations in representation and sample homogeneity. As the study was based on one institution's participants from UG and PG programmes, it would not be representative of the population in Malaysia. Future researchers should reorient their focus on heterogeneity and geographical spread of respondents in addition to a follow-up positivist parameter, perhaps a cross-cultural study delineating on different demographic characteristics might generate a more meaningful result.\nConclusion: Our study, based on constructs from the TPB, highlighted the fact that attitude towards the usage of apps, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were very important constructs in the use, type and behaviour of mobile apps by UGs and PGs. Moreover, unlike a number of previous studies, our research showed there were many nuanced differences between the UGs and PGs in the variables making up the subjective norms and perceived behavioural control norm constructs but not so much the perceived attitude towards apps construct. This has implications for both theory and practice. Further quantitative research on a larger sample and in a cross-cultural context may reveal if this is a Malaysia wide or specific phenomenon. The authors, themselves, intend to conduct such research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This qualitative, exploratory study uses constructs from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and construct variables from literature, as a basis to ascertain similarities and differences in the behaviour by business undergraduates (UGs) and postgraduates (PGs) of mobile apps and the purpose of this paper is to suggest implications for consumer behaviour theory and marketing practice for the two groups of students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature informed us of the paucity of research on the relationship between behavioural theory and mobile apps usage in the Asia region. An exploratory and interpretivist approach, with thematic analysis, was employed to aid in data processing.\nFindings: The investigative outcomes highlighted more similarities than dissimilarities in terms of perceived attitude (e.g. mood, ethical guilt, familiarity, addiction) and more differences in perceived subjective norms (e.g. family, friends, classmates and teammates) and perceived users' behavioural control (e.g. promotional inducements, self-confidence) towards the usage of mobile apps exhibited by two different sets of data.\nResearch limitations/implications: Homogeneity of participants, small sample size and generalisability of results were the main concern, hence, it warrants further research. In addition a cross-cultural comparison would be beneficial which might generate more meaningful results.\nPractical implications: The research, albeit exploratory, serves as a guide for marketers and apps content providers to focus on usability of features and functions of apps as well as credibility, social context, timing, location, excitement of advertisements and promotional messages especially when marketing to the 18-30-age group. The research also shows that practitioners should be nuanced in their appeals to UGs and PGs.\nOriginality/value: Despite the provision of numerous mobile apps, this study, using the constructs of the TPB as a basis, offers a new insight into the reasons for, and usage of, specific and top popular apps (e.g. FB, Whatsapps and WeChat) Malaysian students used which reflects a varied behavioural dimension as opposed to planned behaviour.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Who are farm animal welfare conscious consumers?	[ "Typology", "Consumer preferences", "Farm animal welfare" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumers are increasingly concerned about farming practices that impact the welfare of farm animals (Mulder and Zomer, 2017). With varying degrees, these concerns exist for all major livestock species, i.e. beef cattle, dairy cattle, poultry, hogs, and in various contexts, i.e. housing conditions, feeding practices, expression of natural behaviour (Grandin, 2014a). At the same time, plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy backed by large capital investments are rapidly being developed (The Good Food Institute, 2018). Such alternative products are often marketed as healthier, more environmentally sustainable and better for animal welfare than products produced conventionally (Bryant et al., 2019), possibly impacting the market shares of conventional meat and dairy products.The effect of these changes in the food industry for stakeholders are further compounded by the multiple avenues through which consumers demand for higher standards can occur. The demand for higher farm animal welfare (FAW) standards can be expressed through private retail purchase decisions or through the support for ballot initiatives or legislation mandating higher standards. Consistent with the former, there are many retailer-led FAW schemes aimed at capturing higher private values expressed by consumers. Although a higher number of mandated FAW standards have historically existed in European food markets, this is rapidly changing (European Commission, 2007; Croney and Millman, 2007; Allender and Richards, 2010). In the USA, states such as California passed the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act in 2015 that banned the production and sale of shelled eggs from hens housed in battery cages. From 2002-2019, 11 other states passed legislation to phase out practices such as, battery cages, gestation crates and veal crates (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 2019).The challenge for the food industry is to provide the appropriate level of FAW commensurate with consumers' preferences and valuation. In reality, however, consumers are heterogeneous and what constitutes \"good\" welfare (for example) is likely to vary. Preferences are shaped by a complex interaction of: knowledge and perceptions about FAW, conflations between FAW and other desirable food attributes, desired levels of animal welfare (i.e. differences in \"satiation\"; see Thorslund et al., 2016) and the sense of consumer responsibility within the food system. The overall effect of these factors on consumption decisions varies across consumers in part with education, income, product preferences, the strength of moral and ethical considerations and country-specific contexts.Despite the expanding literature on consumer preferences for FAW, no systematic attempt has been made to examine the characteristics and features associated with consumers who express preference for higher FAW standards. Most of the relevant studies have been discipline-specific - either emphasizing the state (e.g. Grandin, 2014a) or the economic aspects of FAW (Clark et al., 2017), without a multi-disciplinary focus that highlights the broader implications for the industry. This paper attempts to fill this gap by examining the state of FAW and heterogeneous consumer preferences for it. The central question addressed is: based on the evidence from studies on consumer preferences for FAW, are there any common characteristics that distinguish consumers with higher FAW preferences? A systematic understanding of consumer demand for FAW is increasingly important to many food marketers, producers and other stakeholders in livestock supply chains (Lusk and Norwood, 2012). For example, in the creation of niche markets tailored to specific segments. The insights into FAW conscious consumers can also be relevant to policymakers and groups interested in changing the conditions of farm animals through legislation and political activism. Protecting consumer and producer interests on FAW issues in the food industry requires policy debates based on a sound knowledge of farming practices and consumer concerns about the well-being of farm animals.The rest of the article proceeds as follows. We provide a background of the state of FAW for different livestock species, followed by a conceptualization of how FAW standards can influence the food supply chain. The main section of our analysis is a typological review of the available literature on consumer preferences for FAW. A discussion of possible implications concludes the paper.\nBackground: Current animal welfare issues\nMaterials and methods: The aim of the study was to examine the existing literature on characteristics of consumers with higher preferences for FAW to generate new insights into its implications for food supply chains. Our search strategy was to identify research that undertook empirical assessments of consumers' preferences for FAW and examine sources of preference heterogeneity. Electronic databases (JSTOR, Science Direct and Google Scholar) were searched for phrases/keywords: \"animal welfare and consumer preference\" and \"willingness to pay for animal welfare\". The initial search was conducted in October 2018 and a later update in June 2019. Our search initial yielded 350 studies. Based on the inclusion of the search criteria in the title and/or the abstract, 76 papers were selected for full analysis. Upon reading the selected studies, excluding the studies of little relevance to the current objective yielded a final list of 52 papers. The two authors independently reviewed the papers and categorized the studies into different themes based on the characteristics of consumers identified in the studies. The authors collaboratively grouped the identified themes under their relevant headings.\nResults: Our classification of consumers based on FAW preferences is preceded by a review of consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for FAW. A large volume of studies has assessed consumers' interest and valuation of FAW. A previous review of literature by Clark et al. (2017) suggests that overall consumers have small, positive WTP for FAW, depending on the animal type, consumer motivations and region. To name a few, Heng et al. (2013) reported that 86 per cent of the respondents in the USA were willing to pay premiums for eggs produced under higher animal welfare standards (e.g. the mean premium of US$0.25 per dozen). Miranda-de la Lama et al. (2017) suggested high levels of interest in FAW among a sample of Mexican consumers; 68.2 per cent of consumers said they would pay more (an average of 6.3 per cent premium over the conventional price). Nocella et al. (2010) found that European consumers, especially French, German, and British consumers, are likely to pay premium prices for high FAW products. Ortega and Wolf (2018) reported that consumers in the USA were willing to pay significant premiums for products that met their animal welfare requirement. Schnettler et al. (2008a, b) found three consumer-segments (sensitive to natural raising [25.5 per cent], value-intensive raising [58.6 per cent], sensitive to animal welfare [15.4 per cent]) with the average WTP of 15.2 per cent for FAW above the baseline (Schnettler, 2008a, b). Thorslund et al. (2016) found that respondents in Sweden and Denmark, but not those in England, agreed that premiums associated with products with higher FAW were justifiable.Typology of farm animal welfare conscious consumers\nConcluding remarks: Public preferences for higher FAW standards drive the provision of FAW standards in food supply chains and impact the broad range of stakeholders along the supply chains. Any attainable changes in standards either as a consequence of direct market action or indirect policy and regulatory mechanisms are predicated on changes in knowledge, values and socio-demographic factors, which differ widely amongst consumers. Given this potentially important role of different sources of consumer heterogeneity, this study examined the existing body of literature on FAW with the objective of characterizing consumers with higher FAW preferences. We identified seven themes, which were further grouped into four categories: consumer demographics (age, education and income, gender, country and cross-cultural differences), ethics and attitudes (ethical and moral considerations), product characteristics (multi-trait preferences) and public roles (citizen versus consumer roles). We find that higher income and education generally translate into preferences for higher FAW standards, whereas the effect of age can depend on the context (e.g. species, country and specific FAW issue). The latter suggests that the role of younger consumers preferences for higher FAW standards in food supply chains, for example, may be dependent on the livestock species, specific FAW issue or country. The significant role of income and education points to the emergence, in the medium to long term, of higher demand for FAW in non-traditional markets as income increases in many parts of the world. Indeed, income is one of the most important determinants of preferences for higher FAW standards (Lagerkvist and Hess, 2011). Across countries, consumer interests in FAW are generally highest in Europe. Preferences in the USA were similar to those in Canada. There is a paucity of research on FAW in other parts of the world, which may suggest lower levels of interest. For