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Developmental mentoring, affective organizational commitment, and knowledge sharing in public accounting firms
|
[
"Mentoring",
"Social exchange theory",
"Organizational commitment",
"Knowledge sharing",
"Public accounting",
"Mentoring relationship challenges"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A persistent challenge facing organizations, especially public accounting firms[1], is encouraging employees to share their knowledge with others at work. Knowledge is a critical organizational resource (Wang and Noe, 2010, p. 115), which leads to \"superior firm innovation capability\" (Lin, 2007, p. 315), making it one of the most important resources for competitive advantage in organizations (Pan and Scarbrough, 1998). DeLong (2004) explains that knowledge lost due to an aging and more mobile workforce is a serious threat to knowledge-based organizations' continued success and sustainability, whereas the creation and application of new knowledge is also essential to the survival of almost all businesses (Gurteen, 1999). Knowledge sharing (KS), the willingness of individuals in an organization to share with others the knowledge they have acquired or created (Gibbert and Krause, 2002), has been proposed as a means for leveraging the skills, knowledge and best practices possessed by individuals across organizations and is especially important in accounting firms, as these service firms depend on the quality of services provided by their professionals to succeed.\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: We begin by introducing a specific aspect of developmental mentoring, mentoring relationship challenges (MRC) (mentor challenge), used by mentors both to gauge and to develop a protege's dedication to the mentoring relationship, to the profession and finally to the organization. We then use a SET to explain how these particular challenges encourage and facilitate proteges' affective organizational commitment or commitment. We then discuss how commitment, through SET, positively mediates the relationship between mentor challenges and proteges' KS behavior. Our proposed model appears in Figure 1.\nResearch design: The instrument was implemented as a Web-based, anonymous survey. We first elicited participants' commitment to their firm and then prompted them to recall and evaluate their most recent formal and informal mentoring relationships[7]. We next asked participants to select one mentor from their firm who had the most significant impact on their career, whether formal or informal (Viator, 1999), and elicited evaluative data on this selected mentoring relationship. Finally, we asked for participants' perceptions of their own KS activities and collected demographics.\nResults: We test our hypotheses, depicted in Figure 1, with a combined measure of KS, using the Hayes (2016) Process model for direct and indirect effects[12]. These analyses include three covariates: age, gender and years, in public accounting; all findings of significance and statistical conclusions are the same when covariates are excluded.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Because professional service firms' value is in their ability to provide expert and comprehensive solutions, individual knowledge and the ability to leverage it are critical to their success. Innovative solutions transfer from one professional to another through active KS. Knowledge can be explicit or tacit. Explicit knowledge is objective, context-free and easy to encode and store, whereas tacit knowledge is personal, difficult to express with words, figures or formulas and is usually contextual in nature (Koriat and Gelbard, 2014). Collaborative behaviors, KS in particular, are among the mechanisms used to make this tacit knowledge surface, facilitate innovation and creativity, give the organization value and improve its performance (Choi and Lee, 2003). KS is a means for leveraging the skills, knowledge and best practices possessed by individuals across an organization. Therefore, firm management should take steps to identify and cultivate KS.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine how public accounting firms can use developmental mentoring to increase knowledge sharing (KS) among employees directly and indirectly through affective organizational commitment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses a survey of public accounting professionals to elicit participants' demographics and their perceptions of KS, mentoring relationships and organizational commitment in their workplace.\nFindings: The findings support that two categories of challenges found in developmental mentoring, demonstrating dedication and resilience and career goal and risk orientation, are directly associated with increased KS and they, along with a third, measuring up to mentor's standards, indirectly influence KS through their positive effect on organizational commitment. Applying social exchange theory, these challenges contribute to a reciprocal relationship between the protege and mentor, which builds the relationship between the protege and organization.\nPractical implications: This study provides information about developmental mentoring that human resource professionals and managers in public accounting firms can use to address two persistent challenges facing them: increasing employees' organizational commitment and encouraging employees to share their knowledge with others at work.\nOriginality/value: This study examines the concept of developmental mentoring, adopting three categories of mentoring challenges and applying them in the context of public accounting to examine their effect on KS.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The use of the accounting beta as an overall risk indicator for unlisted companies
|
[
"Financial risk",
"Financial management",
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Most enterprises will one day need to reach out to external sources of financing to ensure their development. Whether for investment in organizing their production, in their installations, or in their working capital, the firms that can depend indefinitely on their ability to generate all of their financial needs for development or operations are rare indeed. But, financing is not free and is not available under just any conditions. Indeed, these conditions are established in accordance with various parameters, most important of which is the risk that the business will default on its contractual obligations toward its lender and thus be unable to deal with its financial commitments. The conditions for obtaining and using these funds are defined in accordance with basic principles in finance that stipulate that any asset must yield a return proportional to the risk it entails for its title holder.The determination of the risk level of an enterprise as precisely as possible is then important, since this indicator will be utilized eventually to verify access to external financing and to determine under what conditions. Thus, the identification of SME risk poses a certain number of problems judging by the comments of the contractors on the possibilities of external financing and those of lenders, who consider de facto these enterprises as of very high risk (Laveren and Bortier, 2003; Pretorius et al., 2003; Rahman et al., 2003).In spite of the fact that banks constitute the first source of external borrowing of the SMEs, several studies have shown that relations between these two business partners are laborious (see Belletante and Levratto (1995) and Jullien and Paranque (1995) for France; Maillat and Crevoisier (1996) for Switzerland; Janssen and Wtterwulghe (1998) for Belgium; St-Pierre and Bahri (2003) for Canada; and Lane and Quack (2001) for England). Bankers and entrepreneurs, operating in two different worlds, do not have the same reflexes and values in their respective management roles. It is not surprising then to see differences in how each perceives the other (Sarasvathy et al., 1998). A study by Pretorius et al. (2003) has shown some differences in the attitudes of bankers and entrepreneurs. While the bankers are averse to risk, the entrepreneurs are risk takers; the bankers have a short-term outlook and seek an immediate return, while the entrepreneurs aim for returns, both pecuniary and other, in the long term; for the bankers, guarantees are key to obtaining financing, while for the entrepreneurs it is of paramount importance to seize opportunities, and the acceptance of a loan request must be based on the project and not on guaranties.Also, the bankers suspect that the entrepreneurs lack transparency in their loan request and in the utilization of the funds obtained while the entrepreneurs complain that their business risk is overvalued, resulting in financing conditions that are too harsh thereby diminishing their competitiveness. This observation has also been made in countries other than those listed above, but to different degrees, as demonstrated in the following studies. The cautious attitude of Malaysian bankers toward SMEs can be explained by the fact that they at times consider these enterprises as nonperformers (Rahman et al., 2003). For Belgian bankers, the SMEs present superior risks, given the differences between the objectives of management and those of the bankers, among other things (Janssen and Wtterwulghe, 1998). For their part, the bankers of South Africa are less inclined to finance SMEs because of their high level of risk and the weakness of their expected returns (Pretorius et al., 2003). The lenders also invoke the fact that the time spent evaluating a file must be proportional to the return they can draw from the transaction, which often places entrepreneur and banker at odds because the urgent needs of the first to ensure the company's development are not as important a preoccupation for the second.Thus, it seems important to develop effective and efficient methods for measuring the borrower's risk that take into account all SME dimensions, including their intrinsic qualities, that could be pertinent indicators of their potential. We therefore endorse the position of Allegret (in Chanel-Reynaud and Bloy, 2001) who affirms that: \"(...) the approach adopted by the banks within the framework of their financial diagnosis is unsuitable to the context in which enterprises, in particular the SMEs, currently evolve. In this way, the new financial diagnosis of an enterprise must be capable of taking into account the turbulence and recurring bumps that have affected enterprises since the early 80;\" thus, the need to leave the usual framework in order to apprehend the overall risk of the enterprise. The authors refer here to the financial framework usually used by lenders to determine the risk of an enterprise.Preceding studies suggest that if we succeeded in developing an all-inclusive index of the overall risk of an SME, the lenders would find it easier to make rapid and objective decisions based on the reality of the business. Because such an index would reflect the body of risks, management could not reproach the financial system of an overvaluation of their risk, and thus of imposing financing conditions that they consider to be too harsh.And yet, there are few models that allow evaluation of the total risk of a small enterprise. In banking circles, we often make use of \"financial\" models or models based in great measure on information taken from financial statements, since these are considered more objective than all other kinds of information (see Levy and Sauvage, 2003 for the quotation system of the Banque de France; Muller, 2003 for Switzerland; St-Pierre, 2004 for Canada). However, we do not take into account the fact that the financial information does not reflect the structure of the enterprise, the quality of its business practices, or the various risk factors that can affect its performance from one day to the next, perhaps even its very survival. Risk is a \"prospective\" concept of a future event apt to hinder the realization of a particular objective (Hillson, 2004; Barthelemy, 2000). For a lender, risk is considered a threat and is linked with the event or situation that would prevent the enterprise from meeting its financial obligations. But, this event is rarely apparent in the financial statements. The fact that the future of the business rests on a key employee, or on a recent innovation, the decision of the enterprise to work with a concentrated or a diversified clientele, the use of avant-garde or outmoded technologies are some of the situations or events whose consequences are only reflected in the financial statements once they are reality, i.e. when it is too late to intervene.Our study is intended first and foremost to be exploratory; it consists in verifying if an all-inclusive risk index such as the accounting beta, already tested in large and small publicly held corporations, can be considered as an overall measure of SME risk. In the present study, we wish to pursue the reflection that Vos (1992) initiated several years ago in his study on the SME accounting beta in which he invited researchers to work to better understand and develop specific measures of risk in unlisted businesses.We will review in the next section the results of certain studies on the use of the accounting beta as a measure of risk in unlisted businesses. We will then summarize the principal factors impacting total SME risk that serve to define our empirical model. We will close with an analysis of the results as well as the conclusions and the limits of this research.\nRisk assessment in unlisted businesses: The accounting beta as a measure of the overall risk in an SME\nMethodology and results: Description of the sample used\nConclusion: The development of a model allowing a synthetic risk rating to be defined for privately-held companies is a subject that has not attracted the attention of researchers these last few years. On the other hand, it is a subject of great importance to the extent that such a rating would permit a more acute definition of the real risk of a privately held corporation and, consequently, eventual access to external financing and financing conditions.The results obtained in this study lead to the observation that the accounting beta does not capture all the dimensions of SMEs' risk but focus almost exclusively on the financial information. As emphasized by Eccles (1999), the financial data cannot yield all the dimensions of enterprise performance. Indeed, quality, client satisfaction, innovation, and market share are elements of strategic information that better reflect the competitivness and the performance of an enterprise, but that do not necessarily find expression in the income earned. Also, Cumby and Conrod (2001) remind us that the financial performance \"sustainable\" in the long term is attributable to nonfinancial factors like client loyalty, employee satisfaction, internal processes, and the degree of innovation of the business. Ittner and Larcker (1998) agree completely by affirming that the accounting data cannot take into account the investment in intangible assets such as client satisfaction. The same remains true for the factors of vulnerability or the risk of enterprises that we find difficult to comprehend from a prospective point of view through financial statements.Our conclusions go beyond those of Vos (1992), who suggested that it was necessary to add a \"size premium\" for privately-held corporations. Finding inspiration in the literature on the failure of enterprises, we suggest adding under certain conditions to the financial data nonfinancial information related to the organization of the business, its ways of doing things, the particularities of its market, its decision-making structure, and the indicators of vulnerability that could \"explain\" the financial data. Making greater use of this nonfinancial information, we can also counter the problems related to the manipulation of financial statements, to their historic and temporal character.In a globalization context where great pressure is constantly applied on SMEs for an increased use of new management and production technologies, continuous innovation, and the adoption of good business practices, time will play an increasingly critical role. Thus, a \"rapid\" evaluation of risk using an overall and prospective model could certainly contribute in facilitating access to external financial resources that could be essential to their development, within waiting periods that take into account the demands of competitiveness.\nLimitations and further research: The principal limit of this research is its external validity. The sample is non-probabilistic and may not be representative of all manufacturing SMEs. Other studies on other samples are needed to validate our conclusions. Another limit of this research concerns measurement of non financial risk indicators that are to be explored more deeply to assure their validity.Being essentially exploratory, this research may be extended to further our understanding of components of SMEs' risks and try to find an all-inclusive index that could shorten delays in decision making. We do not know for sure if accounting beta is not an appropriate measure. The results presented here are too partial to formulate this conclusion. We must increase the number of nonfinancial being helped by literature on bankruptcy and new literature on risk management inspired by project management concepts (Hillson, 2004), to capture more globally all dimensions of risk. Also, to further investigate the components of overall SMEs' risk we should conduct empirical study on a sample of firms having expressed financial difficulties and explore links between nonfinancial variables and financial results. Finally a possible lag effect may exist between non financial variables and financial ones that should be studied on a longitudinal basis.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to verify whether or not the accounting beta, a recognized measure of overall risk in publicly traded companies, can be used with unlisted businesses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents an empirical study using factorial and regression analysis to measure which components of the global risk of SMEs are linked to accounting beta.\nFindings: - The results show that accounting beta does not seem to constitute a global measure of SMEs' risk, being explained mostly by financial risk and not by commercial, technological, management and entrepreneurial risks components.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Researchers will have to turn towards other models than accounting beta that include financial and nonfinancial dimensions of risk in order to obtain an adequate assessment of the overall SMEs' risk.\nPractical implications: - Risk is the element that determines access to external financing as well as the lending conditions. Results obtained in this research show that accounting data cannot be used to express overall risk of SMEs, because they are not global enough and are not good predictors of future situations.\nOriginality/value: - This article presents limits inherent to financial data to properly measured global risk of SMEs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Blessed are the peacemakers: The changing role of labor relations and arbitration
|
[
"UK",
"Conflict",
"Employment regulation",
"Disputed resolution",
"Labor relations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: The UK has long been at the forefront of labor relations, from its origins in the Combination Laws of 1799 and 1800 and subsequent repeal in 1824 to the development of trade unions in the Victorian era and the creation of the Labour Party just before the turn of the century. In the post-industrial revolution era, the UK helped hone and mature industrial policies for workers for much of the developed and developing world.\nLife begins at 40: Luckily, people and institutions have lived through this change and are able to report on it from the inside. Such an institution is the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), and an article by Gill Dix and Sir Brendan Barber entitled \"The changing face of work: insights from Acas\" offers an intriguing viewpoint on all this change. Indeed, Sir Brendan Barber is able to offer some rare insight as the recent leader of the trade union movement in the UK, as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and now Chair of Acas.\nBlowing in the wind: Over 40 years, the very nature of labor relations has changed immensely, and the authors are able to point to three central themes that characterize those changes:\nStruck down?: The evidence is clear that there is much greater strike action in 2015 than in the later 1970s and the so-called \"Winter of Discontent\" which saw large-scale strike action in the UK. While this has meant many fewer disputes for Acas to intervene on in latter years, there have been a number of changes beneath the statistics which help paint a picture of modern day industrial relations:\nComment: It is rare to read academic articles that are both well-researched, but are also \"from the horse's mouth\"; yet, the article \"The changing face of work: insights from Acas\" by Dix and Barber (2015) delivers this in spades. Providing a rich summary of industrial relations in the UK over the past 40 years, the article also enriches the subject with some key points \"from the coal face\" on the real nature of industrial relations in recent years and offers insight into the future as to how they may develop.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"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: The UK has long been at the forefront of labor relations, from its origins in the Combination Laws of 1799 and 1800 and subsequent repeal in 1824 to the development of trade unions in the Victorian era and the creation of the Labour Party just before the turn of the century. In the post-industrial revolution era, the UK helped hone and mature industrial policies for workers for much of the developed and developing world.\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"
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] |
Young career women debate question of "having it all"
|
[
"Work–life balance",
"Pragmatism",
"Optimism",
"Support",
"Pessimism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The answer to the persistent question of whether women are capable of \"having it all\" by balancing full-time careers with family life is more complex than many researchers have suggested, according to a new study. The three authors of the study \"Can I Have It All? Emerging Adult Women's Positions On Balancing Career and Family,\" from Canadian and US universities, have used qualitative analysis based on discussions in small groups, enabling more nuanced analysis than the quantitative approach taken by other researchers. The writers also felt that previous researchers had focused on \"aspirations and wants\" rather than what was perceived as \"attainable,\" or how to create a sense of \"balance.\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Researchers felt previous research had not addressed the complexity of young women's views on whether they can have it all - which essentially means a great career at the same time as being a great mother. They identified six different positions, with either extreme represented by the optimist and pessimist viewpoints.\nDesign/methodology/approach: There were interviews with 14 small focus groups of between two and eight members. All were emerging adults at a Canadian university and on the verge of moving into careers. The focus was on the challenges of work-family balance, especially in managerial roles.\nFindings: Six common positions emerged - optimism, pessimism, uncertainty, choice, pragmatism, and support. Optimists were certain they could achieve balance and \"have it all\" even if it entailed a slight struggle. In total contrast to the optimists, the pessimists' position was that no one could have it all - both a really good job and a healthy family life - and it was always necessary to give something up. Other positions were more nuanced.\nOriginality/value: Previous studies have tended to be quantitative and come up with much less-nuanced results. The study enabled researchers to tease out the complexity of women's views.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Social CRM, RMO and business strategies affecting banking performance effectiveness in B2B context
|
[
"Social CRM",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Business-to-Business marketing",
"Banking performance effectiveness",
"Business strategies",
"Relationship marketing orientation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is a prediction in the banking industry for 2015 that the traditional value and culture of a typical banking industry will not be enough to drive growth and retain customers. Banks need to revisit their strategic planning to survive. Every bank must be competent and focus on their core strengths, as well as be able to provide services and offer innovations with participation from their customers. Any bank that can offer this will lead the financial and banking industry (Hedley et al., 2006).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Social customer relationship management\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Questionnaire design\n4. Results: We tested the proposed hypotheses using SEM. For the conceptual framework, it was found that this SEM complies with empirical data: CMIN (Chi-square) = 83.865, df = 82, CMIN/df = 1.023, GFI = 0.957, CFI = 0.999, RMR = 0.024 and RMSEA = 0.010. The results of the model estimation are shown in Figure 5. For Thai Commercial Bank, social CRM and RMO have no direct influence on banking performance effectiveness, only indirectly through the mediation of business strategies (differentiation and focus strategies) (p\n5. Discussion and conclusions: This research investigated the affect of social CRM, RMO, business strategies on banking performance effectiveness. Furthermore, the results show that in B2B context, while social CRM, RMO, business strategies (focus and differentiation strategy) have direct and indirect influences on banking performance effectiveness through the mediation of focus strategy or differentiation strategy (p\n6. Managerial implications: Recent development of the digital communications in industrial marketing, this research has essential implications for chief executive officer, management officers, managers, marketing officers and service customers of B2B, business-to-customer, commercial banks and financial service industries. Our findings reveal that social CRM and focus and/or differentiation strategies are of primary significance in managing banking performance effectiveness. Subsequently, our findings show that RMO and differentiation and/or focus strategies are of main significance in handling banking performance effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential to identify the industrial marketing planning, strategic planning and developing quality of relationships with B2B, businesses environment, business partners and customers. Chief executive officer, management officers and managers could consider setting managing and marketing plans for excellent performance and long-term relationship by five steps; step one: social CRM, RMO and business strategies; step two: social CRM and focus strategy; step three: social CRM and differentiation strategy; step four: RMO and differentiation strategy; and step five: RMO and focus strategy.\n7. Limitations and further research: The findings of this research suggest that social CRM and RMO have indirect influences on banking performance effectiveness through the mediation of business strategies. However, the results of this study are limited because only quantitative data were used.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to develop structural equation modelling of variables that affect the banking performance effectiveness of Thai Commercial Bank branches in the financial service sector by gathering quantitative data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The population of the study covers all 2,068 Thai Commercial Bank branches in Bangkok, Thailand. This research defined the Thai banks for data collection using stratified sampling (first step) and simple sampling (second step). Primary data were collected using a self-administered survey of 65 managers and 185 marketing officers. In the total sample, 69 (27.6 per cent) of the respondents were male and 181 (72.4 per cent) were female in the Thai Commercial Bank branches. The responses to the questions capturing focal constructs used a seven-point Likert scale. Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.\nFindings: It was found that significant relationships existed between social customer relationship management (CRM), relationship marketing orientation (RMO) and business strategies and banking performance effectiveness. The key success factors of social CRM and relationship marketing orientation were found to have indirect influences on banking performance effectiveness through mediation of business strategies. Additionally, the results of this research show that social CRM and RMO have direct and indirect influences on banking performance effectiveness through the mediation of focus strategy or differentiation strategy (p\nPractical implications: Recent development of the digital communications in industrial marketing to achieve firm performance, chief executive officer, management officers and managers could consider setting managing and marketing plans for excellent performance, and long-term relationship by five steps.\nOriginality/value: These results add performance effectiveness and long-term relationships with business-to-business (B2B) service industry and bank customers (both retail and public enterprises) to the factors needed to respond to the highly competitive situation at present, which will be even more important with the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The influence of green marketing functions in building corporate image: Evidences from hospitality industry in a developing nation
|
[
"Corporate image",
"Corporate communication",
"Green image",
"Green marketing activities"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The development of human civilization is accompanied with various environmental issues which in turn affect the human beings in many ways. The ever-increasing ecological imbalance has become a major concern as the whole world is facing challenge to accelerate economic growth with a less detrimental impact on natural resources as well as the environment. Many of the environmental problems are deeply rooted in the human behavior, and it can be managed by changing/modifying the relevant behavior to lessen its impact on the environment (Steg and Vlek, 2009).\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: Corporate image\nMethodology: Measures\nDiscussion: The present study aims to examine the relationship among various components of green activities of hotels (green/eco-friendly practices, corporate communication of green practices and green image) on corporate image and intention to visit in the hospitality industry in the context of a developing nation. The finding of the study shows that green activities adopted by the hotel significantly influence its corporate image. This shows that green activities bestow a positive perception and thus a positive image and reputation of the hotels in the minds of the consumer. The results were consistent with those of Chen (2008) and Ko et al. (2013) who found that green marketing programs (special initiatives adopted by the firms) strongly influence the corporate image of a firm in positive direction, as by adopting eco-friendly behavior, the organizations show their concern and commitment for the society. The findings supported Fraj-Andres et al. (2012) and Lee et al. (2009), as green activities performed by organizations is a part of CSR activities which positively influence the corporate image of a firm.\nConclusion: With the changing business environment, the green practices/eco-friendly activities are being viewed as an important part of the business strategy by the hospitality sector in India. The present research gives an insight to the managers of the hospitality sector about green practices which lead to develop a better image of their firms. From the Indian perspective, the findings strongly support the concept of corporate image as corporate outcome, as the green/eco-friendly activities and green image were significantly related to the corporate image of the firm, which can further influence the consumer's intention to visit the hotel again. It can be inferred from the findings that proper implementation of green activities and green image in the hospitality sector positively impacts their corporate image which in turn results in revisits from the customer.\nLimitations and future research: Although the present study has added to the existing body of knowledge in the hospitality sector, more specifically in a developing country like India, the study has several limitations. As snowball sampling approach was adopted for data collection from consumers in India, the generalization of the result needs to be viewed with caution. The self-selection bias is also another problem as those who are more pro-environmental may have been motivated to participate, resulting in over-representation of such people in the sample (Hage et al., 2009). The perception of the customers about the various green activities and the initiatives adopted by the hotel chain was not considered. Further, the study did not consider the validation testing between demographic variables (age, gender and occupation) for measuring the influence of green marketing functions on corporate image. In the present research, three constructs, namely, green/eco-friendly activities, corporate communication of green practices and green image, were selected to test their relationship with corporate image. The future studies may also consider attributes such as green pricing strategy, green partnership and employee attitude, which may affect hotels' corporate image and consumer decision-making. Future studies may test the validity of the model among various demographic variables over time. Researchers may also consider testing the applicability of the model in cross-cultural studies and international chains of hotels operating in India. Further research may extend the findings of the present study by incorporating situational or personal characteristics (e.g. first time customers versus repeat customers as moderators into the conceptual model).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The present study aims to explore the influence of green marketing functions (green activities, corporate communication of green activities and green image) on corporate image in the hospitality sector. Further, the study tries to explore the consumer's intention to visit the hotels practicing green marketing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using snowball sampling approach, a total of 220 usable responses were obtained from the consumer via an internet survey. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to evaluate the strength of relationship and model fit.\nFindings: The findings show that green/eco-friendly activities and green image significantly influence the corporate image of the hotel, which in turn results into significant positive impact over consumer's intention to visit the hotel. No significant influence of corporate communication of green activities on corporate image of the hotels was found, which may be because of the low level of communication of green practices by the hotels in India.\nPractical implications: The findings offer insight to the managers regarding the impact of green marketing practices adopted by the hotels on their corporate image which in turn results into increased visit/revisit intention.\nOriginality/value: The study deals with the topic \"the influence of green marketing on corporate image\", which has received scant attention by researchers. The paper attempts to provide empirical evidence in this area. The study yields several implications that can be helpful for managers while devising green marketing strategies for the hospitality sector. The study is among the initial studies exploring the influence of green marketing on corporate image in the Indian context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Must I, can I? I don't understand your ambiguous password rules
|
[
"Usability",
"Password policies",
"Password requirements",
"Password rule language",
"Usable security",
"User comprehension"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"No, they're not the same. A symbol is a symbol; it's not a letter and it's not a number. Special characters are not a symbol. It's like a punctuation mark. I'm sorry. Which ones are we talking about here?\" (P07)\n2. Literature review: Passwords are currently a good fit for many authentication needs, as passwords allow access from anywhere assuming only a simple browser, and revocation is as simple as changing passwords (Herley and van Oorschot, 2012). However, passwords pose numerous risks to security, such as vulnerability to attack (Bonneau, 2012; Kelley et al., 2012; Weir et al., 2009, 2010) and susceptibility to phishing via social engineering (Downs et al., 2007; Mohebzada et al., 2012; Nirmal et al., 2015). To mitigate those vulnerabilities, organizations often utilize security measures such as imposing stringent password composition requirements, forcing password changes on a regular basis, preventing the use of prior passwords and providing employee security training and education. Furthermore, alternative authentication methods have been proposed, such as the use of biometrics, smart cards and various combinations of multiple methods for multi-factor authentication.\n3. Methodology: While research on large-scale datasets (Das et al., 2014; Weir et al., 2010) offers quantitative insight regarding what constitutes user-generated passwords (e.g. character frequencies and arrangements), such studies do not necessarily offer explanations on why users choose certain character combinations in their passwords. Users' character selections are based on their comprehension of the allowed character space as specified in the password rules. Qualitative methods are best suited to investigate users' password rule comprehension by providing a deeper understanding of their thought processes. Qualitative methods and quantitative approaches complement one another and together provide more holistic and powerful insights.\n4. Results: 4.1 Character-selection tasks\n5. Discussion: People are sensitive to nuances in language. In our study, different password rule terminologies elicited different reactions and interpretations from the participants. Here we discuss key findings with supporting evidence.\n6. Conclusions and future directions: This user research provides important data-driven guidance on constructing clearer language for password policies. Terminology used in password rules can have unintended consequences on users' understanding of the allowed versus prohibited character space. By combining qualitative and quantitative research methods in our study, we discovered substantial effects of varying terminology in the context of password rule comprehension. Seemingly small changes in language have large, observable impacts on users' understanding of password rules and affect the expected capacity of the password rules. Depending upon the exact terms used - special characters, symbols, punctuation marks or non-alphanumeric characters - users' interpretation of the allowed character space can shrink or expand. Therefore, it is critical that password requirements avoid ambiguous terminology. This can be accomplished by avoiding jargon words such as \"non-alphanumeric\" unless they are explicitly defined. Furthermore, rather than giving a partial list with \"e.g.\" or \"etc.\", an exhaustive list of allowed non-alphanumeric characters should be defined for users.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate user comprehension of ambiguous terminology in password rules. Although stringent password policies are in place to protect information system security, such complexity does not have to mean ambiguity for users. While many aspects of passwords have been studied, no research to date has systematically examined how ambiguous terminology affects user comprehension of password rules.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in a usable security study with 60 participants. Study tasks contained password rules based on real-world password requirements. Tasks consisted of character-selection tasks that varied the terms for non-alphanumeric characters to explore users' interpretations of password rule language, and compliance-checking tasks to investigate how well users can apply their understanding of the allowed character space.\nFindings: Results show that manipulating password rule terminology causes users' interpretation of the allowed character space to shrink or expand. Users are confused by the terms \"non-alphanumeric\", \"symbols\", \"special characters\" and \"punctuation marks\" in password rules. Additionally, users are confused by partial lists of allowed characters using \"e.g.\" or \"etc.\"\nPractical implications: This research provides data-driven usability guidance on constructing clearer language for password policies. Improving language clarity will help usability without sacrificing security, as simplifying password rule language does not change security requirements.\nOriginality/value: This is the first usable security study to systematically measure the effects of ambiguous password rules on user comprehension of the allowed character space.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The role of cognitive proximity on supply chain collaboration for radical and incremental innovation: a study of a transition economy
|
[
"Innovation",
"Supply chain collaboration",
"Information sharing",
"Transition economies",
"Cognitive proximity",
"Joint decision making"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the increasingly complex and globalized economy, innovation has become critical for firms to remain competitive and simultaneously adapt to changing business practices (Simatupang et al., 2004). However, firms recognize that it is difficult to innovate and grow in isolation because innovation in the supply chain is mostly a result of collaboration among firms (Sumo et al., 2016). Supply chain collaboration is defined as the integration of two or more autonomous firms to plan and execute supply chain operations (Cao and Zhang, 2011). For collaboration to occur, the base knowledge of respective firms should be close enough to absorb new knowledge which they can acquire from each other. In other words, firms must have cognitive proximity for collaboration to generate innovation (Boschma, 2005). Cognitive proximity is defined as the degree of similarity in the ways firms perceive, interpret, understand and evaluate the world (Knoben and Oerlemans, 2006). The role of proximity in establishing the relationship between firms has been extensively studied. However, the impact of cognitive proximity on collaboration for innovation is still not well understood (Steinmo and Rasmussen, 2016). Therefore, cognitive proximity is treated as a central point of analysis in this study, because collaboration in supply chains is highly dependent on how supply chain members \"perceive, interpret, understand and evaluate the world\" (Skippari et al., 2017).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Cognitive proximity and supply chain collaboration\n3. Data collection and the sample: 3.1 Research context\n4. Data analysis and results: This paper applied the general approach of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Firstly, explanatory factor analysis was conducted to eliminate the variable with commonalities and factor loadings of less than 0.5. Then confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the fitness-to-factor and variable items. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was developed to test the hypotheses.\n5. Discussion: This study investigates the role of cognitive proximity on supply chain collaboration and innovation. The findings have several implications for researchers and for practitioners in this field. First, our empirical findings provide a nuanced understanding of how cognitive proximity influences collaboration. This study investigates the role of cognitive proximity on three dimensions instead of treating collaboration as a holistic concept. The role of cognitive proximity on collaboration is specifically identified in the implementation process, where firms share information, engage in joint decision making and share benefits, costs and risks. Our results suggest that when all supply chain members share goals and culture, they will jointly create a common space of knowledge sharing, replenishment, incentives and synchronization to reduce cost, enhance quality and efficiency, and increase innovation. Importantly, we found that cognitive proximity significantly and positively relates to decision synchronization and incentive alignment of supply chain collaboration. This result is in line with that outlined by Johnson et al. (2013) and confirms the role of cognitive proximity in developing and maintaining relationships among supply chain members (Steinmo and Rasmussen, 2016; Geldes et al., 2017). When firms share common goals and values, they can easily achieve mutual understanding (Johnson et al., 2013) and reach a high level of commitment (Simatupang and Sridharan, 2002). Cognitive proximity of firms can help to reach a consensus in problem-solving, thus improving overall profitability and reduction of costs and risks. However, contrary to our expectations, this study does not confirm the role of cognitive proximity in facilitating information sharing in the supply chain. This may be partly due to the characteristics of developing and transition economies, which have incomplete and asymmetric information systems and economic relations lack mutual trust. The lack of trust between members of a supply chain leads to a lack of information sharing (Ali et al., 2017; Ha et al., 2011). In other words, when firms do not trust each other, instead of sharing or receiving information from partners, they tend to seek more information from third parties or from outside the supply chain.\n6. Limitations and future research: While this study has made some significant contributions to research and practice, it has some limitations. Because of the limited scope of this study, we could not explore the supply chain collaboration in detail with regard to upstream, midstream and downstream members. This can be studied separately to achieve a better understanding of the determinant factors of supply chain collaboration, distinguishing the features of upstream, midstream and downstream members. Another limitation of this study is that we use cross-sectional data. Thus, we could not consider control variables such as sector or firm size. We must accept that it is difficult to control the specific features of cognitive proximity in one single industry when using cross-sectional data. Future investigations might use a different dimension of proximity to explain the implementation of collaboration and innovation. Such analysis could provide greater understanding of the various aspects of collaborative activities toward innovation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of cognitive proximity on supply chain collaboration and how it relates to radical and incremental innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on quantitative approach to analyze the data of 218 firms in a developing and transition economy. The proposal model is tested with exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM).\nFindings: The authors' findings show that cognitive proximity facilitates decision synchronization and incentive alignment in the supply chain. Furthermore, the authors' results indicate that information sharing and decision synchronization are determinants of radical innovation while incentive alignment is a determinant of incremental innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study was cross-sectional, so the authors could not consider the control variable such as sectors or firms' size. It is hard to control the specific features of cognitive proximity in one single industry when using cross-sectional data. In future investigations, it may be possible to use a different dimension of proximity to explain the implementation of collaboration for innovation.\nOriginality/value: This study attempted to explore the role of cognitive proximity on supply chain implementation process in the context of a transition economy. Moreover, the authors' findings provide the clearer understanding of the relationship between collaboration and innovation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Towards a workflow-based integration architecture for business networking
|
[
"Production scheduling",
"Process management",
"Information systems"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The internet fosters new business possibilities that will make enterprises reengineer their systems and reorganize themselves. As a globally connected and widely accessible network infrastructure, the internet provides unprecedented access to potential business partners. In an increasingly connected world, it becomes easier to find business partners that can perform some of the work better, faster and cheaper. On the other hand, enterprises can associate with each other in order to provide products or services that none of them would be able to provide alone.In the past, industry has improved its productive powers by dividing labor among a set of workers (Smith, 1776); now and in the future, as enterprises strive to become more competitive, they will necessarily adopt a strategy based on dividing competencies among a set of business partners. The development of appropriate integration architectures will allow enterprises to make effective use of the internet in order to establish closer relationships with each other, creating new business structures. The act of developing business relationships supported by information technology is referred to as business networking (Osterle et al., 2001). This means that the potential of the internet to reshape the way companies conduct business with each other will eventually lead to a business landscape dominated by dynamic business relationships.This scenario requires enterprises to be able to integrate and coordinate business processes that extend beyond their borders. For this purpose, enterprises need solutions that provide them with flexibility regarding the kind of business processes they can establish with each other, while respecting the autonomy of each business partner. Taking advantage of the internet as a business platform is not straightforward because a lot of functionality is still missing to support the integration of business processes between enterprises. Up to now, only application integration has been successfully implemented by making use of technologies such as EDI, XML, message-oriented middleware or, more recently, web services (Huang and Chung, 2003).But in order to achieve process integration, enterprises must be provided with process modeling and execution capabilities that will allow them to design and automate inter-organizational workflows (Aalst, 1998a).In the past, paradigms such as business process reengineering (BPR) and computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) have devised methodologies and architectures that have allowed enterprises to carry out enterprise-wide reengineering projects focusing on the integration of processes and resources. In the future, similar paradigms will be required to guide enterprises in integrating their processes and resources with those of their business partners. The internet and its related technologies already provide an underlying infrastructure for enterprises to share and exchange information with each other. Now what is missing is a framework or architecture that combines the concepts, approaches and technologies that will allow enterprises to integrate business processes with each other.\n2 Perspectives from enterprise integration: During the 1980s and 1990s, the field of enterprise integration (Vernadat, 1996) has been developed several integration architectures. These architectures provide tools and methodologies to break down systems into functions, to understand the relationships between those functions, and to identify generic building blocks that can be used to build any of those functions. Each enterprise integration architecture is a reference architecture, which defines a methodology to capture enterprise functions into models, and to devise particular system architectures that will implement those models.2.1 Open system architecture for CIM (CIMOSA)\n3 Workflow management in inter-enterprise environments: The study of enterprise integration architectures and B2B frameworks shows the importance of WfMSs as an integration tool. On the other hand, if the ability to describe and control business processes is one of the main issues in business networks, then WfMSs are precisely the tools that will provide those capabilities. The fundamental difference is that whereas once the business processes extended across departments within a single enterprise, now they extend across enterprise borders and may involve several autonomous entities.3.1 Autonomy and decentralization\n4 Proposed solution: Up to this point, we have seen that any solution that is intended to support process integration within business networks must be devised as an appropriate compound of modeling, execution and integration services. Modeling and execution services are provided by a local workflow enactment service available at each enterprise, allowing each enterprise to define and run its own business processes. Integration services are provided by a common, network-level integration infrastructure, which facilitates information exchange between enterprises and allows them to connect their business processes to one another.In the previous section, we have seen that the integration infrastructure should be a fully decentralized platform, while the workflow enactment service should be provided as a reusable, extendable core of workflow functionality. In effect, the proposed solution presented in this section is the combination of a reusable workflow engine with a P2P integration infrastructure.4.1 The workflow kernel\n5 Application scenario: a semiconductor supply chain: In this section, we will try to describe how the proposed solution could be used in a real-world business scenario. This scenario is based on the COOPERATE project (Azevedo et al., 2002) since it involves three industrial partners of that project: SiemensVDO Automotive, Alcatel Microelectronics (later acquired by STMicroelectronics), and MEMC Electronic Materials. However, whereas the main goal of COOPERATE was to develop a supply chain management system focusing on order processing and production planning, here we will explore an alternative scenario where these partners would meet and develop business relationships with one another.Siemens-VDO is a manufacturer of electronic subsystems for the automotive industry. Most of these components require application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), which Siemens-VDO orders from Alcatel Microelectronics. In order to produce these and other customized integrated circuits, Alcatel Microelectronics needs silicon wafers, which are supplied by MEMC. Silicon wafers are standard products, which MEMC can supply from its own stock.For the purpose of our scenario, let us first assume that none of these companies know each other a priori, so that they will have to create their business network (which is, in this case, the above described supply chain). Furthermore, let us assume that they will create this business network according to a five-phase life cycle. During the search phase, Siemens-VDO will search for a supplier of ASICs. Then, having identified a list of potential suppliers, Siemens-VDO will engage in conversations in order to select the best supplier, which eventually will be Alcatel; this will be called the selection phase. In the contracting phase, Siemens-VDO and Alcatel will sign a contract or Trading Partner Agreement (TPA), which specifies how the purchase will take place, from initial ordering to final payment. In the operation phase, Alcatel will produce the ASICs and send them to Siemens-VDO so that Siemens-VDO can proceed with its own manufacturing process. Finally, in the evaluation phase, Siemens-VDO will measure the performance of the supplier so that this information can be taken into account in future partner selections.This B2B trading life cycle is basically equivalent to that of Piccinelli et al. (2001). While Siemens-VDO develops its relationship with Alcatel, Alcatel will develop a relationship with MEMC according to the same kind of procedure. The timing of this relationship is assumed to be such that when Siemens-VDO searches for a supplier of ASICs, Alcatel searches for a supplier of wafers; when Siemens-VDO signs a contract with Alcatel, Alcatel signs a contract with MEMC; and so on.Figure 4 shows how the interactions between these business partners can be modeled and executed with the workflow kernel. In particular, Figure 4 shows how the contracting phase can be modeled at Siemens-VDO (bottom left) and at Alcatel (upper right). By means of an SUR action, Siemens-VDO sends a contract proposal to Alcatel, which will receive the contract (via an RUS action not seen in the figure) and then analyze it. The contract proposal may or may not satisfy Alcatel, which will produce an affirmative or negative reply, respectively, to be sent with an SSR action. If the reply is negative, then Alcatel will go back to a state where it waits for another proposal, whereas Siemens-VDO will revise the contract and then re-submit it. If the reply is affirmative, then both processes will proceed to the operation phase.At the level of the integration infrastructure, Siemens-VDO, Alcatel and others are peers in a P2P network that provides unicast and multicast services, allowing them to communicate with each other. These services are invoked by actions such as SUR, RUS and SSR in the previous example. On the other hand, it should be noted that some activities - namely \"analyze contract\" at Alcatel and \"revise contract\" at Siemens-VDO - are performed locally within a given enterprise. The interaction with local resources is achieved by means of the same actions, but with another set of multicast and unicast services. These services can be deployed on a separate, private JXTA network, where each enterprise resource is a separate peer. These will be called \"local services\", as opposed to the previous ones, called \"remote services\", which are used between enterprises.Local services are especially useful during the operation phase, when several resources must be invoked in order to carry out a manufacturing process. In fact, each company - Siemens-VDO, Alcatel or MEMC - has its own manufacturing process, defined as sub-process within the operation phase of the five-phase life cycle, as shown in Figure 5. Throughout their manufacturing processes, Siemens-VDO, Alcatel and MEMC can synchronize with each other by means of the same actions and remote services as before - it is just the local activities performed at each enterprise that differ.\n6 Conclusion: Business networking brings, among other challenges, the problem of integrating business processes between autonomous enterprises, and this problem requires new integration architectures. Perspectives from enterprise integration allow us to identify the key elements of any integration architecture:1. an integration infrastructure;2. modeling and execution services; and3. the life-cycle of each entity.But, in addition, the nature of business networking is such that each enterprise must have the freedom to implement its own business processes in any desired way and to establish business relationships with any available business partner and according to any business structure.To meet these requirements, we have devised a decentralized, workflow-based solution that requires minimum coupling between enterprises: by means of a common set of P2P services, enterprises can discover and exchange messages with each other without having to expose any application programming interface; and by means of appropriate workflow mechanisms, enterprises are able to link and synchronize their business processes, while keeping their internal processes private. The resulting architecture allows enterprises to automate the full life cycle of their business relationships, and hence to develop arbitrary business networks.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show how workflow management can be applied in the context of business networking.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper looks at workflow management systems (WfMSs) as an enterprise integration tool and, as such, it shows that WfMS require an appropriate integration infrastructure. The paper then describes how a WfMS that supports business networking can be built.\nFindings: - It is found that business networking requires a decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) integration infrastructure. On the other hand, it is found that it is possible to develop a generic and reusable workflow engine. Both components are then integrated in order to come up with a solution that supports business networking.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Issues concerning information and document management are not addressed. Neither mechanisms of storage and retrieval of exchanged documents, nor the format/structure of those documents are specified.\nPractical implications: - The paper assumes that enterprises will be willing to build up a P2P network where they will conduct their business-to-business (B2B) exchanges. Then, the proposed solution would allow their business processes to be linked without requiring tight coupling between their information systems.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is useful to IT strategists and researchers dealing with WfMS, B2B integration architectures and applications of P2P technology.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Using the future time perspective to analyse resistance to, and readiness for, change
|
[
"Russia",
"Innovation",
"Organizational change",
"Digitalization",
"Employee resistance",