lower-income countries, the apparent lack of interest in FAW may be simply the lack of purchasing power. This heterogeneity in FAW preferences across countries may also be partly due to the differences in regulatory regimes and awareness of FAW issues (Croney and Millman, 2007). This suggests that food suppliers/retailers operating in multiple may have opportunities to create differential FAW standards across countries to lower overall compliance costs after regulated standards have been met.The evidence from the existing body of work suggests that consumers tend to associate FAW with other desirable food attributes and exhibit composite preferences for FAW across different livestock species. With respect to the positive associations of FAW standards across species, ongoing supply-side collective efforts such as global animal partnerships aimed at improving FAW standards across species may inure to the benefit of all producers. Moreover, consumers tend to associate FAW with organic and food safety attributes and, to a lesser extent, environmental attributes. There are already efforts by various stakeholders to create composite labels for bundles of traits, for example, the new regenerative organic certification in the USA combines soil health, animal welfare and social fairness. Another key insight gleaned from the existing body of work is the dichotomy in public roles (consumer versus citizens) and the implications this has for FAW regulation in food supply chains. The citizen role denotes participation in the political process and advocacy functions that impact food standards, whilst the consumer role refers to marketplace decisions. The nature of the former role pertaining to the process of public opinion formation makes it particularly amendable to the influence of FAW advocacy groups (Grunert, 2006; Mulder and Zomer, 2017). It is connected with FAW issues of high social concern such as housing in poultry, stocking density and pig husbandry practices. The citizen role is also linked to higher incomes (Bennett and Blaney, 2002). For individual consumers, the valuation of the higher FAW standards attained through legislative instruments (such as referendum) tends to exceed the valuation of the same standards in private consumption decisions (Uehleke and Huttel, 2019). Such consumer-citizen gaps in FAW valuation can create under-funded mandates, or the instances where producers are mandated to adopt certain production practices that are not fully covered by premiums paid by consumers (Paul et al., 2019). Geographical variation in FAW standards, including those resulted from state-level referendums, can also create a cost disadvantage for producers in certain areas but not for others. There is also the potential for the commingling of citizen roles, moral and ethical considerations and activism for better FAW standards. These conditions suggest that it is important for the livestock industry to proactively manage public FAW expectations and concerns and also engage policy makers to reduce this any policy risk associated with the differences in consumer and citizen preferences.The outcomes presented in this study should be interpreted with some caveats in mind. Our review mostly focussed on empirical estimates of preferences for FAW attributes and the implications this has for the food industry. Other themes can be added as the scope of the analysis is widened. Our focus on specific consumer profiles as themes tends to mask the effect of interactions in consumer attributes. For example, the interaction between gender and ethical considerations may have non-additive effects that differ from the sum of the individual effects of these attributes. Moreover, as this is a rapidly expanding literature, our findings and implications drawn from them are subject to change over time. Future studies can consider such emerging trends as more work in those areas becomes available.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to synthesize the literature on consumer preferences for farm animal welfare (FAW), with an emphasis on characterizing consumers based on their FAW preferences. The objective is to provide insights into the salient characteristics associated with animal welfare conscious consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conduct a systematic review of the results of published research on consumer preferences for FAW. Approximately 350 papers were reviewed, and 52 were included in the analysis.\nFindings: The authors' review suggests that consumers are not homogenous in their preferences for FAW. The authors identify seven themes that enabled them to characterize consumers with higher FAW preferences. These themes (i.e. age, education and income, gender, country and cross-cultural differences, attitudes and consumer and citizen functions) are grouped under four main headings (socio-demographics, ethics and attitudes, product characteristics and public roles).\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors' synthesis reflects the findings reported in the literature to this date; the identified characteristics may change with time as new evidence becomes available.\nPractical implications: The information collected in this article would be useful to farmers and food and non-food retailers interested in effective product differentiation and marketing strategies regarding FAW standards. It can also inform policymakers about the state of consumer concerns for FAW.\nOriginality/value: To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study that attempts to develop a systematic profile of consumers based on their FAW preferences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is "entrepreneurship" the problem in entrepreneurship education?	[ "Entrepreneurship", "Employability", "New venture creation", "Assumption of similarity", "Enterprise for life" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The meaning of \"entrepreneurship\" in \"entrepreneurship education\" has not been clear. Robinson et al. (2016) and Jones and Matlay (2011), for instance, refer to its complexity and/or heterogeneity and several attempts have been made to categorise its various manifestations - for instance by Gibb (1993), Hytti and Kuopusjarvi (2004) and Hannon (2005). Could this lack of clarity be due to the word \"entrepreneurship\" itself because it has not been used to refer consistently to one specific phenomenon? Indeed Henry (2015), in considering the evaluation of entrepreneurship education, reminds us that Kilby used the analogy of A.A. Milne's heffalump when referring to entrepreneurship because it is a mythical creature which is \"never actually encountered and certainly not captured\" (p. 816).\nBackground: In 1998, in the first edition of their book Understanding Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Bridge et al. focussed more on enterprise than on entrepreneurship and, in asking \"what does enterprise mean?\", they explained that it was used in different ways with a spectrum of interpretations from the broad to the narrow. For the narrow \"economy school\", they reported, \"enterprise is what entrepreneurs do and entrepreneurs create businesses and jobs and wealth and those things all contribute to, indeed they comprise, the economy\", whereas the broader \"education school\" said that \"enterprise has a broader meaning and application than that\" and referred to individuals acting \"in an enterprising manner\" - including, but not limited to, \"business entrepreneurialism\" (Bridge et al., 1998, p. 22). When they did refer to entrepreneurship, it was generally associated with the narrower interpretation of enterprise referring to business creation and growth - although they also acknowledged that, especially in an education context, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial had a range of meanings referring sometimes to a set of enterprising attributes used especially, but not exclusively, in a business context (p. 27).\nPurpose: A significant result of this mixture of interpretations of entrepreneurship is that often it is not immediately clear what meaning is intended in any particular case to which the word entrepreneurship is applied - and that can lead to considerable confusion. This paper seeks, not to examine the different meanings of entrepreneurship in an education context, because that has been done before, but instead to explore the confusion the different meanings can cause. Its purpose is to consider whether, in that confusion, the word entrepreneurship is itself the source of the problem and whether, therefore, its use should be dropped.\nThe meanings of entrepreneurship in education: In 1993 Gibb, in looking at its links with small business and entrepreneurship, spoke of enterprise education as being either \"about\" or \"for\" entrepreneurship (Gibb, 1993). Hannon later also explored this theme and added \"through\" entrepreneurship as a third possible category, explaining them as follows:\nThe government stake: Apart from the education sector itself, and its staff and students, the other major stakeholder in entrepreneurship education is often government, not least because it frequently provides much of the funding. It is therefore relevant to ask why governments are interested in entrepreneurship education and what they consider it to be. Although much of this increased government interest may have started as far back as the 1980s it does not appear subsequently to have diminished and may instead have strengthened further. For instance, in looking at this \"political entrepreneurship\", one observer noted in 2015 that:In recent years and not least after the latest financial and economic crisis, we have seen a strongly renewed interest for industrial policy to get the developed economies growing again [...]. Politicians and their experts and advisers have been hunting desperately for new approaches to industrial policy [...] publically financed activities that with different methods try to stimulate entrepreneurship and self-employment with the overall goal to increase employment and economic growth(Karlsson, 2015).\nSummary - the situation: It is probably not surprising that, as Lewis (2007) observed, \"sixty years of research is yet to produce widespread agreement on how to define entrepreneurship\" (p. 2) and, overall, confusion still appears to reign. On the one hand it would seem that, for governments and policy makers, entrepreneurship is usually, but not always, associated with business start-up and is thus interpreted as \"being an entrepreneur\" or \"enterprise for new venture creation\". However, on the other hand wider interpretations still prevail and there are other reasons for pursuing enterprise education including employability which \"is high on the agenda of HEIs in the UK as well as in other developed nations\" and \"there is a sound rationale for connecting enterprise and employability\" (Rae, 2007, p. 605).\nProblems: Thus within entrepreneurship education there is a variety of understandings of entrepreneurship with distinct differences between some of them especially the interpretations of entrepreneurship as \"enterprise for life\" and entrepreneurship as \"enterprise for new venture creation\". Sometimes these are referred to as enterprise education and entrepreneurship education, respectively, but also sometimes the words enterprise and entrepreneurship are used interchangeably. Further, even when such an attempt is made to distinguish between entrepreneurship and enterprise education, one of the challenges facing enterprise education is that it is still seen to have a close affinity to, and a relationship with, entrepreneurship (business start-up) education which, Jones and Iredale (2010) suggest, is a source of confusion over its remit and purpose. Pepin (2012) has also noted that, \"despite the lively interest that the introduction of entrepreneurship in education has generated for many years now, defining the precise contours of this development continues to be a problem\" (p. 801). Thus, he suggests, even if the term enterprise education (or education through enterprise) is used to refer to the idea of developing general skills in students that may be useful in numerous life situations, nevertheless, \"when defining what is meant by being enterprising, most authors have drawn on concepts current in the field of entrepreneurship\" (Pepin, 2012, p. 802).\nDoes entrepreneurship actually exist?: In a wider review of the \"search\" for entrepreneurship, Bridge (2017) suggests that a succession of factors have led to a belief in its existence, including:\nConclusion - so what?: A long habit of not thinking something is WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom(Thomas Paine).The arguments summarised above indicate that the use of the label \"entrepreneurship\" in entrepreneurship education leads to problems because it covers very different things and falsely suggests that they have much in common. Even when the difference in meanings is acknowledged, attempts to resolve this by assigning different meanings to \"entrepreneurship\" and \"enterprise\" will not work because it will not be clear where this has been done and sometime the words are still used synonymously. Also, even if it could be done consistently, which is doubtful, it cannot be done retrospectively - so in older documents people will still find the words used with their former meanings. Because of this, if the word \"entrepreneurship\" continues to be used, it is liable to be misinterpreted; its use has already been compromised and continuing to use the word will perpetuate the resultant confusion.