"Energy provider"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The provision of energy ranks among the most vital public services for both citizens and the local economy. Energy providers, traditionally among the largest organisations of regional administration, produce and/or collect and distribute energy to their customers. With energy production and consumption changing rapidly, energy providers have turned into gatekeepers for emerging key technologies, from alternative energy production methods to smart grid solutions (e.g. Soltero et al., 2018). When a major Russian energy provider introduced a new technology that required organisational adjustment, the company's management was surprised by the degree of employee resistance which these changes provoked. The situation became unmanageable, and external support was required to continue the provision of services. The authors of this paper were invited to review and accompany the processes of change and were asked to study the roots of the resistance. The paper is based on these activities and provides insights into two core questions regarding innovation management and organisational development: why should a firm expect employee resistance and what can be done to ease the situation (Coch and French, 1948; Ford et al., 2008; Jones and Van de Ven, 2016; Cinite and Duxbury, 2018).\nConceptual framework: The history of studying attitudes towards organisational change and change readiness dates back to Coch and French's (1948) seminal work which built on long-running studies of organisational and social settings by Kurt Lewin in the 1930s and 1940s. Lewin's work provided the basis for the organisational development movements which would dominate the debate for more than 60 years (Burnes and Cooke, 2012). Lewin's theoretical framework was his field theory, which included both individual and group behaviour and described the organisational background as a complex system that surrounds individuals and forms a force field in a life space. If this field changes, changes in behaviour follow suit - either by a decrease in the power of restraining forces or in an increase in the power of driving forces.\nThe case study: The organisation, with approximately 1,700 employees at the time of this research, started replacing its outdated overhead power lines with new underground cable lines. These cables were also able to transfer data and allowed for immediate maintenance via an advanced sensor system. This new technology required changes in the organisational structure. While some departments were closed, others expanded and were given additional new tasks. Also, the cost accounting was adjusted accordingly, and the flow of documents changed. A new organisational structure was introduced in line with the company's new consumer orientation to offer a better service. One of the major changes introduced was a 24 h maintenance service of the cable lines. The new technology greatly increased the reliability of energy transfer, but required an entirely new skill set. Engineers were sent for training to Germany, Sweden and Finland. The period of introduction was described as difficult by many employees, as delays in the work became more frequent. The company organised meetings with employees to explain the changes in detail and to discuss possible effects on individual team members. If they were not happy with their new role, the company's management tried to find a position for them from among a number of vacancies. Furthermore, the firm started a staff retraining programme; those who did not want to learn the required new skills were replaced. If staff members remained dissatisfied in alternate positions, their work relation was terminated in compliance with the labour law. Some staff left the company because they refused to work on night shifts. Many employees faced an increased workload, but also received a higher salary. With the move towards a greater customer orientation, the number of employees was \"optimised\" - as one manager put it. Resistance also came from the heads of the departments. Despite the company-wide reduction of employees, everyone required additional staff to handle the new tasks. Moreover, the organisational changes led to employees' resistance to having to leave their group. In Russia, the collective (or \"Kollektiv\") is highly valued and provides stability for individual employees in large companies. With the necessary changes in the organisation, new networks had to be forged, and building professional relationships was required (Islankina and Thurner, 2018).\nMethodology: We started our research with a site visit at the company's premises, and management introduced us to the current issues. Subsequently, we identified a group of around 350 managers between the ages of 25 and 40[2]. We focussed on this age bracket as, in order to study the different constructs of the future, a significant part of the individual professional's own future needs to lie ahead still. Out of this group, we randomly chose a total of 148 employees (79 men and 69 women, representative of the workforce) who agreed to participate in the research which stretched over a period of one month (two employees rejected our request). In a first step, we developed a basic approach towards the issue and then developed the tools we intended to apply. To ensure construct validity, we proposed our methodology to the management and to a group of sociologists and psychologists. Once we had agreed on the approach and had designed the tools, we met with the selected employees and asked them to write down 20 statements regarding how they saw their own future[3]. We gave no further instructions or limitations so that participants would freely convey which aspects of their future were important to them. The twenty-statement test captured the 20 most important statements regarding the participants' future. In a first step, we distinguished between person- and work-oriented statements. We split the work-based statements again to understand better whether an individual sees his/her own future as a concept outside the firm or intimately connected with a future inside the firm.\nResults: Based on the relative distribution of statements, we identified 25 observations in Cluster I (\"Opponents\"), 47 observations in Cluster II (\"Followers\"), 58 observations in Cluster III (\"Bystanders\") and 18 observations in Cluster IV (\"Leaders\").\nThe clusters in greater detail: Opponents\nDiscussion: We identified four different clusters of managers: two clusters combine employees with positive attitudes to change (II+IV) and two clusters combine employees with negative views on change (I+III). The clusters negative towards change combine many more participants than those with positively disposed participants. Indeed, Cluster IV (\"leaders\"), with the most positive view of the future and the most willing personalities to accept change, was the smallest group. Employees in Cluster IV would wholeheartedly embraced future opportunities, and even draw-backs could not deter them from pursuing the opportunities they saw ahead of them.\nConclusion: This paper reports on the experience of a major Russian energy provider with employee resistance caused by the introduction of a new technology. When we were asked to provide support and guidance on how to deal with the level of frustration and despair among the staff, we searched for clues on how to best approach the task. We felt uneasy with approaches that link resistance mainly to individual psychological dispositions or blame poor management practices. The role of management and how the changes have been communicated surely constitute a major issue in the presented case study, such as the intensification of workload without any compensation. Still, the adequacy of a management style can only be properly assessed against the background of the employees and their psychological disposition and group dynamics.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: When a major Russian energy provider introduced a new technology that required organisational adjustment, the company's management was surprised by the degree of internal resistance these changes provoked. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors took reference to the work on readiness to change and studied how the future time perspective, which connects with early writings by Lewin (1942), would explain the attitudes and behaviour of 148 managers.\nFindings: The findings indicate that only a small number of employees perceived the future as offering many opportunities and showed willingness to pursue them. The majority of employees are either fearful of future changes, or do not have a strong sense of belonging to the company and hence are disinterested in prospective opportunities within the firm.\nOriginality/value: The different constructs of the future introduce an emic perspective to the study of organisational change and answer calls to enrich the measurements that are currently in use.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Internal marketing and the enactment of sexual identity
|
[
"Consumption",
"Internal marketing",
"Sexuality",
"Equal opportunities",
"Human resource development",
"Postmodernism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although the extant service marketing literature acknowledges the importance of employees as internal customers of business organisations and their role in delivering satisfaction to external customers there is nothing to be found in this body of literature specifically relating to lesbian, gay and bisexual employees as internal customers. While this is unsurprising given the marketing academy's tendency to shy away from such marginalised topics as sexuality, ethnicity and disability, it is somewhat remarkable given that the academy almost universally acknowledges the importance to consumption of the role played by a person's self-concept and identity.One aim of critical marketing theorists is to create \"a more equitable society and giving voice to those who are marginalised by current marketing discourse\" (Catterall et al., 1999, p. 345). This paper therefore adopts a critical marketing approach in order to explore issues surrounding the enactment of a lesbian, gay or bisexual person's sexual identity and their role as an internal customer of mainstream service organisations. The prefix \"critical\" signifies our adoption of what may be considered somewhat radical philosophies and theories (Catterall et al., 1999; Saren, 2007), such as postmodernism and queer theory, allowing us to question not only generally accepted theories of marketing, but also the assumptions upon which they rest (Burton, 2001; Catterall et al., 1999; Saren, 2007). The word \"critical\" is not intended to signify simply negative criticism as the word is often popularly used (Burton, 2001), rather we agree with authors such as Burton (2001), Catterall et al. (1999), and Saren (2007) that critical marketing papers are essential to further our discipline as they tend to challenge accepted wisdom.While some authors (notably Hetrick and Lozada, 1999) appear to believe that \"critical theory is antimarketing theory. Critical theorists promote a pro marketing theory stance, but theory that adequately reflects the social, historical and political context in which marketing discourse and practice occurs\" (Burton, 2001, p. 727). Therefore we are offering a critique of marketing, rather than being negatively critical of marketing itself, neither taking an \"antimarketing\" approach nor taking a \"marketing anti-theory\" approach which Hetrick and Lozada (1999, p. 162) consider to be the approach taken by postmodernists. We are offering our critique from a postmodern perspective, yet we are being critical of the theoretical underpinnings of marketing practices, and their relevance in light of various theoretical perspectives, rather than the politics of these practices themselves (Burton, 2001).Hence this article embraces key considerations outlined by other authors (such as Burton, 2001; Catterall et al., 1999; Saren, 2007) when approaching critical marketing: we take an interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach to our meaning of critical marketing; we focus on societal issues and processes; we have addressed the issue of reflexivity in terms of how our work could be used to inform practice, and, finally, we address key aspects of marketing and consumption.Our approach draws on perspectives offered by queer theory that may help marketers gain a deeper understanding of invisible and marginalised communities based upon sexual identity. \"Queering\" the gender research agenda better reflects contemporary postmodern society and the fluidity of identities that are sought and communicated by consumption wider than through consumer goods and services.This paper argues for a link to be made between an individual's identity (as defined by the individual themselves), their consumption (creating, maintaining and communicating the identity), and their status as internal customers (particularly in front-line service jobs), which in turn feeds into debates on emotional labour and internal marketing.Consumption and identity\nIdentity and the internal customer: In service organisations designed to meet the needs of marginalised communities, such as those within the hospitality sector in Manchester's \"gay village\", for example, entire servicescapes are designed and positioned as \"gay spaces\", and therefore \"safe spaces\" where members of this particular subculture may express their collective and individual identities (Haslop et al., 1998). Here we can evidence the marginalised customers' acceptance of a certain \"aesthetic labour\", with organisational advantage being gained from customers being served by front-line staff who look like themselves (Foster, 2002). The issue of \"acceptability\" is undoubtedly clouded when considering the employment of front-line staff from marginalised communities in mainstream service organisations. What is considered \"acceptable\" is then set by the mainstream customer and the mainstream organisation. \"Desirable dress on the job ... contains symbolic meaning, but whose sexual subjectivity it expresses is not always clear\" (Boris, 2006, p. 123).Yet problems can arise if the employee wishes to create and communicate a lesbian, gay or bisexual identity through, for example, wearing certain clothing as a \"marker of gayness\" (Schofield and Schmidt, 2005). \"Dress and appearance may provide clues to class, racialized gender, and/or cultural identities\" (Boris, 2006, p. 124), yet \"even if imposed by employers or curtailed by regulatory rules, dress may generate new notions of self\" (Boris, 2006, p. 139).Although historically perceiving organisational success to rest upon meeting the needs of the external customer there has been a recent paradigm shift that views the importance of employees as internal customers (Mudie, 2003). This involves reconceptualising the organisation as \"as a chain of exchanges, activities and actions transacted by internal suppliers and customers\" (Enos et al., 2002, p. 4). Marketing to internal customers therefore becomes as important as the marketing activities an organisation undertakes externally, recognising that the ability to satisfy internal customers is an integral part of satisfying external customers (Barnes and Morris, 2000). The service marketing literature also recognises that organisations using an internal marketing approach tend to have a higher than usual market orientation, second they tend to adopt a service orientation and third, these organisations often demonstrate a higher than usual empowerment of employees (Enos et al., 2002). Although not universally agreeing the benefits to an organisation brought by empowering employees, many authors do agree that empowerment \"involves allowing employees to exercise discretion during service encounters\" (Sood and Lings, 2004, pp. 1-2). However, results of recent empirical research found that if empowering internal customers is not necessary to keep external customers happy and that staff cannot cope with empowerment, then \"empowerment can work in an adverse manner and cause an increase in role stress and job dissatisfaction, ultimately resulting in poor service delivery\" (Sood and Lings, 2004, p. 8). This, to some extent, contradicts findings of other previous research. However, the authors also found that \"managers need to understand that contact employees also have to be committed to maintaining and improving their service delivery and so need to fulfil their employees' demands\" (Sood and Lings, 2004, p. 8).Emotional labour and identity\nConclusions: The marketing academy does accept the importance of an individual consumer's own pursuit of identity as a key driver of consumption, but there have been very few studies into the effects on consumption of new, fluid, postmodern concepts of identity. Those studies that exist do acknowledge that the creation, maintenance, and communication of these identities may need to be hidden to a large extent during a person's daily life, only being freely expressed when that individual is in a \"safe space\" with others from a particular subculture or marginalised community (Goulding et al., 2004; Haslop et al., 1998).Postmodern researchers recognise that individual identities are often sought through consumption wider than consumer goods and services, and many have indeed paid attention to the decentring of work in individual's lives. The academy has also paid attention to the employee as an internal customer, particularly in the service marketing literature, but again, these concepts have not been addressed by researchers looking at identity more broadly.This article has argued that a link needs to be made between an individual's identity (as defined by the individual themselves), their consumption (that can create, maintain, and communicate this identity), and their status as internal customers (particularly when employed in front-line service jobs).The service marketing literature does start to examine this by understanding the notion of \"aesthetic labour\" (Dennis and Binns, 2002), and the acceptability of the appearance and actions of service industry employees (Foster, 2002). However, when these employees are from subcultures or marginalised communities, acceptability is more easily aligned to an individual identity when in a \"safe space\" that serves customers from the same subculture or marginalised community. It is therefore evident that for certain less visible minorities such as lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees (Kronenberger, 1991), the acceptability of their sexual identity does not appear to fit when serving mainstream customers of mainstream organisations.The paper argues that perspectives such as queer theory may help marketers. This perspective is gaining acceptance by other disciplines as being able to offer a new approach more in keeping with an understanding of fluid postmodern identities (Jagose, 1996).Due to its link with HRM research, other new perspectives may also offer a deeper understanding into the internal customer that include the notions of empowerment and emotional labour. Internal marketing is seen as a powerful tool that facilitates the cooption by the organisation of appropriate emotions by the service employees (Enos et al., 2002). However, for lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees this can also include the regulation of sexual orientation within the working environment (Acker, 1990; Bradley, 1999). Such employees therefore often conceal their sexual identity from colleagues (Snape et al., 1995). The potential for stigmatisation and harassment which characterises lesbian and gay existence presents not only complications for those charged with employee welfare - HR professionals - given the effort and control required to express organisationally desirable emotions during every personal transaction (Morris and Feldman, 1996), but also for marketers. Acting out desired emotions, particularly when the act is only superficial, rather than generated from within the employee, \"conflicts with customer expectations of honest behaviour and may be interpreted by customers as 'cheating\"' (Grandey, 2003, cited in Walsh et al., 2005, p. 8).Postmodern critique notes the reversal of production and consumption and the decentred subject leading to a world where \"for consumers to fulfil their desires, marketing organizations will need to empower the consumers to become marketers of (self) images themselves\" (Firat and Shultz, 1997, p. 194). We have therefore chosen to additionally draw from perspectives on identity offered by queer theory as we are seeking a fluid and flexible yet critical approach to the way in which individual's roles as internal customers are consumed within the workplace, the lens through which we examine consumption and internal marketing. This is in keeping with the postmodern critique on consumption, and the issue of viewing (particularly front-line service) employees as internal customers. If an external customer consumes products and services in order to create or display an identity, and if we accept the argument that employees should be treated as internal customers then the logical conclusion of this perspective is that these internal customers also create their identity through the consumption of work, and not just through their consumption of goods and services. We have considered the complexities of this proposition, using sexual identity management as one example, but the principle could equally apply to other areas of diversity among internal customers within the workplace.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore issues surrounding the enactment of a lesbian, gay or bisexual person's sexual identity and their role as an internal customer of mainstream service organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article is written from a critical marketing perspective, the prefix \"critical\" signifying adoption of what may be considered somewhat radical philosophies and theories, allowing questioning of not only generally accepted theories of marketing, but also the assumptions upon which they rest. The \"radical\" approaches, i.e. the lenses through which the critique is offered, are postmodernism and queer theory. The theoretical perspectives critiqued in this article are internal marketing and emotional labour, and the assumptions questioned are those surrounding the importance of the role of the internal customer's identity in consumption of the work role.\nFindings: - The findings suggest a link that needs to be made between an individual's status as an internal customer (particularly in a front-line service job), their identity (as defined by the individual themselves), and its impact upon their consumption of work (which viewed through a postmodern lens can be seen to help create, maintain and communicate such identity).\nPractical implications: - For those charged with the management of people in organisations, this paper offers critical insights into the complex practical regulation of organisational diversity in service industries.\nOriginality/value: - The paper has drawn together various perspectives in the literature that have not previously been linked. If an external customer consumes products and services in order to create or display an identity, and if we accept the argument that employees should be treated as internal customers then the logical conclusion of this perspective is that these internal customers also create their identity through the consumption of work, and not just through their consumption of goods and services. The complexities of this proposition have been considered, using sexual identity management as one example, but the principle could equally apply to other areas of diversity among internal customers within the workplace.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Engineering in communities: learning by doing
|
[
"Ireland",
"Universities",
"Civil engineering",
"Undergraduates",
"Assignments",
"Civic engagement",
"Community‐based learning",
"Engineering education",
"Research‐based teaching",
"Service learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Service learning as a pedagogical tool provides a means of connecting students' academic study with community and society with the explicit intention of promoting active and responsible citizenship (Bringle and Hatcher, 1996; Furco and Holland, 2004; Zlotkowski, 2007). Service learning is currently seen as having priority within higher education in Ireland (Byrne and McIlrath, 2012). According to Byrne and McIlrath (2012), this priority has been prompted by the \"Celtic Tiger\" when the 1990s brought a profound change and the country benefited from a period of economic boom. Coupled with this wealth was a growing concern over perceived declines in levels of \"social capital\" and to counteract this there was recognition of the potential role that service learning, as well as other civic engagement strategies within higher education could play in redressing the balance (Boland and McIlrath, 2007). The first formal commitment to increasing social capital through civic engagement came in National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) in 2001. With the support of a number of benefactors (including Atlantic Philanthropies) the Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI) was established within the university. This initiated \"the creation of a radical new approach to the betterment of society through emphasis on three core elements of community-based research, service learning and knowledge-sharing\" (CKI, 2001, p. 2) and was subsequently afforded prominence within the institution's Academic and Strategic Plans (2003-2008 and 2009-2012) (National University of Ireland, Galway, 2002, 2008). This funding allowed the university to employ personnel to work on mainstreaming civic engagement within the curriculum across the institution (service learning) and also in encouraging and supporting extracurricular (student volunteering)-based activities. Annually the CKI undertakes a community needs analysis whereby community document their needs related to the disciplines that contain a service learning experience. These needs are subsequently mapped to members of faculty and this process ensures that the university is responding to a direct need and not saturating the community sector with an over-abundance of service learning students. Since the inception of the CKI, over 30 academic degree programmes have incorporated service learning experiences.Since 2003, service learning has been used as a pedagogical tool in the College of Engineering & Informatics (CoEI) at the NUIG. For example, in 2003, a service learning module was established in a postgraduate IT degree programme - Masters in Information Technology (MIT) (Byrne and McIlrath, 2012). In the same year, service learning was introduced into the BE in mechanical engineering and BE in biomedical engineering as a required component called CAIRDE of the mandatory third-year module Engineer and Society, which is now also a module taken by electronic engineering students. Wallen and Pandit (2009) outline the benefits of introducing civic engagement into biomedical and mechanical undergraduate programmes at NUIG. Over the last three years, the CoEI at NUIG have built on this and implemented a number of initiatives in their civil engineering undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes to allow students to complete engineering projects in the community, enabling them to learn by doing (see Table I).This paper will present details of service learning as a pedagogy tool for civil engineering at NUIG and highlight how approaches outlined fit well with the ideas of engaged scholarship (Boyer, 1996) and civic professionalism (Sullivan, 2005). The projects are framed by a research orientation, commitments to civic engagement and building university-community partnerships, city-university partnerships and partnerships with other official agencies, so that community users can provide real learning problems and contexts for students and researchers and benefit from the results. This paper will present evidence from the aforementioned projects that by creating service-based learning the students' energy in learning can have a positive impact on the community. This evidence has been collected through surveys and feedback questionnaires over the last three years. The students' energy and enthusiasm can be better utilised (and increased) by setting assignments as real community-based projects. The students got a sense of pride and satisfaction out of the knowledge that their work may be helping communities and that learning is not just to get marks to pass the exam! Learners are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others (Bransford et al., 2000). Furthermore, there is evidence to show that such engagement can lead to a widening of participation in engineering education and the professional profile of engineers to include greater numbers of women and minorities (Oakes, 2008).\n2. Service learning in civil engineering: In this section, details of modules in civil engineering with civic engagement dimensions are presented, including evidence to highlight the positive benefits to the students, university and community partners. Due to limitation of space, this paper will mainly focus on one module that has embedded service learning for all students - CE202 Principles of Building. However, brief details of other modules will also be presented. These modules have all been individually tailor for the group of students, taking account of their previous learning experiences, size of group, programme, diversity of the group and so on. They all differ in their set-up and focus and are different to both the IT community-based project in the MIT degree programme (Byrne and McIlrath, 2012) and CAIRDE (Wallen and Pandit, 2009). IT Project provides students with a real-life \"client\" in the form of a not-for-profit community group who needed support in exploiting IT resources to further advance their work. The client was chosen from the list of those who had signalled a need for IT services through the CKI. The MIT class is not large - it typically has 12 students who all have an upper-class undergraduate degree. They are interviewed as to their suitability before being offered a place on the programme. CAIRDE is a service learning component of the BE in mechanical engineering, BE in biomedical engineering and BE in electronic engineering at NUIG.2.1 Principles of building\n3. Conclusions: This paper discussed the introduction of service learning into a number of modules in civil engineering in NUIG. It has been shown that service learning gives students the flexibility to further explore areas that interest them, while gaining experience of working in a small team with community partners on \"real\" projects. Further, the community-based projects give the students scope for creativity and criticality. The development of service learning activities has enhanced students learning. The approaches outlined in this paper fit well with the ideas of engaged scholarship (Boyer, 1996) and civic professionalism (Sullivan, 2005). Feedback from students supports this. The projects outlined in this paper are framed by a research orientation, commitments to civic engagement and building university-community partnerships, city-university partnerships and partnerships with other official agencies, so that community users can provide real learning problems and contexts for students and researchers and benefit from the results.Engineers almost exclusively work in multi-disciplinary teams on projects. Thus, it was a key driver for the author to introduce multi-disciplinary community-based projects into the undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. Over the next academic year, the author plans to further develop this type of learning and build stronger relationships with community partners. He believes that this will have instrumental value in terms of marketing of programmes and courses and institutional reputations, which could contribute to widening of participation in engineering education and the professional profile of engineers to include greater numbers of women and minorities.This paper presented evidence that by creating community-based learning the students' energy in learning can have a positive impact on the community. However, one of the main challenges is to maintain and increase the value of the programmes for the community partners. In other words, the outcome of the student's learning should be significantly beneficial to the community partner. The introduction of an interdisciplinary community-based project for students on structured PhD programmes in NUIG should contribute to this. Furthermore, continuously developing the other modules has helped increase the value of the programmes for the community partners, as well as for the students and academics involved. This paper has shown that civic engagement by students at both the local and international level can have positive benefits. Their energy and enthusiasm can be better utilised (and increased) by setting assignments as real community-based projects. The students got a sense of pride and satisfaction out of the knowledge that their work may be helping communities and that learning is not just to get marks to pass the exam! Learners are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others (Bransford et al., 2000).The value of civic engagement by students and staff at NUIG is recognised internationally. In 2010, NUIG was awarded funding to work on service learning in Jordan and the Lebanon for next three years as part of an EU Tempus Tempus IV project - Tawasol. One of the key aims of the project is to share experiences with colleagues in Jordanian and Lebanese to help develop modules in service learning.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on a number of initiatives in civil engineering undergraduate programmes at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) that allow students to complete engineering projects in the community, enabling them to learn by doing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A formal commitment to civic engagement was undertaken by the NUIG in 2001 with the establishment of the Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI) to work on mainstreaming civic engagement (service learning) within the curriculum across the institution. Today, the majority of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in the College of Engineering and Informatics at NUIG have embedded service learning into their curriculum. These initiatives allow students to work with and in local communities, international communities and multi-disciplinary groups as part of their academic courses. The paper investigates and shows that community-based projects can enhance student learning and engagement in a number of ways. At NUIG, these projects are framed by a research orientation, commitments to civic engagement and building university-community partnerships, city-university partnerships and partnerships with other official agencies, so that community users can provide real learning problems and contexts for students and researchers and benefit from the results.\nFindings: - It was found that the students got a sense of pride and satisfaction out of the knowledge that their work may be helping communities and that learning is not just to get marks to pass the exam! The projects can increase the students' sense of ownership of their own learning. Learners are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The work represents work done in one institution affecting a region in a country. This can be extended to include more institutions and other regions. This paper presents evidence from the aforementioned projects that by creating service-based learning the students' energy in learning can have a positive impact on the community.\nPractical implications: - The energy and enthusiasm of learners can be better utilised (and increased) by setting assignments as real community-based projects.\nOriginality/value: - This lies in the design of projects and assessment involving education providers and public for the benefit of learners and the society at large.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
An empirical study on relationships amongst success in benchmarking, success in Kaizen, people mindset and organizational dimensions
|
[
"Benchmarking",
"Kaizen"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today, competition in the global market has become more complex than ever, and it is important for companies to find and keep their key competitive advantage. To remain competitive in this market, some companies have tried to change their way of thinking about the business process itself (Adesola and Baines, 2000). Business process is defined as a group of logically related tasks that use the organization's resources to produce distinct results that support the organization's objective (Tinnila, 1995). As competition increases, so does the demand for improving the business process. Often, business process improvement is thought of as a methodology designed to bring about step-function improvements in administrative and support processes by implementing such e-approaches as benchmarking, redesign and re-engineering processes (Harrington, 1991).\nLiterature review: While benchmarking has been defined in various ways, Xerox is commonly regarded as the first firm in the USA, to have used benchmarking (Anderson and Camp, 1995) before certain Japanese firms followed suit. Camp (1989) defined benchmarking as the search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance. Biesada (1991) spoke of the concept as the need for an organization to find a specific best practice that is a select method to use to excel in its individual activities. Another definition of benchmarking is that it is a systematic process of continuously measuring and comparing an organization's business process against business leaders elsewhere in the world so as to gain information that will help that organization take effective action to improve its performance (Lema and Price, 1995). Kaizen, in terms of improvement quality, has been defined by Graban and Swartz (2012) as continuous improvement in personal life as well as for the social and work platform. Kaizen is permanent improvement of all - managers and employees.\nThe research proposition: The main objective of this research is to examine those factors that render the most impact on successful benchmarking, with success in benchmarking here being the dependent variable. These influential factors are based on the following framework (Figure 1).\nResearch methodology: The population of this study were certain companies in Indonesia. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed to these companies' senior managers in 2014 with a response rate of 87 percent. Some 57 percent of these companies were service providers, and 43 percent were manufacturers. Of all the respondents, 85 percent had more than five-years' experience as a senior manager while the other 15 percent had less than five years of experience. The study used a quantitative approach aided by the questionnaire used as a survey instrument. Respondents were asked to use a five-point Likert scale to offset the central tendency bias that might be encountered with Asian respondents (Ashrofah et al., 2010). Central tendency bias refers to a tendency for raters, or managers to evaluate most of their employees as \"average\" when they apply a rating scale. Independent and dependent variables in this study were operationalized by a five-point Likert scale with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. The end point of the Likert scales was selected in such a way that a high rating should reflect a high performance. Table I shows the measured variables.\nData analysis: Five aspects are assessed in this study. Using SPSS, a coefficient correlation is determined. Additionally, a partial coefficient analysis is added to ascertain the relationship among all the variables. Success in Kaizen, people mindset, formalization, centralization and integration are the control variables that may affect success in benchmarking. These variables are used to rule out alternative explanations and enhance the fidelity of the relationship between success in benchmarking and the control variables as examined.\nResults and discussion: This section offers an analysis and a summary of the key research findings. Since the concept of benchmarking is a multi-dimensional construct, it is important to ensure that the underlying dimensions of this construct are unidimensional, reliable and valid. It is often necessary to determine whether there is a relationship between two variables. One statistical method that has been widely used to measure the degree or strength of any possible linear relationship is coefficient correlation (Taylor, 1990). The correlation coefficient is often referred to as Pearson correlation r. The correlation r value will select a range between -1 and 1. A positive correlation indicates there is a direct relationship between the variables. It means that when one variable increases, the other also tends to increase. A negative correlation indicates an inverse relationship between the variables. It means when one variable increases, the other tends to decrease.\nConclusion: Process improvement initiatives constantly evolve. They started with Kaizen in the 1970s, then with benchmarking in the 1980s, followed by process re-engineering in the 1990s. The purpose of this study is to find the several variables that impact success in benchmarking. Success in Kaizen, people mindset, formalization, centralization and integration are those variables. Hong et al. (2012) indicated that benchmarking still plays an important strategic tool for businesses during turbulent times. These results are broadly the same as those for previous studies. For instance, success in benchmarking has a positive correlation with success in Kaizen, and, moreover, people mindset and formalization does show an inverse relationship with centralization and integration. Company can achieved success in benchmarking through implementing success in kaizen, people mindset, formalization, centralization and integration. Industry-wise, formalization and centralization are the variables that impact the success in benchmarking significantly. For services companies, formalization and centralization is the significant variable affecting whereas for manufacturing companies success in Kaizen is the significant variable for success in benchmarking. Therefore, for services companies, having documented and implementation policies, regulations and procedures will influence success in benchmarking. Involvement of the top management, budgeting for every functions and unit performance evaluation will result in success in benchmarking. On the other hand, top management commitment and worker involvement are necessary to drive success in Kaizen in manufacturing companies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that most strongly influence success in benchmarking as attempted by Indonesian manufacturers and service companies. It investigates the impacts of success in Kaizen, people mindset and organizational dimensions with success in benchmarking.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed to senior managers at an 87 percent response rate.\nFindings: This study reveals that success in benchmarking that companies undertake correlates positively with their success in Kaizen, people mindset and organizational dimensions.\nResearch limitations/implications: As an empirical study, this work has some limitations that need to be recognized. First, the sample only includes Indonesian companies. Second, as the small sample size resulted in only indicative outcome, more research is needed in this area. Furthermore, there may also have been other factors affecting success in benchmarking. It is, therefore, recommended that the framework be extended to include more variables such as information-technology competency, company status (being a single or group company) and to use other methodologies, such as multiple regression.\nPractical implications: A company can achieve success in benchmarking through implementing success in kaizen, people mindset, formalization, centralization and integration. Industry-wise, formalization and centralization are the variables that impact the success in benchmarking significantly. For services companies, formalization and centralization is the significant variable affecting, whereas, for manufacturing companies success in Kaizen is the significant variable for success in benchmarking. Therefore, for services companies, having documented and implementation policies, regulations and procedures will influence success in benchmarking. The involvement of the top management, budgeting for every functions and unit performance evaluation will result in success in benchmarking. On the other hand, top management commitment and worker involvement are necessary to drive success in Kaizen in manufacturing companies.\nOriginality/value: Unlike most of the previous studies on a manufacturing company, this paper examines both manufacturing and services companies especially in Indonesia.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Addaction engages with effective e-learning: In-house design saves money on award-winning module
|
[
"Drugs",
"Awards",
"Computer-based learning",
"Charities",
"Infection control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An organization that would have had to pay almost PS60,000 - more than its entire annual training budget - for a licence for a standard e-learning module on infection control decided to create a course for itself.\nCase studies and interactive elements: The e-learning module, housed on the Charity Learning Consortium's Moodle learning-management system, includes case studies and interactive elements.\nBeneficial and worthwhile: Some 85 per cent of people who have completed the module feel more confident, willing and able to take action - or advise others - in the event of an infection-control concern. One e-learner commented: \"I found the module beneficial and worthwhile. I enjoyed the scenarios\".\nRange of learning and development opportunities: Addaction provides a range of learning and development opportunities for its people.\nTop tips for creating e-learning: Velda Barnes's top tips for creating in-house e-learning are:\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper describes how an organization that would have had to pay almost PS60,000 - more than its entire annual training budget - for a licence for a standard e-learning module on infection-control decided to create a course for itself.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper explains the reasons for Addaction's bespoke infection-control e-learning module, the form it takes and the advantages it has brought.\nFindings: This paper details how the module summarizes and clarifies a range of different - and often confusing - organizational and government policies and provides learners with clinically accurate but clear, relevant information.\nPractical implications: It has been revealed that some 85 per cent of people who have completed the module feel more confident, willing and able to take action - or advise others - in the event of an infection control concern.\nSocial implications: This paper shows how a go-it-alone approach to designing e-learning modules is feasible for organizations that lack the resources to buy in such expertise.\nOriginality/value: Top tips on designing an in-house e-learning module from someone who has undergone the process has been presented.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The Caliphate of numbers
|
[
"Machine learning",
"Racism",
"Algorithm",
"Artificial intelligence",
"Inequity",
"Reputation risk",
"Gender bias"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Ninth-century polymath Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi is enjoying his moment in the sun. But who knows what Al-Khwarizmi, known as the father of algebra and the decimal numbering system, would have made of the twenty-first-century impact of the algorithm, the mathematical tool that took his name (Brezina, 2005). Everywhere one looks, from e-commerce to ride sharing platforms, the algorithm rules supreme. It dictates medical care, prison sentences, job seeking, remote welfare eligibility, even the growing practice of predictive policing. With the explosion of data from the internet of things, the algorithm, a set of instructions for automated decision-making, has metastasized across practically every area of human life.\nCollection and use of public data: In assessing the impact of public data sets in machine learning, it is important to understand imperfections in many public data sources, collected over time often for different purposes than those to which the algorithm puts them. The E-Verify program, for example, used by employers to determine the citizenship status of potential employees, is subject to a wide range of errors caused by different cultural naming conventions and its inability to stay current with changes in marital status. In one set of successfully resolved cases, according to \"Civil Rights, Big Data and Our Algorithmic Future\", 94 per cent of the errors were traced to a worker having legally changed his/her name. Each error can lead to E-Verify reporting a negative finding to the employer leading to weeks of frustrating effort by the potential employee to correct the mistake. We believe that there needs to be a public and transparent process to test public data repositories for the likelihood that they will generate false outputs.\nTransparency: The issue of transparency represents significant problems. Ideally, any subject of a machine-driven outcome should have the right to \"cross-examine\" the algorithm and the data behind it. The difficulty is that most of these algorithms are proprietary, held in private hands and licensed to commercial and public entities. In some cases, vendor contracts with algorithm providers explicitly prohibit customers from disclosing critical information about the technology. A contract with the Tucson Police Department and Harris Corporation, which manufactures \"Stingrays\", a high tech device that mimics cell phone towers to snoop on mobile phones, prohibited the police department from responding to public record requests, potentially in contravention of public record laws (Zetter, 2014).\nTraining audits: The process of machine learning requires that an algorithm be exposed to big data sets so it can \"learn\" to identify meaningful patterns to create decision-making tools. This learning process is currently completely opaque, not only because the technology is itself proprietary but because the engineers have no incentive to disclose the assumptions they have built into the algorithm. Unfortunately, this is exactly where human biases and errors become encoded. Ideally, there would be an independent review process in which impartial third parties could audit the training protocols and methodology. Some commentators believe that this is a highly problematic requirement and have proposed a different test. As described by Anupam Chander in a UC Davis Legal Studies Research paper, \"The Racist Algorithm?\", the only equitable and workable approach is to borrow from recent legal rulings on affirmative action and suggests the question to ask is: \"does this algorithm produce inequitable or biased outcomes?\" (Chander, 2016). If so, he says, companies should be required to apply explicit affirmative action programs to correct those outcomes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to catalogue the various ways in which algorithm-driven decision-making now permeates myriad fields of human activities from insurance through criminal justice to hiring and employment and suggest that this diffusion represents a qualitatively new level of reputation threat for organizations in every industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses an audit of numerous secondary sources to identify common themes and distinctive impacts of the uses of algorithms.\nFindings: This research determined that perverse and unintended consequences of the spread of algorithm-driven decision-making were pervasive.\nResearch Limitations/implications: Based on a review of secondary resources, data on the impact of the algorithms is of necessity primarily anecdotal.\nPractical Implications: The research shows that the pervasive inequities produced by algorithm-driven decision-making represents a very significant reputation risk and a potential flashpoint for many different organizations.\nSocial Implications: If algorithm-driven decision-making indeed entrenches racism and other inequities, it is critical for society that we find an effective way to regulate their use.\nOriginality/value: While considerable attention has been devoted to individual instances of inequities produced by algorithm-driven decision-making, we believe this is one of the first reviews to look across the spectrum of applications from a reputation risk perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Turning on the township: financial inclusion in South Africa
|
[
"South Africa",
"Banking",
"Financial inclusion",
"Michel Foucault",
"Foucauldian discourse analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to a recent World Bank Findex (Demirguc-Kunt et al., 2015), approximately 2 billion people globally are excluded from the formal financial system - that is, they do not have a bank or mobile money account. In sub-Saharan Africa, 66 per cent of the adult population remains unbanked in the formal system. Although the number of unbanked adults is shrinking, exclusion remains problematic because financial inclusion is recognised as \"critical in reducing poverty and achieving inclusive economic growth\" (Demirguc-Kunt et al., 2015, p. 10). Access to financial services is believed to have positive consequences for individuals - it enables business growth (Peprah and Muruka, 2009), increases savings (Lee and Miller, 2010) and enhances efficiency and welfare (Sarma and Pais, 2011). As such, financial inclusion has become a development project for governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (Berry, 2015) and a strategic management opportunity for financial service providers, many of whom are actively pursuing this market segment, primarily in the transaction and informal loan product categories (Kessler et al., 2017).\n2. A conceptual framework informed by the work of Foucault: 2.1 Locating Foucault\n3. Findings and discussion: When comparing the three texts, noteworthy points of continuity and discontinuity are found. Points of discontinuity show how the different texts produce human subjects and highlight the terms on which this development project intends to include individuals into formal financial systems. For example, when a bank conceives potential clients as unbanked, it misses their social network as members of a savings group. They partially operate within the formal financial system, but because of social arrangements, use informal methods of exchange.\n4. Conclusion: Foucault (1994) asserts that the political task in the society is to identify and criticise institutions that appear neutral and independent, with the objective of taking aim at the political violence exercised through these institutions. This call to action can be interpreted as the effort to unmask and attack targets that fit the traditional, mainstream concept of institutions. The evidence in this paper shows that power lies elsewhere. The political \"enemy\" is the routinised self-exclusion practice uncovered through discourses from local contexts. It is in the minutiae of everyday acts that individuals find themselves trapped. This is not to say that individuals are to be blamed for their plight, but the proposal is rather to examine society's boundaries and make its institutions more benevolent to individual financial prosperity. This paper shows that unless work is done at the local and individual level, such efforts are futile.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore practitioner and academic conceptualisations about what drives individuals (who are the target of financial inclusion efforts) to adopt and use financial services. It compares this with individual's personal subjectivities to understand how the similarities and differences might contribute to problems in financial inclusion efforts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To uncover such conceptualisations, a Foucauldian discourse analysis of three texts is conducted.\nFindings: The analysis uncovers the ways in which financial subjects are produced. Important points of discontinuity are evident between texts, pointing to potential failures within financial inclusion constructs. Distilling aspects of continuity between texts shows up three kinds of subjects produced predicated on the site of economic engagement as owners of bodies, tangible property and intangible property. These subjects are shown to all share concerns with income and expense management. The analysis shows that subject positions and strategic actions (including the use of financial service providers) are mutually reinforcing, and that therefore financial subjects will engage only to the extent that the product or service enacts their subject position. With the financial subject as the starting point, it is possible to understand the use or rejection of particular financial products and services.\nResearch limitations/implications: Asset building is proposed as a field of activity not currently considered part of mainstream financial inclusion, questioning the terms on which individuals are to be financially \"included\".\nOriginality/value: Approximately 2 billion people globally, and 66 per cent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa, are excluded from the formal financial system. While financial inclusion is considered beneficial, many projects face significant challenges. This suggests insufficient understanding of what drives individuals to adopt and use financial services. This paper makes a contribution by exploring the gap between academics, practitioners and individuals using a method that has not previously been applied in this field, and uncovering differences in understanding that have not previously been explored. The insights into financial inclusion in provided in this paper are original in the literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Transformational leadership and communication: Evaluation of a two-day leadership development program
|
[
"Transformational leadership",
"Training",
"Leadership development",
"Communication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For decades, researchers have been keen to identify and to understand the behaviors of effective leaders. The concept of transformational leadership - although introduced to the literature more than three decades ago (Bass, 1985) - is still at the forefront of such discussions. Transformational leaders communicate an inspiring vision, provide individual support and intellectual stimulation, serve as role models and have high performance expectations (Bass and Avolio, 1990; Podsakoff et al., 1990). Part of the prominence of the transformational leadership paradigm is tied to its predictive validity regarding relevant organizational outcome criteria like job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and performance (Wang et al., 2011).\nTheoretical background: Training of transformational leadership\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Means, standard deviations and correlations between study variables are shown in Table I.\nDiscussion: The aim of the present investigation was to develop and evaluate a leadership development program with focus on transformational leadership and communication. For this reason, we conducted a two-day intervention in a pre-test post-test control group design. Subordinates' ratings of their leaders' transformational leadership behavior and communicator styles were considered to answer the question which participants gained the most benefit from the intervention.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and evaluate a leadership development program with focus on transformational leadership and communication. It is explored whether these aspects of leadership can be trained in the course of a two-day intervention. Furthermore, it is tested if pre-training differences among leaders have an influence on the effectiveness of participating in the leadership intervention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In the study, 38 leaders took part in the two-day training session. The control group consisted of 59 leaders. Information was collected from participating leaders' followers (n=356) on pre- and post-training measures of transformational leadership as well as on communication skills (attentive and impression-leaving style).\nFindings: Results show that transformational leadership behaviors improved more after training in the experimental group (EG) than they did in the control group. Also, ratings of the attentive communication style improved more in the EG compared to the control group. Furthermore, participants of the leadership development program benefitted to different degrees from their training. Participants who initially had a medium score showed the best improvement.\nOriginality/value: The present study advances the scope of leadership development by also considering the trainability of communication skills. Also, insights on the contingency of training effects are provided.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The landscape of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism: a systematic review
|
[
"Customer engagement",
"Brand engagement",
"Systematic review",
"Hospitality",
"Customer engagement behaviour",
"Online engagement",
"Tourist engagement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As a strategic driver to business success, customer engagement has entered the scope of marketing literature since the late 1990s (Fabien, 1997). Coye (2004) identified the process of customer engagement within the service delivery expectations and interventions system. Since 2005, customer engagement has emerged as an influential research stream in marketing (Islam and Rahman, 2016). Patterson et al. (2006, p. 127) proposed the first definition of customer engagement (Appendix 2). Customer engagement provokes positive performance among firms directly (e.g. increase in net sales growth, profit margin, market share, etc.) or indirectly (e.g. improvement in the feedback efficiency, customer socialisation, relationship quality) (Verhoef et al., 2010). Therefore, it is adopted as an important component of customer relationship management (CRM), value co-creation and competitive advantage maintenance.\nResearch method: The relevance and credibility of traditional narrative-based literature reviews are challenged due to the lack of objective methodology (Gomezelj, 2016). As such, systematic methods are needed to minimise subjective bias and guarantee academic rigour, replicability and transparency. In response to this call, a systematic review is conducted to answer precise questions by empirical evidence filtered through pre-specified criteria (Figueroa et al., 2015). Well-formulated research questions help minimise research bias, narrow-down research scope, enhance research transparency and increase research reproducibility (Squires et al., 2013). Given the rationale for this review, the following overarching questions are proposed to specify an area of interest and delimit the issue:\nEvolution of customer engagement research: Within the hospitality and tourism literature, a few exploratory qualitative studies were conducted prior to 2012 (Appendix 1 - available via online archive http://hdl.handle.net.pitt.idm.oclc.org/10397/81387). Hayes and MacLeod (2007) brought visitor engagement into light in their seminal study on heritage trails, which followed by Bowden's (2009) phenomenological inquiry into the process of customer engagement to evaluate customer-brand relationship in F&B industry. From a sociological perspective, Cohen (2010) examined the socio-cultural background that shaped tourist-animal engagement. From a psychological perspective, Filep and Deery (2010) portrayed the cognitive map of tourist engagement and its influences on tourists' happiness. In 2012, Ho et al. (2012) and Simms (2012) pioneered the exploration of tourist's online engagement behaviours, and Font et al. (2012) adopted customer engagement as one of the criteria to assess hotels' CSR.\nConceptualisation of customer engagement: The nascent evolution of customer engagement results in the inconsistency of engagement-based conceptualisation (Lin et al., 2018). Thus, an original definition of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism is proposed in this study. Twenty-seven definitions of customer engagement are found from the extracted 173 articles (Appendix 2). Definitions are listed in chronological order, then sorted by author names in the alphabetic order. Among 14 definitions in the marketing sector, three definitions proposed by Van Doorn et al. (2010), Brodie et al. (2011) and Vivek et al. (2012) are most broadly adopted in hospitality and tourism literature. Since 2014, 13 original definitions were developed in the hospitality and tourism scope (Dijkmans et al., 2015; Fang et al., 2017; Gomez et al., 2019; Hashim and Fadhil, 2017; Huang and Choi, 2019; Pino et al., 2019; Rather, 2019; Rather et al., 2019; Sashi et al., 2019; Taheri et al., 2014; Thakur, 2019; Villamediana et al., 2019b; Zheng and Guo, 2016). Despite variations in conceptualisation, certain fundamental propositions exist underneath. With the study of Brodie et al. (2011) as a reference, five propositions of customer engagement are proposed based on extracted definitions and articles.\nThe typology of customer engagement: In the extracted articles (shown in Appendix 1 - available via online archive http://hdl.handle.net.pitt.idm.oclc.org/10397/81387), the concept of customer engagement is expressed in 25 different terms. The utilisation of customer engagement related terms lacks coherence and clarity. For example, customers' engagement with firms' social network sites (SNSs) is defined as \"online customer engagement\", \"online engagement\", \"online customer engagement behavior\", \"user engagement\", \"social media engagement\" and \"media engagement\" in different studies. This scenario hinders research consistency and confuses readers. The typology of customer engagement received scant attention in the research literature. Hollebeek (2011, p. 561) slightly touched this point by acclaiming the sub-forms of customer engagement including \"customer engagement\", \"customer engagement behaviours\", \"customer brand engagement\", \"consumer engagement\" and \"engagement\" generically. In a similar vein, Islam and Rahman (2016, p. 2010) categorised the research context of customer engagement into \"brand/firm\", \"service-brand/industry\", \"general (multi-entities)\" and \"online platform\". Nevertheless, neither of them clearly distinguished different sub-forms, nor instructed the typology of customer engagement.\nMeasurement of customer engagement: A review of research methods gives the idea of how studies were designed and conducted. As shown in Table III, 159 studies (92 per cent of the extracted articles) were conducted empirically, and 14 studies (8 per cent) were conceptual. Quantitative methods dominate empirical research, being deployed in 106 studies (61 per cent). Mixed methods were adopted by 31 studies (18 per cent), and qualitative methods were applied in 22 studies (13 per cent). Data were mainly collected via questionnaires, online posts, interviews, experiments and focus groups, and the most widely adopted data analysis methods were CFA, SEM, regression, content analysis, PLS, (M)ANOVA, thematic analysis and EFA. Innovative research methods were shown in a few studies, such as Radic (2019) examined children's engagement with cruise travel through kids' drawing. Choi et al. (2015) understood the engagement with guesthouse through visitors' books, and Munoz et al. (2018) explored customers'engagement with hotels' advertisement through experiments based on eye-tracking technology. About model building, compared to SEM, PLS has the advantage of using nonnormal data, small sample sizes, and formative indicators (Hair et al., 2014). The two-stage approach of PLS processes the higher-order customer engagement construct as a whole rather than separated dimensions. In so doing, the structural model can be examined at the high-order and the sub-dimensional levels (Hair et al., 2011).\nDiscussion and conclusions: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to deliver a systematic review of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism by synthesising existing literature, thus presenting a state-of-art landscape of customer engagement research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 173 peer-reviewed articles were collected from seven databases, spanning from 2007 to 2020. A systematic review was conducted by analysing, categorizing and synthesising existing studies to examine the evolution, conceptual nature, typology and measurement of the existing literature on customer engagement in hospitality and tourism.\nFindings: This study provides an overview of the temporal, spatial, sectoral and journal-wise distribution of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism. A comprehensive definition of customer engagement is proposed based on five fundamental propositions. Scrutiny of customer engagement studies in hospitality and tourism presents four sub-forms, including online customer engagement, tourist engagement, customer brand engagement and customer engagement behaviour. Additionally, the research methods, dimensionality and measurement scales of customer engagement are systematically reviewed.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first systematic review of customer engagement research in the field of hospitality and tourism. The original definition leads to an improved understanding of customer engagement. This study is also the first to propose a clear typology of customer engagement to enhance consistency in usage.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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How psychological factors boost compulsive buying behavior in digital era: A case study of Indonesian students
|
[
"Compulsive buying",
"Psychological factors",
"Income"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The phenomenon of the fourth industrial revolution raises the increasing consumer desire accompanied by increased purchasing power. This has an impact on habits and lifestyles, which also change in a relatively short period of time toward becoming increasingly luxurious and excessive (Ekapaksi, 2016). The phenomenon of online shopping is very easy, encouraging students to behave compulsively, where the behavior is no longer to meet the needs, but based on mere desire, even they tend not to be able to control the desire to shop (Lejoyeux and Weinstein, 2010). Such changes in consumption behavior are certainly in contrary to conventional economic theory. According to Deshpande (2011), the basis of conventional economic theory is rational consumer demand, where the consumer demand is analyzed in quantitative rather than qualitative terms, thereby ignoring subjective factors such as personality, attitude, social class, preferences, cognition, social environment and culture (Deshpande, 2015). However, in its development, several critical lawsuits over the theory began to be massive. Mas-Colell et al. (1995) and Binder (2010) argued that consumer preferences are assumed to be fixed, and only focus on maximizing the utility function is not significantly proven so that the relevance of the assumption of rationality cannot be absolutely justified (Bernheim and Rangel, 2009). Therefore, behavioral economics appears that bases a psychological perspective on understanding consumption. In this context, humans are predicted as organic machines, so it makes no difference controlling people's behavior than controlling machines, through behavioral techniques that condition emotional responses or stimuli (DiClemente and Hantula, 2000, 2003). So that consumer decisions are often irrational and influenced by feelings and sentiments, motives, attitudes, subjective biases and heuristics in information processing, as well as social influences from family or peer groups (Traut-Mattausch et al., 2008).The irrational buying decisions have been studied by several experts. One of them is compulsive buying. This behavior has characteristics such as spontaneous decisions, symbolic meaning, social visibility, a large amount of money used and the limited knowledge possessed (Kirchler et al., 2001; Kirchler and Hoelzl, 2011). Compulsive buying is a psychoeconomic phenomenon that often afflicts people's lives where this behavior takes the form of repeated purchases as a result of unpleasant events or negative feelings caused by addictions, stress or boredom (Faber and O'Guinn, 1989; Solomon, 2002). Compulsive buying can also be interpreted as a form of purchase with weak control or excessive desire for spending and spending behavior, the consequences of which are detrimental (Black, 2001). Compulsive buyers on average are in their teens or early 20s, although it does not rule out individuals who are in their early 30s (Mc Elroy et al., 1994; Gwin et al., 2004). The impact of compulsive buying is very worrying, which is generally detrimental, in terms of both economic and psychological culprit such as high credit card arrears, excessive personal debt, low savings, entangled legal cases, the emergence of feelings of inferiority, guilt, depression, anxiety, frustration and the emergence of interpersonal conflict (Mangestuti, 2014).One of the root causes of compulsive buying is influenced by income. Based on conventional economic theory, research findings from Zhang et al. (2017) showed that household income before tax significantly influences compulsive purchases, while findings from Steve (2014) showed that students with high-income levels also have a significant influence on purchases compulsively. Ergin (2010) also explained the same findings in Turkish society. However, several research findings such as (O'Guinn and Faber, 1989; Scherhorn et al., 1990; Mueller et al., 2011; Unger, et al., 2014; Leite and Silva, 2015) showed that income does not have a significant relationship to purchasing behavior compulsive. The inconsistency of the research findings indeed becomes an important issue, because humans as compulsive buying decision-makers apparently are motivated by psychological factors, as in the findings of Kellet and Bolton (2009) and Claes et al. (2010), which showed that compulsive buying has negative reinforcing properties and is used to escape negative feelings such as anxiety, depression, tension, or boredom. Besides, other psychological factors such as negative mood, materialism, depression, low self-esteem, perfectionism, difficulty in decision-making and narcissism have been proven to be related to compulsive buying (Faber and Christenson, 1996; Dittmar, 2005; Kyrios, et al., 2004; Rose, 2007). As a solution to the research gap, this study examines several psychological factors such as materialism, self-esteem, self-control, narcissism, money attitude and mood as moderators of income effects on compulsive buying behavior.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Compulsive buying theory\n3. Methodology: The data used in this study are primary data obtained by distributing research questionnaires to student respondents who have experienced shopping through e-commerce that is spread in Central Java Province because the largest number of students in Indonesia is in the Province of Central Java (Indonesian Statistics Bureau /BPS, 2019). The sample size of this study refers to the recommendations of Kock and Hadaya (2018) using the inverse square root method, which states the best sample in PLS-SEM analysis is 160. In the implementation of questionnaire distribution to avoid lack of research data, we sent random questionnaires to 250 students in March 2019. Then from the 250 student questionnaires, it turns out that only the questionnaire rate, which could be analyzed by 65 percent or a number of 165 respondents, was obtained in March-August 2019 (see Table I and Table II). 3.1 Variable and measurement\n4. Empirical results and discussion: 4.1 Variable description\n5. Conclusion and limitation: This study aims to explore how psychological factors such as materialism, self-esteem, self-control, narcissism, money attitude and mood increase the impact of income on student compulsive buying behavior. Empirical results indicate that psychological factors such as materialism, self-control, narcissism, money attitude can effectively increase the effect of income, but mood and self-esteem, in this case, cannot increase the effect of income on compulsive buying behavior. This finding is a proof of the synthesis between conventional and behavioral economic thoughts, which is a solution to the contradiction of the neoclassical paradigm of thought and behavioral economic thought in understanding consumer behavior, especially in compulsive buying behavior. So this research has implication that conventional economics thinking is not weak as expected by behavioral economists, but with the presence of psychological factors as a moderator, it reinforces the notion that conventional economics needs to be supported by behavioral economics as scientific insight to understand economics, especially consumers' behavior holistically. Limitation in this study is that the data used is only limited to students in Central Java Province; so for future research, it is necessary to expand data to different provinces or different countries.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: To find the root of the problem for compulsive buying behavior of students in the digital era by exploring psychological factors such as materialism, self-esteem, self-control, narcissism, money attitude and mood as boosters of the effect of income on compulsive buying behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The unit of analysis in this research was a group of students having experience using e-commerce. The data collection method in this study was a closed questionnaire with a scale of 1-5 agree-disagree intervals distributed to 250 students who have shopping experience through e-commerce. WARP-PLS statistics was used.\nFindings: The study shows that self-esteem and mood do not moderate the effect of income on compulsive buying behavior. Meanwhile, materialism, narcissism, self-control and money attitude can significantly moderate the effect of income on compulsive buying behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: That the data used is only limited to students in Central Java Province; so for future research, it is necessary to expand data to different provinces or different countries. This research has implications that the synthesis between mainstream conventional economic thought and behavioral economics can be tested well in this model.\nOriginality/value: This study is proof of the synthesis between conventional and behavioral economic thought, which is a solution to the contradiction of the neoclassical paradigm of thought and behavioral economic thought in understanding consumer behavior, especially in compulsive buying behavior.\nPeer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-10-2019-0652\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Global studies means forward-looking
|
[
"European Union",
"Forward looking",
"Global studies",
"Globalistics",
"Holistic science",
"Russian Federation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The educational field of \"Global Studies\" (GS) is now, for the fifth time, adding to Emerald's educational journals' special issues, emphasising the endeavour of managing global governance in a forward-looking manner.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show, in a practical manner, that discursive procedures (mediated by online platforms or publication systems) enhance cultural understanding of distinct social entities such as Europe and Russia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Joint special issues convening authors from east and west in an equilibrated manner give an opportunity for in-depth review processes, in the course of which different paradigms of global evolution are perceived and reflected.\nFindings: If handled with care, information technologies are able to strongly support such stepwise consensus finding. The areas of futurology, forward looking, global megatrends, global evolution, globalistics and global studies are prime cases for the patient alignment of world views and multi-paradigmatic approach towards (ultimately) holistic and second-order science.\nOriginality/value: Even in the face of diverse political realities a series of conferences, lectures and web-supported exercises for the authoring of articles are able to consistently merge actors in academia and policy consulting.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Invasion of the Kravarites
|
[
"Management strategy",
"Jargon"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Today I would like to discuss jargon.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to express a viewpoint on business strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article is based on author's two decades of professional experience as a business strategy consultant.\nFindings: - Jargon serves a dual function: as shorthand for experts, and as a way of separating those experts from normal human beings.\nOriginality/value: - Expresses ideas in a way that the author believes they have not been expressed before.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Social capital as a new board diversity rationale for enhanced corporate governance
|
[
"Social capital",
"Corporate governance",
"Board diversity",
"Resource dependency"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper is intended to provide conceptual discussion on whether enhancing the board's social capital is a viable and overlooked rationale for board diversity. The goal of the paper is to provide a theoretical contribution to existing social capital and board diversity literature (Kim and Cannella, 2008; Westphal and Stern, 2006; Burt, 2002; Peng, 2004) and provide a discussion of how corporate directors, and their social capital, provide additional resources to the firms they govern. The paper is organized into four sections to accomplish this goal. The first section includes a brief historical discussion of corporate governance initiatives and a summary of significant corporate governance reports in the USA and the UK. The second section presents several arguments and established rationales for board diversity. In the third section, the paper discusses social capital and how social capital may provide benefits to the board. Lastly, it identifies and discusses how social capital from diverse board members may enhance governance and argues that it is a plausible rationale for board diversity.\nCorporate governance recommendations in the USA and the UK: The prominence of corporate failures and the attending media interest over the past 20 years has propelled modes of governance into the forefront of possible sources of corporate instability and financial uncertainty. These failures have resulted in an evolution of corporate governance attention and mandates. This is especially the case in the UK and the USA. The UK has a general corporate governance approach of \"comply or explain\"; versus the USA, which has taken more of a legal approach with fines and prison sentences for severe corporate governance violations. Consequently, there have been a number of evolving recommendations of best governance practices that have been suggested as a means to improve UK and US corporate governance. The recommendations are the outcomes of congressional acts, or committees that have been tasked with assessing, developing and responding to the governance matters prominent during their tenure. The Table below summarizes this evolution of best practice reports.\nArguments for board diversity: Existing empirical research has generally found a positive link between board diversity and enhanced firm governance (Reguera-Alvarado et al., 2017; Post and Byron, 2015; Catalyst 2011; Ararat et al., 2010; Singh and Vinnicombe, 2005; Catalyst 2004; Carter et al., 2003; Erhardt et al., 2003; Fondas and Sassalos, 2000). Research from these studies supports the argument that diversity enhances governance. For example, Fondas and Sassalos (2000, p. 172) found that boards with larger proportions of women were less likely to let Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) dominate the board and more likely to power share, and have significantly more influence over management decisions than boards without female directors, providing support for a diverse board, enhancing the governance process. Luckerath-Rovers (2010) found that firms with women have better Return on Equity than those without women. Miller and Triana (2009) showed increased innovation and reputation within the board demographic diversity-firm performance relationship. Terjesen et al. (2016) found that a diverse board is more important to firm performance than is the presence of independent directors. Gul et al. (2011) argue that gender diverse boards result in more corporate transparency. In their study of US firms, they found that gender diversity was associated with higher disclosure in both large and small firms. Reguera-Alvarado et al. (2017) studied Italian firms after mandatory gender diversity legislation was enacted, and found that the increase in the number of women on boards is positively related to higher economic results.\nSocial capital and board diversity: Van der Walt and Ingley (2003) argue that board diversity may have a variety of impacts on the board, the firm and the stakeholders. These impacts include organizational performance, board performance, organizational dynamics and stakeholder dynamics. According to Van der Walt and Ingley, the impact of diversity can include the individual characteristics of the directors and other situational factors (Bilimoria and Wheeler, 2000; Burgess and Tharenou, 2002; Burke, 2000). One of these individual characteristics may be the social capital of a director and how that social capital may enhance the firm.\nResource dependency and social Capital: In addition to the social capital bestowed to individuals and groups, researchers have shown that social capital is important to firm outcomes (Khoury et al., 2013; Sundaramurthy et al., 2014; Hitt et al., 2002; Palmer and Barber, 2001). Resource dependency theory suggests that a board's successful provision of resources is directly related to firm performance (Hillman and Dalziel, 2003, p. 386). Haynes and Hillman (2010) argue that based on resource dependence theory, board social capital is a useful resource for firms as the breadth of knowledge, experiences and social ties of directors provide the opportunity for firms to change strategy when needed and explore opportunities outside of their industries.\nStructural holes: Within-group cohesion is stronger than between-group cohesion (Burt, 2002). In the absence of any relationship between two groups, a structural hole exists. Structural holes can be filled by individuals who are members of both groups, or who are willing to serve as a go-between or bridge between the two groups. Such individuals span the two groups and thereby often improve the social capital of both groups. Holes in the social structure \"structural holes\" create a competitive advantage for those individuals whose relationships span those holes. As such social capital can function to brokerage opportunities in a given network of relationships, or become the broker in relations between people or groups who would otherwise be disconnected in the social structure. These brokers are thought to seek out partners with whom they can form unique, or \"non-redundant\", relationships that bring new information and the possibility of negotiating between competing groups. An individual fills the structural hole between the two groups, either as a leader or as a member of both groups. This individual then provides an opportunity for spanning of two individual closed networks, where they are now connected and have enhanced social capital beyond what each group had separately. This paper was partly interested in discussing whether diverse directors provide unique social ties, therefore at least in part, spanning those holes between the firm and potentially new markets, thus producing a competitive advantage. If this is the case, it is conceivable that diverse directors span different connections, thereby spanning new and diverse structural holes.\nSocial capital as a rationale for board diversity: As mentioned previously, there are five traditional business rationales commonly given to support board diversity. These are talent rationale, market rationale, litigation rationale, employee relations rationale and governance rationale (Fairfax, 2005; Dallas, 2002; Catalyst 2004). The goal of this paper is to explore theoretically whether director social capital enhances any of these five rationales, or whether enhancing the board's social capital can be considered as a plausible sixth rationale for diversifying boards. This investigation is important, as some boards may rely heavily on director social capital in their attempts to procure resources for the firm. Enhancing this social capital may result in direct or indirect benefits for their companies.\nSocial capital - the sixth rationale for board diversity: Per resource dependency functions\nConclusion: In closing, this paper adds to the overall understanding of why diversity is a positive for firms. Different directors not only bring their individual human capital but also provide a bridge to the human capital of other people through their social capital and networks. Therefore, social capital like race and gender, or education and experience, is an attribute of a director. Social capital can have an impact on board governance along with the other five board diversity rationales. Increased social capital as manifested in intensifying or extending social networks would seem to be a decision to which firms may need to give more explicit attention. In particular, if firms select directors who offer essentially identical external social capital to incumbent directors, they are likely to strengthen existing social networks and continue in current strategic norms. The firm, however, must be careful that strengthening of existing relationships does not become a source of redundant information (Burt, 2002). A given configuration of board social capital will not yield identical effects on firm performance in all environmental conditions (Kim and Cannella, 2008). Instead, a firm will determine its social capital needs based on the firm's strategic plan, which includes its need to bridge to new groups or lack thereof. More homogenous boards are less likely to encourage strategies that differ from those of industry competitors and historical norms.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The benefits of board diversity are often categorized into five distinct business rationales: talent rationale, market rationale, litigation rationale, employee relations rationale and governance rationale. However, if resource dependency theory's focus on the director's ability to secure important resources for the firm is considered, social capital as a viable additional rationale for board diversity can also be considered. The purpose of this paper is to argue that diverse members of the board are likely to have social capital that differs from non-diverse members of the board. Consequently, that diverse social capital can bridge the board to new resources for advice and counsel, legitimacy, channels for communication and access to important external elements, thus making a strong argument to be included as a rationale for board diversity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It is intended to provide a conceptual discussion on whether enhancing the board's social capital is perhaps a viable and overlooked rationale for board diversity.\nFindings: Consistent with the other five rationales for board diversity, this analysis suggests that social capital should be considered as a sixth rationale for board diversity. Social capital serves a role in governance and rises to the standard of other rationales for board diversity.\nPractical implications: Boards may not recognize that social capital is a strategic resource and sufficiently diverse groups such as women and minorities may be more likely to contribute non-overlapping social capital networks, which may translate into greater external influence and thus additional resources for the firm. This paper may help to influence the viewpoints of directors on who is valuable as a board member.\nOriginality/value: Existing board diversity rationales do not include social capital as a primary rationale for board diversity. It may be possible that social capital becomes a legitimate sixth rationale for board diversity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Company practices of Cypriot firms: Perceptual differences between employers and employees
|
[
"Organizational behaviour",
"Job satisfaction",
"Management effectiveness",
"Employee attitudes",
"Employers",
"Cyprus",
"Individual perceptions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cypriot employers and employees certainly have perceptions of organization behavior issues at their workplaces. Whether these perceptions are similar or different, whether these perceptions impact individual behavior of employers and/or employees, and whether these perceptions have an impact on work groups are issues worthy of study. If these perceptions can be better understood, Cypriot companies may create better working relationships and employees who are motivated to perform at levels needed by the companies. These issues are studied using the contingency organization behavior model that was developed by Robbins (2001).Robbins' model includes five human output variables (productivity, job satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover, and organization citizenship). The model also links the organization/system level (e.g. culture, work design, culture, management policies), the group level (group decision making, leadership, communication, conflict, power/politics, and work teams), and the individual level (personality, values/attitudes, ability, perception, motivation, and individual decision making). Many researchers have studied the complex nature of these relationships. Robbins (2001) explains that there are a \"vast number of contingency variables\" that impact the organization behavior issues in an organization and that developing a model that includes all of the interactions and factors that \"explain and predict the behavior of people at work\" is not possible. Some contingency variables that are not in Robbins' model include human input variables such as managers' experience levels, employees' experience levels, and their tenure in the company and change/stress variables such as level of stress and whether stress is internally or externally created. Additionally, each variable in the model has some contingencies. For example, at the group level conflict has many contingencies - how serious is the conflict, how common is conflict to the organization, and how groups/individuals interact to solve conflict. These contingencies at different levels of the model not only provide valuable information about organization behavior relationships, but also indicate the complexity of dealing with these issues in practice.This research is an attempt to study some of these issues in more detail through an exploratory study of Cypriot employers and employees. A specific discussion of business and economic issues in Cyprus provides some background for understanding the organization behavior issues for businesses in Cyprus.\nLiterature review: The nature of the human out put of work (listed in Robbins model as productivity, absenteeism/turnover, citizenship, and satisfaction) is an issue of importance to business owners and top managers because low levels of job satisfaction are related to higher job turnover levels (Korp et al., 1973; Atchinson and Lefferts, 1975; Locke, 1976; Tett and Meyer, 1993; Rust et al., 1996) and to increased absenteeism (Porter and Steers, 1973; Scott and Taylor, 1985). Since satisfied workers are less likely to either be absent or quit their jobs, organizations can save significant amounts of both time and monetary resources on dealing with absences and hiring new employees. If companies want to manage turnover and absenteeism effectively, mangers should develop an understanding of factors that affect employee satisfaction.Managers should also recognize that employees increasingly have an interest in being assigned meaningful work. Perhaps, meaningful work leads to higher levels of organization commitment. Studies show that organization commitment is an important component of job satisfaction (Schappe, 1998; Yousef, 2000) and it is the most often studied aspect of organization citizenship behavior (Bateman and Organ, 1983; Motowidlo, 1984; Moorman, 1993; Williams and Anderson, 1991). Hart (1999) concluded that job satisfaction contributes to overall life satisfaction. According to Edward Lawler (1973), job satisfaction is a measure of the quality of life in an organization. It seems important for managers to understand the components of quality of work life and ensure that the workplace provides this important employee need. This study does not include any variables relating to overall life satisfaction, but focuses on variables in the workplace.The three levels (organization, group, and individual) in the organization behavior model developed by Robbins (2001) are used as a basis for reviewing organization behavior issues in the literature.Organization and systems level issues\nMethodology: Purpose of the study\nResearch results: Organization/system level issues\nDiscussion of results: Since there is a general consensus in Cyprus that employees are underpaid and managers/employers use authoritative styles, it was expected that managers/employers would have substantially higher levels of satisfaction and different perceptions than employees regarding their company practices. To the authors' surprise employees were found to have higher levels of satisfaction and more similar views with their employers/managers than expected.These results indicate that Cypriot managers/employers and employees have many similar views on organization behavior issues. For example, both groups have similar views of organization culture issues (organization level) and the group level variables related to whether lower levels employees have challenging work and whether managers let lower level workers know what is expected. Additionally, there appear to be no differences in managers/employers and employees for some individual level variables: biographical characteristics and employee ability issues. These areas of agreement indicate that managers/employers and employees do have some commonalities in their views of issues that impact human outputs (productivity, absenteeism/turnover, citizenship, and satisfaction). This is good news since managers/employers and employees typically must work together to achieve the company's goals.However, there are some different views of managers/employers and employees. Managers/employers are more satisfied with job security, work hour requirements, and the physical work atmosphere than are employees. Managers/employers agree more strongly than employees that lower level employees have the authority to do their jobs. Employees disagree with managers/employees that lower level employees are paid fairly and managers/employers see the positive relationship between pay and authority more easily than do employees. In fact while 71.7 percent of the managers/employers agree that lower level employees are paid fairly, only 53.7 percent of the employees agree with this. In addition, while 70.6 percent of the employers/managers are satisfied with the opportunity to advance to higher managerial levels, only 45.8 percent of the employees are satisfied in this area. These results indicate some areas of friction for managers/employers and employees that should be studied in more detail. For example, concern by employees about their pay levels may lead to higher levels of turnover or lower productivity levels. Employers' higher satisfaction with their job security and work hour requirements may cause managers to be less sympathetic to these issues for employees. Additionally, if employers perceive they do have authority to do their jobs while employees do not, employers are not likely to address this issue for employees and the resulting stress and dissatisfaction could impact employee productivity levels. All of these areas of possible friction could result in problems at the organization level (such as human resource practices and organization culture issues), group level (such as communications, conflict, and leadership/trust issues) and individual level (such as individual learning, motivation, and perceptions issues). If managers/employers will review pay issues and authority concerns of employees, they may be able to improve human outputs for the company. If issues of job security, work hour requirements, and physical work atmosphere could be addressed to meet lower level employees' needs, these changes may also lead to improvement in human outputs in Cypriot companies.\nConclusions and implications: Based on this exploratory study of Cypriot managers/employers and employees, it appears that there are many areas of common ground for these two groups and there are some areas where there may be friction between these two groups. Since these research results are limited due to the small number of respondents and the exploratory nature of the research, additional research should include a larger sample and more specific research hypotheses. It is likely that more scientific findings can be determined through additional research and that strategies can be developed to improve manager/employer and employee perceptions (and the productivity, absentee/turnover levels, citizenship, and satisfaction) of the work of both groups. For example, it would be helpful to Cypriot managers/employees to better understand the areas where their perceptions differ from employees (job security, work hour requirements, physical work environment, appropriateness of authority of lower level workers, pay issues for lower level workers). This understanding should lead to changes in operations policies that could improve human output of work. Alternately, if employees could better understand ways managers/employers think differently from them, this could also lead to better work relationships. While the relationships and perceptions of managers/employers and employees have traditionally been somewhat different, this does not mean that the two groups cannot better understand each other.Further research of Cypriot managers/employers and employees in regard to organization behavior issues should provide information that would benefit organizations. Some of the studies that researchers may undertake include: specific studies of single organization behavior variables such as human resource policies and procedures or organization culture issues, studies of employer and employee perceptions of organization behavior issues for different Cypriot industries (tourism and shipping), or group of variables such as individual level variables (ability, values/attitudes, personality, biographical characteristics). Researchers may also want to study the human outputs (productivity, absence, turnover, citizenship, satisfaction) for managers/employers and employees more specifically to better understand how the two groups might view these concepts differently. Understanding Cypriot manager/employer and employee perceptions from the perspective of specific companies or for specific variables should provide more meaningful results that can be used by managers to improve the human output of work.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this exploratory study is to learn about and better understand Cypriot employees' and managers'/employers' perceptions of several variables related to organization behavior using Robbins model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Primary data are collected from a questionnaire using closed-ended questions. Data analysis methods include frequency distributions, and cross tabulations.\nFindings: - Results indicate that employees and employers have some different perceptions for individual level variables, group level variables, and organization/systems level variables. Three out of the 12 organization/systems level variables were significant at 0.001 level, one out of the three group level variables were significant at the same level, while two out of eight individual level variables were significant at the same level.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study is limited to Cypriot managers/employers and employees.\nPractical implications: - These results provide some information that is useful to managers/employers in Cyprus as they work to understand the individual, group, and organization variables of organization behavior and become more effective.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study attempting to compare manager/employer and employee perceptual differences regarding their work environment in Cyprus, using the contingency organization behavior model.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Key risks in construction projects in Italy: contractors' perspective
|
[
"Italy",
"Construction management",
"Risk management",
"Contractors",
"Risk factors",
"Construction projects"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The construction industry has one of the most dynamic, risky and challenging characteristics, albeit with a rather weak reputation in risk management in comparison to other industries (Wood et al., 2002). The rate of cancelled and challenged projects in this industry is among the highest of all industries (Rounds and Segner, 2011). Businesses in this sector face major uncertainty events in meeting their projects' planned objectives in the most cost effective manner and at a desired quality (Othman et al., 2004).\nRelated previous research: The risk identification process, as the initial step of risk management, forms the structure of the whole process (Chapman, 1998; Ward and Chapman, 2003). Failure in the identification of risks can lead to inadequacy in the process of managing risks, which can in turn critically affect businesses' resources. This process assists project managers to: recognise the best and most relevant input data, understand the benefits of the process, recognise risks and their potential impacts and provide information for decision makers (Simu, 2006; Henschel, 2007; Wang et al., 2007). Rostami et al. (2015) specified that the challenge regarding the practise of risk management among organisations mainly relates to poor awareness of project managers of risks and their potential impacts. Table I presents literature review on key risks in construction projects, which can facilitate risk management implementation through a comprehensive risk identification process.\nResearch methodology: This research was based on a qualitative approach which aimed to identify the key risks in construction projects. Findings can be used to develop a risk management framework for contractors in the construction industry. The research methodology in this study includes a comprehensive literature review, data collection and sampling, data analysis and a systematic exploration of risks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data.\nDiscussion of content analysis results: All risks outlined in the interviews can occur in any construction project. The purpose of this study was not only to provide a list of risks in construction projects but also to indicate the key risks which can significantly influence the activities of projects. The findings of the study were consistent with the results of previous research studies (Zou et al., 2007; Anton et al., 2011; Chileshe and Yirenkyi-Fianko, 2012; Karim et al., 2012), which indicated that a large number of internal and external risks impact project objectives in terms of cost, time, quality and safety. Table II presents the top ten key risks from contractors' perspective within project life cycle which were identified by project managers based on their general experience in the construction industry. The five most important risks are discussed in detail.\nLimitations of the study and future research: The findings of this study cannot be generalised statistically for the whole of Italy as it was constrained geographically, with respondents drawn only from a self-selection sample of construction projects in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The findings represent a snapshot of the key potential internal and external risks from the perspective of contractors. Another important limitation is that this study focused on domestic projects from private sector of the Italian construction industry and did not take into account the projects in the public sector. The third limitation is the relatively small sample size. A larger sample through a quantitative research could produce different results by addressing multiple class sections. Further studies should focus on a specific category (i.e. size of project, private or public sectors) and employ a larger number of cases representing the population of interest, in order to obtain more detailed information. However, the results of the study specified the key risks of construction projects from the perspective of contractors which were consistent with the outcomes of previous studies.\nConclusion: Risk management in construction projects has been recognised as one of the most important processes for achieving project objectives in terms of cost, time and quality. This paper evaluates the key potential internal and external risks from the perspective of contractors within the Italian construction industry through semi-structured interviews. The paper provides insights on the perception of key risks among construction projects which contribute to the development of a risk management framework for contractors. It also provides some insights on the current levels of risk for foreign contractors wishing to operate in Italy.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: Risks play an important role in the success of construction projects. Failure in identification and assessment of risks can lead to inadequacy in the process of managing risks, which in turn can critically affect the projects' resources. A formal risk management is rarely practised in construction projects due to the lack of contractors' awareness of key risks. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the investigation of risk factors in construction projects in Italy from contractors' perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, based on which a total of ten key risks were ascertained. The identified risks were compared with the findings of the surveys conducted in the Australian and Chinese construction industry to address the unique risks associated with construction projects in Italy.\nFindings: The key risks included delays in payments, client variations, design variations, inaccurate cost estimates, and tight project schedules. The comparison between those three countries specified the delays in payments and project funding problems as the most critical factors that are related to cultural influences and behaviour of clients. The findings assist contractors in the risk identification process, and can be applied to the development of a risk management framework for construction projects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this study cannot be generalised statistically for the whole of Italy as it was constrained geographically, with respondents drawn only from a self-selection sample of construction projects in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The findings represent a snapshot of the key potential internal and external risks from the perspective of contractors.\nOriginality/value: The results of the study specified the key risks of construction projects from the perspective of contractors which can contribute to risk management for construction projects.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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The refrigerator safari: An educational tool for undergraduate students learning about the microbiological safety of food
|
[
"Teaching",
"Food poisoning",
"Hygiene",
"Consumers",
"Refrigeration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Student selected components (SSCs) are intended to give medical students in the UK an opportunity to conduct an in-depth study of subjects that particularly interest them, and they can choose from a very wide variety of topics. They are not to be regarded as \"optional extras\": in fact, it is a requirement of the UK General Medical Council that the medical undergraduate curriculum includes SSCs which should constitute about a quarter of the curriculum.Although SSCs contribute to assimilation of knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to graduating in medicine, they also allow students to develop skills and knowledge beyond the core requirements.At the Hull York Medical School, a new medical school, which accepted its first intake of students in autumn 2003, the SSC \"Guess who's coming to dinner? How changes in the way we produce and eat our food are affecting food borne infection\" was developed and offered to both year 1 and 2 students.It is estimated that each year there are 1.3 million cases of food-borne gastrointestinal disease in England and Wales (Adak et al., 2002). In addition to the significant morbidity and, in the case of some infections such as listeriosis, mortality of food-borne disease, these infections also have substantial economic costs - estimated at PS1.5 billion per annum in the England and Wales alone (Adak et al., 2002). Given the importance of food-borne disease, the increasing numbers of patient populations at increased risk of infection such as the elderly and immunocompromised individuals, and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in newly-identified food-borne pathogens coupled with antibiotic resistance in others it is important for medical students to gain a good understanding of the epidemiology of these infections. In doing so, they will not only be better able to investigate and manage cases of food-borne disease, but will also appreciate the importance of implementing measures to prevent their patients acquiring and spreading these infections.The overall aim of the SSC was to examine how, since the end of the second world war, changes in the manner that food is produced, sold and eaten might have influenced the epidemiology of food-borne infection in the UK. Three learning outcomes were identified. The students were expected to:1. Demonstrate understanding of changing methods of food production, distribution, retailing and consumption and how these might have had an impact on the epidemiology of food-borne infection in the UK.2. Explain how consumers' attitudes and behaviour affect their risk of acquiring food-borne pathogens.3. Describe educational and public health measures that may be of value in reducing the risk of food poisoning.The SSC took the form of three introductory seminars. The first session addressed the microbiology, including virulence factors, of food-borne pathogens, host risk factors for gastrointestinal infection and the reporting of food-borne disease in the UK, focusing on how increased awareness and improvements in laboratory techniques might have affected the epidemiology of infections such as those caused by campylobacter jejuni. The second looked at the change in food production techniques with emphasis on advances in agriculture and animal husbandry as well as the introduction of technology that allows worldwide distribution of food products. The final seminar discussed changes in food retailing, focusing on the emergence of the supermarkets and also examining consumer attitudes to eating such the demand for a greater variety of food, \"natural\" food without artificial preservatives and the near ubiquity of domestic appliances such as the refrigerator and microwave oven.After the third seminar, students picked a topic which they wished to follow in greater detail and which they presented in the form of a Microsoft PowerPoint(r) presentation at the final session, which was assessed formally.Supplementary to the seminars the students undertook several assignments. These included interviewing a grandparent or a person from a similar age group and asking them to identify what, for them, were the significant changes in the way food was procured and stored, prepared and served in the domestic setting over the last four/five decades and also a critical review of advertising of food products in the media.In addition, the students were asked to undertake a refrigerator safari. This was intended to highlight one of the principal themes of SSC, i.e. that consumers may, through their own actions place themselves at risk of food-borne infection, and that consumers, not just manufacturers and retailers, have responsibilities if the risk of food poisoning is to be minimised.\nMethodology - the refrigerator safari: The temperature of each refrigerator was recorded at commencement of the safari using a purpose-designed refrigerator thermometer FoodsaFe, NutriFreeze Ltd., Huntington, York, UK). This device is a liquid in glass thermometer housed in a food gel, diameter 23 mm, and so mimics the thermal behaviour of a food of similar dimensions. Each thermometer tube is calibrated at 5degC and 20degC and the device has an accuracy of +-0.5degC over this temperature range.Students recorded the following:* presence/absence of a refrigerator thermometer (temperature of refrigerator if thermometer present and also on the FoodsaFe thermometer);* whether raw meat/poultry was stored on the bottom shelf, stored in sealed containers, or separated from cooked meat/poultry;* whether open dishes/containers were covered with cooking foil or film;* presence or absence of frost;* whether there was evidence of spillages; and* integrity of door seal and whether any items not in immediate use in the kitchen and which should have been refrigerated were not in the refrigerator.Finally students were asked to identify any items in the refrigerator that had passed use by/best before dates and to record the time elapsed after each date.Additionally students could repeat the process on refrigerators of their peers.Feedback was sought both formally and informally from the students. Students were invited to complete an evaluation questionnaire for the SSC that were completed and returned. Feedback was very positive for the SSC in general, with one student commenting that the topics covered \"apply to everybody's day-to-day lives\". To evaluate the safari students were asked to complete a short questionnaire in which the following questions were asked:* Did the safari reflect the aims of the SSC?* What did you like best about the safari?* What did you like least?* Would you recommend it as a learning tool for other students - medical or otherwise?* How could the safari be improved?\nResults: A total of 25 refrigerator safaris were undertaken. Temperature data were recorded for 24 refrigerators. The range was 1-12degC (mode 5degC) and eight (33 per cent) appliances were noted to be above the recommended temperature of <=5degC. Only four (16 per cent) refrigerators had thermometers. In these, temperatures of 4degC were recorded in three devices; with the remaining refrigerator at 5degC. Although raw meat/poultry and salads were separated from cooked meat and raw meat/poultry was held in sealed containers in 17 (68 per cent) refrigerators, storage of the raw items on the bottom shelf was noted in only eight (32 per cent) (Table I). Overall refrigerator maintenance was poor with spillages noted in 14 (56 per cent) cases, frost build-up in eight (32 per cent) and non-intact door seals in seven (28 per cent) (Table I). Of particular concern was that, in five (20 per cent) kitchens, items that should have been stored in the refrigerator were not, although how long these items had been left at ambient temperature was not recorded (Table I). A total of 39 items in 18 (72 per cent) refrigerators had passed best before/use-by dates within a range of 1-59 days (Table II).Seven of eight participants completed the questionnaire and their representative responses are summarised in Table III.\nDiscussion: The refrigerator safari was intended, not only as adding a practical dimension to this SSC, but also as a means of increasing students' awareness of consumers responsibilities regarding the microbiological safety of the food they eat. This is important because many consumers believe that the food safety is the responsibility of food manufacturers (Rohr et al., 2003). Moreover, despite claiming to have access to information regarding food safety in the home from a variety of sources, evidence suggests that this information is not sought out or is ignored (Redmond and Griffith, 2003, 2004). This has significant implications for public health initiatives to educate and inform the public in matters relating to procuring, storing and preparing food in a microbiologically safe manner.Temperature control is important in restraining the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, particularly psychrotrophic bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes especially in cook-chill items and products packaged under modified atmosphere conditions (Rao and Sachindra, 2002; Rybka-Rodgers, 2001). The refrigerator safari sampled only small number of appliances, but nevertheless only 4/25 (16 per cent) refrigerators were equipped with thermometers. This is significantly lower that the 37 and 40 per cent of 3,120 and 3,152 respondents in the Food Standards Agency's survey of UK consumers in 2001 and 2002, respectively (Food Standards Agency, 2001a, b, 2002). Despite the absence of refrigerator thermometers in the majority of appliances, in 16/24 (66 per cent) cases the temperature was <=5degC. Nevertheless in the remainder temperatures were above this and in two instances were recorded at 12degC. Moreover, it should be acknowledged that temperatures were recorded on one occasion only and it would have been of interest to obtain serial readings from each appliance to gain an appreciation of temperature variation.A total of 39 items had exceeded their best before/use by dates. Most of these were fruit or vegetable in origin, but 16 belonged to the meat/poultry or dairy categories. Coupled with the instances of temperature abuse, the microbiological quality of foods in the latter categories is of concern. Students did not assess the appearance or test the organoleptic quality of these items and it is possible that consumers may have rejected these foods on these grounds alone. Other examples of poor food hygiene practice were frequently noted.Previous studies have investigated consumer handling of foods in the home. Mitakakis et al. (2004) surveyed 515 Australian families using a questionnaire in which they asked a number of questions pertinent to food safety in the domestic setting. However, only two questions relating to the refrigeration of foods were included in the survey and individual refrigerators were not examined. Marklinder et al. (2004) conducted a study of 102 Swedish households in which participants were instructed to purchase a range of perishable foods and were the following day and the temperature of each of the seven items purchased was measured. As with the refrigerator safari, storage of food at above optimal temperature was observed with 5-20 per cent of items stored a temperatures in excess of 10degC. A total of 85 percent of participants knew the recommended operating temperature of domestic refrigerators, although as the authors note, the practical consequences of this knowledge were limited given the temperatures recorded. Although study participants were also questioned about their likelihood of discarding food which had passed its best-before date, unlike the refrigerator safari the investigators did not attempt to identify food items in this category in participants' refrigerators.The refrigerator safari involved a relatively small number of households and caution must therefore be exercised in interpreting its results. However the principal aim of the safari was, in the context of this student-selected component, to provide a practical illustration for students of the way in which consumers may inadvertently contribute to their likelihood on contracting a food-borne illness. The UK Food Standards Agency microbiological food-borne disease strategy notes that the most significant reduction in the incidence of food-borne disease is likely to come from focusing attention on food preparation and that accordingly education of consumers and, in particular, young people, is a key approach in fostering improved safer handling and preparation of food in the home.In this respect the refrigerator safari may prove a useful tool for informing students at undergraduate level of the responsibilities that consumers have in relation to food safety and the importance of education of consumers in storing perishable foods in domestic refrigerators in a safe manner. The safari could also be adapted for use in the secondary education setting for example in Key Stage 3 Design and Technology Programme in the National Curriculum for England an approach which would also be consonant with the Food Standards Agency's strategy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Food-borne infection remains a major public health concern and it is important that healthcare professionals in training understand the epidemiology of gastro-intestinal infection and strategies for its prevention. This article describes a student selected component (SSC), i.e. an element which supplements the core curriculum for undergraduate medical students and its use as an educational tool.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The SSC incorporated a refrigerator safari in which students examined a number of domestic refrigerators for factors which might affect adversely the microbiological quality of the food within them as well as determining refrigerator temperatures with a sensitive thermometer.\nFindings: - The refrigerator safaris, although small in number (n=25) highlighted a number of frequently occurring factors such as unacceptable refrigerator temperatures and foods which had passed their use by/best before dates. Student feedback indicated that the safari was much appreciated as a practical way of learning about food safety.\nOriginality/value: - The refrigerator safari is a novel method for the teaching of undergraduate students about food hygiene in the domestic setting and emphasises that consumers have important roles and responsibilities in protecting themselves from food-borne infection.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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A restaurant case study of lease accounting impacts of proposed changes in lease accounting rules
|
[
"Leasing",
"Financial ratios",
"Restaurant industry",
"Regulation",