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In entrepreneurship education there are different interpretations of entrepreneurship which leads to considerable confusion. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether it is the word entrepreneurship itself which is the source of this problem.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper seeks, not to examine the different meanings of entrepreneurship in an education context, but instead to explore the confusion those different meanings can cause.\nFindings: The word entrepreneurship is used as a label for what sometimes are essentially different things. But, even when a difference is acknowledged, the application of the same label implies a misleading commonality. A result is that false parallels can be drawn and differences among the requirements of funders, providers and consumers of entrepreneurship education can go unrecognised and not addressed. Attempts to restrict the label \"entrepreneurship\" to some uses and to use the label \"enterprise\" for others fail because it is only partially done and the two words are still often used interchangeably. Therefore, because the label \"entrepreneurship\" is the source of this problem, it is suggested that its use should be dropped.\nPractical implications: Dropping the word entrepreneurship would force the various stakeholders in entrepreneurship education to specify more clearly what they want and/or expect to get from it. That could lead to clearer debate and better resolution of misunderstandings.\nOriginality/value: Possibly because we are accustomed to using the word entrepreneurship in different ways we fail to see and address the confusion that causes. This paper suggests a change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supply chain risk management: manufacturing- and service-oriented firms	[ "Risk management", "Supply chain management", "Risk" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Risks can exist in virtually all firms and although the firms in question may be doing everything very well, risks are still evident (Ho et al., 2015). While risks, when they occur, can cause serious problems for firms/their supply chain (SC) (Ellis et al., 2010), sometimes they can actually create opportunities for companies (Juttner, 2005). Determining the degree of impact risks will have, is something any firm would like to know.\n2. SC risks and research hypotheses: Recently, several publications have debated the conceptual clarity of \"risk\" used in the SC management; however, there is still no common agreement as to how to define this concept. Risk is an elusive construct that has a variety of meanings, classifications and interpretations depending upon the field of research (Wagner and Bode, 2008). In the general discussion of risk, there is a persistent tension between two different points of view regarding its definition:\n3. Manufacturing-oriented firms and service-oriented firms: 3.1 Operand resources and operant resources\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Large-scale data collection\n5. Results: Table VI presents the validated results of the hypotheses proposed in this study. Accordingly, the impacts of supply, operational and demand risks on SC performance are supported. Conversely, no relationships are found between finance risk and SC performance or information risk and SC performance. Moreover, these five SC risks explain 87.1 percent of the variance in SC performance.\n6. Discussion: Empirical evidence from the 283 construction firms notably sheds light on the relationship between the five critical risks in SC and SC performance. These risks do not affect SC performance separately, but rather simultaneously. In a very serious situation, the five risks occur at the same time and so can explain the 87.1 percent variance in SC performance. This is a significant percentage because SC performance depends not only on risks, but also on other external factors such as political policies, the economy, the external environment, etc. In other words, even with the same external factors, firms who can manage the SC risks well are able to obtain sustainable competitive advantages.\n7. Conclusions: This research provides an extensive illustration of the relationship between SC risks and SC performance and clearly depicts that risks do not affect SC performance separately, but simultaneously. According to the results, when all of the five proposed risks happen in unison, they can explain an 87.1 percent variance in SC performance. It is worthwhile noting that the impact risks have on SC performance varies between manufacturing- and service-oriented firms. In fact, the risks occurring in manufacturing-oriented firms have stronger negative effects on SC performance than those in service-oriented firms do. Therefore, manufacturing-oriented firms should pay careful attention to operational and demand risks that adversely affect SC performance and \"treat\" information risk as an opportunity to improve SC performance. Service-oriented firms, on the other hand, must manage supply risks which can be attributed to a 51.2 percent variance in SC performance. Furthermore, service quality can be improved remarkably if information risk is well managed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A risk, when it occurs, causes negative effects on outputs. Typically, risks are not independent as multiple risks occur simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to compare the impact various risks have on the performance of manufacturing-oriented and service-oriented firms from a supply chain (SC) perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, SC risks were identified and classified into two criteria: context and probability. Then, the different characteristics between manufacturing- and service-oriented firms were distinguished by the theory of goods-dominant logic (GDL) and service-dominant logic (SDL). Structural equations modeling and multiple-group analysis were then used to validate research hypotheses and compare the two groups.\nFindings: The empirical evidence, gathered from the Vietnamese construction sector, indicated that in a serious situation all of the five risks proposed occur at the same time, thus the remarkable 87.1% variance in SC performance was explained. Furthermore, this rate is significant when the two groups are compared: manufacturing-oriented firms (88.3 percent) and service-oriented firms (85.6 percent), implying that risks in the manufacturing-oriented group have a greater effect on SC performance. While manufacturing-oriented companies should pay close attention to the operational and demand risks that adversely affect SC performance, they should treat information risk as an opportunity to improve. Service-oriented companies, however, need to manage supply risk which, in their case, can be attributed to a 51.2 percent variance in SC performance. Moreover, service quality can also be improved remarkably if information risk is well managed.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides a detailed picture of the relationship between risks and performance in the SC. Risks are illustrated as affecting the SC performance simultaneously, (not separately) and so the approach outlined here will give firms a comprehensive view of their SCs and provide guidelines for predicting the impact risks will have on the SC performance. Moreover, by comparing manufacturing- and service-oriented firms, a thorough overview of risk behaviors is provided and appropriate solutions for each type of company can be determined.\nOriginality/value: The \"novelty of approach\" of this study is in applying GDL and SDL theory to classify the manufacturing-oriented and service-oriented firms. The different characteristics between the two groups are identified and explained in terms of resources, value, network, effectiveness vs efficiency and communication, thus providing an insight into risk management activities in the SC network.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing talent development effectively: Why outsiders matter too	[ "Talent management", "Career development", "Employee attitudes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTalent pools and value creation: It has almost become a cliche to state that the workforce is any company's most importance asset. Organizations accordingly recognize the value added by highly skilled employees. Talent is perceived as being in short supply. This means that firms battle to entice individuals that will best help secure a competitive edge.\nThe negative impact of selective development: All-in-all, any move that defines individual employees as possible stars of the future can trigger a mood of optimism in the firm. Surely, a case of high-fives all around then?\nA more inclusive approach: But the use of kid gloves is equally critical when handling talent group insiders. Firms should remain alert to several dangers including the following:\nComment: The review is based on \"Employee reactions to talent pool membership\" by Swailes and Blackburn (2016). How different employees respond to the presence of talent pools within organizations is explored in depth here. The authors examine the responses of both the select few benefiting from this selective approach to development and the majority of workers who are excluded. They provide valuable recommendations on how to design such initiatives in ways which helps to minimize negative reactions within each group and the potential for damaging consequences to the firm.\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: It has almost become a cliche to state that the workforce is any company's most importance asset. Organizations accordingly recognize the value added by highly skilled employees. Talent is perceived as being in short supply. This means that firms battle to entice individuals that will best help secure a competitive edge. Talent is a valuable resource that is widely considered unique and difficult to replicate. That much is unquestionable. Identification and development of talented employees is therefore often high on the agenda of businesses targeting sustained growth and prosperity.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent, information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Venture capital and the financial crisis in Portugal: the VC managers' viewpoint	[ "Portugal", "SMEs", "Financial crisis", "Venture capital", "Sovereign debt crisis", "Perceptions of VC managers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The literature shows that fundamental changes in the economic environment have a substantial impact on the venture capital (VC) industry (Ning et al., 2015). Financial crises, in particular, tend to produce a significant impact and one that may last for a considerable period of time. For instance, Cumming (2014) acknowledges that the VC industry \"has faced rough times since the collapse of the internet bubble in April 2000\" (p. 251), and Ning et al. (2015) admit that more than a decade after the dramatic collapse of the VC industry in 2000 in the USA, the adjustment of the industry \"is still on the way\" (p. 339). Further back, \"black Monday\" in October 1987 marked a turning point for VC in the USA, beginning a \"downward spiral\" in fundraising that lasted a few years (Sapienza et al., 1996). Moreover, Chocce and Ubeda (2006) show that the Chilean VC sector shrank five times on the aftermath of the Asian crisis and the NASDAQ crash. Briefly, although in various degrees and in different ways, depending on the particular market conditions and nature of the crisis, the VC sector appears to be highly vulnerable to financial crises, yet given the significance of these impacts, it is somewhat surprising that relatively few studies have addressed the effects on VC investment behaviour of the changing economic climate resulting from the international financial crises (De Vries and Block, 2011).\nFinancial crises and the VC industry: Financial crises have in common an increased uncertainty, but they have different triggers and driving forces and are likely to produce different impacts on VC activities. Ning et al. (2015) found that VC firms adjusted their risk preferences and investment strategies and became \"more cautious and risk averse after the 2000 dot-com bubble and 2008 financial crisis\" (p. 316). However, a closer look reveals that such a (more cautious and risk averse) behaviour was distinct in the two crises: \"a lower proportion of venture funds and fewer deals go to start-ups and early-stage companies after the 2000 high-tech bubble, a greater proportion of the funds and deals were actually allocated to the earlier-stages projects after the financial crisis occurred in 2008\", conclude Ning et al. (2015, p. 317). The effects also seem to differ according to stage of the VC cycle (Block and Sandner, 2009). Studying the impact of the 2008 crisis in the USA, Block and Sandner (2009) report that angel and earlier-stage investments were less affected by the financial crisis than later-stage investments due to the fact that firms already at a later stage of the venture cycle were less attractive as investment targets, in a context in which the money at stake for the VC firms was larger and harder to raise. Moreover, in Europe, Lahr and Mina (2014) found that in the years up to 2011 and in contrast to the dot-com crash, the 2008 financial crisis seems to have affected negatively the relative likelihood of expansion investments, though not of earlier and later stage investments. Along similar lines, Mason and Harrison (2015) report that angel investment activity in Scotland seems to have held up during the financial crisis, but the VC investing overall has declined reflecting the prevailing negative economic climate. Cumming et al. (2005) also show that VC investors invest proportionally less in later stage projects when exit markets are illiquid, as it is the case during financial crises, and illiquidity presents a serious exit challenge for VC firms, ultimately limiting the supply of funds for their investments (Block et al., 2012).\nThe Portuguese VC industry and the impact of the sovereign debt crisis: The Portuguese VC industry\nFinancial crises and VC management practices: Financial crises and fundamental changes in the economic conditions of the markets are known to raise the level of uncertainty, produce significant effects on investment (De Vries and Block, 2011), and promote risk-averse behaviours among VC firms (Ning et al., 2015). Although unrelated to financial crises, previous studies have reported that when uncertainties increase, VC firms \"increase the elaborateness of their governance mechanisms to protect against adverse outcomes\" (Sapienza et al., 1996, p. 445) suggesting that provisions and adjustments are made by VC firms to their current practices to accommodate the new environmental conditions. Hence, crisis-related uncertainty is likely to have an effect on the way VC firms operate but how that translates into adjustments in their current practices, such as the selection of new investments, the control of VC operations, and the redefinition of divesting strategies remains grossly overlooked in the literature. Yet, these operations are likely to be particularly vulnerable to the increased uncertainty that flourishes during financial crises.\nMethodology: The study looks at the way VC firms operate in a market with the characteristics pointed out above and in a context of a serious financial crisis, from the viewpoint of their main actors: the managers of the VC firms. A two-step research design was adopted to best capture the dynamics of the crisis. VC managers were initially contacted and invited to participate in the study in early 2011 when the signs of a thin recovery from the international financial crisis were apparent, but there was also evidence that a sovereign debt crisis was gaining pace in the Eurozone and would soon hit Portugal severely producing a significant impact on the VC industry. The participants were approached again in 2013 and invited to share their views of the impact of the cumulative effect of the international financial and sovereign debt crises on their activities and provide anecdotal evidence of the changes that had taken place in the VC industry and in their current procedures and practices in that two-year period.\nFindings: The international financial and sovereign debt crises and their effects on the VC industry\nDiscussion and conclusions: The main purpose of this paper was to capture the VC managers' views of the impact of the international financial and sovereign debt crises that hit Portugal in 2011-2013. Two research questions were formulated to explore the VC managers' perceptions of the effects of the crises on the VC industry and what, if any, changes and adjustments VC managers were forced to adopt to their procedures and current practices to cope with these challenges. Two sets of interviews with ten senior VC managers were conducted and content analysed. The initial set was conducted in early 2011, immediately before the country bailout that took place in May of that year, and the second set in 2013, when the full impact of the debt crisis was being felt. The major changes detected in this period in the perception of the effects of the crises on the VC industry and on particular procedures and practices were highlighted in Tables III and IV.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine, from the venture capital (VC) managers' perspective, the impact of the international financial and sovereign debt crises on the VC industry in Portugal, and the changes and adjustments VC managers were forced to adopt to their procedures and current practices to cope with these challenges.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-step research design was adopted to best capture the dynamics of the crisis. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and content analysed. The initial set of interviews with ten VC managers was conducted in 2011, immediately before the country bailout; and the second set in 2013, when the full impact of the debt crisis was being felt.\nFindings: The study shows that the crises had a significant impact on the VC industry producing a complex and dynamic environment with high levels of uncertainty. The VC managers' contradictory perceptions reflect their own struggle to figure out the best way to deal with the pressures in such a volatile environment where new opportunities may also arise. In general, VC firms became more selective adopting a more prudential attitude and tighter control mechanisms.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the field by analysing, from the VC managers' perspective, the cumulative impact of the international financial and sovereign debt crisis on a European VC market with specific features: small dimension of the industry operating in a bank-centred capital market and where family-owned SMEs predominate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Size does matter - span of control in hospitals	[ "Organization", "Leadership", "Size", "Nurses", "Nurse leader", "Span of control" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It has been stated that high-quality leadership increases performance (Belle, 2014), management matters in the quality of patient care (West, 2001; Wong et al., 2015), leadership is positively and significantly associated with satisfaction, retention and performance (Gilmartin and D'Aunno, 2007), and span of control (SOC) matters (Cathcart et al., 2004). SOC has become a hot topic in nursing leadership. The reason for this, it is often stated, is that growing pressures on fiscal resources has led to a reduction in the number of management positions, and accordingly to increases in SOC (Cathcart et al., 2004; Sovie and Abbas, 2001; Pabst, 1993; Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), 2011; Morash et al., 2005; Altaffer, 1998) leading to SOC that are generally wider in the health services than in other fields (Topp and Desjardin, 2011). A number of studies have now suggested that there is a limit to how wide an effective SOC can be (Doran et al., 2004; Cathcart et al., 2004; Lucas et al., 2008; Meyer et al., 2011). Inherent in this claim is the notion that leadership actually matters in nursing. To nurses the nearest supervisor is often the most important communication channel (Petersen, 2008). A wide SOC may in the nursing context thus reduce motivation, employee work engagement and employee satisfaction (Lucas et al., 2008; Doran et al., 2004; McCutcheon et al., 2009; Cummings et al., 2010; Cathcart et al., 2004; McGillis Hall et al., 2006), decrease staff empowerment (Lucas et al., 2008), increase negative perceptions of the work environment (McGillis Hall et al., 2006), increase staff turnover (Doran et al., 2004; Sellgren, 2007; Manion, 2004; McCutcheon et al., 2009; Altaffer, 1998), decrease staff perceptions of manager effectiveness (Altaffer, 1998), decrease patient satisfaction (Doran et al., 2004) and lead to reduced quality (Shortell et al., 1994; Lucas et al., 2008). On the other hand, American \"magnet hospitals\" researchers have argued for an SOC that is not too narrow in order to enhance individual creativity, autonomy and productivity (Kramer and Schmalenberg, 1991). An important prerequisite for their conclusion is not only that nurses are well trained, competent and seek autonomy, but also that leadership is supportive.\nThe SOC concept: SOC usually refers to the total number of employees being supervised by a manager (Altaffer, 1998; OHA, 2011; Doran et al., 2004; Cathcart et al., 2004) and has typically been related to examinations of how much supervisory manpower is required in relation to a given number of employees (Ouchi and Dowling, 1974), that is: how many employees can a leader effectively span? SOC was first introduced into organization studies as part of the scientific management wave. Since the early development of SOC theory (Fayol, 1951; Urwick, 1956), researchers have been concerned with the notion of an ideal or optimum span with regard to ensuring productivity.\nStudy context: Growth in SOC has also been the trend in Danish hospitals. From 2002 to 2009, the number of Danish nursing leaders employed in hospitals dropped by 600, which is a reduction of one in five positions (Hagerup, 2010). Since 2007, the Danish hospital delivery system has been organized into five regions that are responsible for the organization of hospital work. All regions have experienced changes in unit sizes and management structures. To learn more about the effects of these changes, a corporate HR development unit in the Central Denmark Region launched a research project to study the workings of the new types of large hospital wards. Wards are inpatient units in which frontline staff members are employed - typically registered nurses and registered practical nurses. Other employee groups such as doctors, physical therapists, cleaning staff, etc. may perform work at the ward but are employed at upper functional levels (doctors) or in other departments and then \"lent out.\" The research was carried out in the period 2009-2011 in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Health Services Research, DSI, now KORA, Danish Institute for Local and Regional Government Research.\nDesign and methods: The study consisted of a qualitative explorative multilevel case study (Yin, 1989) of three large inpatient hospital wards in \"Central Denmark.\" On the basis of an initial quantitative study of the total population of hospital wards in the region, we selected three large hospital wards for in-depth observation studies and interviews using a logic of replication (Yin, 1989). The wards were, by our definition, large as an SOC that exceeds 35 had previously been defined as wide in the Danish hospital context (Andersen and Sonne, 2007). For variation in size we chose three types of large wards ranging from 50-70 staff members. This variation was reflected in the hierarchical structure as formalization of leadership support increased with size (see Table I). The degree of formalization of doctors as co-leaders was empirically insignificant as these arrangements mostly existed on paper. At the time of selection 12 percent of the wards in the region had 50 or more staff members. This is a conservative head count as many inpatient wards will also have a number of affiliated nursing staff members that do not have permanent positions. Ideally, it would also have been possible to include wards with a more restricted SOC in the study. To maximize comparability the wards were similar as to level of staff experience, composition of staff (both nurses and practical nurses), 24 hour service, a mix of acute and planned services, and geographically situated in the same region in relatively large hospitals. Having a relatively high degree of experienced staff should in theory make the wards more resilient to a wide SOC. In this sense it is a \"good case\" scenario.\nFindings: We now turn to the empirical results. In line with the SOC literature, distance to the leader and the role of the leader were prominent themes in the experiences of working in large wards. The nurse leader was seen as a distant and disorganized character who was unable to provide a sense of direction and shared goals. The nursing staff felt they were not being seen and the leaders felt inadequate and frustrated. However, large size was also seen as providing both greater flexibility and development possibilities.