"Accounting"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: On August 17, 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) jointly issued an Exposure Draft of new lease accounting rules that would fundamentally overhaul and change the way leases are accounted for and reported in financial statements. The proposed rules will eliminate the existing classification of leases as either finance or operating leases, and instead require lessees to capitalize all leases and recognize a single model representing a right-to-use the leased asset.The proposed changes in lease accounting are expected to impact financial statement presentation and performance measures materially and significantly. The balance sheet effects are currently hidden because of the off-balance sheet treatment of operating leases under the existing lease accounting standard. The material increase in assets and liabilities and deterioration in certain financial ratios has raised concerns about the potential financial implications of the rules on firm debt structure and financial policies such as debt covenants and executive compensation.Off-balance sheet operating leases have raised questions and concerns because critics have argued that the existing rules allowed companies to understate their liabilities by structuring leases as operating leases instead of capital leases and in doing so, influenced the outcomes of various profitability and debt financial ratios. Furthermore, in 2005, an estimated 293 firms, comprised mainly of restaurant and retail firms, were forced to restate their financial statements due to various lease accounting errors (Scholz, 2008). These restatements were sparked by CKE Restaurants, Inc., which discovered the lease accounting errors during its internal review in 2004. In a 2005 report to Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was also highly critical of the lease accounting standard and recommended that the FASB overhaul the lease standard (Securities and Exchange Commission, 2005). Subsequently the FASB, working together with the IASB, adopted a project to overhaul the lease accounting rules to address these concerns.The restaurant industry has been identified in prior research as one of the largest users of off-balance sheet operating leases (Imhoff et al., 1997). Lease accounting is an important issue for many restaurant firms. Given their pervasive use, magnitude and growing financial lease obligations, the restaurant industry provides an ideal setting for investigating questions of how the proposed rules will affect financial statement presentation and what is the likely impact of the rules on financial ratios and financial policy decisions.It is the purpose of this study to investigate the likely impact of the proposed lease accounting standard on the balance sheet and income statement presentation by applying them to a single public restaurant company, CEC Entertainment, Inc., the owner, operator and franchisor of Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. The focus of this paper is on lessee accounting and the potential impacts will then be measured using a set of financial ratios that are widely used in practice. Finally, the managerial and practical implications of the proposed rules on debt agreements, executive compensation and the lease versus buy decision will be presented and discussed.This study contributes to the existing literature on leasing in the following ways. First, it shows how the presentation of financial statements will be changed dramatically and how the proposed rules will affect various financial statement ratios that are widely used in practice to assess credit ratings, debt covenants, and executive compensation. The case study method was chosen for this purpose because of its advantage in highlighting and exploring complex lease accounting issues in far greater detail than otherwise possible with a larger set of firms. Additional firm examples and practical applications are also included to supplement the analysis. Second, this study serves the purpose of informing and raising awareness among restaurant managers, small business owners, and other hospitality managers about the proposed rules so managers can formulate strategies to mitigate the likely impact on corporate policies. Finally, this study serves the need of financial statement users, academics, and regulators who will find it informative and relevant.\nCurrent and proposed leasing: Current standard\nLiterature review: Much of the research to-date on leasing has focused on the effects of capitalizing operating leases on financial statements and the impact of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 13 (SFAS 13) on equity risk, capital structure and stock prices.Effect on financial statements\nLease capitalization methodology for CEC Entertainment: This case study investigates the likely impacts of the proposed new lease accounting standard on the financial statement presentation and financial ratios of CEC Entertainment, Inc., and the implications for various corporate financial policies. CEC Entertainment was selected for this case study because of previous financial restatements stemming from lease accounting errors. Financial statement data for the company was obtained from the annual 10-K financial report filed with the SEC (CEC Entertainment, 2010) and retrieved from the SEC's Edgar database. This data was then used to capitalize operating leases and compute various financial ratios to assess their likely impact on financial statements.CEC Entertainment is a restaurant company that owns and operates 497 Chuck E. Cheese restaurants excluding 48 franchised restaurants in the US and internationally. Of these 497 restaurants, 438 restaurants occupy leased premises while 59 restaurants operate on owned sites. On the balance sheet for fiscal year 2009, CEC Entertainment recorded capital lease assets of $16.020m and $15.862m for 2009 and 2008, respectively. These capital lease assets were primarily buildings for some of its store locations. Including accumulated depreciation, the net book value of these capital lease assets amounted to $9.120m and $9.962m, respectively, for 2009 and 2008. On the other hand, its obligations under capital leases were estimated at $11.510m and $12.208m for the same period. Other relevant information on operating lease payments is presented in Appendix 1.Capitalizing operating leases\nResults: Impact on financial statements\nImplications for the restaurant industry: In addition to the likely impact on the financial statement presentation and financial ratios, the proposed new rules are also expected to affect corporate financial policies such as executive compensation, debt agreements and the lease versus buy decision.Executive compensation\nSummary and conclusions: This case study presented a discussion of the proposed changes in lease accounting changes and highlighted their potential impacts on restaurant firms. More specifically, the case of CEC Entertainment was used to illustrate the likely impacts on financial statement presentation and various financial performance measures. The results of this study provide some evidence to suggest that interest coverage and capital ratios will decline, debt-related ratios will increase dramatically, and performance measures such as EBITDA and EBIT are expected to change without changing the underlying cash flows. These performance measures will also affect executive compensation plans because of their use by some companies in determining such compensation. In addition, this study showed how the proposed changes will likely affect debt covenant ratios and potentially lead companies to reconsider the lease versus buy decision. The extent to which a restaurant company is affected by changes in the rules will certainly vary depending on the magnitude of leasing activity for each firm as well as the existing structure and portfolio of leases within each firm.A major challenge facing many restaurant firms will be the requirement to reassess lease terms, contingent rentals, and residual value guarantees at each reporting date. Requiring reassessment of each individual lease in each reporting period will increase the time and cost of compliance because of the challenges faced in applying judgment and making estimates. Given the increase in financial reporting and data requirements, companies will also have to evaluate their existing accounting and information systems, processes and controls to determine whether additional investments are required to comply with the proposed rules.It will be critical important for restaurant companies and managers to immediately assess and evaluate the likely impacts of the proposed changes on their financial statements and ratios and to formulate financial policies and strategies to mitigate any adverse impacts. In the interim, companies entering into new leases should also be aware of the new rules and consider their practical implications on future leasing activities. If a negative impact is anticipated, then managers could employ a number of strategies to modify existing lease terms and structures, including among others, the use of shorter rental terms and avoiding renewal options. Companies that plan proactively ahead of final adoption will also minimize future administrative, operational, and financial costs of compliance. Despite its potential drawbacks for many restaurant companies, the new lease accounting standard is expected to provide investors and financial statement users with more precise information to assess and value the debt obligations of firms. Incrementally new lease financial data and disclosures will also enable external users of financial statements to more accurately assess the financial risks undertaken by firms.When the standard is finally implemented in the next two or three years, future research should investigate the actual ex post impact of the standard on financial statements, firm behavior, capital structure, risk and return measures, and stock prices. Finally, this case study is limited by the assumptions employed in capitalizing leases and the exclusion of many features of operating leases such as residual value guarantees, renewal terms and contingent rentals in assessing the likely impacts.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - New lease accounting rules are proposed that will fundamentally change the way leases are accounted for and reported in financial statements. This paper seeks to provide information on the proposed new rules and to illustrate their impact on financial statements and financial ratios using a single restaurant company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The case of a single restaurant company, CEC International, is used to illustrate the potential impact of the new rules. Additional examples are used to illustrate the impact on financial policies. Financial statements were adjusted and various financial ratios such as interest coverage, leverage and profitability ratios were computed before and after capitalization.\nFindings: - The results show that financial statements presented will change dramatically when lease assets and liabilities are added to the balance-sheet. The expense recognition pattern will change significantly and negatively impact performance measures such as interest coverage and capital ratios but improve cash flow measures such as EBIT and EBITDA.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Limitations of this study include the assumptions used to capitalize leases such as interest rate, life of leases, no new leases, and exclusion of contingent rentals.\nPractical implications: - All restaurant companies and managers must assess the costs and benefits of complying with the proposed new rules and start analyzing and evaluating their impact on existing debt agreements, executive compensation plans, and the lease versus buy decision.\nOriginality/value: - This paper serves to inform restaurant managers about the potential implications of the new rules, so managers can prepare, plan and formulate strategies to mitigate their impact.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corporate culture change: adaptive culture structuration and negotiated practice
|
[
"Adaptive culture structuration",
"Negotiated practice",
"Corporate culture",
"Culture change",
"Organizational values",
"Organizational culture"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Global competitiveness operates in a time of economic uncertainty and social change (Rugman et al., 2012). The prevailing unpredictability of contemporary change sets the scene for organizations to utilize as many people-oriented resources as possible in the service of business competitiveness, especially as Albert et al. (2000, p. 13) suggest, structural and institutional methods of organizing are not so reliable and more dependent on \"the heads and hearts of its members\".\n2. Theoretical background: Corporate culture\n3. The case: We conducted a study within an 800-strong division of a large financial institution which had itself been recently acquired by a much larger financial entity. The opportunity arose for a small exploratory study during the unfolding of a new culture change initiative, administered by senior managers and a human resource department.\n4. Method and data: Turning to the research design (see Table II), and the choices and actions involved in this exploratory investigation, we interviewed twelve employees regarding personal and organizational values at a time when they were living through a managerially designed culture change initiative. This proved serendipitous, and flexibility was needed to allow unforeseen constructs to emerge. Our particular research questions initially guiding this study were: How do employees narrate their personal values, their work values; and their organization's values? and How do employees' work and personal values intersect with organizational values? Interview data were supported by organizational documentation (see Creswell, 2012) which explicated the new values.\n5. Results: The first theme emerging from the data pertained to the respondents' investment of self as they accepted the culture change initiative and its values. The second theme involved employees' epistemic analyses of the embedded value promises heightened for some by experiencing a critical incident that interrupted managers' enactment of values. This epistemic work led to the third theme, employees' \"received practice\" which was not visible to managers.\n6. Discussion: The findings summarized pictorially in Figure 4, show employee epistemic activities and analyses have a constant and powerful (albeit largely invisible) influence on an organization's culture. This appears particularly so within a management-espoused cultural initiative, as employees judge and assess management rhetoric against their actions.\n7. Limitations and concluding comments: This exploratory study took advantage of a corporate culture change initiative and while it proved fruitful and enabled re-theorizing of ways to analyze corporate culture change, especially in recognizing employees \"agency\" activities in workplace learning, its limitations are clear. First, as a small, exploratory qualitative study, it suffers vulnerability (see Chia and MacKay, 2007). Its limited sample means that insights were gained but not verified by strength of numbers, nor rendered as reliable as positive, large scale studies that incorporate \"tests\" of reliability and validity. However, it fulfilled the \"trustworthy\" criteria for qualitative studies (see Lincoln, 1995). While interview data were appropriately used as evidence, supported by organizational documentation and discussed in the light of existing theory, their empirical insufficiency is acknowledged.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present adaptive culture structuration, a new approach for theorizing and analyzing culture change and for creating an \"adaptive cultural structurated learning environment\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: Incorporating a case study in the financial sector the paper explores 12 employees' narrated accounts of living through a culture change initiative. A constructivist, interpretive, qualitative research study followed grounded theory principles. Organizational documentation provided secondary data. Semi structured interview data were analyzed using content analysis, constant comparison and theoretical sensitivity and were managed by ATLAS.ti software.\nFindings: Three themes emerged: respondents' investment of self, accepting the culture change initiative and its values; employees' epistemic analyses of the embedded value promises including experiencing a critical incident that interrupted managers' enactment of values; employees' resulting \"received practice\" which represented the enacted (versus the espoused) values and was not visible to managers.\nPractical implications: An adaptive culture structurated learning environment fosters a relationship of \"negotiated practice\" instead of \"received practice\" between managers and employees in the constitution of corporate culture change. In this space, employee interpretations and assessments, which may otherwise remain hidden from managers and thereby prevent workplace learning opportunities, can be drawn upon, shared meaning co-produced and psychological contract issues explained.\nOriginality/value: While much has been written on espoused culture change, this is the first theoretical model to examine the process from an employee perspective through an adaptive culture structurated lens.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Cost-effectiveness, domestic favouritism and sustainability in public procurement: A comparative study of public preferences
|
[
"Public procurement",
"Public attitudes",
"Sustainable procurement",
"Cost-effectiveness",
"Discriminatory procurement",
"Eurobarometer"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Traditionally, public procurement has had three main goals (Kelman, 1990, p. 11): equity - or providing fair access to all bidders; integrity - or avoiding corruption; and economy and efficiency. In line with these goals, internal market development in the EU mainly followed the philosophy of neo-classical contracting theory. This philosophy is characterized by a focus on the reduction of costs, favouritism and nationalism in public procurement. In this way, all bidders, no matter what national background, would have equal access to public contracts, resulting in lower overall costs for the public purse. As a result, price-criteria became a main driver behind public procurement decisions.\nLinkage in public procurement: non-price criteria in awarding contracts: When procuring goods and services, governments do not just want to purchase goods and services, but often pursue other policy objectives as well. Procurement has therefore not just been approached as a pure market transaction, but also as a way to deliver government policy objectives (Harland et al., 2013) or to achieve public value (Erridge, 2007). Government contracting can thus be perceived as \"a tool of social regulation\" (McCrudden, 2004, p. 257) and is often used as a soft-law mechanism (Howe, 2010) that can be used to achieve a wider set of social, environmental and economic policy objectives.\nThe role of public preferences in procurement: Public procurement tends to follow the wider social preferences: \"Historically, we see consistent attempts to link public procurement with the government policy of the day, in areas as diverse as national industrial policy, reducing unemployment, improving employment conditions, support for small businesses, local development, employment of disabled workers, and equal pay for men and women, to mention only a few\" (McCrudden, 2007a, p. 93). Government policies, and procurement policies therefore as well, try to either reflect public preferences, or shape those preferences to bring them in line with government policy. There thus is a mutual process of public opinions shaping new policy and new policies shaping preferences (Burstein, 2003; Stimson, 2015).\nData and method: The data for this study are taken from a 2011 Special Eurobarometer survey among 26.836 respondents in the - then - 27 EU countries. Respondents were selected by means of random (probability) sampling of EU citizens aged 15 to 98. Data for this survey were collected through face-to-face interviews in the respondents' national language. Per EU country, approximately 1,000 citizens were interviewed. Exceptions are the EU countries with relatively few inhabitants: Luxembourg (n=503), Cyprus (n=500) and Malta (500); as well as Germany (n=1,622) and the UK (n=1,322)[1]. This Eurobarometer includes multiple questions on which factors are most important to EU citizens when public authorities decide to award procurement contracts. Data are analyzed using a combination of t-tests, logistic regression and multivariate linear regression, by means of IBM SPSS Statistics 24.\nDescriptive findings: Citizens' preferences in public procurement\nAnalysis: explaining procurement preferences: Explaining citizen support for traditional procurement practices\nDiscussion: The aim of this paper was to explore and explain EU citizens' attitudes towards different procurement practices. In this paper, we focussed on explaining preferences for three dominant procurement practices: the first stems from neo-classical contracting theory in which price-criteria lead procurement decisions; the second is discriminatory procurement, by means of which national suppliers are favoured; the third reflects more current trends in public procurement that have led to the inclusion of social and environmental objectives in procurement decisions, often referred to as sustainable procurement.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain public preferences for different public procurement practices. The paper looks into public support for cost-effectiveness, discriminatory procurement in favour of domestic suppliers and sustainable procurement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses Eurobarometer public opinion data on 26.836 EU citizens from 27 EU countries.\nFindings: This paper shows that EU citizens want public authorities to evaluate multiple aspects of any procurement offer in their public procurement decisions. It also found that, although cost-effectiveness and domestic favouritism are still important to EU citizens, citizens are most supportive of the objectives of sustainable procurement. Some associations between citizens' procurement preferences and their social characteristics and political attitudes were found, but these only explain citizen procurement preferences to a limited extent. Country of residence has the strongest association with citizens' acceptance of the objectives of sustainable procurement.\nResearch limitations/implications: Even though the data contain information on the procurement preferences of a large number of EU citizens, it is a topic of inquiry that is sensitive to social desirability bias.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the empirical understanding of public attitudes towards public procurement. It is one of few studies on citizen attitudes towards different public procurement practices.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Survivors perceptions of stakeholders and the 2009 South Pacific tsunami
|
[
"Emergency response",
"Natural hazard",
"Tsunami",
"Pacific Ichkslands"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the years since 2004, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced several large earthquakes that triggered deadly local tsunamis - Indonesia (2004, 2005, 2006), American Samoa (2009), Chile (2010), and Japan (2011). These are relatively infrequent hazards, but they have the potential to cause great destruction to coastal communities near their source. For example, the 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake and Tsunami that struck Japan resulted in approximately 15,703 deaths and 5,314 injuries in Japan and extensive damage totaling hundreds of billions of US dollars (US Geological Survey, 2013; World Bank, 2011). Additionally, the September 29, 2009, Earthquake and South Pacific Tsunami that struck American Samoa, Samoa, and Tonga claimed 192 lives (US Geological Survey, 2012). Not surprisingly, response to hazards such as local tsunamis is a complex process that involves many social stakeholders.\n2. Theoretical background: Theory\n3. Event background: Description of tsunami\n4. Materials and methods: The study researchers used data collected from a (Apatu et al., 2013) household survey that occurred in July 2011 within nine Western and two Eastern District villages on the island of Tutuila, American Samoa. In the Western District the study's interviewers endeavored to survey every household in the nine villages. In the Eastern District, the team conducted systematic sampling in which every other household was interviewed after an initial, starting house was chosen randomly. In both localities, the main objective of the survey was to gather information on residents' demographics, protective action decisions, and experiences during the September 2009 earthquake and tsunami. Local interviewers fluent in both English and Samoan administered the questionnaire. Participants were required to be 18 years or older and to have been on Tutuila during the tsunami event. A total of 300 residents were interviewed. Data from the section of the questionnaire that captured age, sex, occupation status, and perceptions of social stakeholders were utilized for this study.\n5. Results: Approximately half of the sample was female (50.7 percent) and the average age was 42 +- 14 years. A majority of respondents (59.7 percent) reported having an occupation. Mean ratings for the stakeholder characteristics are shown in Table I. The mean ratings for knowledge among the respondents themselves was statistically higher than officials (t(299)=7.358, p\n6. Discussion: In general, the study showed that respondents regarded themselves more favorable than officials and media for hazard knowledge, trustworthiness, and protection responsibility during the September 29, 2009 earthquake and tsunami. These findings do not support our hypotheses that the respondents would rate officials and media higher for the stakeholder traits. Furthermore, these findings conflict with Arlikatti et al.'s (2007) results, which showed that respondents rated officials and authorities higher for the stakeholder traits. Additionally, we did not find mean differences for tsunami knowledge and trustworthiness between the ratings for the respondents themselves and peers. It must be noted that overwhelmingly the mean ratings for officials ranked the lowest among all stakeholder groups. Perhaps residents might slightly mistrust officials due to previous experiences with authorities before, during, or after the September 29, 2009 earthquake and tsunami.\n7. Conclusions: Local tsunamis force at-risk individuals to make quick protective action decisions to save their lives in a dynamic environment. For example, in areas impacted by an earthquake, the natural and built environments change in response to ground motion - buildings and bridges weaken and collapse, roads become impassable. Once the effects of the earthquake are realized and the first wave in a tsunami washes onshore and recedes, the landscape becomes more greatly affected and difficult to traverse. Consequently, and in order to facilitate protective action decision making, individuals frequently turn to other community social stakeholders to assist them with finding answers to important questions or with physical response. Questions may include, for example, which protection action should be taken, when should it begin, and when should it be completed? In contrast, individuals may seek assistance in implementing a specific protective action, such inland or vertical evacuation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Near-field tsunamis provide short warning periods of equal to 30 minutes, which can complicate at-risk individuals' protective action decisions. In the face of a tsunami, people may turn to individuals such as friends, family, neighbors, or organizations such as the media to obtain warning information to help facilitate evacuation and/or to seek protection from the hazard. To characterize norms for protection action behavior during a near-field tsunami, the purpose of this paper is to explore American Samoan residents' perceptions of four social stakeholder groups on three characteristics - tsunami knowledge, trustworthiness, and protection responsibility - regarding the September 29, 2009, Mw 8.1 earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The social stakeholder groups were the respondents themselves, their peers, officials, and media. Mean ratings revealed that respondents rated themselves highest for tsunami knowledge and protection against the tsunami but rated peers highest for trustworthiness. In addition, officials had the lowest mean rankings for all three stakeholder characteristics. MANOVA analyses found that there was a statistically significant overall effect for occupation status on respondents' perceptions of the four stakeholder groups and characteristics.\nFindings: Employed respondents generally reported higher mean ratings for all stakeholder groups across the three characteristics than those that reported not having an occupation. Given the complexity of evacuation behavior, at-risk individuals may seek the assistance of other community members to support their protective action decisions.\nOriginality/value: The information gathered from this study provides local emergency managers with useful data that could support future disaster resilience efforts for tsunamis.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Relation between early e-WOM and average TV ratings
|
[
"Media",
"Electronic word of mouth",
"HCSE estimator",
"Regression models",
"TV ratings"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Television is the most important medium in the advertising industry despite the recent proliferation of alternative sources of media. In 2016, spending on TV advertising in the USA was US$71.29 billion, accounting for 36.4 percent of total spending on media in the country (EMarketer, 2016). Advertising contracts in the TV industry are formed between the advertiser, the firm that wants to purchase spots on TV, and the broadcaster, which sells and airs them. Because advertisers are primarily interested in the sizes of the target audiences exposed to a given ad, gross rating points - the sum of audience ratings (viewership) for a given TV episode (Kelton and Stone, 1998) - and average ratings (viewership) - these points divided by the number of episodes - are important. However, high average ratings do not necessarily imply steep advertising prices because the contracts are created some time in advance (up to a few months) of the airing of a given TV program (Katz, 2016). Therefore, it is important for advertisers and broadcasters to predict the average ratings in advance. However, the earlier that average ratings are predicted, the higher the inaccuracy of the prediction.\n2. Literature review: Word of mouth (WOM) is defined as informal communication among consumers concerning the possession, use, or characteristics of a particular product or service (Westbrook, 1987). E-WOM refers to information pertaining to goods, services, brands, or companies that spreads through the internet (Babic Rosario et al., 2016). Compared with \"offline\" WOM, e-WOM is large-scale, where positive and negative information can be simultaneously obtained from a variety of third parties (Chatterjee, 2001). E-WOM is also more anonymous and unrestricted than WOM in terms of the constraints of space and time (Dellarocas, 2003), and allows for multiple means of simultaneous access (Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2003).\n3. Research methodology: Description of the data\n4. Results and discussion: The results of the OLS and HCSE estimations of Model (1) are shown in Table V.\n5. Contribution and implications: Theoretical contributions\n6. Conclusion: The effects of e-WOM on sales have been extensively discussed in various studies, but the effect of early e-WOM on the average ratings has not been studied. This is surprising given the importance of the average ratings to advertisers and broadcasters. This study investigated the impact of volume and valence of early e-WOM on average ratings. The results of HCSE estimations, which reflect heteroscedasticity, showed that only valence is significant. Therefore, broadcasters and advertisers are recommended to predict the average ratings by analyzing the qualitative aspects of early e-WOM.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between average ratings (viewership) and the volume and valence of electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) for early episodes of TV shows.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Linear regression was performed in which the dependent variable is average TV ratings and main independent variables are volume and valence of e-WOM. The study used a Breusch-Pagan test to detect heteroscedasticity. Accordingly, the model is analyzed using heteroscedasticity-consistent standard error estimators.\nFindings: The results show that the volume of the early e-WOM does not significantly contribute to explaining average ratings, but the valence does.\nOriginality/value: Because the advertising revenue of television broadcasters is determined according to expected TV ratings, the average ratings should be predicted as early as possible. This study shows that analyzing early e-WOM helps predict average ratings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effects of brand attachment on behavioral loyalty in the luxury restaurant sector
|
[
"Branding",
"Brand attachment",
"Brand loyalty",
"Behavioral intention",
"Resistance",
"Proselytism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today, people tend to prefer eating out to cooking at their homes (Unilever Food Solutions, 2011). Concurrent with this strong trend, the restaurant industry is very competitive and restaurants have to find ways of attracting and maintaining their customers (Chang, 2013). Consumer loyalty is obviously very important in the competitive environment of the luxury restaurant sector, because the costs of changing customers are much higher than the costs of retaining existing customers (Japutra et al., 2014). Indeed, the success of restaurants is largely dependent on their ability to satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers. Restaurants therefore aim to build a long-lasting relationship with their customers and to maintain their loyalty in the long term (Dwyer et al., 1987; Japutra et al., 2014; Ostrom et al., 2010). Brand attachment plays an important role here, as this concept refers to efforts aimed at maintaining the relationship between the brand and the customer (Bolton et al., 2000; Ostrom et al., 2010).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Luxury services\n3. Hypothesis development: 3.1 Satisfaction on brand attachment\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Measures\n5. Results: 5.1 Respondent demographic characteristics\n6. Discussions and conclusions: In this research, authors attempted to demonstrate the effects of brand attachment on the behavior loyalty through variables such as:\n7. Theoretical implications: Theoretically, the current study is one of the first to develop a conceptual model that examines the relationship between satisfaction, congruence, nostalgic connections and trust with brand attachment and behavioral loyalty within the luxury restaurant sector. To our knowledge, this research is the first to develop the concept of relationship quality and customer loyalty behavior in the context of luxury restaurants (Dawar and Pillutla, 2000). Indeed, the good qualities of relationships and brand loyalty can be considered as a \"form of insurance\" to maintain the relationship with luxury restaurants.\n8. Managerial implications: In terms of managerial implications, the results demonstrated that satisfaction and nostalgic connections play an important role in explaining how consumers are attached to luxury restaurant brands. It is therefore important for managers to become aware of the strategic role of these variables and to set up expansions and improvement plans that aim to address such issues. It is also important to know how to better manage relationship marketing by using technological tools such as CRM. Customers are certainly attached to the brand and the service and they become loyal (Guillard and Roux, 2014). But, managers must gather as much information as possible about their consumers in the face of strong competition. The relational strategy must them be communicated to the appropriate personnel by developing programs based on their expectations (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Bahri-Ammari and Sharma, 2014; Urska et al., 2013).\n8. Limitations and future research: The research has demonstrated the effects of brand attachment on the loyalty behavior in the luxury restaurant sector through some relationship marketing variables. First, it was argued that the concept of brand attachment is a very complex concept and future studies should work toward developing a more reliable measurement. Second, the research examined only a particular service (luxury restaurant) and did not set out to compare the differences between brand attachment to service and brand attachment to a product. Third, the integration of some moderating variables such as age and gender could has enriched the results of the study. Another limitation of the study is the fact that it was conducted in Tunisia.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between satisfaction, congruence, nostalgic connections and trust with reference to brand attachment and behavioral loyalty. Behavioral loyalty was examined through the customer's intention to continue the relationship, as well as proselytism and resistance upwards of the price in the luxury restaurant sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed and distributed via email and different Facebook groups which specialized in the luxury restaurant sector in Tunisia. A total of 310 questionnaires were completed and structural equation modeling with AMOS was used to test the hypothesis.\nFindings: The findings suggest that brand attachment clearly explains the behavioral loyalty of consumers because it contributes toward maintaining the relationship with the brand in terms of repetitive buying behavior. Only satisfaction and nostalgic connection was found to influence brand attachment and satisfaction has a bearing on proselytism. Brand attachment in turn influences the intention to continue the relationship and the resistance to upward pricing, but not toward proselytism.\nPracticalimplications: The managerial implications can guide managers toward enhancing the behavior loyalty of customers through better relational marketing practices.\nOriginality/value: The research is original in terms of conceptualizing and empirically testing the relation between brand attachment and behavior loyalty within the luxury restaurant sector with a specific focus on Tunisia. This study is one of the first to examine the relationship between brand attachment and behavioral loyalty in the restaurant sector.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Building competence to manage contractual claims in international construction environment: The case of Finnish contractors
|
[
"Contract law",
"Contract costs",
"Penalty costs",
"Finland",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Contractual claims\nMethodology of this research project: The research consists of two parts; first, the literature survey was carried out to know the state of art on management of claims. A particular attention was focused on the procedure to be followed in submitting a claim and the format of presenting a good claim, in order to develop a competence in managing a claim in such circumstances. The study was carried out in the context of a Finland-based contractor operating in the Russian markets. Russian market was chosen because claims are more vulnerable due to its economic and political situation.The players are three-dimensional in nature where the client, consultants, and contractor come from different countries/practices and two of the projects studied were joint ventures. Also because Russian legislation, codes, regulations, and local norms, are different from western countries and usually lead to claims.Secondly, the empirical data were obtained by the direct interviews and supplemented by using the questionnaires. The questionnaires were focused on four areas: familiarity with the types of contracts; familiarity with the types of the conditions of contract; reasons for differences in management of such claims; and comparison of the Finnish and British practices.To avoid misinterpretation of data, the minutes of the interviews were written down, reviewed, edited, and sent to the interviewees for necessary amendments and corrections. Overall 20 people from the same organisation but working in five projects were interviewed, in such categories as: one supervisor in logistics, one company lawyer, one marketing manager, five supervisors, five site managers and seven member of technical management staff. The case contractor was chosen because of its size, market spread, experience of its staff and their long experience in the Russian market. Figure 1 shows their familiarity with the types of contracts. The findings show the effect of the differences in contract arrangement and contract administration on managing claims.\nComparison of Finnish and British practices: Table I summarises the reasons why claims have not been pronounced in the Finnish contracting practice. The findings show the effect of the local standardised practice of the country on the management of a claim in international construction environment, due to differences in the legal system and conditions of contract, size of the market and procurement method. Others are building system, design levels, tendering procedure, payment, and change order among others.\nReasons for differences in management of claims: Contract documentation\nWays to build a competence for managing claims: In order to build the competence for managing claims by a Finnish (or any new) contractor, two main alternatives have been highlighted.Alternative 1: Operational management. This is a process whereby knowledge can be transferred from a qualified personnel in the course of carrying out the contract. This may be through:1. Learning through personal contacts by engaging quantity surveyors:* as part of the internal team, i.e. in-house employment;* as an external member under the control of the contractor on a contract basis;* entering into a strategic alliance with a quantity-surveying firm; and1. Organisational learning i.e. managing thr.ough a joint venture partner.Alternative 2: Managing competence development of employees:* proper communication and education programmes:* continuing professional development;* integration of educational courses;* re-skilling employees;* reports, newsletters, brochures and authorships; and* seminar and lectures.Alternative 1: Operational management\nConclusions: The Finnish construction practice can be considered as a highly sophisticated and standardised practice, which result in a few claims. Claiming, be it loss and expense, loss on profit, extension of time or any other of its forms, is included in the Finnish general conditions of contract. The small size of the Finnish market, the dominant procurement method employed (fixed lump sum), the legal system, the general procedure and system of carrying out contracting work (level of design) etc. are causes for not making claims.The Finnish system is aimed at completing the project within the agreed time and within the agreed fixed lump sum price. In order to be successful on the international scene (not to lose a part of the profit to the client and to avoid liquidated and the ascertained damages), Finnish contractors need to learn how to make, present and defend good claims. In order to make a good presentation of a claim, four stages are highlighted: introductory stage, contractual basis, comprehensive assessment, and auxiliary data.There is also the need to employ a claim management approach. The two alternatives have been suggested: operational management, i.e. learning through personal contacts and organisational learning through joint ventures or project alliances. The other alternative is the managing competence development of employees through educational programs. Between the two suggested alternatives there is no single one that is better than the others. It depends on the type and size of the project, type of the client and type of the consultant, etc. Each of the solutions can be used to solve problems related to management of claims in construction export, but the networked solutions enhance encouragement and fast learning, and avoid inefficiency of operation.The solutions act as a source of ideas, skills, capabilities, and knowledge that can be utilised not only for managing claims but also for the benefit of the entire organisation. They also serve as tools to pursue and excel in international construction business within the framework of global business strategy. The Finnish construction practice has been used for the frame of reference in this study but it is also applicable to countries where local practice has been standardised and where claims are not pronounced.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study was motivated by a belief that existing knowledge on management of a contractual claim in international contracting practice is different from a standardised local practice. The paper is aimed at building competence for managing contractual claims in a standardised practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Comparative studies of British and Finnish contracting practices were used to determine the reason why claims are not pronounced in a standardised practice. Empirical study via direct interviews and questionnaires of a Finnish-based contractor operating in the Russian markets was used. The players are three-dimensional in nature where the client, consultants, and contractor come from different countries/practices and two of the projects studied were joint ventures.\nFindings: - The findings show the effects of: legal system, procurement methods, standardised practice and size of the market on the management of contractual claims. The remedial measures suggested include: operational management, i.e. learning through personal contacts, and management competence development of employees by learning through proper communication and education programmes in a form of continuing professional development.\nOriginality/value: - Management of claims in the construction industry is vital to a successful implementation of the project. It brings about a fair dealing between the project owner and the contractor, improves contractor's cashflow and discourages abandonment of project and disputes. Lack of knowledge in managing claims constitutes a threat to successful implementation of project. The engagement of an expert and knowledge transfer through joint ventures/partnerships are suggested as solutions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Application of creative learning principles within blended teacher professional development on integration of computer programming education into elementary and middle school classrooms
|
[
"Online learning",
"Professional development",
"Blended learning",
"Community of practice",
"Computer programming education",
"Creative learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Teachers around the world are facing an urgent need to rapidly adapt their way of teaching to meet the new reality of emergency remote education. They are learning new pedagogical methods and new modes of delivery as they go, \"think[ing] outside standard boxes to generate various possible solutions that help meet the new needs for our learners and communities\" (Hodges et al., 2020).\n2. Methods: This paper reports on the lessons learned from two iterations of a PD for a larger design-based research (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992) on creative learning pedagogy (Murai and Muramatsu, 2020). A total of 26 teachers and coaches participated, all of whom work in schools across the Nagano prefecture in Japan. Participants' experiences were evaluated based on:\n3. Shinshu maker fellow program: SMFP was originally designed as a four-month blended PD program. The participants met in-person at the beginning and at the end of the four months, and participated remotely for the rest of the time (Figure 1). While working remotely, participants regularly checked in with the program facilitators and with other teachers, using synchronous (videoconferencing) and asynchronous (email listserv) remote communication tools. During this period, teachers engaged in project-based learning, which is a practice of learning by engaging in an exploratory task directly connected to an authentic problem or question (Blumenfeld et al., 1991). Each teacher iteratively prepared a lesson plan that involved a computer programming activity, receiving feedback and asking questions using the biweekly check-in opportunities as well as the email listserv. At the end of the remote learning months, each teacher conducted their lesson plan at their school with their students. At the final in-person meeting, the teachers presented the ideas that they tried in their schools and shared lessons learned from their experiences. Building upon feedback from these participants, the second cohort of teachers in 2019 were asked to go through this cycle twice a year.\n4. Participant experiences: For the purpose and scope of this paper, two participants' stories are highlighted. The two were chosen because of their active and full engagement in the program and their contrasting prior experiences with the content of the PD (computer programming education): one, Yutaka, had no experience with computer programming education; the other, Natsuko, had some previous experience.\n5. Recommendations: Based on the researchers' experiences organizing SMFP, this section shares several recommendations based on creative learning principles for instructional designers and teacher educators who seek to foster a community of practice in online or blended PD experiences for teachers.\n6. Conclusion: This paper has described a blended PD program for elementary and middle school teachers, specifically focusing on how creative learning approaches were used to overcome the challenges of blended learning environments. While the PD program was hosted prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the lessons learned from applying creative learning principles in blended learning environments provide valuable insights for those who support teachers transitioning to remote or blended teaching. Several recommendations have been proposed for designing professional learning experiences to better foster a community of practice that can offer ongoing support for teachers transitioning to online or blended teaching.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: While it is particularly important that professional programs help teachers become members of a community of practice, especially in crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lack of research about strategies to effectively encourage the development of a community of practice and to support teachers' transformation of their way of teaching. Thus, this paper aims to report on lessons learned from a blended professional development (PD) program for elementary and middle school teachers in Japan focused on computer programming education. In particular, the authors explored how application of the creative learning principles in the blended teacher PD may have helped to nurture a community of practice among teachers in Japan, and how the creative learning principles may be a valuable framework for designing online or blended teacher PD to support teachers' transition into emergency remote education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper reports on the lessons learned from two iterations of blended teacher PD situated within a larger design-based research project on applying creative learning pedagogy in teacher PD. Creative learning is a learning approach focused on engagement in personally meaningful projects by tinkering with materials and learning from peers. A total of 26 teachers and coaches participated, all of whom work in elementary or middle schools across Nagano prefecture in Japan. Participant experiences were evaluated based on a pre-survey and a post-survey conducted before and after the in-person kick-off camp; observation notes taken; a final report submitted by each teacher; a debrief meeting at the end of the program; and semi-structured interviews with three selected participants after the program concluded. For this paper, the authors focus on two participants who fully and actively engaged in the program, and they introduce their stories to highlight the outcomes from the PD.\nFindings: The results highlight how a blended PD designed to support creative learning of teachers provided teachers with opportunities to gain help from other teachers and cultivate their expertise. The results also illustrated that how a community of practice emerged from the PD program, providing teachers with moral support when they tried new lesson designs. This paper offers several recommendations for designing professional learning experiences for instructional designers and professional developers that incorporate remote learning technologies.\nOriginality/value: While an increased number of studies have shown the values of online and blended communities of practice for teacher PD, there are still limited insights on different strategies to support teachers in transforming their teaching practices. They generally do not provide teachers with opportunities to continue learning with and from one another beyond the program itself. This study examined the teachers' experiences in a unique PD that implemented a creative learning approach into a blended learning environment for teachers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Servant leadership and engagement in a merge process under high uncertainty
|
[
"Organizational identification",
"Engagement",
"High uncertainty",
"Organizational change",
"Psychological empowerment",
"Servant leadership"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The study of work engagement has gained significant attention in the last few years particularly with studies showing its relevance for corporate performance. These studies seem indeed to indicate that engaged employees are more committed to their organization (Hakanen et al., 2006) and perform better at work (Bakker and Bal, 2010; Xanthopoulou et al., 2009). At the same time work engagement seems to lead to higher levels of psychological soundness and overall well-being (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli et al., 2008; Xanthopoulou et al., 2009; Demerouti et al., 2001). Often seen as the antipode of burnout (Maslach et al., 2001), work engagement seems to lead to obvious professional and social benefits. Schaufeli and Bakker (2004, 2010) defined engagement as a positive and fulfilling work-related state of mind which is characterized by behaviors of vigor, dedication and absorption. Interestingly, Bakker and Demerouti (2007) proposed that engagement at the individual level is driven mainly by available job resources (support, autonomy, feedback, etc.) and personal resources (resilience, self-efficacy, optimism, etc.), while being negatively influenced by the level of job demands (work pressure, emotional, mental and physical demands), however no explicit mention is made of leadership as a potential resource.\nLeadership and engagement during change and under high uncertainty: Organizational environments that are faced with discontinuous changes and high uncertainty like in a complex merger process, will increase job demands significantly which will most likely negatively affect engagement if both job and personal resources are not adequately developed (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007). Previous studies already showed the possible detrimental influence of mergers in general on organizational identification (van Knippenberg and van Leeuwen, 2001; Rousseau, 1998) and of downsizing on commitment in particular (van Dierendonck and Jacobs, 2012). It is here that leadership may make a significant difference. If within such a process, organizational leadership shows awareness for the specific needs of the workforce, while enabling the provision of job resources and the development of the necessary personal resources to adapt to the environment, work engagement may be sustained or increased even in face of uncertainty.\nServant leadership: The term servant leadership was first introduced by Greenleaf (1977) after Herman Hesse's novel \"Journey to the East\" (Greenleaf, 1977). This story portrays a leader whose main focus is to serve a group of travelers on a mythical journey. For Greenleaf (1977, p. 7), \"The servant-leader is servant first [...] It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions [...] The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.\" Servant leadership has therefore a more moral tone that differentiates it from most other models of leadership: the servant leader is mainly concerned with the development and growth of followers. As such, and in the context of our study, servant leaders will likely not allow a change process to overcome the needs and challenges of those most influenced by it: the employees. The paradox might be that by focussing on the employees and both their needed job and personal resources (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007), servant leaders might just be indirectly increasing the effectiveness of change itself as they enable workers to partake in the process and become change agents themselves. This induces greater levels of psychological empowerment, while increasing the level of identification with the organization and the intended change (through the leader as it representative), which will increase the feelings of vigor, dedication and absorption, hence engagement (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004).\nEngagement: The notion of work engagement was developed from the strand of positive psychology and has been considered the antithesis of burnout (Maslach et al., 2001). Taking this perspective, Schaufeli et al. (2006) see engaged employees as being energized and connected to their work activities and able to deal well with their jobs. Schaufeli et al. (2006) suggest that work engagement will be visible through vigor, dedication and absorption. Vigor is characterized by Schaufeli et al. (2006) on the one hand by the energy and resilience demonstrated by employees in their work and on the other hand by their willingness and persistence, even in face of difficulties. When looking at the different dimensions of servant leadership, one can see aspects like courage, authenticity, forgiveness, accountability and stewardship as having a very relevant contribution to increase vigor. These dimensions stimulate facing adversity with concrete and coherent action, supported by objective and open relationships, while not allowing personal differences to linger and hold people back from what needs to be done. This is particularly relevant in change processes, as in the case of our study. Dedication is explained by Schaufeli et al. (2006) as a \"sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge\" in work. Again, some servant leadership dimensions seem to have particular relevance here. Stewardship, for example will allow people to understand the full meaning of their work in a larger organizational and social picture, giving it purpose, significance and ultimately a sense of pride in one's work and organization. Other aspects like accountability and empowerment will be also instrumental as they will help creating those more operational challenges and goals that will instill a sense of personal achievement, competence and performance. Absorption is about the deep involvement one shows for his or her work, often characterized by a loss of a sense of time when working and even in difficulties to detach from work (Schaufeli et al., 2006). In a way, this comes close to the notion of flow as defined by Csikszentmihalyi (1996). In this regard, the servant leadership dimensions of empowerment, humility and standing-back will be instrumental as they create a sense of ownership and allow room for people to shape their work as they see fit, while adjusting to the particular level of skills and experience of each worker (a critical aspect for the state of flow as defended by Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). Accountability will also be important as it will help establishing clear metrics of success, another important aspect to achieve a state of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). Finally, empowerment, humility and standing-back contribute also to absorption by creating room for learning, creativity and innovation, which are intrinsically motivating and absorbing activities.\nOrganizational identification: Organizational identification is a social identity phenomenon, where the individual categorizes him or herself as being a member of the organization (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Haslam, 2001; Hogg and Terry, 2000) through a process of self-categorization (Turner, 1985; Turner et al., 1987). Hence, one can see organizational identification as an individual and organizational process of ascribing elements and characteristics of the organization to the definition of the self. This osmosis means that the individual will gradually adopt behaviors based on the norms and practices of the organization (Hogg and Abrams, 1988; Tajfel and Turner, 1986; Turner et al., 1987). Not surprisingly, individuals who strongly identify themselves with the organization will more likely defend it and put more discretionary effort into it (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Dutton et al., 1994). Studies demonstrate this stronger commitment to the organization in the form of organizational citizenship behavior (Mael and Ashforth, 1992), greater cooperation within groups (Kramer, 1991; Tyler, 1999) or increased loyalty leading to lower turnover (Abrams et al., 1998; Mael and Ashforth, 1995; Tyler, 1999).\nPsychological empowerment: The psychological empowerment construct developed by Thomas and Velthouse (1990) explains motivation through four key orientations toward work, namely: meaning, competence, self-determination and impact. Psychological empowerment is therefore a construct applicable in a work context that indicates the extent to which people feel empowered. Meaning, within the context of the psychological empowerment construct, is seen as the value that the individual attaches to work, and the associated goals and purposes in face his or her own values and ideals (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990). This notion of meaning is closely related to the concept of meaningfulness as described by Pratt and Ashforth (2003), which emphasizes the significance of work for the individual's identity and existential quest. Competence can be interpreted as the individual's belief in his capability to perform a certain task (Gist, 1987; Bandura, 1989). Self-determination is the widely recognized motivational construct developed by Deci et al. (1989), which basically spins around the notion of \"being in control,\" that is a sense of having a choice in initiating and regulating individual actions. Finally, impact was defined by Ashforth and Mael (1989) as the extent to which the individual feels he can have an effective influence on the organization's strategy and work processes.\nMethods: Subjects\nResults: Construct validity of the servant leadership measure\nConclusions: With regard to our initial objectives, this study provides some interesting developments and contributions toward the understanding of the relevance of servant leadership for work engagement, and in particular under conditions of significant change, as in a merger process.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to aim mainly at further understanding how servant leadership can affect engagement during a merger with high levels of uncertainty through the mediating role of organizational identification and psychological empowerment. In addition, the research aimed at validating the servant leadership survey (SLS) in a new culture and language.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 1,107 respondents from two merging Portuguese companies answered a survey. Structural equation modeling was used to further test the mediation model proposed.\nFindings: SLS proved to be valid and reliable in the Portuguese context and language. Servant leadership strongly affected work engagement in conditions of high uncertainty. Organizational identification and psychological empowerment acted as mediating variables.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research could include longitudinal studies, the effect of specific servant leadership dimensions and the distinction between servant leadership and other leadership models during a merger in conditions of high uncertainty.\nPractical implications: This study extends the applicability of the servant leadership model, and the corresponding SLS in a new national culture and as an effective leadership approach under conditions of high uncertainty, such as in a merge process.\nSocial implications: Multinational corporations can see servant leadership as a valid model that can permeate the whole organizational culture, inducing greater performance and the well-being of the workforce for increased engagement. Given the increasing uncertainty and volatility of the work environment, servant leadership could be particularly useful in such contexts.\nOriginality/value: This study benefits both leadership scholars and practitioners by providing evidence on the value of servant leadership in ensuring workforce engagement in conditions of high uncertainty, as in dynamic merger processes. The fact that the study was conducted right in the middle of the change process is rather unique. Moreover, servant leadership effectiveness is for the first time tested in Portugal, a country typically with a relatively strong power distance culture.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Green IT beliefs and pro-environmental IT practices among IT professionals