\nDiscussion: The study has shown that apart from proving flexibility and development possibilities, the large wards were challenged in regard to role and visibility of the leader. Both employees and leaders experienced challenges for the frontline nurse leaders in relation to creating overview, coordination, being in touch with employees, being visible, setting up visible targets and ensuring follow-up. Many of these points could perhaps be made for leaders with any size of SOC who have a poor leadership style but it can be argued that a wide SOC de facto tends to lead to results similar to those for a poor style. Leadership will be spread out too thinly when it is divided among many followers and tasks. Given there is a need for high quality leadership in hospital wards to enhance quality and patient outcomes, the association between leadership and structural conditions for leadership should perhaps attract more scientific and practical attention than it does today. That is not to say that it is structurally possible to fix the problem of leadership alone. Rather it is arguing that, in addition to a high quality leadership style, size also matters.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Centralization, mergers and cost reductions have generally led to increasing levels of span of control (SOC), and thus potentially to lower leadership capacity. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a large SOC impacts hospital staff and their leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a qualitative explorative case study of three large inpatient wards.\nFindings: The study finds that the nursing staff and their frontline leaders experience challenges in regard to visibility and role of the leader, e.g., in creating overview, coordination, setting-up clear goals, following up and being in touch. However, large wards also provide flexibility and development possibilities.\nPractical implications: The authors discuss the implications of these findings for decision makers in deciding future SOC and for future SOC research.\nOriginality/value: Only few studies have qualitatively explored the consequences of large SOC in hospitals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Population ageing and economic growth in Japan	[ "Public policy", "Elderly people", "Economic sectors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last few decades, the distribution of Japan's population has shifted towards advanced ages, with increases in life expectancy and lower fertility rates following the baby boom, as shown in Figures 1(a) and 1(b). In 2012, sales of adult diapers exceeded those for babies for the first time at Japan's largest diaper producer (reported in Asahi Shimbun, 2013). The percentage of elderly in the Japanese population is the highest in the world, and Japan's ratio of ageing population to the total population has risen much faster than that in Western European countries and the USA (Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2012), as shown in Figure 1(b). Along with these changing patterns in population, Japan's annual real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has begun to decrease after peaking in 2007 (Figure 1(a)). The change in population composition and the accompanying slowdown in economic growth have gained public attention, as there is concern about the future slowing of economic growth. Similarly, the Japanese business world is concerned about the labour shortages and increasing tax rates (Tabuchi, 2012). The objective of this study is to determine how population ageing is related to economic change in Japan by applying econometric methods for the period 1975-2011. The focus of this study is to identify the demographic factors that are related to economic change and to develop an equation to predict economic change.\n2. Demographic transition and demographic change in Japan: In Japan as well as other industrialised countries, the population is ageing. Demographic transition theory describes why the population is ageing in these countries. Demographic transition theory offers an explanation to the phenomenon where countries transformed from having high fertility and mortality into low fertility and mortality rates and, finally, population ageing.\n3. Previous research and hypotheses: 3.1. Previous research\n4. Data and methodology: The panel data consisted of annual series for the period 1975-2011. The definitions and sources of the variables are provided in Table AI of the Appendix.\n5. Results: 5.1. Preliminary observations\n6. Projecting real GDP per capita based on the youth dependency ratio: The economic growth in Japan was projected based on the population projections and findings of this study's analyses. The availability of population projections allows us to project economic change. Japan's projection data for the youth dependency ratio for the period 2012-2050 were derived from the population projections by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan.\n7. Discussion: Several results from this study are worthy of discussion.\n8. Conclusion: The main aim of this study was to determine how population composition is related to economic change as measured by real GDP per capita in Japan for the period 1975-2011.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine how population ageing is related to economic growth as measured by real GDP per capita in Japan. This study is to address the following questions: first, how is population composition by age group related to economic change? Second, how is the dependency ratio related to economic change? And finally, what are the predictions for economic growth in the future? This study answers these questions in relation to Japan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Regression methods were applied to single-country data for the period 1975-2011.\nFindings: This study finds that an increase in the 70-74 population age group is associated with a decrease in economic growth, while an increase in the 75 and over population age group is associated with an increase in economic growth in Japan.\nResearch limitations/implications: The relationships that were found in this study do not imply causation from demographic change to economic change.\nPractical implications: One potential way of promoting sustainable economic growth under conditions of population ageing is to devise a comprehensive policy that focuses on demographic factors.\nOriginality/value: This study analyses population ageing and economic growth in Japan using single-country data by applying regression methods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Interview with Marcus Buckingham	[ "Management development", "Leaders" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In his role as author, independent consultant and speaker, Marcus Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and is routinely lauded by such corporations as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, and Disney as an invaluable resource in informing, challenging, mentoring and inspiring people to find their strengths and obtain and sustain long-lasting personal success. He has used his nearly two decades of research experience as a Sr. Researcher at The Gallup Organization to break through the preconceptions about achievement and get to the core of what drives success.\nWhat attracted you to working in this field?: I worked for the Gallup organization for about 17 years after going to university in Cambridge. My dad was the personnel director for both Allied Breweries and Gallaher. He wanted to find out how to select better pub managers because at the time he had 7,000 pubs, and pubs were rated by the quality of their manager and their spouse. He found a company over in Lincoln, Nebraska which was building psychometric pre-employment interviews and he brought them over. Their basic methodology was to study 100 great managers and 100 average ones and see whether or not the 100 great ones were different; see whether they had anything in common at all in terms of their talent; and see whether you could identify that talent before they were hired. So while I was at university I was sent over to Nebraska to study how to build interviews: how to find the right questions to get at the things people might not want to tell you about themselves. I then went back over after I graduated, one thing led to another and I never came back.\nWhat role do you think a manager plays in helping an employee identify their own strengths?: From all the research that I've been a part of it's really clear that managers make a huge difference. We talk a lot about leadership at conferences like this, and at other places around the human resources world, but it certainly seems from the research I've been a part of that managers are the ones who make the difference.You'll find within a company that there is a lot of talk about great companies and good companies - this company's great and this one's not - but what is really intriguing when you go inside a company is that you find a huge range in performance, a huge range in employee retention and huge range in quality by manager. In fact, two teams may be doing the same thing, working side by side but one is much more productive than the other.You see this time and time again within Tesco's for example, or Marks and Spencer's or Barclays; clearly the manager has a huge part to play in making you productive and getting you engaged. Part of that is getting you to look in the mirror and understand what your strengths are, so managers I think are critical. However, some of us will probably never have a chance to work with a really great manager during our careers so we shouldn't rely on a manger to help us identify our strengths.\nWhat do think is the key difference between management development and leadership development?: They are the opposite of each other in some sense. Great managers are not leaders in waiting. There's so much of the literature I read that says managers are dependable plodders, doing things right but leaders are the grand strategists, looking out into the future and theorizing; and therefore every manager should want to be a great leader. All of that is rubbish really.If you look at what really makes an organization work it is a company's ability to get the best out of each person and the role of the manager that is vital. Managers are brilliant at finding out what's unique about a person and capitalizing on it, they can spot the differences between people. You might have ten sales people but a great manager will see that you've got ten individuals: one who's driven by competitiveness, one by competence, and one by building a network of people in the community to help them. The great manager picks up on the differences between people.Leadership isn't about that at all. Leadership is about capitalizing on what is universal in people. Great leaders seem able uniquely to tap into what we all share. For many of us there are many things that we share, some of which aren't all positive. We share a fear of strangers, that's why leaders sometimes use the amity within enmity without idea, the scapegoat idea, and that works. I mean everyone at Coke hates Pepsi and that sort of \"ooh I hate them\" feeling works quite well.But on a more positive note, what leaders seem to understand is that we all fear the future; we all have some anxiety about it because it's different. So leaders' greatest contribution is to bring clarity to us; they are vivid and detailed about the future they're addressing. So you can be a very good manager, spotting the differences between people but be a rotten leader; or you can be a great leader, really good at vividly describing where you're taking people. Those two things are not inter-correlated. It doesn't mean you can't have both, although frankly, whenever I've interviewed an executive they tend to lean more towards one than the other; but I think that most of the literature on leadership misunderstands it completely and talks about it in terms of things like initiative or integrity or creativity, none of which are leadership traits at all.\nWhich leaders do you most admire and why?: I admire leaders who bring clarity to where they're headed. I lived in New York while Rudolph Giuliani was achieving one of the greatest transformations of the twentieth century, in terms of creating a safe and growing and financially secure New York City. The man was an absolute genius at describing vividly and showing us vividly what a better New York would look like. I think Tony Blair was fantastic when two years ago at the Labour Party conference he described vividly that he doesn't have a reverse gear, that he's only got one gear, it's forward. Now whether you agree with his policies or not, his desire to try and describe where he's headed is admirable as a leader.One of the reasons why George Bush's approval ratings were so much higher and why he got re-elected over John Carey was that John Carey couldn't describe where he was headed, whereas George Bush very clearly said \"I am serving people who want to be free; our future is about trying to be free\". The reason why his approval ratings right now are so low is that he has been unable to describe what victory looks like, so he keeps saying victory, but we don't see it anymore. So I think Giuliani, I think Tony Blair, and in the business world I think Jack Welch has done an extraordinary job, I don't see anyone else doing anything quite as good lately.\nCould you briefly sum up what you will be talking about at the CIPD conference for our readers?: One of the reasons why HR people come to these things is so that they can be assured that they have a seat at the table. Right now you hear the rhetoric of \"people are our greatest asset\"; in fact you could talk to any chief executive on this side of the Atlantic or in the US and at some point in the conversation they'll say their people are their competitive advantage, but they don't actually mean that. What they mean is their people's strengths are their competitive advantage. There's not much point in having a bunch of people who are all in positions where they don't get to use the best of themselves. So I am going to talk about why we are still so bad at getting people into positions where they can use their strengths at work.I will show data that shows that in the US, 14 percent of people say they use their strengths most of the time. In Britain this figure is 9 percent, so although one doesn't expect 70 percent of people to say that they are using their strengths all the time, 9 percent is pathetic. Now there's a huge range on that; you'll go into a company and find some departments where 60 percent of people will say that everybody in their department gets to use their strengths, while in the team next door nobody will. But in general the British workforce is massively under utilized and most of us don't find work a place in which we get to express our strengths.I think if we want to have a seat at the table we need to stop banging on about a whole variety of issues and focus in on one or two key issues which everyone knows are relevant. These days if a CEO is saying our people are our greatest asset, then we in the HR community need to be able to say; how are we doing now? If we're serious about it, 9 percent can't stand, we as a function and we as a company need to double or triple on that number by focusing in on a few achievable, measurable goals that we can all agree are integral to the strategy.This interview took place at the CIPD 2006 conference: www.cipd.co.uk\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article provides an interview with Marcus Buckingham.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An interview with Marcus Buckingham, looking at his work for The Gallup Organization and also his views about management and leadership development.\nFindings: - Marcus Buckingham answers questions about managers, leaders and the recent CIPD conference.\nOriginality/value: - Provides an insightful interview with Marcus Buckingham.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Predicting mobile app usage for purchasing and information-sharing	[ "Retail", "Purchasing", "Mobile commerce", "Omnichannel", "Mobile apps", "Information-sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Mobile applications, or \"mobile apps,\" are transforming the retail world. In this new environment, \"unless conventional merchants adopt an entirely new perspective - one that allows them to integrate disparate channels into a single seamless omnichannel experience - they are likely to be swept away\" (Rigby, 2011, p. 26). Aubrey and Judge (2012) see \"smartphone-enabled, connected consumers\" as the drivers of the omnichannel, noting that \"they do not care whether they buy online, via mobile or in-store as long as they get the product they want, when they want it at the right price\" (p. 33). Thus, understanding the intersection between the physical store and smartphone apps is key to understanding and adapting to the technology-driven customer in the omnichannel. For retailers, these smartphone-enabled mobile apps represent a growing opportunity in the omnichannel. According to industry researchers, smartphone penetration in the USA and UK reached 44 and 43 percent, respectively, in 2012 (Google, 2012). A smartphone is defined here as a mobile phone with an operating system (e.g. Apple iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm or Blackberry) that offers internet connectivity and allows the user to install apps, or small-sized applications. The \"apps culture\", as one industry watcher explains, is growing to the point that \"if you haven't embraced it yet, you probably will, since ultimately every smartphone user on the planet is expected to buy into it\" (Johnson, 2010, p. 24).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: A number of studies have examined the adoption of mobile commerce, or m-commerce, generally defined as the use of wireless devices such as mobile phones to conduct electronic business transactions (Ting-Peng and Chih-Ping, 2004; Chiang and Li, 2010). An early framework of m-commerce behaviours centred around the use processes, i.e. the experience and outcome, which were in turn influenced by contextual and user characteristics (Sarker and Wells, 2003). Similarly, Ktoridou et al. (2008) propose that adoption of m-commerce is influenced by a combination of cultural and technological factors, and Lee and Lee (2010) suggest gender and ethnicity could play a role in m-commerce adoption. Mort and Drennan (2007) find that consumers' intention to use mobile advertising services is influenced by involvement and innovativeness, supported by similar findings from Roach (2009), who suggest a relationship between innovation attributes, as well as involvement, and acceptance of mobile advertising. Jin and Villegas (2008) note that mobile phone users are motivated by needs related to escape, information, socialization and economic factors, while Phau and Teah (2009) suggest convenience, economic motives and social involvement influenced young consumers' acceptance of short messaging service advertising via their mobile devices. A study of Spanish consumers (Bigne et al., 2007) finds that age, length and frequency of mobile use and affinity towards m-commerce are the primary predictors of adoption behaviours.\n3. Research design: 3.1 Survey design, participants and procedure\n4. Results: 4.1 Structural models and test of hypothesis\n5. Discussion: This study provides interesting and actionable insights for both academics and practitioners into the behaviour of mobile app users. First, the study finds strong correlations between interest in the retailer's mobile app and intention to engage in purchasing and information-sharing activities. This finding is particularly important to retail marketing and advertising managers, who are facing increasing constraints on their advertising and promotion budgets. This study provides empirical support for the return on investment on the development of app because it finds a significant relationship between retail mobile apps and desired customer behaviour. As they find themselves required to justify all expenditures, managers will benefit from the knowledge that their investment in mobile apps is likely to provide a real and measurable financial benefit. From a theoretical perspective, the study lends further support to the extant literature on the correlation between attitudes and behaviours.\n6. Limitations and directions for future research: As with any study, there are several caveats and limitations. First, the survey data were collected by a retailer as part of its research into mobile app development, so the researchers were limited to the existing questions. Thus, the attitudinal and behavioural messages were not as deep as would be preferred. However, the ability to access a sample of actual customers for a major retailer does offset some of this weakness. Second, the measures are all self-reported, and no actual behaviours are measured. Finally, generalizability may be limited, as this study focused on a single retailer in the USA with a demographically homogenous customer base. Nevertheless, it provides valuable theoretical and managerial insights that may be expanded upon in future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Mobile applications, or apps, are an increasingly important part of omnichannel retailing. While the adoption and usage of apps for marketing purposes has grown exponentially over the past few years, there is little academic research in this area. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the mobile phone platform (Android vs Apple iOS), interest in the app and recency of store visit affect consumers' likelihood to use the apps for purchasing and information-sharing activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper tests a model by analysing survey data collected from customers of a major US retailer using partial least squares regression.\nFindings: The analysis finds that the level of interest in a retail app is positively related to the consumer's intention to engage in both purchasing and information-sharing activities. In addition, the recency of the consumer's last visit to the retail store has a moderating effect on both types of activities; the more recent the last visit, the larger the effect-size of interest in the app on intention to share information and make a purchase.\nPractical implications: While marketing and advertising managers may have suspected that Apple iOS users are more receptive to retail mobile apps, this study provides empirical support for the proposition. In addition, the moderating effect of recency of visit suggests that in-store promotions may be effective in increasing usage of the retailer's mobile apps.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the first in the academic literature to examine predictors of mobile app usage for purchasing and information sharing. It fills a gap in the literature, while at the same time providing actionable information for practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Readiness towards entrepreneurship education: Students and Malaysian universities	[ "Malaysia", "Universities", "Curricula", "Students", "Entrepreneurialism", "Readiness", "Internal environment", "Entrepreneurship education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The development of human capital is critical for national development. The success of this goal can only be realised through education, training, and lifelong learning (Malaysia, 2010a), implemented holistically to enhance knowledge, skills, and intellectual capital in science and technology, as well as entrepreneurial capabilities. One of the strategies adopted by the Malaysian Government to develop excellent, resilient, and competitive human capital is education and entrepreneurship training (Yusof, 2009; Malaysia, 2010a, b). This solution has been inspired by the success of entrepreneurship education and training programmes in other countries, in attracting young people to become entrepreneurs, as well as in developing their national economies (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2004; Heinonen, 2007; Landstrom, 2008). The Higher Education Entrepreneurship Development Policy was launched in February 2010, with the primary goal of generating high-quality human capital, with entrepreneurial thinking, attributes, and values, and the secondary goal of producing more graduate entrepreneurs to act as catalysts for economic transformation (Malaysia, 2010b; Institutes of Higher Learning Enterpreneurship for Higher Education, 2010).In view of the above, this paper intends to gauge the students' entrepreneurial readiness and the readiness level of the internal environment of public universities towards the implementation of entrepreneurship education.