|
[
"Practice",
"Absorptive capacity",
"Adoption",
"Behaviour",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Empirical study",
"Green computing/Green IT"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The pursuit of sustainability, which is generally defined as meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, is a crucial global challenge. There are three dimensions to sustainability - economic, social, and environmental - commonly known as the triple bottom line (Elkington, 1998). Organizations need to develop sustainability strategies that balance commercial, societal, and environmental goals in such a way that all three are addressed simultaneously. This paper primarily addresses the issue of environmental sustainability - which requires that society take collective action to tackle environmental problems and reverse or limit the effects of global climate change - as it relates to information technology (IT).\n2. Theoretical background: Problems of IT and environmental sustainability involve human behavior and the broader social, organizational, and environmental contexts, and thus require both top-down and bottom-up actions (Hasan and Dwyer, 2010; Melville, 2010). Top-down actions refer to measures at the international, national, and organizational levels; bottom-up actions refer to \"practical localized IT-based activities that influence individual or group behaviors\" (Hasan and Dwyer, 2010, p. 3). IT professionals can take bottom-up actions and contribute to top-down pursuits of environmental sustainability by creating knowledge and innovating IT solutions that address environmental problems. As members of the broader social system, they are also influenced by macro-level actions and initiatives. Using a combination of top-down and bottom-up actions is important in tackling the complex issues of sustainability (Hasan and Dwyer, 2010); however, this paper focusses on individual beliefs and actions.\n3. Research model and hypotheses development: To investigate the research questions, a research model that draws from the BAO framework (Melville, 2010) was developed (Figure 1). We postulated that beliefs and attitudes have an important influence on individuals' actions. Although beliefs and attitudes are interrelated and, in some instances, attitude is defined as including belief, they are distinct. Belief refers to \"an enduring organization of perceptions and cognitions about some aspect of the individual world\" (Krech and Crutchfield, 1948, p. 150). In contrast, attitude is defined as an \"enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of the individual's world\" (Krech and Crutchfield, 1948, p. 89). Thus defined, an attitudinal change always requires a change in belief; however, the reverse is not true: a belief can change independently of an attitude (Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010; Fishbein and Raven, 1962). Therefore, we hypothesized that Green IT attitude influences IT professionals' pro-environmental IT practice (H1) and is influenced by Green IT belief (H2), the organizational context within which IT professionals work (H3a), and the information acquisition capability of IT professionals (H4a). The organizational context within which IT professionals work (H3b) and their information acquisition capability (H4b) contribute to Green IT belief.\n4. Research methods: 4.1 Measurement of variables\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive results\n6. Discussion: Five main findings can be discussed from the results of this research. First, concern toward climate change is always one of the critical issues in developing pro-environmental behavior (Bamberg, 2003). The survey results show that the majority (80 percent) of the IT professionals, that is, the ACS members that responded to the survey, were concerned about climate change. However, the pattern of response in engaging with specific pro-environmental behavior is different. For example, although more than 85 percent were taking actions to reduce paper use, only 24 percent were willing to use recycled IT equipment. Conversely, 60 percent applied the power management features of the systems they used and about 30 percent did not turn off their computers even when not in use. These findings show the pro-environmental personal computing actions that the respondents were taking, add to the empirical base of the research on individuals' Green IT adoption studies (Chow and Chen, 2009; Thongmak, 2012), and contribute an IT and IT professionals' perspective to studies of specific environmental behaviors (Bamberg, 2003; Stern, 2000).\n7. Contributions and limitations: 7.1 Theoretical contribution\n8. Conclusion: Problems related to IT and environmental sustainability involve human behavior and the broader social, organizational, and environmental contexts; thus, they comprise both micro- and macro-issues. This study focussed on IT professionals and explored what influences IT professionals' environmental beliefs, attitudes, and actions. The sample was drawn from the ACS membership and thus did not include non-members. The respondents had more or less the same profile as Australian IT professionals. Although suspicion might exist that those who responded to the survey did so because they identified with Green IT, the descriptive results (Table III) appear to show reasonably distributed views about Green IT. The results, within the bounds of the sampling framework used and the potential limitations that might arise from the sample (such as self-selection and interest bias) - which we do not have the necessary data to verify with confidence either way - show the organizational field within which ACS member IT professionals operate and that their information acquisition capability contributes to the formation of Green IT belief. Green IT belief is a strong predictor of attitude toward Green IT, which in turn can lead to engaging in personal-sphere pro-environmental IT practice. Demographic differences among IT professionals have produced mixed results. Future studies covering several countries, other IT-specific environmental behaviors among IT professionals, and additional antecedents can gain leverage from the current paper.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the beliefs and attitudinal factors that affect the private sphere pro-environmental behavior of information technology (IT) professionals in using personal computers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A research framework that draws from the belief-action-outcome (BAO) framework and that consisted of 11 hypotheses was developed. Data were collected from a sample of 322 IT professionals and analyzed using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results identify the pro-environmental personal computing actions that IT professionals are taking and how their Green IT beliefs, attitudes, information acquisition capability, and organizational fields influence their behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample was limited to Australian respondents. The measurement of IT-specific environmental practices was not exhaustive nor were the measures of macro- and micro-antecedents of Green IT belief and attitude.\nPractical implications: National, regional, and international professional associations such as the Association of Information Systems can influence pro-environmental behavior among IT professionals through the creation and dissemination of information that shape both general and IT-specific environmental beliefs.\nOriginality/value: The novelty of this work lies in: first, proposing and testing a research framework that can be leveraged in future studies; second, establishing how organizational fields and availability of information contribute to the formation of IT professionals' environmental beliefs and attitudes; third, applying and suggesting potential extension to the BAO framework to evaluate the association between IT practices and environmental sustainability among IT professionals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The effect of disparaging humor and offensiveness in hijacked advertising: the moderating effect of ad hijacking recognition
|
[
"Hijacked advertising",
"WOM behavior",
"Offensiveness",
"Attitude toward the brand",
"Disparaging humor",
"Ad hijacking recognition"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although parody or spoof advertising is as old as advertising itself, there is no denying that recent changes in media and technology have led to rapid diffusion of ad parodies that are aimed at companies and their brands (Berthon and Pitt, 2012; Muniz and Schau, 2007). This rapid diffusion has led to an epidemic of ad parodies to the extent that \"parody has become a characteristic form of expression in the mixed and participatory media ecology of the digital age\" (Vanden Bergh et al., 2011, p. 103). Advertising parody dates back to the time when ads first appeared in print (Berthon and Pitt, 2012). This is because advertising techniques are well understood by consumers and, therefore, easily imitated and altered (Vanden Bergh et al., 2011). In the past, ad creation was previously considered a prerogative of advertising professionals. New media technologies freely available over the internet that provide a rich armory of inexpensive software options along with a free host portal, YouTube encourage any consumer to become an advertiser to create and disseminate an existing ad (Berthon and Pitt, 2012; Muniz and Schau, 2007).\nConceptual background: Ad parodies and hijacked advertising\nHypotheses: Hijacked advertising effects\nStudy: Methodology\nResults: Effect of hijacking on attitude toward the brand and intentions to engage in word-of-mouth behavior\nOverall discussion and managerial implications: This paper sheds light on the effects of:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: What happens when an ad parody is created with subtle, professional changes to text and imagery, making it almost indistinguishable from the original corporate brand ad? This paper labels this limiting condition of ad parodies as hijacked advertising. Can viewers of such ads recognize whether the ad is hijacked or not? Also, what are the effects of using the dimensions of disparaging humor and offensiveness, commonly used in hijacked ads, on attitudes toward the brands in these ads and a propensity to engage in negative word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior? Results show that ad hijacking recognition moderates the effect of disparaging humor and offensiveness dimensions in hijacked ads on the dependent variables, with adverse attitudes toward the brand and increased intentions to engage in negative WOM behavior only when consumers can recognize that a hijacked ad is indeed hijacked. Further, the moderating effect of ad hijacking recognition on the dependent variables is attributable only to the dimension of offensiveness but not to disparaging humor. Finally, results show that attitudes toward the brand in the hijacked ads completely mediate the effect of offensiveness and the recognition that an ad is hijacked on intentions to engage in negative WOM behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper investigates these questions through an empirical examination using an original corporate brand ad, a hijacked version of the original ad using a disparaging humor dimension and another hijacked version of the original ad using the offensiveness dimension.\nFindings: Results show that ad hijacking recognition moderates the effect of disparaging humor and offensiveness dimensions in hijacked ads on the dependent variables, with adverse attitudes toward the brand and increased intentions to engage in negative WOM behavior only when consumers can recognize that a hijacked ad is indeed hijacked. Further, the moderating effect of ad hijacking recognition on the dependent variables was attributable only to the dimension of offensiveness but not to disparaging humor. Finally, results show that attitudes toward the brand in the hijacked ads completely mediates the effect of the recognition that an ad is hijacked and the dimension of offensiveness on intentions to engage in negative WOM behavior. The result, that a fairly high percentage of respondents attribute the original corporate brand as the source of the hijacked ads, points to a potentially damaging and out-of-control threat to marketers.\nOriginality/value: Through an empirical study, converging results around the effects of hijacking ads with disparaging humor and offensive dimensions on consumers' attitudes toward the advertised brand and a propensity to engage in negative WOM behavior were gathered.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Towards an engaged campus: Measuring and comparing definitive stakeholders' perceptions of university social engagement in South Korea
|
[
"Public service",
"Factorial invariance test",
"Latent mean analysis",
"Social engagement",
"South Korean case",
"Sustainability of higher education"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Lamenting the loss of the spirit of public service in the twenty-first century higher education, Macfarlane (2007, p. 26) asserted that:\nPurpose: Social engagement, which refers to a partnership between a university and civil society (Zlotkowski, 2007), traces its historical roots to the public service missions of the mid-nineteenth-century land-grant universities in America (Duke, 2008; Ward, 2003). In the land-grant university tradition, an institution of higher learning is viewed as a training ground for democratic life and civic practice (Alperovitz et al., 2008). In this context, public service missions strive toward the enhancement of the reality and practicality of higher learning (Scott, 2006). Presently, public service is defined as an institutional mission of both public and private universities (Boyer, 1990; Newman et al., 2004) and is regarded as important in both Western and non-Western contexts (Min and Chau, 2012).\nUniversity social engagement: Theoretical contexts\nMethods: Scale\nTests for validity and invariance: Validity test by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis\nLatent mean analysis results: Table IX shows the LMA results. None of the factors showed a statistically significant latent group mean difference. In other words, the faculty and students, the two definitive stakeholders, did not differ in their perceptions of their university's social engagement in terms of leadership, participatory decision-making, curriculum and instruction, institutional supports and systemic mechanism. Furthermore, the mean values of each factor scored less than 3 on the five-point response scale for both groups (Table VI). These results indicate that both groups did not perceive the present level of their university's social engagement as being high and that there was congruence between their perceptions.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Although the LMA in this study contributed to error-free and rigorous comparison of the faculty's and students' perceptions of their institution's social engagement, any discussion beyond the latent mean differences between the two groups is likely to be speculative and tentative. However, the findings of this empirical study at least support the conclusion that the faculty and students, the two definitive stakeholders on the campus, similarly perceived that social engagement has not yet been embraced as a core value and used in practice. The findings also suggest that social engagement exists only at the superficial level of the mission statement.\nLimitations: As with all studies, there are certain limitations that must be noted. The sample for this study represents the experiences and expectations of faculty and students at only one institution. Therefore, the experiences of individuals at this single university are not necessarily representative of all South Korean universities. In addition, given that the public service missions of South Korean universities emanated from Western thought (Duke, 2008; Ward, 2003), social engagement in the present study has been discussed and conceptualized according to the dominant Western scholarship. Despite these limitations, the quantitative and descriptive findings of the study represent a step toward establishing the groundwork for future research in university social engagement in an Asian context. Further replication studies of additional Asian cases and research designs may result in tangible improvements to the theorization of Asian university social engagement.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to measure and rigorously compare the perceptions of South Korean university social engagement between faculty and students, two definitive stakeholders identified by stakeholder theory - but considerably heterogeneous, to understand how South Korean campus embraces social engagement in practice. To that end, this study delves into the conceptual framework of university social engagement and selects a highly internationalized, research-oriented, four-year comprehensive South Korean university campus that has long sought to become engaged in communities as the research site.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Methodologically, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to identify the factor model that successfully fit the data of the study. Factorial invariance tests and latent mean analysis were then conducted to measure and strictly compare the between-group mean differences.\nFindings: According to the findings, neither faculty nor students had positive perceptions of their institution's social engagement in terms of leadership, participatory decision-making, curriculum and instruction, institutional supports and systemic mechanism. That is, two definitive stakeholders on campus similarly perceived that social engagement has not yet been institutionalized as a core value and therefore embraced in practice. Based on these findings, this study discussed several implications for university decision makers. Specifically, the institutionalization of and the need for authentic leadership in university social engagement were emphasized as a means to encourage and facilitate the delivery of practical, beneficial services to the public.\nResearch limitations/implications: As with all studies, there are certain limitations that must be noted. The sample for this study represents the experiences and expectations of faculty and students at only one institution. Therefore, the experiences of individuals at this single university are not necessarily representative of all South Korean universities. In addition, given that the public service missions of South Korean universities emanated from Western thoughts (Duke, 2008; Ward, 2003), social engagement in the present study has been discussed and conceptualized according to the dominant Western scholarship.\nPractical implications: As both faculty and students similarly perceived, participatory decision-making and systemic mechanism do not work properly, and therefore, social engagement as an institutional value cannot strongly take root on campus. Based on the scale used, this study identified communication and organizational supports as the likely issues that obstruct the institutionalization of social engagement. In relation to communication, Boyte and Hollander (1999) emphasize that it is important that stakeholders are well aware of the engaged effort of the institution. Then, the voices of stakeholders need to be acknowledged as valuable feedback so that university decision makers and stakeholders can discuss mutually important issues and concerns (Minnesota Higher Education Services Office, 2003). Furthermore, the relevant literature consistently contends that engaged effort can only be productive with continuous and systemic organizational supports (Boyte and Hollander, 1999; Holland, 1997; Minnesota Higher Education Services Office, 2003; Weerts and Sandmann, 2008). That is, the engaged work of teaching, research and service should be thoroughly assessed and reported to stakeholders on a regular basis. The implication in this study is that university decision makers should make greater effort to design and implement policies and regulations that enable organizational supports to continue.\nSocial implications: For social engagement to be valued in practice, the relevant literature (Kellogg Commission, 1999; Garlick and Langworthy, 2008; Minnesota Higher Education Services Office, 2003; Peterson, 2009) advises that top institutional leaders need to encourage interdisciplinary scholarship that includes research, teaching and learning; develop incentives to encourage faculty involvement in engaged work; support engagement so that it is incorporated into the curriculum and instruction; and secure funding for engagement. The fundamental insight that these suggestions provide to university decision makers is crystal-clear: social engagement must be authentically prioritized in the decision-making process.\nOriginality/value: The quantitative and descriptive findings of the study seek to provide one further step toward the objective of establishing the groundwork for future research on university social engagement in Asian context. Further, replication studies with various Asian cases and research designs may results in tangible improvements to the theorization of Asian university social engagement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Customer relationship management: An approach to competitive advantage in the banking sector by exploring the mediational role of loyalty
|
[
"Customer relations",
"Competitive advantage",
"Customer orientation",
"Customer loyalty",
"Complaints"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past few years, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has attracted much attention among academicians and executives. CRM is considered to be as one of the dynamic topics of the new millennium, now a key factor to success of an organization (Bose, 2002; Verhoef, 2003; Reinartz et al., 2004; Padmavathy et al., 2012; Heinonen, 2014; Jan and Abdullah, 2014; Thakur, 2014). The basic purpose of CRM is to understand customers and the factors that affect customer retention and loyalty in order to build long-term relationships with customers (Rigby et al., 2003; Lavender, 2004; Leverin and Liljander, 2006; Thakur, 2014; Al-hawari, 2015). With the emergence of CRM technologies, there has been a substantial enhancement in a firm's potential to efficiently handle a heterogeneous group of customers (Zablah et al., 2004; Payne and Frow, 2005). Such technologies have helped organizations to know their customers well enough before development of a relationship (Ramesh, 2013). Improved relationship with customers can ultimately lead to greater customer loyalty and retention and, also, gives a better competitive advantage over others (Ngai, 2005; Brun et al., 2014; Sayani, 2015).\nLiterature review: CRM is increasingly being recognized as a means of developing innovative capabilities and providing long lasting competitive advantage (Lin et al., 2010). By acquiring customer information, CRM enables a firm to better understand its customers. It is an important factor in determining the target customers and their retention, optimizing the operations and forecasting demand. CRM as a philosophy considers customer loyalty a key for business profitability and long-term competitiveness (Siddiqi, 2011). To achieve loyalty, firms must shift their focus from getting new customers to retaining existing ones (Reichheld, 2006). This philosophy directs organizations to build customer-centric culture by emphasizing customer needs (Piccoli et al., 2003). Filip (2013) is of the opinion that integrated complaint management system can provide an opportunity to organizations to learn from customer feedback and exploit this information for reducing weaknesses, improve business performance, avoid future negative experiences and consequently re-establish customer satisfaction, loyalty and relationship commitment. According to Wright (2006) some firms ignore customer empowerment as a customer-centric dimension of CRM but many firms work hard to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and empowerment. So marketers need to fine-tune and re-evaluate their consumer expectations and current CRM status in order to take decisions to improve the quality of offerings. Therefore, the purpose and effect of such customer orientations is to increase customer's purchase satisfaction and build loyalty and trust in customer. Hence, it is contended that customer empowerment significantly affects the long-term competitive advantage, leading to better business results (Jayawardhena and Foley, 2000).\nFour CRM dimension and hypothesis development: Complaint resolution\nMethodology: Research design\nSEM results and findings: SEM was performed after achieving model goodness-of-fit for the measurement model and validating research construct. The next step was to test various hypothesized causal relationships between the four dimensions of CRM and the outcome variables, i.e. customer loyalty and competitive advantage. The overall model was tested as shown in Figure 3.\nDiscussions: This study gives some important insights which can help managers determine strategic decisions, thereby, adding value to CRM initiatives taken by the bank and other service organizations. The results enhance our understanding regarding the impact of customer-centric view of CRM on the loyalty and competitiveness of the case bank in the emerging markets (Jammu and Kashmir). Findings of this paper are based on the empirical model which incorporates customer-centric CRM dimensions and various outcome variables. The model was empirically tested and shows significant positive impact on customer loyalty (R2=0.70) and competitive advantage (R2=0.48). These findings are in accordance with the literature that CRM is critical for loyalty and competitive advantage (Chang et al., 2002; Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003; Verhoef, 2003; Siddiqi, 2011). This perhaps can be best explained through an argument made by Narang et al., (2011) that CRM not only ensures better relations with customers but also loyalty among them which is very important for competitive advantage.\nConclusion: On the basis of results, it can be concluded that customer knowledge has strongest impact on customer loyalty. Also mediation analysis highlights that customer loyalty mediates the relationship path between CRM and competitive advantage. Loyalty can be enhanced directly by the bank through proper understanding of customer dynamic behavior and maintaining the timely information about the customer. Addressing customer complaints and providing a proper resolution to them can turn a prospective client into a loyal customer. Further, managerial competence, knowledge management, customer orientation and customer empowerment can add value to CRM to enrich the cultural integrity of customer loyalty management and provide a unique competitive edge to the bank.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive integrated model which helps in explaining the impact of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) dimensions (complaint resolution, customer knowledge, customer empowerment and customer orientation) on customer loyalty and competitive advantage of a bank. The study also explores the mediating role of customer loyalty in the relationship between CRM and competitive advantage in retail banking.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is based on a theoretical model which consists of four CRM dimensions and two exogenous variables. These have been used for establishing the hypotheses to analyze relationships between the variables constituting the CRM model. The data have been collected from 278 customers of a private bank. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The scale was developed and purified through factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). SEM was then used to examine the causal relationships and \"model fit\" of the proposed model.\nFindings: The results provide evidence that the four CRM dimensions have a positive effect on customer loyalty and competitive advantage of the bank. Among the CRM dimensions, customer knowledge is most influential of all the dimensions. Furthermore, customer loyalty acts as the mediator in the CRM model between CRM and competitive advantage.\nResearch limitations/implications: Since, the study involved a single bank and therefore the results should be generalized cautiously. Only four CRM variables were included in the study; additional variables can be introduced in further studies involving different contexts.\nPractical implications: The study highlights and supports the need for mangers to devote additional resources toward developing a better CRM system. Therefore, mangers need to think beyond the technological aspects and should focus on these four dimensions, especially customer knowledge, to enhance the loyalty and competitiveness.\nOriginality/value: The paper investigated hitherto unexplored relationships between customer-centric CRM dimensions instrumental in providing competitive advantage to a bank through mediational analysis. Thus, it contributes to the information on the implementation of CRM practices valuable for banking sector.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The impact of salesperson customer orientation on sales performance via mediating mechanism
|
[
"Skills",
"Emotion regulation",
"Customer orientation",
"Sales performance",
"Natural rewards"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Because of their boundary-spanning role, salespeople are a key resource not only for sales revenue but also for real-time market intelligence, trend spotting and business forecasting. Moreover, with heightening customer expectations (Rapp et al., 2006) and maturing markets in developed economies (Anderson, 1996), firms require a broader understanding of markets, customers and salespeople. With the rapid changes in business environment in terms of competition, intensity of rivalry among firms and customers' consumption patterns, the role of salespeople also needs to be aligned accordingly with the current realities. Today, companies are increasingly aware of the importance of having a good customer strategy that goes beyond mere customer acquisition and instead builds long-term profitable relationships. Therefore, it is even more important for firms to clearly understand the building block of their performance: their sales force (Agnihotri et al., 2012).\nTheoretical background and conceptual model: Extant literature is divided on the impact of a salesperson's customer orientation with regards to how it influences sales performance. Highlighting the inconsistent relationship between customer orientation and sales performance, Schwepker (2003, p. 166) noted that, \"As such, research is needed to fully uncover the dimensions underlying customer-oriented selling\".\nHypotheses: Natural reward strategies and customer orientation\nCustomer orientation, salesmanship skills and sales performance: mediating effects of salesmanship skills: Salespeople require certain basic skills to be effective in terms of resultant sales performance. The key skills required by salespeople while engaging in customer interactions are effective communication (interpersonal skills), sales presentation (salesmanship skills) and technical skills (product, process and procedure knowledge). For customer-oriented salespeople, salesmanship skills are relatively more critical for achieving desired outcomes (Wachner et al., 2009). Salesmanship skills comprise certain micro skills such as consultative selling (Hannan, 1990), negotiation (Fisher and William, 1991) and cues and communication style (Whittler, 1994). Earlier studies (Wachner et al., 2009) suggest that salesmanship skills have a positive influence on effectiveness of customer orientation in salespeople. However, to a salesperson, customer orientation is an important job resource that enhances his/her engagement with the job (Zablah et al., 2012). In a sales interaction, customer orientation in salespeople will lead them to identify the customer's needs, present solutions to the customer, engage in collaborative handling of any objections raised by the customer and close sales by both using informative closing techniques and considering the customer's interests (Homburg et al., 2011). Therefore, customer orientation in salespeople will enable them to prospect for the right customers, qualify the prospects by matching customer needs, make sales presentations and close sales.\nMethod: Sample\nAnalytical strategy: Data collected through the survey was examined for various forms of bias. Using a method suggested by Armstrong and Overton (1977), we looked for significant difference by comparing early and late respondents for each of the constructs. No significant differences were found for any of the constructs, suggesting no effect of non-response bias in this study. We further checked the data for common method bias, using Harman's one-factor test (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). This method has been used within the marketing literature (Olson et al., 2005; Agnihotri et al., 2012). Common method variance was tested by using a solitary latent factor. If common method variance exists, all of the manifest factors would load on that latent factor. Analysis revealed loadings on multiple manifest factors, suggesting no threat of common method variance (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). To corroborate this finding, a principal component factor analysis that revealed four factors with eigenvalues exceeding 1 was conducted. If common method variance was present, only one or a minimal number of factors with eigenvalues exceeding 1 would exist. We used additional test for checking common method bias by using a partial correlation procedure including a marker variable - a variable that is not theoretically related to at least one variable in the study (Lindell and Whitney, 2001). By using age as marker variable, we found no significant relationships with other variables in the model. This further indicates that our study is not subject to an inherent common method bias.\nDiscussion: At firm level, customer focus is the core of the marketing strategies that are implemented to engage with customers and build relationships with them (Verhoef et al., 2010). A firm's sales force carries the responsibility to implement such marketing strategies and such customer-oriented practices of salespeople to help the firm create positive perceptions and forge long-term relationships with its customers (Saxe and Weitz, 1982; Weitz and Bradford, 1999). Over the years, the practice of marketing concept at individual salesperson level, conceptualized as customer orientation (Saxe and Weitz, 1982), is, therefore, becoming \"the new marketing mantra\" (Singh and Koshy, 2012, p. 70).\nTheoretical implications: Our study extends the sales literature by examining the effects of two important variables, i.e. emotion regulation and salesmanship skills, in enhancing the effectiveness of salesperson's customer orientation. We also introduce natural reward strategies (a branch of self-leadership) to the sales literature and respond to Dursun and Kilic's (2011) call for exploration of strategic drivers for individual-level customer orientation. Our study demonstrates a strong positive influence of natural reward strategies on salesperson's customer orientation. By incorporating emotion-based traits (Bagozzi, 2006), we present an integrated effectiveness model for salespersons' customer orientation and expand current understanding on this important area of inquiry in sales research. Furthermore, we respond to Schwepker's (2003) call to uncover the dimensions underlying customer-oriented selling by demonstrating that salespersons' customer orientation and performance path is mediated by their salesmanship skills and emotion regulation abilities. This study answers an important question: how does customer orientation operate to influence performance and what is its relevance to employee selection decision and training efforts? (Plouffe et al., 2009). Our findings suggest that customer orientation is not a proximal antecedent of sales performance. For customer orientation to be effective in salespeople, it must lead to higher salesmanship skills and emotion regulation.\nManagerial implications: Firms' sales forces play a key role in implementing business strategies directed toward customers, and therefore, if a firm has to grow with customers' interests as a priority, its sales force needs to be customer-oriented and generate projected sales revenues. At individual salesperson level, it becomes essential to be successful and yet keep customers' interest in mind all the time and being careful not to sell products that will not benefit the customer or his/her situation. Increasingly, this tension of being customer-oriented and of being selling-oriented is taking its toll on the way salespeople implement customer acquisition and retention strategies.\nStudy limitations and future research: Our research, like any other study, possesses its own set of limitations in terms of sample methodology, measures and the cross-sectional nature of the study. The study's sample comprises the sales force from one firm. Although this does provide a trade-off in terms of inherent control for several other factors, it does limit the generalizability of the results. As our sample is focused within the Indian print media industry, future studies could incorporate sample from multiple firms and industries. It would add value to the extant research on customer orientation effectiveness, if similar results are reported across different sales situations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: This study aims to address the need to study salesperson's customer orientation and its effectiveness to explain the efficacy of predispositions and skills at individual level. This study is set in the Indian context and, therefore, offers a detailed insight from an Indian sales force perspective. Also, this study introduces self-leadership into sales literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A model was tested using survey data collected from salespeople within a print media company located in India. A structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The results suggest an interesting interplay between salesperson's customer orientation and his/her sales performance. The relationship between customer orientation is fully mediated by salesperson's emotion regulation ability and his/her salesmanship skills. Results support the role of natural rewards strategies as driver of individual level customer orientation which will be of great interest in future research in this area.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research suggests that a salesperson's customer orientation relates positively with sales performance through two process variables - emotion regulation and salesmanship skills. Within an Indian sales force, individual salesperson's customer orientation is significantly influenced by his/her natural rewards strategies which have important implication for sales force recruitment. Moreover, sales training and other interventions targeted toward building salesmanship skills and emotion regulation abilities may actually enhance effectiveness of customer-oriented sales force. Theoretical and managerial applications are also discussed.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the literature through its examination of an Indian sales force, the incorporation of self-leadership construct (natural rewards strategies) and its argument for an alternative approach toward salesperson's customer orientation effectiveness.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The information ethics perception gaps between Chinese and American students: A Chinese guanxi perspective
|
[
"Ethics",
"Empirical study",
"Education",
"Cross-national study",
"Cross-cultural issues"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ethical issues surrounding intellectual property (IP) protection, privacy, accessibility, and data accuracy (known as information ethics) have become major concerns in recent years, mostly due to the rapid advancement of information technology. Consequently, the issues have drawn much research attention.\nInformation ethics: Ethics issues surrounding the development and use of information technologies have been termed information ethics. Davison (2000) asserted that information ethical theory deals with four fundamental issues: codes of ethics, IP rights, professional accountability, and data protection. Mason (1986) believed that we should focus on four issues of information ethics: privacy, accuracy, property, and accessibility, known as PAPA.\nKohlberg's CMD model: Kohlberg's (1981) CMD model consists of levels of moral development from the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning focused on the pragmatic consequences of one's actions (stages 1 and 2), to a conventional level (stages 3 and 4) focusing on internalized conventional moral conceptions and expectations, and ending with a principled level (stages 5 and 6) emphasizing universalizable conceptions of justice and human dignity.\nGuanxi and information ethics: One of the key concepts to understanding Chinese culture is guanxi. The Chinese term guanxi consists of two Chinese words. The word \"guan\" means a gate, and \"xi\" refers to a tie, a relationship, or a connection. Therefore, guanxi means \"pass the gate to get connected\" (Lee and Dawes, 2005). Guanxi is social connections and reciprocal favors and obligations to the guanxi circle. Outside such a circle, there is \"no tie, no obligation, and no rights\" (Lee and Dawes, 2005).\nResearch method: In the absence of literature that uses Kohlberg's theory of CMD and guanxi to analyze the gaps between USA and Chinese (Taiwan, Mainland China and Hong Kong) students' PAPA perceptions, this study is guided by grounded theory methods (Pare, 2004; Strauss and Corbin, 1990; Yin, 1994) to develop three research propositions. The propositions were derived out of two specific areas of exploration: how considerations of guanxi affect people of different cultures in tackling information ethics issues; whether difference exists between people of different cultures in terms of Kohlberg's six stage model.\nResults: The statistical analysis results are presented in Figures 1 and 3 and Tables III and IV. Figure 1 shows average perceptions of five scenarios for each sample along Kohlberg's six stages. Table III shows the statistical summaries of each sample's responses to guanxi pressure on PAPA issues. Figure 3 shows the aggregated results from both surveys. The \"Guanxi Influence\" column shows comparisons of the percentages of subjects who would be influenced by guanxi pressure on four PAPA issues. Please note that the percentages do not include situational responses, i.e. \"depends on\" answers. The \"Moral Reasoning\" column in Figure 3 compares the percentages of subjects who were in lower (0-3) and higher moral stages (4-6) between western (USA) and Chinese (MC, HK,TW) samples. Table IV shows the detailed statistical results from the scenario-based survey. It organizes the results along both the six stages and the five scenarios. For each scenario, we listed percentage of responses that fall into each of Kohlberg's six stages. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare each of the Chinese samples with the US sample.\nProposition development: The five scenarios and ten open-ended questions elicited diverse response patterns amongst the four different societies. The following sections will provide some explanations for the inconsistent results from the two survey instruments and discuss Chinese guanxi's impact on the perception differences. Consequently, three propositions are introduced.\nDiscussions and conclusions: When the three Chinese samples were combined and compared with the US sample, we found no significant percentage differences of subjects in the higher moral stages (Figure 3). However, significant differences were revealed when individual Chinese jurisdiction samples were compared with the US sample on some PAPA issues. This finding is consistent with prior research that has shown that among people who have the same cultural roots but live in different regions, there are differences in ethical perceptions (Chung et al., 2008).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of Chinese culture on the information ethics perception gaps between Chinese and American students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a qualitative approach, this study utilizes Kohlberg's Cognitive Moral Development model and an open-ended questionnaire to measure and analyze the gaps among information ethics perceptions of students from Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and the USA, and to assess the extent to which the gaps are influenced by Chinese culture.\nFindings: Students' perceptions of intellectual property, information accuracy, privacy, and accessibility (PAPA) are deeply influenced by national culture. Sub-cultures have significant impact on the perceptions. Political systems, history, and legal environment may also play a role in the differences of PAPA perceptions among the three Chinese societies. The study also revealed that accuracy and intellectual property are the most deficient areas of moral developments in both Chinese and American samples.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample sizes from Hong Kong and the USA were relatively small due to resource and time constraints. In addition, the subjects from Hong Kong and the USA were a little bit older than the subjects from Taiwan and Mainland China due to the fact that universities in HK and USA tend to have more non-traditional students than in universities in Mainland China and Taiwan. Second, the questionnaire is a limited means of studying moral reasoning because the results are likely to reflect espoused theory rather than theory-in-use.\nPractical implications: The educational implication of this study calls for a renewed approach to educate students on the importance of information ethics for the sake of sustained economic development.\nOriginality/value: The novelty of this research lies in its interpretation of students' PAPA perceptions and fresh insights from a Chinese guanxi perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does location matter to export performance?
|
[
"Location",
"SMEs",
"Resource-based view",
"Export performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past two decades, exporting has been one of the fastest growing economic activities and is the most widely adopted international expansion strategy for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) (Ural, 2009). The rapid globalization of markets, the pace of technological change and the decline of government-imposed barriers, have provided SMEs the opportunity to compete alongside larger and often more experienced counterparts. Arguably, SME exporters have an important role in national economies as exporting provides a way to assist nations improve their balance of payment, trade deficit, employment rate and overall standard of living. Researchers and practitioners have consequently called for increased effort in understanding the drivers of SME export performance. While there has been a substantial amount of research published in the area of exporting and the drivers of export performance in particular, a review of the literature highlights several important gaps.\nLiterature review and research hypotheses: RBV\nMethodolody: Exploratory research into location effects and firm resources and capabilities was conducted prior to the main study. This involved 13 interviews (seven with government experts and six with current SME exporters). A questionnaire was then developed and pretested in an interview approach with three academics and three industry representatives. To establish the level of export performance success and, similar to other export studies, the unit of analysis employed is a single product exported to a single foreign market (Lages et al., 2009b; Morgan et al., 2004; Styles, 1998; Zou and Stan, 1998).\nAnalysis: This study used partial least squares (PLS graph) to analyze data which is known to be particularly advantageous for the exploratory nature of this study (Julien and Ramangalahy, 2003; Lee et al., 2006; Tsang, 2002) and for that reason has been used in other export studies (e.g. Lages et al., 2009a). The PLS model is estimated using an iterative OLS regression-like procedure with overall variance explained being used as the primary measure of model adequacy. The PLS estimation procedure partitions the data into block of attributes which are related to a specific construct which then provides estimates of the parameters in each block sequentially and iteratively until differences between successive iterations is extremely small (Vandenbosch, 1996). Since the algorithm proceeds block by block, it works well with small sample sizes such as this research and moreover, does not require multivariate normality when estimating parameters (Chin, 1997; Choi and Sy, 2010). PLS modeling consists of two sets of relations: outer relations and inner relations. The outer relations or measurement model are concerned with the relationships between observed variables and the latent constructs, while the inner relations specify the relationships between different latent constructs (Chin, 1997).\nDiscussion: This study was conducted with the objective of shedding light on what impact location has on a firm's export performance. The results support the notion that location is a critical antecedent to firm resources and capabilities and thus indirectly influencing export performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to build on the resource-based view to analyze the influence of location effects on a firm's ability to develop export-related resources and capabilities which then impacts on export performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To test the proposed hypotheses, a sample of small-to-medium exporting firms located in Australia is analyzed using partial least squared modeling.\nFindings: The findings show that access to location specific advantages (i.e. access to sources of supply, government agencies, export-related services and infrastructure, managerial labor skills, and network opportunities) are essential antecedents for the firm's ability to develop export-related resources and capabilities which in turn drives export performance outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: Results from this study are from one state in Australia, and caution should be exercised when generalizing findings to other geographic regions.\nPractical implications: These findings suggest that location effects do indeed present challenges to regional SME firms. Indeed the substantial impacts of sourcing experienced managerial staff with export-related skills affirm the critical role of human resources. This offers insights concerning the recruitment and reward policies for remote firms having to compete with firms in more attractive or sort after metropolitan locations. Also the findings suggest that managers should give serious thought to the appropriateness of the resources and capabilities needed to increase their export performance.\nOriginality/value: Even though the role and importance of firm location has been highlighted in the export literature, previous export studies have not focussed on dimensions of location as antecedents to firm resources and capability development.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Improving relationship performance on platforms: the role of platform technology usage in promoting justice
|
[
"Platform",
"Platform technology usage",
"Procedural justice",
"Distributive justice",
"Informational justice",
"Relationship performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, the increasing prominence of the internet, the mobile internet, big data and digital tools has brought great challenges and enormous development opportunities for firms. In the face of these trends, the ways that inter-firm exchanges are coordinated, controlled and managed have changed dramatically. Together with the developments in these areas, a new business model for a platform has emerged and become relevant. Within the platform business model, a leading firm in a given industry builds an online platform. Third-party suppliers in this industry serve as content providers (referred to as platform participants hereafter) for the platform and use it to display and sell their products/services. Customers use the platform to search, compare and buy products/services. The customers can be either individuals or enterprises, depending on the type of the product/service or industry. The platform builder provides necessary services such as advertising, online payment, third-party supervision and technology to facilitate transactions between buyers and suppliers and provide benefits from these transactions. When necessary, the platform also invites external venture capital partners; technology firms; and even, government authorities to join the platform to support the operation of both the suppliers and the platform. Some platform builders mainly operate platforms, while others also sell products/services via their platforms.\n2. Theoretical development and hypotheses: 2.1 Technology usage\n3. Method: 3.1 Data\n4. Conclusion and discussion: Research on inter-firm relationship management has attracted considerable attention from scholars. Studies have shown the importance of both transactional and relational mechanisms in driving superior performance and reducing opportunism. Our study advances the literature by examining this issue in the new platform setting, analyzing the role of platform technology usage to the relationship performance of platform builder-platform participant relationships. In addition, our study reveals the paths through which platform technology usage is related to favorable relationships. Using data collected from 394 participants in two of the largest platforms for mobile/PC applications in China, our empirical analysis confirms the positive links between platform technology usage and superior relationship performance via the perceptions of three kinds of justice. By providing a technical-mechanism lens on inter-firm relationship management and by adding the paths of justice perceptions, this study offers new insights into the value of platform technology usage in interorganizational relationship management in the context of platform transactions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Technology has dramatically changed the nature of interorganizational relationships and the ways partners interact with each other. In the new platform business model, platform technology usage seems to work as a governance mechanism to regulate operations and manage platform builder-platform participant relationships. To respond to these changes, this study aims to examine how platform technology usage in platform operations influenced the relationship quality between the platform builder and platform participants by promoting perceptions of three types of justice (procedural, distributive and informational).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors propose that it is through the perception of three types of justice (procedural, distributive and informational) that platform technology usage exerts its governance effect on the platform relationship. In doing this, the authors seek to answer the following two related research questions in the platform setting: How does platform technology usage drive relationship performance via different types of justice perceptions? Which type of justice affects relationship performance most effectively?\nFindings: The results from a survey of 384 participant firms from two of the largest digital platforms for mobile/PC application in China reveal that platform technology usage leads to better relationship performance through enhanced perceptions of procedural, distributive, and informational justice. The positive impacts of procedural justice and distributive justice on relationship performance are greater than that of informational justice, while the impacts of procedural justice and distributive justice show no significant differences.\nOriginality/value: These findings provide novel insights into the role and mechanisms of platform technology usage in platform relationship management.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Mindfulness training in the workplace: exploring its scope and outcomes
|
[
"Mindfulness training",
"Employee well-being",
"Workplace training",
"Meditation training",
"Mindfulness-meditation",
"Mindfulness-related training"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today, the world of work is impacted by increasing globalization, constant technological developments, complex, competitive and changing environments that culminate in heavy workloads and looming deadlines on multiple projects. Employees and organizations consistently encounter demands for high performance - an ongoing problem in most workplaces considering that customer satisfaction, sustainable financial growth and success hinge on high performance (Swanson, 1999). Consequently, balancing and juggling numerous work and personal roles become difficult to manage. In some instances, employees are pressured by demanding work conditions that result in anxiety, stress, emotional exhaustion and burnout that negatively influence employee learning and performance and organizational effectiveness (Bakker et al., 2005; Schaufeli et al., 2008). Over the years, employee exhaustion, stress and burnout have been well documented in the academic literature (Bakker et al., 2005; Schaufeli et al., 2008). Furthermore, a number of employees experience poor health because of the impact of extreme work conditions (Van Gordon et al., 2013). Despite the stress associated with continuous change in organizations, employers do little to promote employee well-being (Rumbles and Rees, 2013). Human resource development (HRD) professionals can play a role in facilitating activities to help employees better maintain their well-being for optimal functioning in organizations.\nMethods: We used Torraco's (2005, 2016) integrative literature review method to select relevant studies, frame our analysis and synthesize the findings based on the location of articles, search period, number of articles screened and criteria for screening. This method enabled us to compare and contrast relevant articles, incorporate distributed information and investigate new knowledge and research directions using the four stages suggested by Briner and Denyer (2012) and Torraco (2005): plan and search, evaluate and select, analyze and code and synthesize. To conduct the literature review, we found existing studies through multiple databases, including Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, EBSCO, Human Resources Abstracts, PsycARTICLES and Google Scholar. The search was conducted using the following keywords and mixed terms that needed to be identified within the title or keywords: \"mindfulness\", \"meditation\", \"mindfulness meditation\", \"mindfulness training\", \"meditation training\", \"training\", \"workplace\" and \"organization\".\nResults: Scope of mindfulness training as an intervention in the workplace\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of the scope of mindfulness as an intervention in the workplace and to identify outcomes of mindfulness-related training activities at the individual, team/group and organizational levels. We identified 51 significant outcomes of mindfulness training categorized at the various levels of analyses (individual [23], job/work [17], group/team [7] and organizational [4] levels). Our findings showed that individual outcomes of mindfulness training have a larger portion (46 per cent) than other categories. In particular, mindfulness training played an important role in reducing employees' anxiety, burnout, distress, stress and increasing their awareness, motivation, positive emotion, resilience and well-being. Our review supported previous studies that discussed mindfulness training as an intervention to foster employees' mental health and well-being (Van Gordon et al., 2013).\nImplications for research and practice: This study contributes to the literature on mindfulness-related training in the workplace by providing an overview of the scope of mindfulness practices and a comprehensive review of the outcomes of this intervention at the individual, group/team, job/work and organizational levels. As reflected from our research and in consistency with the extant literature, we found that mindfulness-related training has myriads of benefits at the psychological, physiological and performance level (Hyland et al., 2015). It was also interesting to note that we found a proportionally higher number of studies at the individual level compared with the other levels. Because the research on mindfulness-related benefits is still burgeoning, we may assume that the impact at the more macro levels is largely underexplored. More studies are definitely warranted at the group/team and organizational levels to make a robust case for using this practice as an organization-wide intervention. Along similar lines, as suggested by other mindfulness scholars, there is still ambiguity on how the impact of mindfulness training may vary based on individual personality differences. It can be frustrating for both the employees and the interventionist if they are uncertain regarding the ultimate outcome of the intervention. Furthermore, many scholars have suggested that the conceptualization of mindfulness can distinctly vary from East to West (Christopher et al., 2009; Hyland et al., 2015). Therefore, this area is a fertile ground for many international HRD scholars to engage in cross-country and cross-cultural research as mindfulness interventions could be perceived differently by trainees from different cultures and countries.\nLimitations and recommendations for future research: Historically, mindfulness meditation was practiced in mainstream medicine and psychology disciplines, however, applications of mindfulness have now mushroomed to other fields and are now being used as an intervention in organizational settings to improve the well-being of employees. To make the study more feasible considering time constraint, along with the search criteria, we may have missed relevant studies that could have been included for analysis in the study. Future research can include additional databases for a more comprehensive review. We may also have restricted ourselves from other relevant articles that are not published in English. Given that the notion of meditation and mindfulness has its roots in the East and the history can be traced back to Hinduism, Buddhism and Yoga (Selva, 2019), it would be worth including publications from other languages.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As the concept of mindfulness gains popularity in the workplace, there is a need to understand the extent to which mindfulness-related practices are integrated into training and development activities and the impact of these practices on employees and organizations. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the scope of mindfulness as an intervention in the workplace and to identify outcomes of mindfulness-related training activities at the individual, job/work, team/group and organizational levels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Torraco (2005) and Briner and Denyer's (2012) four steps (search, selection, analysis and synthesis) for conducting an integrative literature review were used for this study. This method enabled us to compare and contrast relevant articles, integrate distributed information, create new knowledge and provide research directions on mindfulness practices in work settings.\nFindings: Through a revision of 28 empirical studies, the authors found that mindfulness-based training is an effective intervention for organizations to improve mental health, wellbeing and performance of employees. A total of 51 significant outcomes of mindfulness-related training categorized at the individual (23), job/work (17), group/team (7) and organizational (4) levels were identified.\nPractical implications: Despite the benefits of mindfulness training, according to the research, only a handful of organizations have rolled-out this program for employees. The authors recommend that industry leaders and managers take a proactive approach and incorporate mindfulness-related practices as part of their professional development training for employees at all levels to improve personal and professional growth and performance.\nOriginality/value: This paper extends the emerging literature on mindfulness by providing a comprehensive summary of the consequences of mindfulness training at a multilevel context within the human resource development domain.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Ethical leadership, work engagement, and voice behavior