\nDevelopment of entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions (HEIs): Entrepreneurship education was introduced by institutions of higher learning in Malaysia as early as the 1980s, but was not widely taken up by the community for some time. A significant increase in opportunities for degree-level entrepreneurship education only took place around the year 2000, prior to which entrepreneurial training had been available primarily in the form of informal, co-curriculum education programmes. Since the implementation of the third outline perspective plan in 2001, entrepreneurship education has been promoted as part of a strategy aimed at increasing the quantity of skilled human capital, capable of developing and promoting technological innovation and business growth, in order to realise a new commercial and industrial community by 2020 (Malaysia, 2001). As a result, entrepreneurship education has been more widely offered in HEIs, as a means of developing entrepreneurial characteristics and potential in university students. Entrepreneurial education is implemented in HEIs through formal and informal teaching and learning activities (Mohd Fauzi et al., 2007). The provision of suitable infrastructure, adequate financial resources, and qualified academic staff, as well as scope for research, innovation, and lifelong learning, are central to the implementation of this form of education (Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi (KPT), 2007).The contribution of entrepreneurship education towards economic growth provides evidence of the rising awareness of its importance (Carland and Carland, 2004). Mass media also presents a positive image of the entrepreneurial career. As a result, the programmes and courses related to university-level entrepreneurship education continue to grow, in both academic and extra-curricular contexts. This can be seen in the increasing number of core academic courses, elective courses, entrepreneurship programmes, entrepreneurship degrees, and postgraduate courses. Entrepreneurship courses have become the catalyst for the development of entrepreneurial studies, at both the domestic and the international level (Collins et al., 2004; Gatchalian, 2010).In addition to formal education, extra-curricular activities have also been implemented in HEIs, in the form of associations, clubs, and so forth. Some universities have also established centres of excellence in entrepreneurship and business, which are operated primarily by students. These activities clearly demonstrate the development of entrepreneurship education in HEIs, in line with the government's aspiration to create a distinctive commercial and industrial community in Malaysia (2006, 2010b). However, it is important that the implementation of entrepreneurship education in HEIs be subjected to close review, to evaluate its level of success. Further research is necessary to evaluate the readiness of various parties within HEIs towards entrepreneurial education, and so ascertain whether they are adequately prepared for the task to produce resilient, competitive, and truly entrepreneurial graduates.\nLiterature review: Readiness is the willingness and ability to do something; it also refers to the environment within which an individual or institution has been prepared for a future task. On this basis, successful entrepreneurship relies both on willingness and entrepreneurial abilities, and on environmental conditions. Psychologists and sociologists commonly employ four concepts in order to measure readiness: attitude, values, opinion, and belief. According to Houston et al. (2002), these constructs are able to influence the conduct or behaviour of a person. Previous studies also divide readiness into two domains, cognitive and non-cognitive. \"Cognitive domain\" refers to the knowledge and skills that a person requires, while \"non-cognitive domain\" indicates, for example, entrepreneurial characteristics or attitudes that exist in a person.According to Kuratko and Hodgetts (2004) and Norasmah and Halimah (2007), attitude is a crucial element if a person is to achieve something; as such, it is an important support for further development of one's willingness to venture into entrepreneurship or enhancing entrepreneurial characteristics. The entrepreneurial attitude, also known as entrepreneurial thinking, is found not only among entrepreneurs, but also among individuals successful in other fields (Norasmah and Faridah, 2010; Hisrich et al., 2005). Corporate entrepreneurs, internal entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurs are all terms used to designate individuals with an entrepreneurial attitude. Contemporary society is witnessing an increase in such individuals, often engaged in public or private organisations, or in their own enterprises. These individuals are said to have almost indistinguishable entrepreneurial attitudes (Shane, 2003; Hisrich et al., 2005).Taking a more general view, the entrepreneurial attitude is appropriate to all individuals who want to succeed in life; and, indeed, it is often present in individuals, and should be explored in more detail (Norasmah and Faridah, 2010). Past studies, beginning with Robinson et al. (1990), and continuing in Malaysia up to the present day (Shane, 2003; Norashidah, 2009), have described the attitude present in entrepreneurs and successful individuals as a combination of innovation, achievement, internal control, self-esteem, risk control, and tolerance for ambiguity. Thus, it is essential that Malaysian IHLs develop students with a competitive and resilient attitude. According to Heinonen (2007), students engaged in a meaningful curriculum related to the adoption of the appropriate attitudes will develop the desire to participate in learning activities. Such students, if given the opportunity and the training to make contributions, will not hesitate to initiate changes: all they need is the opening to do so. Heinonen (2007) also suggested that teachers and educational institutions should identify appropriate projects or assignments to improve the interpersonal skills of their students. In other words, the internal environment of HEIs is a significant factor in the development of an entrepreneurial attitude, and must be planned in detail for this purpose.\nProblem statements: Although entrepreneurship education has been offered in HEIs for more than two decades, graduates, particularly Bumiputera graduates, are less willing to become entrepreneurs. Evidence for this comes from a tracer study of Malaysian graduates in 2010, which revealed that only 24 (1.22 per cent) out of 1,968 graduates are self-employed. This situation suggests that graduates, from public HEIs at least, are more inclined to work with others than become entrepreneurs, and indicates a gap between the current reality and the government's hope of increasing the number of graduate entrepreneurs in Malaysia. The implementation of entrepreneurship education in universities also seems to have failed to nurture and develop the characteristics and quality of entrepreneurship among students (Mohd Fauzi et al., 2007). Entrepreneurship education has been largely unsuccessful in persuading students to engage in entrepreneurial activities (Ming et al., 2009). This is supported by Salmah (2009) and Nor Aishah (2005), whose studies found that the graduates who have become entrepreneurs did so through unplanned career paths, venturing into business in order to gain experience, while waiting to secure employment. These studies also found that entrepreneurship education in HEIs contributes little towards the development of an entrepreneurial career. This contradicts the findings of other researchers, who have argued that entrepreneurship education and training have successfully created awareness, and fostered a culture of entrepreneurship among graduates (Heinonen, 2007; Sluis et al., 2004; Strydom and Adams, 2009).Internal environment of HEIs should also be examined and improved, in order to enhance the quality and effectiveness of entrepreneurial culture. A study by Norfadhilah and Halimah (2010) of 420 university students in public HEIs showed that university environments are not conducive to inspiring students to choose entrepreneurship as a future career. Internal pulling factors, such as exposure to entrepreneurial subjects, peer pressure, entrepreneurship courses available, previous experience in the field of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial activities organised by the university, are attracting few students to entrepreneurship as a career choice. The study also found that lecturers and practicum opportunities do not exert significant influence on students in the decision to follow an entrepreneurial career (Norfadhilah and Halimah, 2010), although entrepreneurship instructors who lack experience in the entrepreneurial world cast doubt on their own competency and on the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship modules (Institutes of Higher Learning Entrepreneurship Development Policy, 2010).The factors described above indicate a structural weakness in the practical implementation of entrepreneurship education in universities, and reflect an unanticipated lack of thoroughness and success in entrepreneurial education as a means of guiding graduates towards an entrepreneurial career. What is the cause of this? Are universities in Malaysia not truly invested in implementing entrepreneurship education? Is entrepreneurship education offered to all students or exclusively to students from specific areas? Finally, do the facilities and internal environment of public universities in Malaysia lead to involvement of students in entrepreneurship? In response to the many questions raised by this issue, a study was carried out in Malaysian public universities, with the aim of reviewing the readiness towards entrepreneurship among students and in the internal environment of HEIs, in the implementation and success of entrepreneurship education.\nMethodology: This study is concerned with the issue of entrepreneurship education in Malaysian public universities. Its goal is to determine the entrepreneurship readiness among students and the readiness in the internal environment of universities to implement entrepreneurship education that will produce graduates ready to launch entrepreneurial careers. This study was performed using a quantitative approach. The population of the study consists of first-year students in Malaysian public universities. The rationale for focusing on undergraduates is that they are the largest of the overall student population in public universities. Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi Malaysia (2006), or the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia, reported that the number of first-year students was about 209,148 (68 per cent of total students at public universities). To determine the sample size, reference has been made to a number of studies, including the work of Cohen et al. (2001), Krejcie and Morgan (1970), and Sekaran (2003). Ultimately, 1,000 respondents were selected, which was larger than the sample size proposed. Following this, a selection of samples was performed, through random selection based on zones (i.e. north, central, south, and east). Each zone was represented by 250 students, randomly selected from randomly chosen public universities.A questionnaire was used as the main instrument for gauging entrepreneurship readiness among the students. This was adapted from several sources, including Harris et al. (2007) and Mohd Noor et al. (2006). The entrepreneurial readiness questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part is entrepreneurship willingness, which comprises an attitude of readiness (62 items), measured according to innovation attitude, self-control, achievement, self-esteem, control over risk, and tolerance for ambiguity; learning readiness (15 items), which determines the learning preferences of a person, and includes effort to learn, learning technique, and awareness of learning; and spiritual readiness (15 items), which consists of values, noble practices, and ethics. The second part of the questionnaire is readiness in capabilities towards entrepreneurship, and consists of the following components: readiness in entrepreneurial thinking (15 items), which explores how well respondents are prepared for entrepreneurial thinking, up to the production of ideas, including elements such as the needs of consumers, environmental analysis, generation of ideas, and elective thinking; entrepreneurial vocational readiness (25 items), which refers to the willingness of students towards entrepreneurial elements such as business management, planning, marketing, opportunity, and knowledge application; and, finally, readiness of internal environment (50 items), which refers to students' perceptions of lecturers, curriculum, co-curriculum, resources, and on-campus support.Before the field study was conducted, a pilot study was performed in order to measure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, using Cronbach's a. Once analysed, the findings of the pilot test showed that every dimension has a reliability >0.7, while the validity is >0.3, as Table I demonstrates. This shows that the instrument is good and fit for the purpose of the study (Hair et al., 2006).\nResearch findings and discussion: 1. What is the profile of entrepreneurship readiness among students in Malaysian public HEIs?\nConclusion: The study indicates that Malaysian students' readiness in terms of entrepreneurial willingness and capabilities are strong. However, the readiness of entrepreneurial attitude and readiness for entrepreneurship education within the internal environment of public universities remains insufficient and requires improvements. Thus, further research should be done by involving students in private universities to extend the range of data, as well as to provide material for the remodelling of internal environments of higher learning institutions. Effective entrepreneurship education needs to integrate all the relevant elements to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit among students and enable them to compete in the international arena. Curriculum and co-curriculum activities need to adopt a more practical and hands-on approach, distinct from business education, while public universities should open up opportunities for students to pursue entrepreneurial education, in order to increase awareness and change the mentality or culture of \"wage-earning\" careers in favour of entrepreneurship. This will reduce unemployment among graduates and will also help the creation of employment opportunities through the establishment, by graduate entrepreneurs, of new ventures. The qualifications of the lecturers, and a positive internal environment conducive to the implementation of entrepreneurship education, also merit consideration in enhancing the effort to cultivate entrepreneurship among university students. It is through these means that the readiness to entrepreneurship among students can be further developed. It is hoped that findings and recommendations in this study will provide important resources for policymakers responsible for Malaysian public universities as well as enabling them to enhance the implementation of entrepreneurship education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to observe the readiness of students and the internal environment of Malaysian public universities in the implementation of entrepreneurship education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors employed a quantitative approach and the main instrument used to gauge the entrepreneurship readiness among students in Malaysia public universities was the questionnaire. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software to obtain descriptive statistics that describe the profile of entrepreneurship readiness, both among the students themselves and in the internal environment of the universities, as the students perceive it.\nFindings: - According to the findings, students in Malaysian public universities demonstrate strong readiness, in terms of entrepreneurial willingness and capabilities. Within the internal environment of public universities, however, readiness for entrepreneurship education remains, from the students' perspective, imperfect, and requires improvement if these institutions are to support future entrepreneurship education.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research is limited to students in Malaysian public universities. It is suggested that further research should include the students of private universities also, in order to mine a wealth of information pertinent to the readiness of Malaysian students, as well as to provide material for the remodelling of the internal environments of higher learning institutions.\nPractical implications: - Readiness profiles of students and institutions towards the implementation of entrepreneurship education provide important resources for policymakers responsible for Malaysian public universities, enabling them to enhance the implementation of entrepreneurship education.\nOriginality/value: - There has been little discussion or analysis of the readiness of students and the internal environments of public universities in Malaysia towards the implementation of entrepreneurship education. This paper attempts to fill this gap in current research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The once and future editorial	[ "Publishing", "Editors", "Academic journals", "Scholarly publishing", "Journals", "Editorials" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As from this issue, Journal of Documentation, like other Emerald journals, will be using a new style of editorial. This will take the form of an extended commentary, and the format of an article, complete with abstract, keywords and references. This is not, in fact, so much different from what we have done in the recent past, but it is nice to establish it formally. And it seemed appropriate to use this first editorial of the new dispensation to reflect on the nature of the editorial itself.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changing nature of abstracts in scholarly journals, with particular reference to Journal of Documentation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Selective literature review.\nFindings: The nature of the editorial is changing towards a more stand-alone and substantive article.\nOriginality/value: The first discussion of the nature of the editorial in a scholarly information science journal.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards a unifying theory of management standard implementation: The case of ISO 9001/ISO 14001	[ "Case study", "Quality management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A management standard, such as the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 which we study here, is a \"set of conditions or requirements, prescribed and either formally adopted or widely recognized and accepted, whether promulgated by government agencies or merely established by custom or agreement, among buyers, sellers, or other governmental or commercial units. Certification is the process of assuring compliance with a standard by various instrumentalities, such as the seller of a product, a government agency, or some other third party\" (Rosenberg, 1976, p. 80). With the globalization of economies, the significance of management standards continues to heighten as evidenced by the rapid rates of their adoption. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 have diffused rapidly through many companies in many countries. By December 2011, nearly 1,111,698 certificates for the ISO 9001 standard had been awarded in 180 countries, and nearly 267,457 certificates for the ISO 14001 standard had been awarded in 158 countries (ISO Survey, 2012).\n2. Literature review: The adoption and implementation processes of a management standard are similar to the adoption and implementation processes of administrative innovation. The implementation stages are consistent with the literature on innovation adoption (Rogers, 1995). In the context of standards implementation, Boudouropoulos and Arvanitoyannis (1998) have also proposed various stages and provided definitions for them. With small differences, Rogers' and Boudouropoulos and Arvanitaoyannis's works describe similar patterns with the following common elements viewed as part of the implementation process: (i) decision to adopt, (ii) strategic planning, (iii) system design, and (iv) deployment. We first clarify some terminology. The term \"standard\" explicitly refers to a management standard - ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. \"System\" refers to the company's management systems; this may include generic quality or environmental management systems. After the adoption, the standard becomes part of the management system. In addition, the company may have information management systems in place before, during, or after the standard's adoption, referred to as \"management information systems\" or \"information technology.\" The numerous factors investigated in the literature are introduced through the stages of implementation. For parsimony, we present here only the most investigated factors.\n3. Methodology: The research questions examined in this paper are as follows: (i) Which of the factors, identified in the literature, are critical factors? and (ii) What is the relationship between these factors? The first question addresses variables mapping: identifying the key variables at each implementation stage. The second question addresses relationship building: developing a causal understanding of the linkages between the variables. The recommended research design for investigating these types of research questions is grounded theory building using an inductive case study approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Miles and Huberman, 1994; Edmondson and McManus, 2007, Siggelkow, 2007; Barratt et al., 2011; Handfield and Melnyk, 1998, pp. 320-339; Stuart et al., 2002, p. 422). As Siggelkow (2007, p. 22) points out, \"getting closer to constructs and being able to illustrate causal relationships more directly are among the key advantages of case research vis-a-vis large-sample research.\"\n4. Theoretical framework: 4.1. Cross-case comparison and pattern matching\n5. Discussion: Interestingly, some factors documented in the literature did not emerge in our cross-case analysis and therefore did not appear in the theoretical framework (Figure 2). What all these factors have in common is that they may be proxies or indirect effects for the factors included in the framework. We first note that plant size did not seem to have an influence on implementation effectiveness in the case studies. When we compare small (fewer than 250 employees), medium (250-500 employees), and large (more than 500 employees) plants, there were cases of low and high effectiveness of the implementation in all categories. We speculate that any first-order effect of plant size on effectiveness in the literature was in fact a manifestation of one of the variables in the framework; e.g., the prior state of the system. A similar argument exists for the plant being part of a larger organization and/or borrowing documentation from a mother/sister firm; both factors did not have an independent effect in our case studies. We also note that the timing of the adoption (early/late) did not have an independent effect. Similar to size, when we compare early adopters (adopting ISO 9001 before or in 1995, and ISO 14001 before or in 2000) and late adopters (adopting ISO 9001 after 1995 and ISO 14001 after 2000), there were cases of low and high effectiveness among both early and late adopters. The findings from the literature on the importance of timing of adoption were likely driven by marketing benefits (directly affecting the dependent variable) and/or the differences in motivation. Most of the organizations adopted ISO 9001 prior to adopting ISO 14001. Therefore, as we had only one firm adopting ISO 9001 after ISO 14001, we did not have sufficient evidence to conclude whether the order of adoption affects the effectiveness of the implementation. The use of consultants did not have a direct effect on the effectiveness of the implementation. Our case analysis shows that it is not the use of consultants per se but rather the role of the consultant in the implementation process that determines the effectiveness of implementation. Excessive dependence upon consultants can relate to failure to integrate the system with existing processes, but our cases showed that consultants can be used in a way that does not hinder design of the system around existing processes and therefore does not hinder implementation effectiveness. The key point is that plants can have effective implementations by following the paths in Figure 2, whether the plants or their firms are large or small, whether they are early or late adopters of the standard, and whether or not they use consultants. Some of the constructs in our framework tend to correlate with these variables, but the factors in our framework are the key causal drivers of effective implementation.\n6. Conclusion: Grounded in the literature, we conducted 17 case studies to investigate the drivers of the effective implementation of management standards. Based on the case studies, we developed an integrated theoretical framework linking the key factors influencing the effectiveness of standards implementation. We believe this framework is applicable to meta-standards such as ISO standards, OHSAS 18000, HACCP, and AACSB accreditation for universities. However, we acknowledge that our case studies were limited to two distinct ISO certifications in one geographic location, so the claim should be treated with caution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated theoretical framework of the interrelation of the key success factors in the process of standards implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Extensive case study work was carried out in ten American plants that had adopted ISO 9001 and or ISO 14001. First, within-case analysis captures the uniqueness of the implementation processes at each plant and leads to construction of the causal maps. Next, cross-case comparison identifies the key factors and the relationship between them, resulting in the theoretical framework.\nFindings: The key factors affecting implementation effectiveness include focus on internal improvement, top management support, design of the system around existing processes, use of information technology, positive employees' attitude, and employees' usage of the system. The resulting framework suggests three alternative pathways to effective implementation of standards: (i) incentives pathway, i.e., by providing the right incentives; (ii) integration pathway, i.e., by designing the system around existing processes; and (iii) information technology pathway, i.e., by using information technology.\nResearch limitations/implications: The key contribution of this research is the integrated theoretical framework.\nPractical implications: Practically, this framework provides managers a clear depiction of the key actions required at each stage of standard implementation.\nOriginality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first integrated framework of the factors affecting standard adoption. We believe this framework is applicable to other meta-standards.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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