|
[
"Work engagement",
"Ethical leadership",
"Promotion focus",
"Voice behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, there has been a growing theoretical pluralism in the ethical leadership literature that reflects a growing awareness of the importance of a construct known as ethical leadership behavior. Previous studies have found that ethical leadership behavior can result in many positive outcomes, such as improved employee performance, trust in leaders, organization commitment, extra effort, job satisfaction, and affective commitment (e.g. Kuo, 2013; Avey et al., 2011; Walumbwa et al., 2011). This stream of research has provided valuable insights and highlighted the importance of ethical leadership, which has prompted many researchers to contribute to our present understanding of the nature of ethical leadership behavior.\nTheory and hypotheses: Ethical leadership and voice behavior\nMethods: Participants and procedures\nResults: Descriptive statistics and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)\nDiscussion: This study endeavors to propose a theoretical model by empirically exploring whether a supervisor's ethical leadership influences a subordinate's voice behavior through the mediating role of the subordinate's work engagement and by examining the moderating effect of promotion focus on the relationship between a supervisor's ethical leadership and a subordinate's work engagement. As hypothesized, the subordinate's work engagement mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and voice behavior. It appears that our finding supports the notion of social information processing and social learning perspective, thus suggesting that the behaviors of an ethical leader motivate a subordinate's engagement, and the motivation from engagement inspires a subordinate's willingness to speak up. In addition, consistent with our suppositions, this study also finds that ethical leadership is positively associated with work engagement when the subordinate's self-regulatory focus is driven by promotion focus. Thus, our results extend the ethical leadership literature by demonstrating the importance of the subordinate's self-regulatory focus in ethical leadership behavior to the subordinate's work engagement level.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw on ethical leadership and regulatory focus theory perspectives to examine the mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between ethical leadership and voice behavior, and it addresses the moderating effect of promotion focus on the relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a sample of 239 supervisor-subordinate dyads collected from a large economic research institution in northern Taiwan to test all hypotheses.\nFindings: The paper finds that ethical leadership facilitates subordinates to engage in their work and encourages subordinates to speak up. This study also reveals a positive relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement that is moderated by the subordinate's self-regulatory focus, which is driven by a focus on promotion.\nOriginality/value: The paper extends ethical leadership theory by considering that work engagement serves as a cognitive motivational underpinning in support of the link between ethical leadership and voice behavior. The results provide new and deeper insights in explaining the impact of ethical leadership on voice behavior by strengthening the mediating role of work engagement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Main principles and practices in leader development
|
[
"Leadership development",
"Experiential learning",
"Learning processes"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In a number of recently published books devoted to leadership development (Dotlich and Noel, 1998; Conger and Benjamin, 1999; Hollenbeck and McCall, 1999; Murphy and Riggio, 2003; Day et al., 2004; McCauley and Van Velsor, 2004), it is argued that a distinction should be made between leadership development and leader development. At the core of this distinction is the orientation toward developing either human capital (leader development) or social capital (leadership development). Orientation toward human capital emphasizes the development of individual capabilities such as those related to self-awareness and self-motivation, which serve as the foundation of intrapersonal competence (McCauley and Van Velsor, 2004). Orientation toward social capital emphasizes the development of reciprocal obligations and commitments built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect (Drath and Paulus, 1994). This paper deals with the major theoretical psychological principles underlying leader development, and the main practices that derive from these principles. I will commence by introducing briefly some definitions and assumptions which provide the basis for this discussion.\nDefinition of leadership: Handbooks of leadership (e.g. Bass, 1990) contain references to thousands of studies presenting various viewpoints and definitions of leadership. A review of them indicates confusion between and alternate use of three concepts:1. authority;2. power; and3. influence.When people obey the words of a manager or commander who possesses formal authority over them, or when they obey the instructions of a specialist (doctor, engineer, computer expert, etc.) who is more knowledgeable in a given field, it is hard to tell whether they are acting out of fear of sanctions or dependence on sources of power (knowledge, expertise, material resources).However, there are situations wherein authority and power are clearly not enough. Willingness to do things \"above and beyond\" the rewarded effort (financially or otherwise) - working late hours, making \"extra\" physical and mental endeavors, following a leader unhesitatingly into the battlefield, answering a call for social action, being willing to exert themselves without reward - such behaviors cannot stem from fear of authority or dependence on sources of power. These behaviors are an expression of beliefs and emotions toward certain ideas or people who possess influence (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1985; Popper and Lipshitz, 1993).This argument is illustrated in a military context by Popper (1992), who observed paratroop companies in a training course. As in a laboratory experiment, all the conditions were controlled: the commanders had identical formal authority, resources (ammunition, equipment, etc.) and working conditions, and there was an equally high level of motivation among the soldiers (all volunteers). Nevertheless, one company was found to be much more dedicated than the others. Their levels of identification, exertion, and for the most part performance, far exceeded those of the other companies. The reason for this was the company commander, who had greater emotional influence on the soldiers. This \"influence\" is, in fact, the essence of leadership. Leadership, then, is essentially emotional influence on people. This point is a salient foundation in theory and research on leadership (see Bryman, 1986). For example, Kotter (1988) defines leadership as \"a process of moving a group (or groups) of people in some direction through non-coercive means\" (p. 16). Dwight Eisenhower, a general and a president, in a widely quoted definition of leadership, described it as \"the ability to decide what is to be done, and then to get others to want to do it\" (Larson, 1968, p. 21).This viewpoint is supported by empirical research, which found the affect element to be central in getting people to perform tasks. For example, Goleman (1998), who emphasized the concept of \"emotional intelligence\" (EQ), found that emotional intelligence carries more than twice the weight of IQ in accounting for excellence in work performance. Similar findings on the emotional effect of leaders were presented by some of the more prominent researchers on leadership (e.g. Bennis and Nanus, 1985; Kets de Vries, 1989; Zaleznik, 1992; Hogan et al., 1994).A few points are worth emphasizing in relation to the definition of leadership. First, given that leadership is emotional influence, leaders might easily be manipulative and influence their people in destructive directions (Mumford et al., 1993). In point of fact, leadership researchers distinguish between \"negative\" leaders, who are referred to in the literature as \"personalized leaders\", and \"positive\" leaders, known as \"socialized leaders\" (Howell, 1988; House and Howell, 1992; Howell and Avolio, 1992). Personalized leaders are motivated by narcissistic deprivation and encourage dependence in their followers, sometimes to the point of blind adoration, because of their need for self-aggrandizement (e.g. leaders like Hitler, or on a smaller scale, Jim Jones) (Popper, 1999, 2001), whereas socialized leaders are motivated by other psychological sources (House and Howell, 1992), such as social dominance, sense of responsibility or a \"paternal\" psychological structure, elements that are the basis of empathy, giving, relating to others' emotions, and similar characteristics that are the basis of pro-social behaviors (Kanungo and Mendonca, 1996).Second, there is a tendency in the literature to present leadership as almost equally necessary and central in every situation (Shamir and Howell, 1999). However, the distinction between authority, power, and influence implies that this is not necessarily the case. To clarify this point we can refer to Mischel (1973), who distinguishes between \"strong psychological situations\", which are structured and characterized by clear rules (e.g. a standard production line) and \"weak psychological situations\", characterized by ambiguity and lack of clear rules of action (states of change, crisis, etc.). In strong psychological situations there is less need for leadership - everyone knows his role and his place in a stable reality.On the other hand, in weak psychological situations, in the absence of clear rules, when there is psychological uncertainty, the conditions and the need for leadership come to the fore (Shamir and Howell, 1999). It is no accident that the greatest charismatic leaders in history emerged in times of crisis or new beginnings (Aberbach, 1995; Popper, 2001). Indeed, many leaders who achieved fame were the founders of states, like George Washington in the USA, David Ben Gurion in Israel, Lee Kwan Yu in Singapore, or founders of organizations, such as Henry Ford. These were leaders who acted during periods of disorientation when clear norms had yet to be formed (Schein, 1985). Similarly, it is no accident that the central importance ascribed to leadership in military organizations, and particularly combat units, is greater than in civil organizations, where most of the tasks are more structured and clear (Popper, 1996), while in military operations the emotional effect and the expectation for someone who can contain and deal with emotions such as fear and anxiety is more intense.\nAssumptions: The underlying assumptions of the following discussion on leaders' development stem from the perception presented above, that a leader is someone who has emotional influence over people. As mentioned, in the case of a personalized leader this influence serves the leader's narcissistic needs and may foster dependence among the followers even to the extent of losing their own identity (Popper, 2001). In contrast, a socialized leader promotes the followers' development in three aspects (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1985):1. raising the followers' motivation for achievements;2. empowering them to have more faith in their ability (see Conger and Kanungo, 1987; Bandura, 1977, 1995); and3. encouraging them to focus on pro-social thinking and behavior (Kanungo and Mendonca, 1996), namely, to adopt behaviors that are less egocentric, more ethical and ideological, aiming for the general good.The assumptions and the discussion following relate to this type of leader.Assumption 1: leadership is a function of ability and motivation\nThe theoretical principles at the basis of leader development: Principle 1: experiential learning\nThe major practices of leader development: Experiential learning\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Aims to present a conceptual framework for understanding how leaders develop.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The arguments are derived from the assumption that leadership, like many other human manifestations, is a function of a given potential, relevant motivation, and ongoing developmental processes. It is argued that three developmental psychological principles are essential for leaders' development, i.e. experiential learning, vicarious learning, and the suitability of certain developmental aspects to relevant critical periods.\nFindings: - These developmental principles, along with Schon's modalities of learning and reflections (\"follow me\", \"joint investigation\" and \"hall of mirrors\"), serve as a conceptual framework for discussing main implications and practices related to developing leaders.\nOriginality/value: - Leaders' development is a process that occurs continuously in an organization. Many organizations attempt to confine it artificially to courses and supplementary training. This limits the range of developmental possibilities, since leadership experiences and vicarious learning take place all the time over a broad range throughout the organization.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Food production and the growth of manufacturing: the case of Tanzania
|
[
"Development",
"Developing countries",
"Agricultural economies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Not long ago, the prospects of growth for Sub-Saharan Africa appeared to be quite bleak. The region was plagued by civil wars, dysfunctional states, and economic stagnation. However, beginning in the 1990s the civil wars began to disappear, trade grew, and economic growth returned. Africa's per capita GDP growth rate has risen close to an average of 3 percent per year since 2000. It has also experienced positive total factor productivity growth for the first time since the early 1970s (Rodrik, 2014).\n1. Simple dualistic model: The dualistic model developed by Lewis (1954) will be the starting point of the discussion in this section. Initially, it will be assumed that the economy is closed to international trade and is composed of two sectors, modern and traditional. The latter is generally thought of as being composed of agricultural production and services relative to processing and distribution. In the discussion in this paper this sector will be assumed to represent staple food production and services relating to processing and distribution of these kinds of goods. It is assumed that only labor and land is used in the production process in this sector and no technical change occurs. In addition, it is assumed that surplus labor exists which means that at the prevailing real wage rate in the modern sector (nominal wage divided by the price of the modern sector good) the supply of labor is perfectly elastic (supply curve is horizontal). Finally, it is assumed that initially as labor exits the traditional sector this sector can maintain the level of food staple production via reorganization of the production process. Finally, no savings occurs in this sector.\n2. Semi-open economy framework: In this section, the model developed above will be expanded in a number of ways. First, an additional sector is added to the model, a commercial, export-oriented sector based upon a natural resource comparative advantage. The natural resource comparative advantage could stem from the existence of a valuable mineral or energy deposit or soil particularly suited to a valuable primary product (coffee, etc.). It is assumed that this sector uses labor and land in the production process. Thus the focus here will be on a commercial, export-oriented primary agricultural product. This sector represents the export commodity and is therefore open to international trade. The price of this product is exogenous and fixed.\n3. A Tanzanian story: Tanzania's experiences reflect those of Sub-Saharan Africa in many ways. Initially after gaining independence the state took on an extremely large role in organizing the economy, with socialist ideas used as the justification for state policies aimed at the reallocation resources so as to promote the rapid growth of industry. This was followed by a period of poor economic performance which eventually resulted in an economic crisis. Reforms were then undertaken often under the guidance of a variety of international organizations. Eventually, economic performance began to improve so that now Tanzania is one of the high performers in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially since the mid-1990s. It is this latter period which will be the focus of this section.\n4. Summary and conclusion: Much of the Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing rapid economic growth. However, this growth is not being accompanied with structural change, as typically occurs with economic development The structure of production is changing with agriculture's share in GDP declining, but manufacturing has not been increasing as a share of GDP. More importantly, in terms of employment the proportion of the population dependent on agriculture remains high while employment in manufacturing has grown very slowly.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact that slow growth in staple food productivity can have on the process of structural change and, more importantly, on the development of labor intensive industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A theory of a semi-open economy is developed to analyze the role of staple food productivity on structural change. A case study is used to illustrate the workings of the model.\nFindings: Slow growth in food staple productivity will mean that even when labor is physically abundant, it will not be economically cheap. Thus it will be extremely difficult to promote the expansion of labor intensive manufacturing. The key to rapid structural change is rapid growth in food staple productivity.\nPractical implications: Investment in raising agricultural productivity is critical in the development of labor intensive manufacturing.\nSocial implications: Rapid growth can occur without leading to structural change. The bulk of the population remains locked in the rural sector.\nOriginality/value: The food sector is shown to be largely non-tradable. As a result solving the food problem domestically is crucial for structural change and economic development. Labor intensive manufacturing needs relatively cheap labor. For labor to be cheap, agricultural productivity (food staples) must rise rapidly.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Organisational ambidexterity within process improvement: An exploratory study of four project-oriented firms
|
[
"Management theory",
"Process improvement",
"Ambidexterity",
"Case studies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A continually changing business landscape means there is a need for firms to continually develop and adapt in order to survive. Anand et al. (2009) argued that in order to achieve this, firms need to undergo continual process improvement. However, from a capabilities perspective, extrapolating improvement strategies based on past experience can create firms with core rigidities that have difficulty undergoing more fundamental renewal (Leonard-Barton, 1992). Birkinshaw and Gibson (2004) address this issue by emphasising the need for firms to continually innovate organisational processes while remaining efficient, or what they termed organisational ambidexterity. Building upon exploitative (variation reducing) and exploratory (variation increasing) forms of learning (March, 1991), ambidexterity promotes long-term improvements in business performance (Raisch and Birkinshaw, 2008). Within the domain of process improvement, organisational ambidexterity is conceptualised as control via reducing variation of current processes through exploitative learning; and process innovation as increasing variation via the introduction of new or revised processes through exploratory learning (for further details see Choo et al., 2007, Lichtenthaler, 2009). This leads to the primary research question this paper will address:\nLiterature review: theory development: Within a modern business environment, knowledge-based assets are acknowledged as critical (Grant, 1996). However, potential problems that may arise within the learning or knowledge accumulation processes are not generally acknowledged within operations management research. First, as Vits and Gelders (2002) suggest, learning has been treated as a side effect, made explicit by the fields focus on the learning curve. Second, Leonard-Barton (1992) described a tendency to pursue exploitative learning where emphasis is given to optimising processes by reducing variation that can provide quick returns on investment (March, 1991). Consequently, this study sees considerable value in viewing process improvement as a learning process that involves both refinement and exploratory learning modes. Tripsas and Gavetti (2000) and Benner and Tushman (2002) are amongst many works that highlight the impact of excessive emphasis on exploitative learning. These works outline that although firms may be technically capable, they may not have the evolutionary fitness to enable them to change to meet new market requirements. The result is that even though firms may be able to develop new products, they may not be able to make use of them, due to ideas that are not consistent with accepted frames of reference being rejected, creating what March (1991) terms as a brittle organisation. Although this is a potential problem with exploitative learning, the following section explores operations management literature that illustrates how flexibility can be build upon a foundation of exploitative learning. However, research on flexibility has indirectly and inconsistently drawn on learning theories (de Treville and Antonakis, 2006), hence we suggest that ambidexterity may provide an important lens to re-conceptualise the topic.\nMethod: The research was conducted to build theory related to organisational ambidexterity in process improvement within project-oriented organisations. As this research looks to address the issues identified explicitly in Anand et al.'s (2009) work, the present study adopts a similar approach which is grounded within data but informed by theory. This was undertaken by conducting exploratory panel discussions within a selection of project-oriented firms. In line with the orientation of operations management, discussions were undertaken with those involved with the day-to-day management of projects holding titles such as project manager, managing consultant or improvement practitioner.\nCase Background: BC\nCross-case analysis: Learning through control\nDiscussion: The findings above provide evidence in relation to how the case companies approach trade-offs in process improvement, which has been conceptualised as organisational ambidexterity via control and process innovation. Using the findings summarised in Appendix 2, this study proposes the following conceptual framework (Figure 1).\nConclusion: In addressing the broader question regarding the trade-off between continual, incremental process improvements (contextualised as control based, exploitative learning activities), and radical process improvements (contextualised as process innovation based, exploratory learning activities) there would appear to be two primary areas of debate. The first is the trade-off based on the environmental factors such as product type, market volatility, market focus and the rate of process innovation, as depicted with the framework (Figure 1). The second is that there may be an inherent tendency towards specific forms of learning and improvement based on a firm's chosen competitive priorities (Figure 2). Given this, while the trade-off may be contingent, we suggest openness to the opposing mode of improvement, to both meet the requirements of the operating environment and delivery consumer value that is able to differentiate the firm from competitors. This may consist of developing internal capabilities before prioritising those improvements that will maximise organisational benefits (Ehie and Sheu, 2005).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Organisational ambidexterity has emerged as a new research paradigm that is relevant for promoting long-term firm performance however, research within practice-oriented domains has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore process improvement through the theoretical lens of organisational ambidexterity to understanding the conflicting aims of variation increasing and decreasing forms of operational process improvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on reviews of both operations and strategic management literature, the paper employs a case study methodology to unpack critical aspects of ambidextrous process improvement across a range of organisational environments.\nFindings: The research shows that while the companies engaged in qualitatively different forms of improvement, by interpreting practices from an ambidextrous perspective, the complimentary nature of the two forms of improvement could be appreciated. The diversity of firms involved in the research also allowed findings to be considered in relation to a range of operational contexts.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research highlights the relevance of an organisational ambidexterity perspective on operational process improvement, although the selection of companies the research draws from, limits it relevance to non-project-oriented organisations.\nPractical implications: Provides practitioners with a framework to inform their views and aims when engaging in process improvement activities.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first articles exploring process improvement from an ambidextrous perspective. This will help re-conceptualise process improvement away from wholly focusing upon quality improvement and variation reducing activities to help account for a more dynamic operating environment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How does altruistic leader behavior foster radical innovation? The mediating effect of organizational learning capability
|
[
"Innovation",
"Organizational learning capability",
"Altruism",
"Radical innovation",
"Altruistic leader behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Radical innovation is now an essential factor for the growth and success of firms and national economies (Buschgens et al., 2013; Tellis et al., 2009). Radical innovations transform markets, create new markets and stimulate economic growth (Marvel and Lumpkin, 2007). Firms that develop radical innovations tend to dominate markets and increase their international competitiveness (Atuahene-Gima, 2005). Managers, governments and public administrations have consequently become aware of the importance of radical innovation, and are endeavoring to promote and encourage it (Tellis et al., 2009).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Radical innovation\n3. Hypotheses: Based on the above discussion, we propose a conceptual model (Figure 1) that integrates the effects of altruistic leader behavior and organizational learning capability on radical innovation. Altruistic leader behavior better explains radical innovation when the mediating effect of organizational learning capability is considered. In other words, this type of leader behavior not only may have a direct effect on radical innovation but may also create an organizational context that fosters experimentation, risk taking, participative decision making, dialogue and interaction with the external environment which, in turn, facilitates radical innovation.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Data collection\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics and psychometric properties of the measurement scales\n6. Conclusions: In the context of uncertainty and high competitiveness in which organizations operate, innovation has become an essential element to survive and achieve long-term success. Different types of innovation have engaged researchers' interest, particularly radical innovation, which has attracted a great deal of scholarly interest in recent years as reflected in the wealth of publications on this subject. Nevertheless, further knowledge is still needed on how to generate organizational environments in which radical innovations can thrive. Several authors have stressed the need to continue working on the antecedents of radical innovations and emphasize the importance of leadership as a facilitator of this type of innovation (Chang et al., 2012; Denti and Hemlin, 2012). The present study reflects this idea and analyzes a specific leader behavior category, altruistic leader behavior, and its influence on radical innovation. This type of behavior has been little studied (Dinh et al., 2014), despite being present in many relevant leadership styles, such as the transformational style, that are considered as alternatives to individualistic and selfish leadership styles.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between altruistic leader behavior and radical innovation, using organizational learning as an explanatory variable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To confirm the hypotheses, structural equations were used on a data set from a survey carried out on Spanish firms with recognized excellence in human resources management.\nFindings: The study empirically validates the conceptual model. Results suggest that organizational learning capability fully mediates the relationship between altruistic leader behavior and radical innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The database used in the study is very heterogeneous. Future research might delimit the database by organization size or sector.\nPractical implications: Results suggest ideas for organizations that want to implement a working environment that fosters innovation performance in order to achieve radical innovations.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the few studies to concentrate on altruistic leader behaviors as such. This paper contributes to understanding how altruistic leader behavior affects radical innovation and the key role played by organizational learning capability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consumerization-conflict resolution and changing IT-user relationships
|
[
"Case study",
"Conflict management styles",
"Business value of IT",
"IT function"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: IT departments are no longer simply \"order takers\" that provide technology and follow software upgrade cycles for workplace technologies. Instead, they increasingly play a leading role in developing and managing their companies' digital workplace strategies.(Dery et al., 2017)\nIntroduction: Pursuing the digital workplace has become a strategic goal of many organizations as they develop their roadmaps for future information technology (hereinafter IT) investments (Urbach et al., 2017; Dery et al., 2017). The digital workplace is a unified workplace where tech-based tools and solutions allow employees to be productive, creative and engaged at any time in any place (Cain et al., 2014; Dery et al., 2017; Koffer, 2015). At the heart of this digital workplace is IT consumerization, which refers to employees using privately owned software and devices for work purposes (Harris et al., 2012). Through building a more consumer-like work environment that enables the digital workplace, organizations promote employee effectiveness, agility and engagement for better business outcomes (Cain et al., 2016).\nLiterature review: the conflicts IT consumerization poses for IT departments: To address our research questions, we review the literature on how consumer tools impact internal IT departments. Extant studies have largely examined the conflicts and challenges consumerization poses for the IT departments. These conflicts occur usually when IT departments try and pursue their traditional IT practices using hierarchical top-down approaches that conflict with the user-driven nature of a consumerized workplace. Table I summarizes our literature review and the conflicts consumerization creates for the IT departments. Given the conflicting roles of the two groups - IT departments and users, we adopt a role conflict perspective and group the identified conflicts into goal, behavior and identity conflict (Koch and Schultze, 2011).\nTheoretical foundation: organizational ambidexterity: To help us understand how IT departments may manage the seemingly conflicting demands consumerization creates, we draw upon organizational ambidexterity theory and use it as an insightful framework to analyze our data. Rather than pursuing either exploration or exploitation, the organizational ambidexterity concept proposes that organizations simultaneously pursue both exploitation and exploration to achieve long-term success (Raisch et al., 2009). Applied in our context, exploitation deals with traditional IT department roles such as standardizing technology, developing systems to increase efficiency and running these systems as long as possible. Exploration encompasses the roles consumerization is forcing IT departments to adopt including discovery, experimentation and innovation.\nMethod: To investigate our research questions, we studied a single revelatory case following an interpretive approach (Klein and Myers, 1999). OilCo is an exemplar company (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). Ranking in the top-tier of the Fortune 100, OilCo is a multinational energy company focused on finding and producing oil and natural gas. In 2012, OilCo spun off half of its company and charged its 1,500 IT employees with promoting innovation. Since OilCo had historically banned consumer tools and depended on its IT department to monitor and enforce this ban, we knew that embracing IT consumerization would create intense changes for OilCo's IT department and its relationship with users. This phenomenon interested us because, as our literature review highlights, we were unable to find any study in the literature explaining how IT consumerization and the move toward a digital workplace impacts traditional IT departments. Accordingly, we employed an interpretive approach and did not impose prior constructs or theories on our study (Gioia et al., 2013). We made extraordinary efforts to give voice to the informants in the early stages of data collection and analysis and to represent their voices in this write-up. This approach allows us to generate new concepts rather than affirm existing concepts.\nCase: OilCo's IT consumerization journey: In April 2012, OilCo spun off its downstream refining business to focus on upstream exploration and drilling. Given that the upstream business requires quickly embracing new practices like fracking, OilCo needed a technology management team that encouraged innovation. It replaced its chief information officer and mandated that its new chief information officer change the IT department's culture by embracing agility and change. As OilCo's director of client computing explains:That's been a shift for us from a company perspective, which is looking at IT as more value focused. Our previous stance and the way we operated was to be a low-cost provider period, end of story. That was kind of a management shift with the spin-off of our downstream organization [...] It was just the fact that we had a changing of the guard from our CEO on down.\nDiscussion: The purpose of the preceding case study is to understand how IT departments manage the conflicts posed by consumerization and what impact this has on IT departments' relationships with users. OilCo's consumerization timeline, in Table V, shows that embracing consumer technology caused OilCo's IT departments to go through an ongoing process of encountering and addressing conflicts. The table identifies the main conflicts OilCo's IT department experienced and how it resolved them. By iterating between our data and the existing literature we developed a process model of consumer technology's impact on IT departments and their relationship with users (see Figure 1). This analysis provides three insights. First, consumerizing the workplace creates an ongoing process of conflict and conflict resolution for IT departments. Second, IT departments can apply differentiation and integration approaches to resolve the conflicts. Third, the process of conflict resolution changes the nature of IT-user relationships. The following paragraphs discuss these conclusions in more detail.\nImplications: This account of how one IT department managed the conflicts posed by consumerization and what impact this had on its relationship with users enriches the current understanding of the role of IT departments in fostering digital workplaces. Our study first makes sense of the conflicts described in the mostly atheoretical IT consumerization literature by organizing them into a role conflict framework (i.e. goal, behavior and identity), which we use to analyze our own case. We then use organizational ambidexterity theory to identify two main conflict resolution strategies (i.e. structural differentiation and contextual integration) and use our case to show the conditions under which each resolution strategy is effective. As a conflict resolution mechanism, we shed light on the theory of organizational ambidexterity by showing how organizations can apply differentiation and integration strategies complementarily to resolve conflicts. This extends organizational ambidexterity research characterized by scholars typically focusing on only one side of this differentiation/integration duality (Raisch and Birkinshaw, 2008; Raisch et al., 2009). On one hand, OilCo's application of structural differentiation practices reflects the distinction between maintaining traditional practices and pursuing new practices that IT consumerization requires. On the other hand, relying on contextual practices highlights the benefits of blending resources from both the IT department and its users.\nConclusion: We need to consider this study's implications in light of its limitations. We started data collection in 2007 when employees were starting to bring consumer tools to work. Even though we continued to collect data through 2015, consumer technologies and their use within organizations have changed and will continue to change dramatically. Despite this, this study still offers lessons for IT departments. In addition, we built our case on one company in the energy industry. While many of our insights may apply to IT departments in other industries, additional research is necessary. A final limitation deals with the link between consumer technology and organizational performance. Although our qualitative data indicate positive outcomes from OilCo's adoption of consumer tools, further research is necessary to link consumer tool adoption to organizational performance and innovation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how the digital workplace, in particular employees using consumer tools at work (users), impacts how internal IT departments function and their relationships with users they have historically supported.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An interpretive, longitudinal case study highlighting how one IT department coped with the conflicts using consumer tools at work creates a trend called IT consumerization.\nFindings: Internal IT departments manage the conflicts IT consumerization poses through an ongoing process of conflict and conflict resolution. This impacts the IT department's relationship with users along three dimensions: IT-control, user-self-sufficiency and IT-user partnerships.\nOriginality/value: While there is an ongoing debate about internal IT departments needing to change, the study shows how one IT department did change in response to IT consumerization. The authors develop a data-driven model grounded in theories that explains how IT departments cope with the conflicts IT consumerization poses.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Theorising Web 3.0: ICTs in a changing society
|
[
"Information systems",
"Web 2.0",
"Web 3.0",
"Theory"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is crucial to understand how information communication technology (ICT) innovation is associated with change in society. The complex interrelationships between societal changes and the ICTs in use by both different societies and different sectors of societies encompass both technologically deterministic shifts grounded in fundamental telecommunications infrastructure (e.g. mobile internet in developing countries) and intensely social emergence trends such as the ever-shifting patterns of social media usage. Are ICTs reflecting, driving or simply material-virtual manifestations of the accelerated change in contemporary society?\n2. Webs 1, 2 and 3.0: We wish to argue, in this editorial, that the most recent change to the world wide web has expanded it beyond the (mobile)computer screen to which it has - in Web 1.0 and 2.0 - been largely confined, in such a fundamental manner that how we understand it must also change. The implication is that other examples of ICTs in societal change might also require new approaches.\n3. Theorising the history of the web: It is our contention, in this paper, that Web 3.0 - a web that includes much more than data and hypertext, and user-involvement much deeper than content provision, requires a philosophical shift amongst IS scholars both to understand and to make use of that epithet. To highlight Web 3.0 in distinction to Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 we present a table (Table I) that outlines what we claim as the key features of each stage in terms of their technical, social and theoretical differentiators. While the table can by no means be exhaustive we have used key indicative features that assist in both drawing close associations between these aspects within each specific \"stage\" as well as revealing the difference within specific features across \"stages\". We use the term \"stage\" intentionally in this table to indicate a notion of performativity and its significance rather than to suggest a simplistic or direct technical progression. In the case of Web 3.0 particularly the stage does not coalesce around a set of technical features as its central defining rationale but rather as the scene-setting for events.\n4. The Special Issue: We cannot understand how society changes today - or how best to theorise it - if we do not know how it has changed - or how it was theorised - yesterday. Arthur Tatnall looks at \"Computer Education and Societal Change: History of Early Courses in Computing in Universities and Schools in Victoria\". Looking back over 50 years of computing, education and computer education in Victoria, Australia, Tatnall uses actor-network theory in his analysis of the effects people, organisations, processes, technologies, and a variety of human and non-human actors have had upon computing education. There is much here that those engaged in creating new curricula and technologies can learn from - the benefit of hindsight being all too rare in the fast pace of contemporary change. Over the period covered different paradigms have been dominant in both designing and explaining the development of the range of systems used, as Tatnall makes clear. There is a need for further research in how what we have described as Web 3.0 will affect the development of educational systems in both schools and universities. Education, like big ships, typically turns very slowly, but there is an imperative inherent in the current shift to Web 3.0 that new approaches will be needed soon if we are to avoid educating people in the wrong skills.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the broad phases of web development: the read-only Web 1.0, the read-write Web 2.0, and the collaborative and Internet of Things Web 3.0, are examined for the theoretical lenses through which they have been understood and critiqued.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual piece, in the tradition of drawing on theorising from outside the Information Systems field, to shed light on developments in information communication technologies (ICTs).\nFindings: Along with a summary of approaches to Webs 1.0 and 2.0, the authors contend that a more complex and poststructuralist theoretical approach to the notion of, and the phenomenon of Web 3.0, offers a more interesting and appropriate theoretical grounding for understanding its particularities.\nOriginality/value: The discussion presages five further papers engaged with ICTs in a changing society, each of which similarly addresses novel theoretical understandings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The entrepreneurship-motherhood nexus: A longitudinal investigation from a boundaryless career perspective
|
[
"Gender",
"Entrepreneurship",
"Motherhood",
"Boundaryless",
"Career theory",
"Self-employment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The allure of entrepreneurship as a career continues to strengthen globally. As career models have evolved, research that is focused specifically on elements of the self-employment-career theory nexus has burgeoned (Feldman and Bolino, 2000). Frequently, such studies have been preoccupied with exploring factors surrounding the decision to enter self-employment or comparisons between inputs and outputs related to the choice to be an employee or self-employed. However, careers are multi-layered and multi-dimensional (Collin and Patton, 2009) and, as such, cannot be conceptualized without consideration of the inter-relationship between the domains of work, home, and leisure. The need for holism in relation to career theory echoes similar calls in relation to entrepreneurship: the enactment of entrepreneurship cannot be probed without consideration of the personal characteristics of the individuals in question (DeMartino et al., 2006). Without a pluralistic approach to understanding either phenomenon the dynamic processes underpinning both remain destined to be over-looked, isolated, or over-simplified.\nLiterature: A persistent criticism of traditional \"age and stage\" models of career development is that they have been based predominantly on the career experiences of men, and, thereby, negate both the distinctiveness and relevance of \"the female career\". Data have established that the careers of women are shaped differently from those of men as a result of their life contexts (O'Neil and Bilimoria, 2005), and are more infrequently linear in nature than those of their male counterparts. Women also reportedly pursue different career attributes to men (e.g. authenticity, balance, and/or challenge at different points in their career) (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2006); and, different career opportunities according to personal reasons and/or lifespan progression (Grant-Vallone and Ensher, 2011). Vinkenburg and Weber (2012) posit that there is a need to study women's career patterns beyond work by including family and other life domains as the pattern of women's careers shift relative to the ways they reconcile their roles, relationships, and domain participation.\nMethodology: We explored the deliberate pursuit of a boundaryless career by four women who, if so inclined, could be labeled \"mumpreneurs\". A mumpreneur has been defined as \"an individual who discovers and exploits new business opportunities within a social and geographical context that seeks to integrate the demands of motherhood and business ownership\" (Ekinsmyth, 2011, p. 105; Ekinsmyth, 2013). Duberley and Carrigan (2013) found that while being a good mother was argued to be of paramount importance to mumpreneurs, the women rejected the identity of full-time \"stay at home\" mother and set up a business as a means of developing a new career identity combining motherhood and work. By purposively selecting a sample of self-identifying \"mother-entrepreneurs\" we sought to obtain narratives that intensely demonstrated the intersection of entrepreneurial intent (business start-up) with a critical life-course event (motherhood) and in the context of transition (women moving from employee status to self-employment). We examine the process of career transition in these four cases of \"mumpreneurship\" and analyze the foundations and processes that enable these women to a) conceptualize their careers, and b) develop their work and personal lives around these perceptions of careers.\nResults and discussion: The narratives from this exploratory empirical research reflected two dominant micro-processes (i.e. the processes that give rise to career choices at the individual level) that underpinned career transitions for all of the four female participants. The subsequent sections of the paper are oriented around reporting on those two processes. The first \"leaving traditional employment\", uncovers the personal and family factors that underpinned their pursuit of a boundaryless career via an entrepreneurial pathway. These findings underscore the interplay of personal, family, and career orientations in the perception and development of career transition and are derived from the first longitudinal data collection point. The second micro-process (\"creating boundaries\") is drawn from the data collected at the second longitudinal data point (three years after the first). It highlights the individual and organizational factors that contributed to the character of work/life boundaries and the organizational impact on career development (King et al., 2005; Sullivan, 1999). Each of the two micro-processes comprises sub-components that are detailed below and arranged using subheadings. We evidence these thematic processes with selected quotes and summarize the findings in relation to both processes in Tables I and II.\nConclusion: In summary, this paper challenges the prevailing assumption that the meaning of a boundaryless career is independent from the traditional career (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996; Grant-Vallone and Ensher, 2011). Instead, we redefine the boundaryless career in the context under discussion (mothers transitioning to self-employment) as having a structured yet fluid form that embodies components that both bind and empower them in their lives as entrepreneurs and mothers. By observing how four nascent women entrepreneurs who left traditional career patterns at the time of becoming mothers for the first time subsequently (over a period of years) went on to create economic value via business creation, we subscribe to O'Neil and Bilimoria's (2005) argument that the differential impact of family responsibilities on men's and women's careers makes a compelling case for treating women's careers as entities worthy of focused investigation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use boundaryless career theory as a perspective from which to explore understanding related to the interplay between life-stage and career transitions in women; and, specifically, the life-stage-related event of motherhood relative to the transition from corporate employment to self-employment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative longitudinal research design was operationalized over a four-year period and data from both primary and secondary sources were collected in relation to four New Zealand case studies.\nFindings: The findings highlight how life-stage events such as motherhood can have a profound influence on both the perception and enactment of careers and career transitions. In total, two primary micro-processes were identified in relation to the career transitions of the female participants into self-employment and were labeled \"traditional employment\" (relating to role change; integrating work and life domains; opportunity seeking; and support) and \"creating boundaries\" (relating to: compartmentalization of responsibility, life-stage events, work models, and business growth and success).\nResearch limitations/implications: Exploratory in nature; small in scale; limited to one geographic context.\nOriginality/value: The authors attempt to add a more nuanced understanding of the notion of boundaryless careers in relation to entrepreneurship generally and the transition of a group of women into self-employment specifically. Both the discourse and pragmatics of boundaries between work/life and past careers/new careers is more salient in terms of success than possibly historically understood in this domain, and the enactment of boundaries richer and more diverse than theory may currently account for.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Exploring drivers and barriers for organic poultry consumption
|
[
"Organic food",
"Poultry market",
"Consumer attitudes",
"Purchase behaviour",
"Consumer segmentation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumption habits change and develop continuously. Two important trends over the last years are a growing demand for poultry products and an increasing interest in welfare-oriented animal husbandry. Poultry products are easy and fast to prepare, which makes them ideal when there is little time for cooking. Moreover, health ideals are assigned to poultry products due to their low-fat content, which is in line with an overall trend towards healthy diets. In the European Union (EU), per capita consumption of poultry increased by 12% from 2012 to 2016. At the same time, per capita consumption of beef and pork stagnated (BLE, 2018). Consumption of poultry from organic agriculture is also growing; however, its market share still lies far below the overall organic market share of retail sales (Willer et al., 2018). This is surprising, as consumers are increasingly concerned about animal welfare in intensive conventional production systems and organic production systems are seen as more animal-friendly (Denver et al., 2017). This holds particularly true for poultry products, as conventional poultry farming is a very intensive production system.The effects of consumers' animal welfare perceptions on meat preferences have been investigated in a broad range of literature (Harper and Makatouni, 2002; Pouta et al., 2010; Grunert et al., 2018). Some of these studies have focussed on conventional plus meat products, which offer consumers animal-welfare-enhanced products at lower prices than organic alternatives, and discuss their potential in relation to organic meat products (De Jonge et al., 2015; Denver et al., 2017). Research concerning determinants of organic poultry consumption is rare (O'Donovan and McCarthy, 2002; Verhoef, 2005; Van Loo et al., 2010) and the growth potential of and barriers for the poultry market are not fully understood. Results from Buder et al., (2014) and Van Loo et al., 2010 indicate a very limited product range for organic poultry products in retail and consumers' focus on product attributes other than organic production (e.g. overall appearance, taste) as growth constraining factors.This paper contributes to the understanding of the potential of the organic poultry market by analysing determinants for organic poultry consumption. Previous literature broadly points out three important strands in explaining consumption patterns that are considered in the analysis. First, socio-demographic aspects such as gender and household income are shown to play a role in purchase decisions (Dimitri and Dettmann, 2012). Second, individual specific attitudes based on social, personal and moral norms are found to be relevant. In this context, some studies highlight health and safety issues as reasons for organic food purchases, whereas other studies demonstrate the significance of ethical and moral reasons such as concern for the environment and animal welfare (Bravo et al., 2013). Third, significant effects of product-specific aspects such as taste, and foremost, price are highlighted (Lee and Yun, 2015; Marian et al., 2014).This study investigates the aspects mentioned above for different consumer segments to obtain a better knowledge of consumers' attitudes and perception towards organic poultry. Based on primary survey data containing information on stated purchase behaviour for conventional and organic poultry products, three consumer segments are differentiated: those who did not buy organic poultry products at all, those who bought organic and conventional poultry products, and those who only bought organic poultry products. Besides detecting socio-demographic differences, this paper aims to investigate differences in attitudes towards animal husbandry methods in general, and organic poultry (products) specifically, as well as towards prices and media reports about animal husbandry. Furthermore, this study aims to identify drivers and barriers for the demand of organic poultry and provides recommendations for market actors.\nMaterial and methods: Theoretical background\nResults: Composition of the sample\nConclusions and market implications: Consumer demand for organic food has continued to grow. An increasing demand can also be observed for organic poultry products, however, at a comparatively low level. As value-based aspects like animal- and environmentally friendly production methods are discussed more and more in the general public (De Jonge et al., 2015), this suggests a growth potential for the organic poultry market. One of the most important insights of this study is that consumer attitudes and determinants of purchasing decisions significantly differ between consumer segments. We defined consumer segments according to consumers' stated purchase behaviour. Key attributes of the three segments are displayed in Table 9.For the conventional poultry consumer segment, price is still an important purchase barrier. It is the consumer segment with the highest price sensitivity and the lowest willingness to pay price premiums. Nevertheless, in this consumer segment, there are also respondents for whom price is not the only determinant of a purchase decision. For these consumers, it is important to obtain information about the other reasons they include in their purchase decision. More than 50% of the respondents of the conventional consumer segment agreed that good prices are as important as product quality and that the price-quality relation is very important. This indicates that product quality is considered in the buying decision, but with prices in mind. Promoting the very high product quality of organic poultry products can only be successful with regard to consumers with very high quality expectations. A more promising approach is to more effectively communicate the high(er) animal welfare standards of organic poultry production, as animal-friendly husbandry is a relevant topic for conventional consumers too. This is reflected in our results and in the ongoing public discussions about animal-friendly production systems to which various retail chains reacted with the implementation of in-house labels for animal-friendly husbandry methods. Thus, it is important to explain differences between products with a focus on only animal-friendliness and organic poultry products, which consider a lot more aspects, e.g. kind of fodder provided, and, most often, implement stricter animal-welfare standards. Previous studies confirm that providing consumers detailed information about specific production systems lead to a change in product preferences (Toma et al., 2012; Risius and Hamm, 2017). Otherwise, consumers may ask themselves why they should buy organic poultry products when cheaper conventional products, which also claim to implement animal welfare standards, are offered on the market.While for the conventional consumer segment the question is why they do not buy organic poultry products, the question for the indifferent consumer segment is rather why they switch between organic and conventional poultry products. The indifferent consumer segment is less price sensitive, so high prices for organic poultry products are not the determinant for the purchase decision. Bearing in mind that the indifferent consumer segment values animal-friendly production systems and that the majority is willing to spend more money on organic poultry meat, it is likely that production standards concerning animal welfare need to be communicated more effectively. In contrast to conventional consumers, the indifferent consumer segment is influenced by media reports, so this communication channel should be used more intensively. Another important finding is that indifferent consumers are not satisfied with the variety of poultry products. They would welcome a wider range of organic poultry products. Thus, increasing product variety in supermarkets where indifferent consumers mostly go shopping would also help to increase the sales potential of organic poultry.This study has the limitation that the survey was conducted in Germany only. Taking other countries into consideration where the per capita consumption of poultry is generally much higher than in Germany, e.g. France, Portugal and the UK (Alter et al., 2018; FAOSTAT, 2018) would provide a broader view, and would also permit the identification of country-specific constraints and strategies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify drivers and barriers for the demand of organic poultry to provide recommendations for market actors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: 644 consumers were interviewed through computer-assisted self-interviews in four regions (north, south, east and west) of Germany in front of conventional supermarkets and organic food shops. The survey data were analysed differentiating between three consumer segments. In addition to descriptive analysis, an explorative factor analysis was conducted and a multinomial logit model was applied.\nFindings: The results show that consumer preferences, attitudes and determinants of purchase decisions differ significantly between consumer groups. Price sensitivity, appreciation of animal-welfare, belief in altruistic benefits of organic poultry production, as well as the influence of media reports are important determinants for the purchase decision of different consumer segments.\nPractical implications: This study provides information for market actors regarding which strategies to adopt to increase the sales potential of organic poultry indifferent consumer segments.\nOriginality/value: The organic poultry market has great potential as it can meet the growing demand for healthy and sustainable products which are produced in an animal-friendly way. However, its market share still lies far below the overall organic market share for food products in total. Reasons for the low market share were not explored in-depth until now.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Flexible flexibility! Food categorization flexibility and utilitarian preference
|
[
"Self-control",
"Categorization flexibility",
"Conservation mind-set",
"Hedonic choice",
"Nutrition mind-set",
"Utilitarian choice"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Food consumption choice often involves options representing two conflicting goals: the hedonic goal of sensory stimulation and enjoyment versus the utilitarian goal of functional value and pursuit of health (Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000; Fishbach et al., 2003; Redden and Haws, 2013; Wansink et al., 2002). Extant research considers the interplay of taste and health considerations in the form of conflict between the short-term goal of indulging in tasty food and the long-term cold cognitive deliberation (Belei et al., 2012; Raghunathan et al., 2006). Indulgence in hedonic choices, in the form of tasty but unhealthy, calorie-dense and high-fat food, is a common occurrence for consumers (Naylor et al., 2009; Raghunathan et al., 2006; Sengupta and Zhou, 2007).\nTheory and conceptual framework: Categorization flexibility\nStudy 1: Conservation mind-set and categorization flexibility: Objective, design, procedure and measures\nStudy 2: Nutrition mind-set and categorization flexibility: Objective, design, procedure and measures\nGeneral discussion: Food choice and consumption are influenced by a wide range of personal and contextual factors and as well as characteristics of the food itself. Accordingly, recent research in marketing has traced various antecedents to food decision-making and choice, including low-fat nutrition claims (Wansink and Chandon, 2006), health versus financial goals (Haws and Winterich, 2013), nutritional information processing (Nikolova and Inman, 2015) and so on. The central focus of this research was to examine whether food categorization flexibility can, in some instances, engender greater desire for utilitarian choices. How categorization flexibility might shift consumers' preferences away from hedonic choice toward utilitarian choice warrants far more empirical scrutiny attention than it has garnered. We position our work within the literature on self-control which is integral to avoid hedonic temptations (Hoch and Loewenstein, 1991). We advance and find support for two moderators (i.e. conservation mind-set and nutrition mind-set) attenuating the previously documented high categorization flexibility's positive influence on hedonic choice. Study 1 demonstrate the pro-utilitarian (pro-hedonic) effect of higher categorization flexibility for consumers who have been primed to be aware of the need to conserve resources (or not, neutral state). The same effect is demonstrated in Study 2 for consumers who were primed to be more health-focused (or not, neutral state). By presenting evidence of contextual influences on consumer food choice, this research bears directly on efforts in designing effective interventions to promote calorie-modest balanced diets and improve consumer well-being. Based on our theorizing, inducing conservation mind-set and nutrition mind-set may help reduce consumers' dietary lapses and the tendency to make sub-optimal food choices.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose that high categorization flexibility's positive influence on hedonic or affect-laden choice is attenuated by conservation and nutrition mind-sets. Further, categorization flexibility can also promote utilitarian or cognitively superior preference and may have a role in steering customers toward healthier dietary choices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two experimental studies document that the pro-utilitarian impact of food categorization flexibility can be facilitated by priming conservation mind-set and nutrition mind-sets.\nFindings: The results of this study show that conservation and nutrition mind-sets not only mitigate the earlier-demonstrated facilitative influence of food categorization flexibility on hedonic food preference, but also facilitate utilitarian food preference.\nOriginality/value: The current study provides the first evidence that food categorization flexibility can facilitate both hedonic and utilitarian preferences. The findings contribute to literature streams on categorization flexibility, resource-scarcity and hedonic versus utilitarian consumption. In addition, the findings offer specific prescriptions about encouraging customers to choose utilitarian and relatively more healthful food options, which in turn will improve the general welfare of the society.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Three steps for successful implementation of sales portals in CPG companies
|
[
"Consumer goods",
"Packaging",
"Sales management",
"Portals"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nSales portals in consumer packaged goods (CPG) Industry: Consumers in today's world have become more demanding due to rising disposable incomes and wide options to choose from. CPG companies need to keep abreast with the changing consumer needs and business scenarios to remain competitive in the market. They need to manage their new product innovations and promotions more efficiently and effectively to minimize costs and increase sales. At the same time, visibility of inventory and sales across the various channel partners like distributors, retailers is a must for effective and efficient decision-making. CPG companies across the globe face several challenges right from understanding consumers to servicing them. Some of the major challenges faced by a typical CPG company are:*New product introduction and monitoring - failure of new products due to incorrect research, incorrect pricing and improper promotional support are some of the primary concerns.*Lack of visibility of inventory and sales data across the distribution channel leading to poor financials.*Meeting the distribution service level expectations of organized retail.*Effective management of promotions - poor planning, lack of timely data to restructure the promotion and delay in settling the payouts to the channel partners are key concern areas.*Understanding market trends and competition analysis - lack of availability of the latest information of market trends and competition moves to take appropriate decisions.Companies thus have decided to get into sales portals to effectively mitigate most of these problems. Every company decides to develop a portal to communicate with all its channel partners, easily, and provide them the information, knowledge and tools to sell more of the company products.Very often, these sales portals fail as the channel members do not see clear benefits from the same. Also, due to technological constraints, the channel partners are unable to use the portal effectively. Several CPG companies have set up sales portals, but not been able to effectively use it as they have not been able to streamline the process making it transparent to all the channel partners involved.\nKey considerations for a successful sales portal: For any web-based sales portal to succeed, it is necessary that the company is clear of the objectives of the portal. There are several elements that need to be taken care before implementing a sales portal. The following are some of the key elements.Understanding and factoring the needs of the channel partners\nConclusion: The possibilities of a sales portal are enormous and can be leveraged as per the changing environment and needs of the market. Sales portal can be used for integrating with material suppliers, other service providers like advertising agencies, market research agencies, consumer panels, and so on. The CPG companies can look at sales portals as an efficient way to coordinate and communicate with the channel partners. An effective sales portal is one that is flexible and user-friendly. A CPG company needs to take the sales and marketing teams, distributors/retailers into confidence to ensure a successful implementation and use of sales portals. The entire program needs to be driven by the top management with clear business objectives and directions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper attempts to provide a structured process for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies which wish to implement sales portals in their organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach to the framework is largely derived from the authors' experience with CPG companies. It also involves reference to some secondary information. The paper also presents an example of a case study to validate the benefits of a structured approach to sales portal implementation.\nFindings: - The paper throws light on why CPG companies fail to implement sales portals and prescribes a three-step approach to streamline the implementation process.\nPractical implications: - The paper presents a ready guide on what needs to be considered while implementing a sales portal across different channel partners.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is an original work based on rich experience in the CPG field and provides a simple method for companies planning to implement sales portals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Getting the best out of executive coaching: a guide to setting up a coaching process
|
[
"Coaching",
"Human resource management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Coaching is a word on everyone's lips. With the flurry of coaches of all kinds in the market place, many organizations make use of coaches as a way of supporting and developing their senior managers. In most companies, however, coaching remains an exception rather than \"business as usual\". The decision and process of procuring a coach remains at the fringe of the human resource (HR) department. How can organizations know if coaching is the right approach for them? And how can they make best use of the coaching process, ensuring that it is an integral part of their culture, processes and company strategy?\nAligned HR processes: The coaching process needs to align with the overall HR and performance management processes within an organization. In the past, coaching was only perceived as a developmental tool for a handful of the most senior managers in the business. Increasingly this is not the case as coaching interventions are more focused and seen as a cost-efficient way of achieving personal learning at all levels of management.In introducing coaching as a capability building process, it is essential that the HR department clarifies the basis on which coaching can and will be provided. Has a coaching need arisen from a performance review? How would a manager recognize this as a coaching opportunity? And, what is the role of HR in this process?Coaching often involves making use of 360 feedback to ensure a clear starting point for the coaching process. Is your organization used to 360 feedback and more importantly, is the culture and environment supportive enough for constructive feedback to be given?\nSell it, do not impose it: Coaching is a co-created process. It involves not only the willingness, but also the motivation of the client to engage fully and start doing things differently. A reluctant senior manager is unlikely to make best use of a coaching relationship irrespective of how much this may be needed.Coaching is not an emergency intervention. When people dynamics in the business are strained because of an individual's style or behavior, imposing a coach may be counter-productive. Most of us do not like to be told we need to change.For behavioral change to be successful, it needs to arise from the ground of the individual's choice and desire to be different. Therefore, for a coaching relationship to work, the individual must be able to own up to his/her responsibility in what is going on and be ready to address it. This is a role the HR department needs to play in setting the scene up for a successful coaching intervention.In some environments, coaching is perceived as either a form of counseling or a more invasive way of being judged and assessed by the organization. If the process is perceived as cure, a way of \"fixing a problem\", it is unlikely that individuals will take it up easily. Being clear about the coaching process, its boundaries and confidentiality will go a long way in setting the scene for a successful outcome of coaching.\nThere is no such thing as a universal coach: Key to the coaching relationship is the alliance and trust between coach and coachee. Do not expect a coach to have the same impact on two different executives. Age, gender, background and experience all matter in the selection of a coach. The \"chemistry\" between the pair is a vital component in the success of the coaching relationship. The executive must have confidence that the coach is the right person for him/her. Similarly, the coach needs to be comfortable working with that particular individual.It is often best to set up a preliminary meeting based on mutual assessment before deciding to work together.\nConfidentiality boundaries: Confidentiality is a major corner stone of building a trust relationship. The content of the coaching session is confidential within certain ethical and practical boundaries. Ethically, total confidentiality would exclude any issues of safety to the coachee or others, as well as the possibility of the coach being able to discuss the work with his or her supervisor. A good coach will have a supervisor or coach of their own as a way of maintaining the quality and efficacy of their work. Within a supervisory type relationship, the identity of the coachee is kept confidential to protect the privacy of the client further.At a practical level, the issue of how much can be disclosed back to the internal provider of coaching is an important point. In purchasing a service, the organization needs a way of assessing the quality and efficacy of the service provider or coach in this instance. This can be done through a simple process provided that the following confidentiality steps are maintained:1. Only information that has been pre-agreed between coach and coachee can be released to a specified third party.2. Ultimately the coachee has final say as to what information is shared. Any assessment of the session needs to be completed by the coachee and not the coach.It is not necessary to disclose the content of a coaching session in order to assess its benefit or the quality of the coaching process.\nCoaching as a strategic process: Coaching needs to be viewed as a way of developing the overall capability of an organization. If we think of corporate capability at both the individual and strategic levels, it becomes essential to harness the knowledge and insight gained through the coaching process to the benefit of the overall organization.As a coach, I am constantly amazed at how a single session with a client gives me a wealth of information about the organization overall. It is culture, values, priorities, strengths and weaknesses. Using the analogy of a fractal, the whole is always within the smallest part and each part is reflective of the whole. Similarly, coaches gather in depth knowledge and insight into the organization through their one-to-one sessions.Capturing this knowledge is the way forward in ensuring coaching builds both the organization's strategic and individual's capabilities. There are many ways of securing this knowledge. A regular (typically annual) survey or questionnaire sent to both internal and external coaches will provide an overview of the key issues or themes to address. Alternatively, a more interactive way would be to invite all internal and external coaches within your organization to a knowledge-sharing workshop. It is important in this process to ensure that ethical and confidentiality boundaries are maintained. This can be achieved, preferably off site, through a facilitated debrief focused on organizational learning.\nConcluding comments: In this time of almost constant change in organizations, coaching can provide a way of both supporting and up-skilling managers.To get the best outcome from a coaching process, it is essential that it be aligned with the overall culture, values and processes within the organization.Used well, coaching can be a great enabler for strategic change as well as personal growth and motivation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to address how organizations can make the most out of an executive coaching process that is well integrated into their internal culture, human resources (HR) processes and overall strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper provides some practical pointers that organizations should do to improve the efficacy of their executive coaching process.\nFindings: - Findings of the paper include: aligning the coaching process with culture and other HR processes; managing the perception of coaching in the organization; attending to the boundaries of confidentiality in coaching; and harnessing the knowledge of executive coaching as a way of capturing organizational learning.\nOriginality/value: - Little has been written on how best to integrate an executive coaching process within the culture and overall processes of an organization.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Setting an agenda for women entrepreneurship in Nigeria: A commentary on Faseke's journey through time for The Nigerian Woman
|
[
"Women",
"Entrepreneurialism",
"Education",
"Nigeria"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Dr (Mrs) Modupeolu Faseke (nee Duze) was born in November 1954. She graduated from the esteemed University of Ibadan in 1977 with a second-class honors upper division at the young age of 23. She went on to complete her Masters degree from the University of Ife in 1980 and returned to complete her PhD in her Alma Mater (i.e. the University of Ibadan) in 1997. Dr Faseke is a renowned specialist in Administrative history and women's studies and at the time of writing the book in question, was Associate Professor in the Department of History and International Studies at the Lagos State University. Among her other accomplishments include being a key resource person for many national and international conferences, Head of Department of History at the Lagos State University between 1990 and 1994, Fellow of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarization (CENCOD), Member of the Nigerian Association of Public Administration and Management (NAPAM), Association of African Women in Research and Development (AAWORD), Association of African Society UK (ASAUK) and Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Cultural Studies. Her research publications - including policy papers, books and monographs span over two decades - from 100 Model Questions and Answers on National History of Nigeria (1984) to the monograph on Women, Marriage and Administration written in 1995.\nBackground to The Nigerian Woman: In its five-chapter composition, Dr Faseke's book split the status of women in Nigeria into three phases - pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial (i.e. independent Nigeria). In the 72-page book, Dr Faseke highlighted the economic and socio-political status of the Nigerian woman in what she described as \"time perspective.\" The first chapter provides a broad coverage of women in a general context. This is followed by a discourse of women in pre-colonial Nigeria in Chapter 2. Dr Faseke as it should be, rather than \"Dr (Mrs)\" which has become the general nomenclature ascribed to women PhD holders or medical doctors - goes on, in Chapter 3, to highlight some of the key challenges faced by women under colonial rule. In Chapter 4, women in \"independent\" Nigeria (between 1960 and 2000) take centre stage. Dr Faseke wraps up with an outlook on the future of women in twenty-first century Nigeria - in her final Chapter 5. This paper focuses on what it considers to be the crux of the tribute to a woman achiever -, i.e. in her elaboration of the \"journey through time\" of the Nigerian woman over three turbulent historical waves - notably the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial.\nThe journey through time: This section teases out the challenges faced by the \"Nigerian woman\" as opined by a true historian who in all honesty also acknowledges the major strides of women in the country's socio-political landscape in the tripartite eras and/or waves discussed in the rest of this paper.The first wave\nDiscussion and conclusions: Over the years, a number of studies have documented barriers to women's advancement in the corporate world including stereotyping and misperceptions about women's abilities and long-term commitment to business careers. Among the usual suspects, irrespective of geographical or historical boundaries, include exclusion from informal networks and channels of communication; lack of willingness to \"risk\" putting women in key developmental positions especially line positions, pay inequalities and sexual harassment (Madichie, 2007, 2009, 2010). These barriers have prompted many women into seeking alternative employment options - thus paving the reinvigorated interest in women entrepreneurship discourse.Although the Nigerian constitution recognises the principle of \"equal pay for equal work without discrimination on account of sex\" and seeks to eliminate discrimination on any ground in employment matters, women encounter informal discrimination in employment and often do not receive wages comparable to those received by their male counterparts (Woldie and Adersua, 2004). However, even in the face of this perceived gendered-stereotypes there are indications that women do not, consciously or unconsciously, enhance the development of their species. Mama (1997) highlighted the absence of \"real support\" from women leaders for other women in her evocative phrase femocracy - a point that was confirmed in another noteworthy terminology as the \"First Lady Syndrome\" (Okeke, 1998; Madichie, 2010). This point is well documented in Faseke (2001, p. 48) when she pointed out how the Better Life for Rural Women Programme was \"hijacked by the urban women\" -, i.e. the elite. The same observation was made three years later, where most businesswomen were found not to appreciate one of their folds in business matters (Woldie and Adersua, 2004, p. 87):It is difficult to rely on other women, women who make it in business do not help other businesswomen, and they do more harm than good.This is not to deny the fact that the Nigerian woman needs to prove herself to male counterparts in order to be accepted into the fold. In agreement with Faseke's oft repeated point on this matter, Woldie and Adersua (2004) reported that:[...] the greatest challenge for Nigerian women in business is being taken seriously by their male counterparts, as well as by society in general.There are also indications that women and success might have to be a zero-sum game where successful women would have to be failures in other departments:For a woman to succeed as much as a man, she must either be single or have adult children, men have no worries, women have too much to worry about where their kids are concerned, it is therefore, difficult for us (women) to succeed more than our male counterparts.Additionally, interesting remarks can be gleaned from Woldie and Adersua (2004) based on responses they received from questions posed to their interviewees, which have already been documented elsewhere (Madichie, 2009, 2010). However, some key excerpts are worth restating here for illustrative purposes. For example, Woldie and Adersua (2004, p. 86) reported that:A total of 40 percent said that being a woman had not disadvantaged their career, one respondent even went further to say that as a woman, I don't think I have been disadvantaged, I am very determined, I don't let gender get me down [it] [...] is not an issue, it's your determination that matters.A lot of men tend to appreciate a hard working educated woman, I have been fortunate.The extra effort to prove herself to her men folk has also been captured in the literature (Woldie and Adersua, 2004, p. 88):[...] A woman must take herself seriously, when she does, gender becomes irrelevant [...] business in Nigeria knows when a person has potentials regardless of gender.Nigerian men are threatened by an educated woman [...] my husband has been very helpful, I get good advice from him, he sees me as a colleague not as a woman, and I would say his support has been the only thing pushing me forward.The greatest reward of business ownership for women is in \"gaining control over their own working lives.\" In many instances, women are unable to benefit from services, and most struggle to circumvent discriminations in business circles (Woldie and Adersua, 2004; cited in Madichie, 2009, p. 58):Women have been able to create their own enterprise, even in countries where economic decisions would normally be taken by the male head of the households. Nigeria is a good example of this phenomenon.Little wonders why women not only recognize the need to compete with their men folk on a level playing field, but also exhibiting a penchant for men over women mentors. In evidence of this surprising find, research shows that having a senior-level male manager as a mentor can assist a woman's career progression rates (Arnold and Davidson, 1990). The chief benefits of such cross-gender mentoring have also been found to include emotional support, motivation and personal development.Overall, therefore, although I lay no claim to being a historian by training, I have gained deeper insights into the development of women in Nigeria from Faseke's The Nigerian Woman. It behoves me that seminal works of the likes of Amina Mama (1997, 1999) and Faseke (1994, 1998, 2001) are completely missed out in the current discourse on women entrepreneurship or women in management in Nigerian and by extension African context (I have also been guilty of this until now). Perhaps, this imbalance cannot be divorced from the fact that Faseke's book was published by a local lowly press of Agape's status in the remote city of Ibadan. Scholars may now be able to probe a little deeper into the roots of the Nigerian woman - a platform thankfully provided by Faseke. She undoubtedly made it clear that the Nigerian woman carved out a niche for herself as a market woman - a conscious reminder of the song lady by Fela \"Anikulapo\" Ransome Kuti (the Afrobeat music legend and son of a notable Nigerian woman Funmilayo Ransome Kuti):Call an African woman, she no go gree, she go say I be lady [...] she go say market woman na woman [...] she wan siddon on top table before anybody[1].For her contribution to a historical understanding of the advancement of women in the Nigerian context, Faseke has not only provided lessons in history (i.e. the historical development of the Nigerian woman) but also played a \"belatedly\" recognized role in advancing the discourse in women studies and most notably women entrepreneurship from the Nigerian context in particular and the African context in general. It is time that scholars interested in understanding Nigerian-cum-African women took heed of this masterpiece on The Nigerian Woman!\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to bring the Nigerian woman from the margins of international obscurity by acknowledging the contributions of reputable academics from an emerging market context on a subject that has pervaded the global podium in recent years - i.e. women in management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper's approach is strictly qualitative in nature - a narrative analysis of a single book on women written by \"a woman of status\" - Dr (Mrs) Faseke, a graduate of the University of Ibadan and one time Head of the Department of History at the Lagos State University (Nigeria).\nFindings: - This paper acknowledges the \"silent voices\" of African women, drawing upon a publication that was encountered purely by chance - Modupe Faseke's The Nigerian Woman published by Agape Publications (Ibadan, Nigeria) in 2001.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although this paper reads very much like an extended book review, it does offer some critical theoretical and practical insight coming from a book published by a local and largely obscure publishing house - Agape Publishers based in the remote city of Ibadan in Southwestern Nigeria.\nOriginality/value: - It is envisaged that after reading this paper, scholars of gender-themed studies may begin probing a bit deeper into the roots of the Nigerian woman and especially in situations where their voices have been muffled.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Is it time to do away with Annual Performance Appraisal System? Benefits and challenges ahead
|
[
"Incentive",
"Performance management",
"Performance appraisal",
"Employee ownership"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizations such as Adobe, Microsoft, Deloitte, Gap and so on have scrapped their annual performance review system. Latest to join this bandwagon is Accenture, which declared that within a month, it will scrap annual performance appraisal for its 330,000 employees.\nWhich factors led to scrapping of annual performance appraisal?: Since 2000, Microsoft used stack ranking system through which one employee was rated against the other, and now it is one of those first companies to scrap this practice.\nHow will compensation or promotion be determined?: Instead of earlier lengthy form where superiors were supposed to rate each individual's skill or ability, now companies are focusing on what will the superior like to do with their subordinates. Thus, it is future focused, action-oriented and related to superior's own emotional response toward the subordinate. For example, Deloitte has only four questions to ask to the superiors:\nWhat will be the role of HR in the new system?: HR needs to take the \"change agent's role\" to uproot a well-entrenched process and create an environment where the new system runs well.\nIs it really the end of performance appraisal process across organizations?: While Microsoft is scrapping the performance appraisal process, organizations such as Yahoo still have it in place. Critique maintains that Yahoo is struggling for survival, for which they had to put restrictions on telecommuting, and imbibed a stringent performance appraisal process to ensure the much needed discipline in the organization. Microsoft on the other hand, despite its healthy financial performance, requires more innovation that needs to come from employees across the board. Moreover, as compared to companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft employees stay back in the organization for longer number of years, and they have to face the brunt of performance appraisal system to a greater extent. Many Microsoft employees poured in their dissatisfactions about performance appraisal process on the social networking sites. Thus, whether to scrap the performance appraisal process altogether depends on strategic imperative of the organization.\nConclusion: Many organizations, based on their strategic needs, have started marking traditional performance appraisal system as \"archaic\" and coming up with a feedback-giving system that supports employee development. Whether the new system will work fine that only time will say, but the philosophy behind the system is worth giving it a try.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe factors that determine scrapping of traditional performance appraisal system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study explains how the new system of feedback giving is aligned with the requirement of performance management system.\nFindings: Traditional performance appraisal often created employee dissatisfaction, stalled employee creativity and team work, and increased employee attrition and missed out on performance improvement of employees. New check-in system promises to develop employees on the basis of continuous feedback mechanism.\nOriginality/value: This paper aims to provides insights on how the new system of performance management is connected to overall needs of the organization and the employees.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A quest for teacher leadership in the twenty-first century - emerging themes for future research
|
[
"Teacher leadership",
"Capacity building",
"Leadership preparation",
"Teacher agency",
"Teacher leader"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last two decades, teacher leadership has been viewed as a key factor determining the quality of schools in the global context of education reform in many developed countries, such as USA, UK, Australia, Singapore and Korea (Wang and Ho, 2018). Based on Lieberman's (2013) view, teacher leadership is concerned with not only the roles that teacher leaders play, but also the organizational and cultural influences on their work. In the turn of the twenty-first century, literature review of teacher leadership research has covered a vast number of studies, such as the work of York-Barr and Duke (2004), Poekert (2012) and Supovitz (2018). York-Barr and Duke (2004) have made a review on teacher leadership research from two decades of scholarship (1980-2004), and concluded three main themes, including defining the notion of teacher leadership, the characteristics of teacher leaders, and the conditions to support teacher leadership. Poekert (2012) has examined 52 studies of teacher leadership conducted from 2004 to 2012. He has revealed that studies on teacher leadership mainly focus on the characteristics of teacher leaders. Recently, Supovitz (2018) has provided a comprehensive review on teacher leadership in which he has conceptualized three characteristics of teacher leadership: the practice of teacher leadership for instructional improvement, the development of teacher leadership capacity, and the creation of specific roles for teacher leaders. The above literature reviews mainly focus on reporting \"what there is\" (i.e. the existing knowledge-base of teacher leadership). In this paper, we aim to take a step further that is not only identify \"what there is,\" but also \"what is missing\" (i.e. gaps in the current literature and research), and \"what could be improved upon\" (i.e. agenda for future research) (University of Cambridge, 2018). A number of scholars (e.g. Machi and McEvoy, 2009; Randolph, 2009) also argue that the purpose of a critical review is to identify where are the gaps in the existing literature. With such purpose in mind, we attempt to offer a critical review on the current literature and research on teacher leadership, reveal if there are any gaps in the ongoing debate, and identify the agenda for future research. In doing so, this paper could shed some light on the development of teacher leadership:\n2. Methodology: The methodology employed in this study was systematic review, which aims to find \"as much as possible of the research relevant to the research questions, and use explicit methods to draw conclusions from the body of studies\" (Szeto et al., 2015, p. 536). We strived to achieve the goals by outlining emergent themes and synthesizing findings.\n3. Findings: In this section, we will address RQ1. Based on reviewing teacher leadership related articles from 2000 to 2018, we summarized four themes that revealed the developmental trend and potential gaps, including \"the notion of teacher leadership,\" \"the theoretical perspectives are used for understanding teacher leadership,\" \"the factors are influencing the development of teacher leadership,\" and \"the approach to build and develop leadership capacity,\" which will be critically discussed, respectively.\n4. Discussion: In this section, based on the findings of RQ1 in Section 3, we will address the RQ2. In Section 3, there are four new themes emerging from the current review: \"the notion of teacher leadership,\" \"the theoretical perspectives are used for understanding teacher leadership,\" \"the factors are influencing the development of teacher leadership\" and \"the approach to build and develop leadership capacity.\" Based on the four themes, we identify three research agendas for future research. Each of them will be discussed in the following.\n5. Conclusion: The above literature and research show that teachers have potentials to be leaders for various aspects of school improvement and development. Therefore, teacher-training institutions, policy makers and school principals should make efforts on advocating and promoting that all teachers could exert formal or informal influence others to work collectively for school change. Particularly, school principals who worked day-to-day with teachers who should play a key role in promoting teacher leadership. They need to encourage teachers to enact their potential leadership capacity, rather than depending on middle-level leaders, and/or themselves to lead the change process. For those teachers who do not hold any formal leadership positions, they need to realize and recognize that they have the capacity and are able to act as change agents and take on the role of leader in promoting school development and student learning. In this regards, teacher education institutions should provide appropriate teacher leadership training programmes and support to individual student teacher, frontline teachers and schools for capacity building. From a wider perspective, policy makers should support the development of teacher leadership by implementing policies on assuming and reinforcing the role of teachers in leading school changes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a research synthesis of findings drawn from studies of teacher leadership published in English-based journals from 2000 to 2018. The goal of the research synthesis was to develop new insights into teacher leadership through a theoretical discussion and to identify emerging themes for future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology employed in this study was systematic review. The study first identifies a body of relevant literature and research on teacher leadership from the English-based journals from 2000 to 2018. Information concerning the nature of the studies as well as substantive findings was extracted from each of the articles. Synthesis of findings was accomplished by identifying key themes in the literature.\nFindings: The synthesis yielded four themes: \"the notion of teacher leadership,\" \"the theoretical perspectives are used for understanding teacher leadership,\" \"the factors are influencing the development of teacher leadership,\" and \"the approach to build and develop leadership capacity.\"\nOriginality/value: This paper attempts to offer a critical review on the current literature and research on teacher leadership, reveal if there are any gaps in the ongoing debate, and identify the agenda for future research. This paper not only explores \"what there is,\" but also examines \"what is missing,\" and \"what could be improved upon\" by reviewing research findings that emerged in the teacher leadership literature produced from 2000 to 2018. The paper could shed light on the existing research about teacher leadership.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Exploring consumers' adoption of highly technological fashion products: The role of extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors
|
[
"Fashion",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Modelling",
"Product differentiation",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A significantly increased number of domestic and foreign firms, a spate of mergers and acquisitions, and increasingly sophisticated and demanding consumers have intensified the competition among retailers, creating considerable challenges for many to differentiate themselves by delivering products and services that fulfill customers' needs better than their competitors. These changes in the competitive retail landscape have motivated some retailers to enter into strategic alliances, defined as \"a cooperative arrangement between two or more independent firms that exchange or share resources for competitive advantage\" (Huang et al., 2006, p. 1216), in which collaboration between two or more firms may have synergized them, generating a greater effect on a product's success (e.g. adoption) than that of an individual firm alone. As such, many distinctive products and services are created in an attempt by these participating firms to differentiate themselves from their competitors and thereby communicate the competitive strengths of their goods to consumers.\nLiterature review: Technology acceptance model\nResearch hypotheses: In Figure 1, we present a theoretical model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). Although originally found in a work-place environment where perceived ease of use positively affected perceived usefulness, studies related to the consumer products domain have not yet examined such a relationship, with one exception: Bruner and Kumar (2005). They found empirical support for the relationship between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness in understanding consumer acceptance of handheld Internet devices. Thus, in the current study, it is expected that as consumers believe that a product is easier to use, they are more likely to view the product as useful. We hypothesized that:H1. A favorable perceived ease of use is more likely to positively influence perceived usefulness of a product.The model also suggests that extrinsic motivational factors (i.e. perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) affect consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward the act of using the product. That is, consumers tend to be cognitively-driven, reason-based and goal-oriented when they believe that their task performance can be improved if they perceive a product to be useful (Babin et al., 1994; Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000). Thus, those with high degree of perceived product usefulness are likely to exhibit a favorable utilitarian attitude toward using a product. At the same time, those with favorable perceptions of product usefulness who also tend to be frequent product users may be more likely to experience pleasure and fun with frequent product usage because they are likely to be hedonically driven by an affective and sensory experience related to the use of a product (Batra and Ahtola, 1990; Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). As such, those with higher degrees of perceived product usefulness are likely to exhibit a favorable hedonic attitude toward using a product as well. Therefore, it is expected that:H2. A favorable perceived usefulness is more likely to positively influence (a) utilitarian and (b) hedonic attitudes toward using a product.Since consumers' perceived ease of use refers to process leading to outcome (Davis, 1989), consumers who believe that a product is easy to use may be likely to display a favorable utilitarian attitude toward using the product because these consumers may be likely to assess the amount of efforts they could spend in learning to use a product to enhance their task performance as well as to improve task efficiency (Davis et al., 1989). In the meantime, they are likely to display a favorable hedonic attitude toward using a product because perceived product ease of use may help to enhance the enjoyment of using a product in its own right, aside from the instrumental value of using a product that may be anticipated (Davis et al., 1992). Hence, it is predicted that:H3. A favorable perceived ease of use is more likely to positively influence (a) utilitarian and (b) hedonic attitudes toward using a product.Furthermore, intrinsic motivational factors (i.e. perceived innovativeness and perceived fashionability) are expected to affect consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward using a product. That is, while consumers who believe a product is innovative are likely to express their interest in using a product to perform their task because of challenge of using an innovation (Deci, 1972; Ryan and Deci, 2000), they also tend to receive sensory stimulation, arousal, or enjoyment from using the product because of excitement and fun that an innovation tends to convey (Blythe, 1999; Venkatraman, 1991). Thus, it is hypothesized that:H4. A favorable perceived innovativeness is more likely to positively influence (a) utilitarian and (b) hedonic attitudes toward using a product.Fashion is concerned with newness (Evans, 1989) and is often considered as a way to express one's self (Sproles and Burns, 1994). As such, consumers who perceive a product as being fashionable tend to exhibit a favorable hedonic attitude toward using the product because of sensory and pleasurable experiences gained from symbols (e.g. style, brand name) associated with an innovation (Sproles and Burns, 1994). Despite the hedonic benefits, consumers may be likely to use a product to perform general tasks because consumers generally consume a product not only on a basis of affective gratification, but also on a basis of function as well (Batra and Ahtola, 1990). Thus, consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward using a product tend to be influenced by their perceived fashionability. Therefore, we predicted that:H5. A favorable perceived fashionability is more likely to positively influence (a) utilitarian and (b) hedonic attitudes toward using a product.Generally, consumers tend to develop their intention to engage in behaviors once their attitude towards such behaviors is positive. Although the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention has been supported in several studies (Bruner and Kumar, 2005; Davis et al., 1992), few studies have examined the impact of the two-dimensional construct of attitudes on behavioral intention. For example, Voss et al.'s (2003) reported that, in the consumer products context, consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes have a positive impact on behavioral intention. Hence, it is anticipated that:H6. Consumers' favorable (a) utilitarian and (b) hedonic attitudes toward using a product are likely to positively influence behavioral intention.\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: Through this study, we successfully developed a model of consumers' adoption of highly technological fashion products (HTFPs) by modifying the technology acceptance model (TAM). This is the first known study to examine the underlying relationships between motivations, consumers' two-dimensional attitudes (utilitarian and hedonic) and purchase intentions in a consumer-related product context. Furthermore, this study also responds to concerns raised by researchers who suggest that the modified TAM model should incorporate other motivational variables to enhance the predictive and explanatory power of the model (Davis et al., 1992; Hu et al., 1999). As detailed, this model incorporated intrinsic motivations related to product attributes (innovativeness and fashion) rather than benefits (enjoyment) that have been found in the literature: these intrinsic motivational variables have proved to be a critical factor in influencing consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes and behavioral intentions in our study. In addition, these two intrinsic motivations contribute an almost equal role in influencing behavioral intentions through consumers' attitudes.In general, our empirical results revealed that consumers' intentions to adopt an innovation (i.e. technological fashion product) are driven by the multi-dimensional nature of consumers' intrinsic (i.e. perceived innovativeness and perceived fashionability) and extrinsic (i.e. perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) motivation. Additively, these motivational dimensions contribute to consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitude toward using an innovation, which in turn affects their likelihood to purchase. The study found that all hypothesized relationships are supported except the relationship between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (g11=0.09, t=1.37, p>0.05) and the perceived ease of use and consumers' hedonic attitude (g31=0.05, t=0.98, p>0.05). Although Davis and his colleagues (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) suggest perceived ease of use as a determinant of perceived usefulness, empirical reports related to this relationship have been mixed. Despite the significant relationship between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness reported in Bruner and Kumar's (2005) study of consumer acceptance of handheld internet devices, Agarwal and Karahann's (2000) and Yi and Hwang's (2003) studies found that perceived ease of use has no significant effect on perceived usefulness in the contexts of information technology usage and web-based information system usages, respectively. A possible explanation for the result is that perceived ease of use may not be a good predictor of perceived usefulness because these young consumers may have become familiar with the highly technological fashion product (the stimuli used in this study, pictures of LG Prada cell phone's touch screen, shared some similarities with an iphone) as a part of their daily lives. Thus, they may not view the product as being difficult to use and have an expectation that the product will perform what it should do (i.e. communication). In addition, results from the correlation shown in Table II showed that perceived ease of use was not significantly correlated with perceived usefulness (r=0.10, p>0.5) and from the SEM revealed that perceived ease of use explained only 0.8 percent variance in perceived usefulness, implying that perceived ease of use may not be a good predictor of perceived usefulness in the context of the adoption of highly technological fashion products. However, this finding needs further empirical validation.Another unexpected result revealed in the current study is that perceived ease of use has no significant effect on consumers' hedonic attitude. This may be because consumers perceive a product that is easy to use as irrelevant to affective gratification derived from product usage. In addition, items used to capture the perceived ease of use construct tend to reflect one's effort and the complexity of the product itself; therefore, the ease of use of a product may not correlate with fun and enjoyment of using that product. Also, several studies have reported that perceived ease of use is less likely to influence consumers' attitudes as compared to perceived usefulness (Childers et al., 2001; Davis, 1989; Hu et al., 1999).Another interesting insight showed by this study involves the introduction of consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes into the model. As stated earlier, no known TAM study has conceptualized consumer attitude as a bi-dimensional construct and examined its effect on purchase intention. Our results shed new light on the relative impact of consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitude on purchase intentions. The findings reinforced the notion that attitudes are multidimensional in nature (Bagozzi and Burnkrant, 1979) and that complex ramifications in consumers' adoption of an innovation context can be fully understood through two distinct dimensions: utilitarian and hedonic. Thus, conceptualizing consumers' attitudes as a bi-dimensional construct helps one to further understand not only attitude-behavioral phenomena, but also the process and outcome of consumer adoption.In sum, the overall results confirm the importance of understanding the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on consumers' adoption of an innovation. These four motivators (i.e. perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived innovativeness, and perceived fashionability) aid in better understanding consumers' adoption of a new product. In addition, these four motivational variables tend to capture some prerequisites that are critical in determining the success of a new product (i.e. complexity, observability, and relative advantages) as identified by Rogers (1995). The findings also add to our understanding of the importance of consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes in predicting an adoption of a new product. All in all, our model suggests that the consumer decision-making process relative to high-tech fashion products is complicated, comprising different influences in a multi-dimensional structure of motivational and attitudinal variables.Implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study seeks to develop and test a model of consumers' adoption of highly technological fashion products (HTFPs) through modifying the technology acceptance model (TAM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a convenience sampling method, students between 18 to 26 years old were chosen as the sample population from a mid-size southern university in the USA. The final sample consisted of 268 responses. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were employed to answer all hypotheses using the structural equation model.\nFindings: - Empirical results revealed that consumers' intentions to adopt an innovation (i.e. highly technological fashion product) are driven by the multi-dimensional nature of consumers' extrinsic (i.e. perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness) and intrinsic (i.e. perceived innovativeness and perceived fashionability) motivation. Additionally, these motivational dimensions contribute to consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward using an innovation, which in turn affects their purchase intentions.\nPractical implications: - Consumers' utilitarian and hedonic consumer attitudes may enable retailers and marketers to design effective advertising campaigns by helping them to determine whether the functional or sensational components of the product need to be emphasized. Furthermore, when developing a new product, marketers need to focus on product attributes that possess both functionality and hedonic benefits.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first known study to examine the underlying relationships between motivations, two-dimensional consumers' attitudes (utilitarian and hedonic), and purchase intentions in the consumer-related product context. The study has broadened the TAM by integrating extrinsic and intrinsic motivational variables into the model. It has also deepened the TAM by conceptualizing consumers' attitudes as comprising two distinct dimensions: utilitarian and hedonic.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
COO labeling as a tool for pepper differentiation in Germany: Insights into the taste perception of organic food shoppers
|
[
"Country of origin",
"Organic consumer",
"Pepper",
"Taste perception",
"Willingness to pay",
"Germany",
"Organic foods",
"Food products",
"Consumer behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Consumers associate the quality of food with its freshness (97 per cent) and taste (93 per cent) (GfK, 2000; van Rijswijk and Frewer, 2008). The latter is as an experience attribute undetectable before purchase. There exist two possibilities to evaluate a product's taste without degustation: consumers can make use of pieces of information, so called quality cues to infer to the characteristic taste or they can rely on prior experience (Kroeber-Riel and Weinberg, 2003; Petzoldt et al., 2007). Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) has been shown in several studies to be an important extrinsic cue for consumers in their quality evaluation of food products (e.g. Elliott and Cameron, 1994; Hong and Wyer, 1989; Van der Lans et al., 2001; Veale and Quester, 2009) such as meat (see, e.g. Loureiro and McCluskey, 2000; Verbeke and Ward, 2006), wine (see, e.g. Skuras and Vakrou, 2002; Veale and Quester, 2008), olive oil (see, e.g. Sandalidou et al., 2002; Dekhili et al., 2011), tea and coffee (see, e.g. Braun, 2007).Spices such as pepper have not been researched yet regarding the relevance of COOL. However, pepper seems to be interesting to analyze for two reasons. First, we can note a shift from pepper being a low-involvement commodity to becoming a lifestyle product. This holds in particular for consumers of organic products and for gourmets (Braun, 2007; Kausch, 2008). Especially, freshly grounded pepper experiences an increasing culinary demand (Deak, 2004). Second, aroma diversity of pepper is determined by its origin which is used in evaluating its quality (Braun, 2007; McFadden, 2008).The original Country of Origin (COO) of pepper is India, where still 90 per cent is cultivated in traditional homestead plantation. Today the main pepper export countries are Vietnam and Brazil, while India ranks 4th. The pepper sold in Germany is mainly imported from Vietnam (35 per cent ) and Brazil (27 per cent ) with 6 per cent coming from India in 2008 (Fachverband der Gewurzindustrie, 2009). Within the species \"piper nigrum\", there are about 100 varieties characterized in Kerala state in southwestern India. Further varieties are native to Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam1. Because of its high ethereal oil content pepper from south-western India (Malabar Coast) is appraised by experts as very aromatic. In comparison pepper from Malaysia or Indonesia is hotter due to its high amount of piperine (McFadden, 2008). The variety of pepper in color, size, pericarp, amount of essential oils and piperine are due to soil, climate and cropping systems (McFadden, 2008)2.Due to the influence of geographical origin on taste, pepper experts state that pepper should be differentiated with respect to country and region of origin, as is already common for, e.g. wine, tea and coffee (Braun, 2007; McFadden, 2008). At present, however, many pepper varieties are not sold in Germany and are mostly not COO labeled. Therefore they cannot be identified by consumers. In addition, the pepper which can be bought in conventional German retail stores is in general \"Hybrid-Pepper\", a mixture of different pepper species as a result of different regions of origin and COOs (Braun, 2007). COOL pepper is so far primarily available in organic stores. Organic consumers are known as conscious and interested in production processes and related issues (e.g. Bellows, 2008; Schifferstein and Oude Ophius, 1998; Sanauer, 2001) with taste being one of the primary reasons for buying organic food (Magnusson et al., 2001; Schifferstein and Oude Ophius, 1998). As research reveals that knowledge is a crucial factor for the use of COOL as purchase criterion (e.g. Schafer, 1997; Van der Lans et al., 2001), we suspect that especially organic consumers know about a pepper's diversity, e.g. taste variety as a result of its COO. As a result we maintain that they expect taste differences, are able to taste pepper's aroma diversity and finally are ready to choose products with COOL for which they are willing to pay a premium.Accordingly, we test whether promoting COOL for pepper from countries and regions that produce high quality peppers could be a successful marketing strategy to attain a premium over other pepper varieties. In addition, we analyze whether taste perception correlates with actual taste and if there is an effect on the success of COOL. Thus, our study is one of few considering taste perception and its role in product evaluation with actual taste experience and how this is linked to consumers' willingness to pay (WTP).The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a brief overview regarding the market for organic pepper based on scanner data from organic food stores and natural food supermarkets collected by bioVista, a retail panel for the organic food market. In section 3 the Total Food Quality Model by Grunert (1996) is introduced as theoretic framework. Information on the design and sample characteristics of the survey is given in section 4 while the results of the empirical analysis are presented and discussed in section 5. The final section summarizes the main findings and provides an outlook regarding further research needs.\n2 The market for organic pepper: 2.1 Scanner data analysis\n3 Study design and sample: 3.1 Design of the study\n4 Empirical results: 4.1 Perceived extrinsic quality cues\n5 Conclusion and discussion: Currently COOL plays only a role in the organic market so far and even here it is not strongly promoted. At present, market success primarily relies on price and the distribution quota of organic brands. This holds despite the fact that pepper has a considerable potential to be differentiated with respect to country and region of origin as aroma, depending on the COO and region of origin.The blind tasting experiment shows that consumers can taste differences in aroma, pungency and finish between various peppers. The aroma mostly influences the preference for one pepper.Without any experience, the success of COO depends on the expected taste perception. The linkage between COO preferences and taste perception increases with rising product-country-image. The fact that affective and cognitive determinants are interdependent is the key to success. On the one hand, the lack of knowledge hinders a successful product differentiation based on COO. In consequence, marketers and producers in foreign countries have to create knowledge regarding the taste differences, especially aroma, of pepper subject to COO. On the other hand, producers from foreign countries, NGOs and governments should communicate a positive country-image. As a result, COO potentially can serve as a quality indicator in the case of pepper and be a successful marketing strategy to attain a premium over other pepper varieties.For future research it has to be assumed that knowledge and relevance of COO is even considerably lower for \"conventional\" food shoppers, as they can be considered less involved. In addition, owing to the small sample size of our study no generalizing to the German population at large is possible. Thus, it seems reasonable to focus first on marketing activities on the organic consumer segment and as a second step, comparable studies about buyers of conventionally produced products would be interesting.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Country of Origin (COO) labeling has been shown in several studies to be an important extrinsic cue for consumers in their quality evaluation of food products such as olive oil, wine or tea. COO has not been discussed in the context of pepper; however pepper's quality highly depends on the heritage. This paper aims to explore this aspect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study was conducted in an organic grocery store in Bonn, Germany. The first part of the face to face interviews at the point-of-sale were carried out for understanding consumers' attitudes towards different extrinsic quality cues. The second part covered the product-country-image of pepper as well as consumers' knowledge regarding COO and pepper quality. Third, the contingent valuation method is used to analyze organic consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Fourth a blind-tasting of black pepper from different origins and production methods was conducted.\nFindings: - The study reveals that organic consumers are able to experience taste differences due to COO though only a minority expects those taste differences. Thus, also concerned and involved consumers are not sufficiently informed on COO information to rely on their purchase decision of pepper. As a result consumers are not willing to pay a significant higher price for COO labeled pepper.\nOriginality/value: - This study is the first which combines face-to-face interviews regarding attitudes, image and knowledge with a blind tasting of pepper and an investigation of consumers' WTP for pepper from different origins and processing characteristics.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Diversity climate impact on employee of color outcomes: does justice matter?
|
[
"Equal opportunities",
"Social justice",
"Employees",
"Ethnic groups",
"Employee turnover",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The US populace, where 38 percent will be minority Americans by 2025 (United States Census Bureau, 2002), is becoming increasingly ethnically diverse. Enhanced organizational emphasis on effective management of all employees, including women and employees of color is being driven by evidence of diverse work force benefits as well as the costs of not managing the complexities of diversity (Wooten, 2008). Knowledge-based organizations of all types, including institutions of higher learning continue to accelerate spending for minority recruitment. Many of these organizations espouse a positive diversity climate as evidenced by the plethora of diversity-related information on their websites and the increasing number of Chief Diversity Officer positions reporting directly to the president or CEO. Organizations also are allocating time and resources to develop diversity mission statements, strategies, managerial competencies, and behavioral and tangible measures. Yet little is known about how diversity strategic management, espoused or enacted, contributes to building a climate that is effective at attracting and retaining minority employees (Chavez and Weisinger, 2008). This research explores one missing link between diversity management, specifically the diversity climate, and important employee outcomes.\nHypotheses: Perceived (un)fairness in organizational diversity climate and employee of color outcomes\nMethods: Sample\nResults: The correlations among the study variables are provided in Table II. Correlations between diversity climate and other study variables were in the expected directions.H1 predicted that perceptions of a fair organizational diversity climate will lead to positive employee of color outcomes: higher organizational commitment and lower turnover intentions. The demographic variables did not affect OC or TI in the analysis for H1 or in any of the subsequent analyses. Diversity climate significantly influenced OC (F=13.34, p<0.001, standardized b=0.52) and TI (F=27.12, p<.001, standardized b=-0.52). Thus, the first hypothesis was supported.H2a and H2b predicted that when employees of color perceive greater interactional justice and a fair diversity climate, organizational commitment will be higher and turnover intentions will be lower. DC had a main effect on OC (t=5.03, p<0.001, standardized b=0.38). Interactional justice (IJ) also influenced OC (t=2.69, p<0.01, standardized b=0.20). In the test of H2a, the interaction of DC and IJ did not influence OC. For the test of H2b, turnover intentions (TI), IJ was significant (t=-2.26, p<0.05, standardized b=-0.27). DC also influenced TI (t=-2.04, p<.05, standardized b=-0.25). However, the interactive effect of DC and IJ was not significant. Thus, the results did not provide support for the moderation H2a and H2b.H2c and H2d predicted that interactional justice will mediate the relationship between perceptions of a fair diversity climate and employee of color outcomes: organizational commitment for H2c and turnover intentions for H2d. To test these hypotheses we ran regression analyses to test for mediation. The first two conditions, that the predictor variable is significantly associated with the outcome and potential mediating variable, were met for both hypotheses. For organizational commitment, the overall F for organizational commitment was significant (F=54.27, p<0.001), but smaller due to the mediating effect of IJ. The Sobel (1982) test statistic (z=2.98, p<0.01) for the indirect effect of the independent variable (DC) on the dependent variable, OC, by way of the mediator, IJ, was significant, suggesting that IJ partially mediated the relationship between DC and OC and supporting H2c.For turnover intention (TI), the overall F was significant (F=19.12, p<.001) and DC significantly influenced TI (F=7.74, p<.01), after controlling for the effect of IJ. The Sobel (1982) test was significant as well (z=2.69, p<0.01), thus supporting H2d. Thus, H2c and H2d, that IJ partially mediates the relationship, DC with OC and TI was supported for both dependent variables.We conducted post hoc analyses to test for moderated mediation[1] (Muller et al., 1998) with IJ as a mediator, of the relationship between DC and the outcomes variables when procedural justice is the moderator. To test for moderated mediation, we split the sample at the median for procedural justice (PJ) and performed the mediation analysis for organizational commitment for low and high procedural justice groupings. Our results did not support moderated mediation for organizational commitment.We then performed a similar moderated mediation analysis for turnover intentions. When PJ was low, IJ completely mediated the relationship between diversity climate and turnover intentions. When IJ was forced into the equation first, DC no longer influenced TI (F=2.02, p<0.16, NS), indicating complete mediation (Sobel test statistic z=2.00, p<0.05). Under the high PJ condition, IJ partially mediated between DC and TI (F=4.51, p<.05, Sobel test statistic z=1.92, p<0.05), providing additional support for H2b. Thus, the post hoc results indicated that for turnover intentions, but not for organizational commitment, there was moderated mediation under both low and high PJ conditions.H3a and H3b predicted that procedural justice will moderate the relationship between perceptions of a fair diversity climate and organizational commitment and turnover intentions, such that when employees of color perceive greater procedural justice and a fairer diversity climate, organizational commitment will be higher and turnover intentions will be lower. The results of the test of H3a indicated that DC had a main effect on OC (t=4.48, p<0.001, standardized b=0.33). Procedural justice (PJ) also influenced OC (t=4.37, p<0.001, standardized b=0.31). However, the interaction of DC and PJ did not influence OC. In the test of H3b for turnover intentions (TI), DC had a main effect on TI (t=-3.26, p<0.01, standardized b=-0.40), but PJ had no significant effect on TI. DC and PJ did not interactively affect TI. Thus, H3a and H3b were not supported.H3c and H3d predicted that procedural justice will mediate the relationships between perceptions of fairness in the diversity climate and employee of color outcomes: organizational commitment and turnover intentions. For organizational commitment, the first two conditions for mediation were met. For the third condition, the overall F was significant (F=61.93, p<0.001), but smaller due to the mediating effect of PJ. The mediating effect of PJ on the relationship between DC and OC was significant (F=18.36, p<0.001, Sobel test statistic z=3.97, p<0.001). For turnover intentions (TI), the results of the third regression failed to show a significant effect of PJ as a mediator of the relationship between DC and TI. Thus, H3c was supported, but H3d was not.Again, we conducted median split post hoc analyses to test for moderated mediation for organizational commitment. The results indicated that, there was moderated mediation. When IJ was high, PJ partially mediated the relationship between DC and OC (F=20.72, p<0.0001). The Sobel test statistic was significant (z=3.36, p<0.01), indicating support for H3c when IJ was high. When IJ was low, initial analysis suggested that PJ partially mediated between DC and OC. The Sobel test statistic was marginally significant (z=1.60, p<0.054), providing qualified support for H3c when IJ was low.The fourth hypothesis predicted that racial awareness and perceptions of diversity climate fairness will interactively influence psychological contract violation, such that racially aware employees of color who perceive a fair diversity climate will report lower psychological contract violation. Results for the test of main effects indicated that diversity climate (DC) influenced psychological contract violation (PCV) (F=-3.10, p<0.01) but racial awareness (RA) did not. The interaction of these two variables, DC and RA, on PCV was significant PCV (F=3.87, p<0.05). The simple slope for high racial awareness (t=-2.57, p<0.05) was significant and in the expected direction. Participants with high racial awareness who perceived a less fair diversity climate reported higher levels of psychological contract violation, as shown in Figure 2, providing support for the fourth hypothesis.\nDiscussion: This study provides new insight into the \"black box\" of process variables that intervene between a precious input (professionals of color) and desirable outcomes such as increased commitment and lower turnover intentions. The results of our examination of professionals of color in one industry across a large number of organizations adds further credence to the growing body of research suggesting that employees of color are sensitive to the diversity climate. Though relative awareness (compared to White employees) was not examined here, other research suggests White employees are less aware of the significance of diversity promises (Kossek and Zonia, 1993; Mor Barak et al., 1998; Thomas and Wise, 1999). Future research could test this premise directly by collecting paired samples of majority and non-majority members across multiple organizations.Researchers have found that poorly managing dimensions of the diversity climate has negative effects on employees of color, including lower job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment and higher levels of cynicism (Buttner et al., 2010; Chrobot-Mason, 2003; Mor Barak et al., 1998; Simons et al., 2007). We replicated those findings with respect to organizational commitment and extended the results by adding an additional employee outcome, turnover intentions, to the range of negative consequences associated with an unfair diversity climate. Our results for H1 indicate that perceptions of unfairness in the diversity climate is associated with (potentially) organizationally costly behavioral intentions for professional employee of color participants, specifically greater intent to leave the organization. Though we did not measure actual turnover, there is a robust literature supporting a positive linkage between turnover intentions and actual turnover (Griffeth et al., 2000). Future research could determine whether turnover intentions are actualized at comparable rates for professionals of color.Our findings extend the literature regarding the determinants and impact of justice in several ways. First, these results suggest that to generate high levels of organizational commitment, organizational agents such as managers should pay attention to the fairness of both organizational diversity climate and organizational procedures. Second, these findings suggest more generally that future research on climate issues might include more focused attention on the dimensionality of organizational climate, including employee of color perceptions of diversity policies and procedures. Developing a finer grained understanding of diversity climate breach is likely to be important in understanding employee cognitive and behavioral reactions. Results of the moderated mediation analysis suggest that interactional and procedural justice play complex roles in mediating the relationship between diversity climate and employee outcomes. We encourage future research that would explore establishing a theoretical basis for the types of complex interactions found. It may be important to examine facets of the organizational diversity climate and of dimensions of interactional and procedural justice to determine which aspects have the greatest impact on employee of color outcomes.When considering the impact of the interactional dimension of justice alone, the results indicate that both interactional justice and diversity climate, independently, are associated with organizational commitment and turnover intentions. However, when testing interactional justice with diversity climate for interaction effects, this justice dimension is not significant. This is an important finding because it suggests that treating professionals of color with respect is ineffective when a lack of fairness in basic climate dimensions is unaddressed. In interpreting this finding, we note that the items measuring the effect of diversity climate are more generally focused on how professionals of color are treated by the organization whereas the interactional justice items pertain to more proximal treatment at the supervisor-subordinate level. It may be that the different organizational levels assessed by these independent variables do not have an interactive effect on the employee outcome variables we assessed in this study. In organizations where leaders do not understand their personal impact via day to day interactions with people of color, especially African Americans, the perceived interactional injustices may continue to outweigh any promises the organization makes regarding its diversity climate. Regardless of written policies, it is the relationship between employees, especially supervisor/subordinate that may substantially impact the productivity and retention rate of highly talented people of color. The findings suggest that organizations should invest more time in developing the cultural competencies of its leaders at a much deeper level than is often the case.We also found that racial awareness appears to operate interactively with diversity climate in affecting perceptions of psychological contract violation. These results are consistent with those of Simons et al. (2007) who showed that employees of color are sensitive to the behavioral integrity of their supervisors. This violation may be due in part to the failure of organizations to provide a realistic job preview regarding diversity management and the diversity climate of the organization. Since realistic job previews have been shown to reduce turnover rates (Hom et al., 1998), the need for realistic job previews on aspects related to diversity management may be especially important for organizations seeking to recruit and perhaps more crucially, to retain racially aware employees.There are several opportunities for future research to build on the present study. Participants in this study were professionals who came from one industry, so the generalizability of the findings to other industries or to non-professional employees of color is unclear. While the response rate in the study was acceptable, it is possible that self-selection among respondents occurred. A second limitation pertains to possible same-source bias. However, concerns that these findings are a result of same source bias are reduced by the strong significance of the relationships found herein, by the evidence that the relationships are consistent with prior theorizing and empirical results, and by recent methodological research which suggests that concerns about same source bias have been overstated in the organizational literature (Spector, 2006).While we had representation of African American, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American professionals in our sample, the number of participants in the latter two categories was relatively low. Research assessing possible differences in attitudes among ethnic groups has been limited. As the US work force becomes increasingly diverse, knowledge about the unique concerns of different ethnic groups, if any, will facilitate effective recruitment and retention strategies.Taken together, the results suggest that members of underrepresented groups in the USA, particularly African Americans, are sensitive to the diversity climate of their employing organizations. It also appears that there are attitudinal and perhaps behavioral consequences to organizations' (lack of) attention to the nature of the diversity climate. Organizations that seek the competitive advantage of the most highly competent and qualified workforce should pay attention to both the expectations created in the recruitment and selection processes and to the organizational climate experienced by the diverse members of their work forces. Our findings suggest that the explicit consideration of creating and maintaining a positive diversity climate as a component of organizational climate will be especially important for retaining committed professionals from underrepresented groups.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purposes of this paper are three-fold: first, to examine the effect of diversity climate on professional employee of color outcomes, organizational commitment and turnover intentions; second, to investigate the moderating and mediating roles of interactional and procedural justice on the relationships between diversity climate and the outcomes; and third, to explore the interactive effect of racial awareness and diversity climate on reported psychological contract violation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors conducted a survey of 182 professionals of color. Correlation, factor analysis, and regression were employed to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: - Results indicate that diversity climate affects organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Interactional and procedural justice played mediating roles between diversity climate and employee outcomes. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that for turnover intentions, there was moderated mediation under both low and high procedural justice conditions. When a diversity climate was perceived to be fair, racially aware respondents reported lower levels of psychological contract violation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Professionals of color from one US industry completed the survey, so conclusions about generalizability should be drawn with caution. Data were cross-sectional and single-source. However, the findings were consistent with past research, lending credibility to the results.\nOriginality/value: - Recent research on workforce diversity has highlighted the importance of effectively managing all organizational members. The paper shows that the diversity climate and organizational justice impact employee of color outcomes. Thus, for managers, creating and maintaining a positive, fair diversity climate will be important for attracting and retaining high-quality professionals of color in US organizations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
ASP system utilization: customer satisfaction and user performance
|
[
"Outsourcing",
"Small enterprises",
"Information systems",
"Service delivery",
"Technology led strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Application service provider (ASP) markets have been growing and this trend is expected to continue in the near future. International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts ASP markets to swell from $3.2 billion in 2002 to $19.9 billion by 2006. ASPs are expanding in number and stabilizing their infrastructures through building their knowledge on successes and failures in the field; and they continue to increase the scope of applications.ASPs represent business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and they are especially helpful for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) which generally cannot afford expensive and complicated information systems (IS) implementation (Heart and Pliskin, 2002). ASPs can be viewed as a type of IS outsourcing, offering business solutions to customer firms through a rental or leasing arrangement rather than purchasing a system (Dibbern et al., 2004). Thus, customer firms of ASPs can use IS at a low and fixed cost with more options, and systems can be upgraded as needed. As the number of providers increase and the services offered expand, SMEs are more intrigued by the available options (Ekanayaka et al., 2003). One major benefit is that ASP services become less risky than traditional IS outsourcing and insourcing (Pons, 2003). Furthermore, the nature of services may provide increased mobility and flexibility to customer firms since most ASPs provide their services via the internet (Smith and Kumar, 2004).The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between ASP utilization and organizational outcomes such as user satisfaction and performance of small firms. Experts in many industries predict ASPs to play increasingly important roles in IS outsourcing (Terdiman, 2000), yet little empirical research has focused on ASPs (Jayatilaka et al., 2003; Rohde, 2004). While research on IS outsourcing has mainly examined large firms (Seddon et al., 2002; Choudhury and Sabherwal, 2003), researchers studying the ASP model should pay greater attention to SMEs as they are the target market for ASP services.Some characteristics of SMEs make them excellent candidates to benefit from ASP services. These characteristics include: relatively simple and centralized decision-making systems based on short-term plans (Levy and Powell, 2003); a lack of resources such as finances, practical knowledge of information technology (IT) and IS, time, and planning; and a lack of shared IS/IT capacity among horizontal departments because they usually do not have a well-structured IS (Kishore et al., 2005).Issues related to IT in small firms have not received a similar level of attention as in large firms. Thus, IS research for small-sized enterprises (SEs) must address different issues and attributes than those of large firms. Previous ASP research has focused on the providers' point of view rather than the customers' (Jayatilaka et al., 2003). It is not appropriate to infer the results for the user based on such studies (Rohde, 2004). Therefore, this study examines major customer firms of ASPs by focusing on SEs.\nLiterature review: ASP services for small enterprises\nResearch model and hypotheses: Figure 1 shows the research model of this study. The variables and hypotheses in the research model are discussed in subsequent sections.System utilization\nMethodology: Data were collected both offline and online in cooperation with the Korea National Computerization Agency which is accountable for the general implementation and support of information technology in Korea. The use of the Korean SE sample is significant for this study as Korea is a leading IT application country in the world (Lee, 2003). Data were first collected from 273 small firms which use ASP service and participated in the \"Small Firm Networking Project\" in Korea. They were interviewed and surveyed through a paper-based questionnaire. In addition, an online survey was conducted using a popup window in a number of ASP web sites, resulting in additional 466 responses. These surveys were conducted with 739 respondents for 30 days.Every response firm is classified as a small firm with less than 50 employees, and has used an ASP service for less than two years. Most firms (94 percent) did not have trouble using ASP services because most of them had been trained from 1 to 10 hours. With respect to industrial classifications, 46 percent of the firms were in the service industry, almost 16 percent in distribution, about 14 percent in manufacturing, and 13 percent in electronics and communications.IT knowledge and communication methods are measured by 12 and 16 items, respectively. Organizational performance of SEs is measured by ten items. A 5 point Likert scale response scheme is used in this study.It is important to verify that questionnaire items explain defined ideas through analysis of reliability and validity. We investigated reliability and validity using Cronbach's a and exploratory factor analysis as shown in Table I. Cronbach's a values for all factors were much higher than 0.7, which represents a minimal reliability.Nunnally and Vernstein (1994) recommended that all of the primary factor loadings should be greater than 0.5 in order to assess the fit between the items and their construct. In this test, all factor loadings were higher than 0.6, demonstrating a good fit between each factor and related items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to verify conceptual validity of the ASP generic perspective, educational perspective and organizational performance perspectives, and the factor loadings of each factor were higher than 0.6.A path analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. The analysis results with LISREL 8.53 show a goodness of fit in the research model (kh2=2570.20, p=0.000, degrees of freedom = 780, kh2/df=3.295, GFI = 0.86, AGFI = 0.84, NFI = 0.93, NNFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.056).When the model is correct but its conditions may not be correct, the kh2 value is likely to appear larger than it should be. This indicates a weakness in using kh2 as an indicator of a goodness of fit since the kh2 value decreases as the sample size gets larger. From this perspective, it is advisable to use the kh2 value in conjunction with other fitness indices (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993). Medsker et al. (1994) suggested that kh2/df ratios of less than 10 can be interpreted as indicating a good fit to the data with ratios less than 2 indicating over-fitting. The current model may be reasonable since the ratio of kh2/df is 3.236.\nResults of analysis: All hypotheses were supported in the analysis except H6 which described the relationship between the perceived level of security and risk and satisfaction of ASP services. Out of six factors in utilization, system information and customer service and maintenance factors had significant effects on satisfaction of ASP services with a p-value of 0.001 (H3 and H4); and price also had a significant effect on satisfaction with a p-value of 0.05 (H5). Educational formalization and educational content had significant effects on educational effectiveness with p values of 0.05 (H7) and 0.001 (H8), respectively.The relationships between outcomes' constructs were also statistically strong. Educational effectiveness had significant effects on satisfaction and organizational performance with p values of 0.05 (H9) and 0.001 (H10). The effect of satisfaction of ASP services on organizational performance (H11) was the most significant among three relationships between outcomes' constructs (p<0.001). Results of the hypotheses are shown in Figure 2.\nDiscussion: With the analysis of SE data, we found significant paths in our model. The results of the path analysis yield several suggestive points. First, customer service and maintenance had the strongest relationship with satisfaction of ASP services among the utilization factors. Apparently, customers think of ASPs not as simple application providers but as all-embracing managers of ASP services. ASPs require three types of skill sets: application, services, and networking (Heart and Pliskin, 2002). In addition to the purchase of ASP services, customer firms need ASPs to fix current or potential problems on the services and networks.Second, ASP price is also a strong predictor of customer satisfaction of ASP services. This result is consistent with the supposition that SEs prefer cost-efficient systems. ASPs, whose target market is small firms, should seek to provide the best value to customers in order to enhance satisfaction and help gain and retain customers.Third, interestingly the security and risk factor was not statistically important for customer satisfaction. There are several plausible reasons for this outcome. First, it may be the culture and advanced IT environment of Korea. Throughout the twentieth century, Korea experienced several crises including the Japanese colonization, Korean War, Asian financial crisis, and the like. It is possible that Korean people have developed much resiliency to national crises which has helped Korea become the 8th largest economy in the world and a leading IT nation (Lee, 2003). This type of spirit could diminish the security issue. It is interesting to note that today almost 80 percent of Koreans use the fastest broad band internet daily. Another reason for this unexpected outcome may be that the subjects of the study are small businesses. They may not be as sensitive to the security risks simply due to the size of their business, whereas large firms have a great deal at stake if data is lost or compromised. Small businesses may be more interested in the conspicuous factors such as price and customer service.Fourth, an effective training program influences satisfaction of ASP services and organizational performance. Lee et al. (1995) maintained that failure in using technology in an organization can be influenced by the lack of proper training programs for end-users. Survey respondents thought education content rather than the training organization produced effective training programs.Fifth, satisfaction and effectiveness of training had significant impact on organizational performance indicators as expected. When customer firms believe organizational performance is improved by current ASP services, they are likely to continue using the services.Managerial implication\nConclusion: This study examined SE customers of ASPs and analyzed the relationships between utilization of ASP services, educational factors, and organizational performance. The results showed that customer service/maintenance was the most important construct affecting satisfaction of ASP service. ASP price was the next most significant determinant of satisfaction among system utilization factors. Among educational factors, fit of education content and organization of education were statistically significant influences on educational effectiveness. In three outcome constructs, satisfaction of ASP service and educational effectiveness affect organizational performance and educational effectiveness enhances organizational performance channeled through satisfaction of ASP service.This study provides several contributions. First, ASPs serving SEs should focus on critical factors affecting customer satisfaction. Channeling resources into factors that increase satisfaction also affect the client firm's performance, which increases the value of the services offered to the client firm. In turn the ASP realizes customer retention, which contributes to its own profitability. Second, potential client firms can use these factors as criteria in selecting a service provider, increasing the likelihood of successful implementation of the application service. Third, previous studies examined system utilization as a single factor (Lee et al., 1995) revealing a marginal relationship with satisfaction. This study breaks down the system utilization factor into several valid sub-factors, revealing varying degrees of relations with satisfaction. Finally, the study provides insight on the value of education and training when employing ASP services. Pertinent training could help client organizations exploit effective but somewhat complicated applications.The Korean ASP industry was very crowded several years ago because the entrance barrier is not high. However, the number of ASPs has been decreasing for several reasons. The high initial investment requirement for software and hardware, and unstructured and often unproven business strategies have influenced the ASP market. Also, external causes such as the burst of the dotcom bubble and world-wide recession, have impacted the ASP industry. Nevertheless, the Korea Information Strategy Development Institute forecast that the number of customer firms of ASPs will remain stable, and successful ASPs that implemented creative business models would still make profit and be successful.Since, this study chose customers of ASP services in Korea, the results may not be universal. To increase external validity, vertical or horizontal extensions of this study should be conducted in the future. For example, ASP customers in other countries, such as the US and European nations, should be investigated with the same methods and measures allowing comparisons across countries. In order to study the impact of rapidly changing technologies and users' perception on the technologies, a longitudinal study can focus on the same SEs and compare results across time.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to understand effects of ASP utilization on organization performance measured in terms of satisfaction and educational effectiveness on the part of the customer firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study follows the positivist approach. After a research framework was developed and hypotheses defined, based on a thorough ASP literature review, data were collected from small firms which use ASP services. Results were discussed to suggest strategic directions of ASPs.\nFindings: - The results show that when customer firms perceive good service at a reasonable fee, they exhibit a high level of satisfaction with the service provider. Customer satisfaction is found to be significantly related to organizational performance. Also, the education content of training programs significantly influences educational effectiveness, which in turn contributes to organizational performance by impacting customer service.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results of the study would help practitioners and researchers better understand ASP customers. The scope of this study is limited to leading IT adoption countries.\nOriginality/value: - Based on the customer perspective, this paper delineates factors of ASP services that support small firms to be more successful.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Firms' continuance intention on SaaS use - an empirical study
|
[
"Diffusion of innovation",
"Post-adoption",
"Software as a service",
"Continuance intention"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Software as a service (SaaS) offers consumers access to software at low costs, and allows providers to obtain economies of scale in supplying services to as many users as possible (Armbrust et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2012). Firms utilize SaaS, which is considered an innovation in software technology offering several advantages, to access core IT functions over the internet (Kim et al., 2012). When the technology was first introduced, firms demonstrated willingness to move non-critical information systems (IS) functions to SaaS-based solutions. Today, many organizations are more receptive to moving core IS functions (Heart, 2010) such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management, human resource management and financial management (Cho and Chan, 2013) to SaaS-based platforms. As SaaS applications grow in the market place (Benlian and Hess, 2011), uncertainty remains about its use and organizations' continuance intentions toward SaaS in their businesses. Although several reasons have been identified for SaaS adoption (McHall, 2011), factors influencing the organization's continuing intentions to use SaaS are still unclear. In this study, we treat continuance intention similarly to a repurchase decision. Temporally, continuance intention follows the adoption decision and influenced by usage experience, which, in turn, may reverse the initial adoption decision or extend further to other business areas of the organization (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Venkatesh et al., 2011).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Software as a service\n3. Conceptual model: We posit that the actual SaaS use within a firm affects its continuance intentions. To assess the extent to which early stages of SaaS adoption influence the future use of SaaS, the first part of this study evaluates the determinants that influence the actual SaaS use within an organization. Within the diffusion process, the TOE framework provides the contextual perspectives (i.e. technology, organization and environment) to assess the actual SaaS use. Since institutional pressures specified by INT describe forces that are external to the organization, we include them in the environmental context. Earlier studies have drawn on INT in a similar manner (Venkatesh and Bala, 2012). The DOI theory guides the different stages of SaaS diffusion, from its use (i.e. SaaS use) to its reinforcement (i.e. continuance intentions of SaaS). Earlier studies on the diffusion of innovative technologies have also combined the DOI theory with the TOE framework in this manner to improve their research models (Hossain et al., 2017; Hsu et al., 2006; Oliveira et al., 2014). The second part of this study assesses the continuance intention stage of SaaS diffusion. We posit that greater SaaS use in the early stages of the diffusion process leads to its continuance intention. Consequently, we use the opportunity-risk framework to evaluate the moderating influence of perceived opportunities and risks in the organization's continuance intention on SaaS. Literature reports the moderating effect of perceived risks in the continuance intention to increase the adoption level (Chiu et al., 2014). Similarly, perceived opportunities and risks may also moderate the relationship between SaaS use and continuance intentions (Benlian and Hess, 2011). We, therefore, assess the influence of both determinants in our research. The integrated research model that combines the TOE framework, INT, DOI theory and the opportunity-risk framework is illustrated in Figure 1.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Measurement\n5. Data analysis: Structural equation modeling was used to empirically assess the research model. Partial least squares (PLS) is a variance-based technique that is appropriate for the study of conceptual models that have not been tested before (Ke et al., 2009; Teo et al., 2003). As the research model is complex and little theoretical information is present (Henseler et al., 2009), and the items in our data are not normally distributed (p<0.01, K-S's test) (Chin et al., 2003), PLS path modeling is an appropriate method for this study. We used Smart PLS 3 (Ringle et al., 2015) to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model and analyze the structural model.\n6. Discussion: We conducted a comprehensive empirical assessment of SaaS diffusion (i.e. SaaS use and continuance intention) using an integrated research model that combines the TOE framework, INT, DOI theory and the opportunity-risk framework. The results indicated that SaaS use is influenced by two factors, namely normative pressures and top management support. The results showed that current SaaS use and perceived opportunities influenced SaaS continuance intention. In addition, the findings showed that cost saving influences perceived opportunities, and security concerns influence perceived risks. Additionally, SaaS use leading to its continuance intention is weaker among firms with higher levels of perceived opportunities (see Figure 3).\n7. Conclusion: Of the few studies that have addressed SaaS diffusion in an organization, most have focused on the early phase of the diffusion process, i.e. the intention to adopt SaaS. There is little scholarly evidence on the factors that influence SaaS use and its continuance intention. To evaluate the determinants of the post-adoption stages of SaaS diffusion, we developed a research model that combines the TOE framework, INT, DOI theory and the opportunity-risk framework. The model was tested with a sample of 301 firms. The results indicated that normative pressures and top management positively affect SaaS use. The study found that the continuance intention of SaaS is influenced by the current SaaS use within the organization, as well as the perceived opportunities of SaaS. The analysis of results highlighted the direct effect of cost saving on perceived opportunities and the direct effect of security concerns on perceived risks. In addition, the study found that the importance of SaaS use to explain continuance intention was weaker among firms with higher perceived opportunities of SaaS.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Although studies have investigated reasons for software as a service (SaaS) adoption, it is unclear how firm-level SaaS use impacts future SaaS intentions. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model that integrates the technology-organization-environment framework, institutional theory, diffusion-of-innovation theory and the opportunity-risk framework to analyze the drivers of SaaS use and its continuance intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors evaluated the direct, moderating and mediating effects of determinants on SaaS continuance intentions using structural equation modeling and data from 301 firms.\nFindings: Results found that top management support and normative pressures influenced SaaS use. Cost saving and security concerns were direct predictors of perceived opportunities and perceived risks, respectively. Perceived opportunities and risks and actual SaaS use influenced SaaS continuance. Interestingly, perceived opportunities were found to be a negative moderator on the relationship between SaaS use and SaaS continuance.\nOriginality/value: The results reveal insightful and controversial findings for SaaS research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Building supply chain risk resilience: Role of big data analytics in supply chain disruption mitigation
|
[
"Information technology strategy",
"Strategy",
"Competitive advantage",
"Supply chain management",
"Business performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2016, a major earthquake hit Japan, forcing global firms such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Sony to close down production due to shortage of parts (Fortune, 2016). In another incident, a major fire broke out at Meridian Magnesium Products in 2018, a major supplier of parts to US auto manufacturers. This event had a severe disruptive impact on the supply chain of auto manufacturers such as Ford, GM and BMW, resulting in significant production delays (Thibodeau and Naughton, 2018). These events go on to show that although risk factors can impact a firm at any level, business disruption in firms with global supply chain is becoming quite common. Organizations are now impacted by circumstances that they no longer can control for. In response to these risk drivers, organizations are focusing on developing strategic response capabilities to mitigate the disruption impact of such risk events. Specifically within the supply chain literature, there has been a consistent focus on understanding how organizations respond to supply chain disruption events, and identifying the various risk mitigation strategies adopted by them (Dubey, Gunasekaran, Childe, Fosso Wamba, Roubaud and Foropon, 2019).\nLiterature review: Supply chain risk management - an overview\nTheoretical framework and hypothesis development: Theoretical background\nResearch design: Measurement\nResults: We used AMOS covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) to test our research hypotheses (AMOS 25.0). After cleaning up the data, 225 respondent answers were found to be complete, and this revised sample was used for the estimation.\nDiscussion of results: Within the managerial and academic community, the role of BDA as a tool to enable firms develop competitive capabilities has been at the forefront of discussion. Specifically, within the supply chain literature, there is a growing interest in developing a better understanding of how BDA can add value to organizational supply chain. Within this context, the objective of the paper was to evaluate how firms can develop supply chain risk resilience using BDA capabilities. We therefore attempted to understand the role of BDA in developing risk resilience capabilities from the perspectives of how it adds value to existing IT capabilities, and existing institutional risk response to disruption events. The first hypothesis (H1a) tested for the role played by the firm's previous experience of dealing with disruption events in developing supply chain risk resilience. An analysis of the results shows that within our model, H1a was supported, but with a negative impact on risk resilience. This is an extremely important and counter-intuitive result as it goes on to highlight that managerial experience of dealing with supply chain risk events, as well as institutional memory of managing supply chain disruption, does not necessarily translate into building risk management capacity within an organization. An additional capability is necessary to develop risk resilience.\nTheoretical and managerial implications: Implications for theory\nLimitations and conclusion: In the past decade, there has been a focused scholarly initiative to identify organizational capabilities that can enable firms mitigate the negative impact of supply chain disruption events. This study therefore adds to this growing research field by empirically highlighting the important role that BDA capabilities can play in enabling firms develop supply chain risk resilience capabilities. The results show that prior firm experience of dealing with supply chain disruption events does not translate into future disruption mitigation capabilities. However, if the organization develops BDA capabilities, it positively impacts firm ability to harness firm resident knowledge to mitigate future supply chain disruption events. The results also highlight the significant role played by BDA capabilities in enhancing the impact of ITICs, on organizational ability, to manage supply chain-related business disruption. The paper concludes with the recommendation that, for firms to develop effective supply chain risk mitigation capabilities, it is necessary for them to focus on developing BDA capabilities within their organization.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms can develop business risk resilience from supply chain disruption events, by developing big data analytics (BDA) capabilities within their organization. The authors test whether BDA mediates the impact of institutional response to supply chain disruption events, and information technology infrastructure capabilities (ITICs), on firm's ability to develop risk resilience from supply chain disruption events.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on survey data collected from 225 firms, spread across several sectors in the USA and Europe. The respondents are primarily senior and middle management professionals who have experience within the information technology (IT) and supply chain domain. Validity and reliability analyses were performed using SPSS and AMOS; and covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis.\nFindings: The analysis reveals two significant findings. First, the authors observe that institutional experience with managing supply chain disruption events has a negative impact on firm's ability to develop business risk resilience. However, if the organizations adopt BDA capabilities, it enables them to effectively utilize resident firm knowledge and develop supply chain risk resilience capacity. The results further suggest that BDA positively adds to an organization's existing IT capabilities. The analysis shows that BDA mediates the impact of ITIC on the organization's ability to develop risk resilience to supply chain disruption events.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the few works that empirically validate the important role that BDA capabilities play in enabling firms develop business risk resilience from supply chain disruption events. The study further provides a counterpoint to the existing perspective within the supply chain risk management literature that institutional experience of managing past supply chain disruption events prepares the organization to deal with future disruption events. This paper adds to our understanding of how, by adopting BDA capabilities, firms can develop supply chain risk resilience from disruption events.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Effects of complete products on consumer judgments
|
[
"Product completeness",
"Product management",
"Product assortment",
"Price inferences",
"Prices",
"Consumers",
"Consumer behaviour"
] |
[
{
"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. Conceptual framework: For two products with an identical number of features, a perception that one multi-attribute product is in fact more complete would lead to a more positive attitude pre-purchase (Thompson et al., 2005), and higher product utility (Bertini et al., 2009; Mukherjee and Hoyer, 2001; Nowlis and Simonson, 1996). Moreover, the more complete the information, the better its quality when all other variables such as relevance, recency, and accuracy are held constant (Dutta-Bergman, 2004; Eysenbach et al., 2002). Greater information completeness also increases argument strength, which in turn influences persuasiveness and source credibility judgments (Dutta-Bergman, 2004). These findings suggest more complete multi-attribute products will be preferred over less complete ones given an identical feature set.H1. More complete multi-attribute products will be preferred over less complete multi-attribute products.We now examine the implications of factors designed to alter the difficulty of processing and understanding multi-attribute products that may moderate this effect. Larger product assortments represent a complex decision environment, which is characterized by greater product confusion and longer choice delays (Jacoby et al., 1974; Lurie, 2004; Malhotra, 1982; Nelson, 2002). In this manner, cognitive resources are strained, which leads consumers to more active seek processing heuristics (Scammon, 1977). If a consumer judges a multi-attribute product as more complete, then less processing is necessary. Consumers can make an immediate assessment that the product contains all of the important category features. Evidence suggests processing facilitation generates positive affect. This should augment the positive benefits of more completeness delineated above.Conversely, if a multi-attribute product is less complete, then consumers have to form product attitudes by assessing each attribute individually. With a larger assortment, such feature-level processing would be difficult. This would eliminate the benefits of both processing facilitation and completeness, and therefore lead to less favorable judgments about multi-attribute products. With a smaller assortment, cognitive resources are more available at information processing. Consumers can more readily make relationships among multiple features. Equivalent multi-attribute products should be judged similarly regardless of the perceived level of completeness.H2a. More complete multi-attribute products will be preferred over less complete multiattribute products with a larger assortment.H2b. This preference for more complete multi-attribute products will be reduced with a smaller assortment.We also expect price level to be a moderator. With a large assortment, the preference for more complete products should remain strong at a higher price level. With large assortments, consumers seek information structure as a means of simplifying the decision process (Lurie, 2004). In this context, price level can serve as a central feature in a product processing frame (Lawson and Bhagat, 2002). Frames are used to organize, categorize, and process information. The features that organize a frame influence the interpretation of all other relevant attributes (e.g. Barsalou, 1992). Therefore, price level should be a central feature in processing multi-attribute products under a large assortment, and influence the interpretation of other product attributes. Higher prices lead to higher quality inferences (Rao and Monroe, 1989), which should augment the benefits of processing facilitation and completeness with a larger assortment. Moreover, all-in-one products overcame attribute devaluation when compared with specialized alternatives at higher price levels, but demonstrated devaluation at lower price levels (Chernev, 2007). Similarly, lower quality inferences from lower prices can offset other perceived product benefits (e.g. Hansen, 2005; Gamliel, 2010). This suggests, even with a larger assortment, the benefits of product completeness would be reduced at a lower price level.H3a. More complete multi-attribute products will be strongly preferred over less complete multi-attribute products with a larger assortment and a higher price level.H3b. The preference for more complete multi-attribute products will be reduced with a larger assortment and a lower price level.With a smaller assortment, we again expect the benefits of completeness to be reduced regardless of price level. With smaller assortment, consumers can more readily interpret multiple features. In this environment, price level is a feature that is weighted against those of other product features in a compensatory manner (e.g. Chernev and Carpenter, 2001) instead of a central feature in a product processing frame. Therefore, the influence of price level should be reduced, as should the preference for completeness compared with the larger assortment/higher price level condition.H3c. The preference for more complete multi-attribute products will be reduced with a smaller assortment regardless of price level.\n2. Study 1: 2.1 Overview\n3. Study 2: 3.1 Overview\n4. General discussion: 4.1 Conceptual implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The aim of this study is to better understand how consumers understand and judge multi-attribute products that are perceived as either more or less complete in terms of feature coverage in a category. Complete products are used to reduce the need of developing and managing expansive and expensive line-extension portfolios.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors used an experimental method and conducted two studies to test hypotheses derived from the marketing literature.\nFindings: - The authors find more complete multi-attribute products are preferred to less complete alternatives. This preference for more complete products remains under larger competitive product assortment, but is reduced under smaller assortment. With a higher price level and larger assortment, the preference is substantial. However, under the conditions of lower price level/larger assortment, higher price level/smaller assortment, and lower price level/smaller assortment, the preference is again reduced.\nResearch limitations/implications: - More positive evaluations and higher product utility accrue from adding new features to multi-attribute products prior to purchase. Moreover, more complete information causes more positive evaluations and cognitive responses. Larger assortment strains cognitive resources, and more complete multi-attribute products are easier to understand than less complete multi-attribute products. This processing facilitation generates positive affect and leads to greater use of information that can shorten processing. Price level strongly influences processing of more complete products under larger assortment, but not under smaller assortment.\nPractical implications: - Brand managers have a better understanding of how consumers judge more and less complete products, and under which circumstances more complete products are preferred.\nOriginality/value: - The study of perceived product completeness is novel.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Understanding e-government research: A perspective from the information and library science field of knowledge
|
[
"Research themes",
"E-government",
"Methodologies",
"Bibliometric study",
"Information science and library science"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The emergence of information and communication technology (ICT) in the field of public administration has aroused widespread interest in the search for mechanisms enabling the public administration to make a more positive impact on daily life. This trend is understood to be one form of expression of the information society as well as a central part of the process of modernizing the public administration (Park and Joo, 2010), promoting the strategic, intensive use of ICT (Dunleavy et al., 2006), both in the internal relations of public administrations (Edelenbos and Klijn, 2007) and in terms of the relationship of these organizations with citizens (Kim et al., 2011) and with companies in the private sector (Callanan, 2005).\n2. Research questions and objective: Since the introduction of new technologies in public administrations, there has been a wide variety of research on this subject (Yildiz, 2007; Heeks and Bailur, 2007; Belanger and Carter, 2012), mainly based on experiences of this introduction in the government context. The outlet for this research has been mainly international journals or international conferences and it has helped academics, practitioners, policy-makers and all stakeholders on e-government topics in order to know how to translate the findings of this research into their work. The bibliometric studies have tried to help in organizing the information available and to trace a trend for future research. Nonetheless, whereas most bibliometric projects show limited view (Yildiz, 2007; Belanger and Carter, 2012; Snead and Wright, 2014), entire publication records on high-quality journals in main fields of knowledge are rarely studied. This lack of bibliometric studies could make to lost interesting lens of e-government research taking into account that e-government, in terms of information technology use, has been studied from several approaches. Therefore, it would be interesting to analyze the research published in the main fields of knowledge in order to have different perspectives of the e-government research, and know the main journals that are particularly interested in publishing such studies as well as whether these journals are leaders in setting trends in research topics. Taking into account the field of information science and library science as those with a higher volume of e-government research published, the first research question is derived:\n3. Literature review: Bibliometric studies allow members of the academic community to identify the historical roots of a determined field of study (Sidorova et al., 2008), to identify prospects for future research and to decide the right direction in which to focus subsequent research. An historical assessment can help expand existing knowledge by investigating change and continuity over time (Cocosila et al., 2011). Therefore, this paper not only serves as a synopsis of existing research, but also as an identifier of emerging trends, gaps and areas for future study.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1. Sample selection\n5. Analysis of the results: RQ1. How many research articles have been published in information science and library science ISI journals during the period 2000-2014? What are the main journals publishing the most e-government articles?\n6. Discussion and implications: The evidence found in this research shows that the efforts made by public administrations to involve citizens in public affairs is one of the main topics (Miranda et al., 2009) which has aroused the interest of researchers over this time period. e-participation has become the main issue addressed by some journals (Raadschelders and Lee, 2010), and constitutes an important area of research within the field of e-government, as shown in the previous academic studies (Rodriguez Bolivar et al., 2012).\n7. Conclusions and further research: Our findings show that it is clear that administrative reforms and the tools necessary to carry them out, such as the introduction of new technologies, are an essential topic for any journal included in the sphere of information science, along with the trend for citizens to use new resources and public services provided by public administrations - hospitals, libraries, government or universities. In the same way, e-participation among citizens has aroused the interest of many members of the academic community who have analyzed the barriers and restrictions that citizens have to face. Due to the relevance of disabled people and senior citizens, this is a research topic with great potential for the future and should be explored more thoroughly by the academic community.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consolidate existing knowledge and provide a deeper understanding of e-government research for assisting researchers in the development of their future analyses, identifying trends of research and the methodology used.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A bibliometric approach has been used to examine e-government research in periodical publications listed in ISI in the field of information science and library science during the period 2000-2014.\nFindings: The authors found that although e-participation research has increased in the last years, future research should focus on accessibility policies, and on the motives, capabilities and perceptions of disabled and older people to take advantage of e-government initiatives to be involved in the social affairs.\nPractical implications: The study has shown the need to carry out further research into e-participation in order to understand the true dimension of social networks and their involvement in e-democracy. Also, it is highlighted the need for the design and evaluation of tools for automation of the services and to enable citizens to vote in local initiatives.\nOriginality/value: This historical assessment allows identification of significant insights and trends related to e-government, and patterns in the published articles and develops a cohesive and comprehensive research agenda to guide researchers worldwide in their quest for a better understanding of e-government.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Networking: a male dominated game
|
[
"Culture",
"Networking",
"Cyprus",
"Glass ceilings",
"Progressing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is common ground that women all over the world, despite recent gains within the workplace and in terms of gender equality, still encounter a glass ceiling on their way to the top of the organisational ladder (Socratous, 2016). It has been suggested that women need to be visible and have access to networks of decision makers so as to improve their possibilities of workplace progression (Broadbridge, 2008; Hersby et al., 2009). In effect, networking is considered to be one of the most crucial parts of a manager's life (Van Emmerick et al., 2006) and definitely a powerful tool for women to break the so-called glass ceiling (Foley et al., 2002). Networking involves both formal and informal activities. For example, not only dinners or outings that are \"formally\" organised by the company but also informal socialising in conferences and football matches. In light of the above the question of how women network and whether they are actually given opportunities to do so rises.\nNetworking: Schwartz (1992) suggested women should be hired and aided on their way to the top of the managerial ladder. The reason is to fully take advantage of the talented population which cannot be achieved by excluding women from high ranked positions (Davidson and Burke, 2004). Adding to that, Schwartz (1992) indicated that by hiring and retaining talented women in the workplace one provides female role models (mentors) for younger high-potential women and also guarantees that all levels of the executive pyramid are filled with capable officials: \"the recruitment, hiring and development of managerial women are increasingly seen as a bottom-line issue related to corporate success\" (Davidson and Burke, 2004, p. 2).\nThe Cyprus context: When it comes to women's position in the workplace Cyprus follows the global trend (Socratous, 2016). In a study that was conducted in 2010 among Cypriot-based organisations (private and public), only half had women on their board of directors and 32.7 per cent had just one woman (PWC, 2011). Cypriot culture was identified as particularly patriarchal (Cockburn, 2004; Loizos, 1981), with cultural norms for women rendering them responsible for caregiving in the home. On the contrary, men are ascribed to the role of the protector of the family and are responsible for breadwinning (Cockburn, 2004; Loizos, 1981). According to Hofstede's dimensions, Cypriot culture can be described as high masculinity in a sense that males are dominant within the society and females are somewhat inferior (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005).\nMethodology: As suggested by Steele (2010) when a person is considered as part of a group then that person will act, as it is expected of him/her as a member of that particular group adhering to its sub-culture and unwritten laws. One can only assume that if women in Cyprus are not expected to excel in the workplace then they will probably not do so. Therefore, the use of social constructionism (society is socially constructed and each person views its reality under a different prism) as the philosophical framework for the purposes of this study was rather inevitable. It is obvious that when investigating people, their experiences and perceptions, the use of interpretivism approach, as opposed to positivism, would be more appropriate as each person's view of him/her self and of the world is subjective.\nReflexivity: Kyriacou (2000) indicated that the demographics and psychological situation of both the researcher and participants in research play an important role in acquiring accurate results and the researcher should try to create rapport with the interviewees. With regard to research, the beliefs and experiences of a researcher might be reflected on the research, and this concept is termed reflexivity (Denzin, 1997). For this study, it is imperative to acknowledge that the researcher is a White, Cypriot female investigating White, Cypriot females and males. Thus, it may be the case that the researcher could sympathise more with women than men interviewees. As a Cypriot woman, the researcher was both interested and affected by Cypriot culture. Engagement with the literature provided some objectivity and reduced the risk of biased analysis. However, being a Cypriot working female investigating other Cypriot working females could be beneficial to the research as respondents might be more open when they feel that the researcher can relate with their experiences.\nFindings: The importance of networking in the workplace arose throughout the study and also the impact of its absence on women's careers. It seems that women in Cyprus are somewhat excluded from networking opportunities due to the Cypriot culture and the existence of the old-boys network. Henceforth, a reinforced structural hole (Burt, 2015) is observed both in the workplace and the society. This is in accordance with the work of Tonge (2008) who investigated barriers to networking for women in the UK.\nAnalysis: Networking has been identified and supported by the findings of this research, as one of the most important aspects relating to progression in the workplace. As identified by many researchers, networking serves as a vehicle to employees' progression (Lineham and Walsh, 2001; Vinnicombe et al., 2004; Morgan and Davidson, 2008). Further to that, it has been suggested by Morrison et al. (1992) that networking might serve women in combating the glass ceiling. However, the findings of the research presented in this paper suggest that women in Cyprus are still excluded, intentionally or unintentionally, from professional networking activities. Three main reasons have emerged with regards to this exclusion and are mostly related to cultural norms and the agency of men.\nCritical assessment - limitations: The purpose of the research was to investigate the place of women in the workplace in Cyprus and the areas of accountancy (chartered accountants) and academia were chosen. In effect, the results are mainly based on these two fields and cannot be overgeneralised. However, prior to the conduction of the semi-structured interviews an online survey was carried out among the general working population (people over 18 years old) in Cyprus which served as an indication of the important issues that both men and women in Cyprus and functioned as complimentary to the interviews giving an overview of the general working population with regards to gender equality in the workplace and the society in general.\nDiscussion and way forward: The research reported in this paper suggests that while there is the perception that men and women share the same opportunities within the workplace and women do not progress by choice, there appear to be various structural and cultural influences at play. It is clear that women are restricted from networking opportunities either intentionally or due to cultural and societal norms and this results in minimising their chances of breaking the glass ceiling and progressing to the top of the organisational ladder.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Using primary data from an online survey in addition to 29 semi-structured interviews among chartered accountants and academics in Cyprus, originally collected for the purposes of a PhD research, this paper aims to investigate the importance of networking with regards to women's progression in the workplace, as well as the barriers women are faced with in their attempt to \"play\" the networking game in according to the male rules.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The use of an inductive approach was considered appropriate since there is little existing research on gender issues in Cypriot organisations. For the purposes of the study, a two-step qualitative approach was taken. Step 1 was an online survey with both closed and open-ended questions delivered to employed Cypriot men and women. Step 2 of the study comprised semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted with specific, preselected employees, both men and women, comprising chartered accountants from the BIG Four companies in Cyprus and academics working at the University of Cyprus.\nFindings: The research reported in this paper suggests that while there is the perception that men and women share the same opportunities within the workplace and women do not progress by choice, there appear to be various structural and cultural influences at play. It is clear that women are restricted from networking opportunities either intentionally or due to cultural and societal norms and this results in minimising their chances of breaking the glass ceiling and progressing to the top of the organisational ladder.\nOriginality/value: The research focuses on the impediments women in Cyprus are faced with in their attempt to network. There is no previous research on this subject in Cyprus.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Analysis of manual data collection in maintenance context
|
[
"Human factors",
"Data quality",
"Industrial maintenance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Internet of Things and smart products are transforming competition by enabling timely and remote repairs, reducing field-service dispatching costs, improving inventory control of spare parts and reducing breakdowns through early warnings (Porter and Heppelmann, 2014). However, many suppliers are still unaware of the strategic nature of their asset data and, therefore, not collecting data systematically (Ulaga and Reinartz, 2011). Internet of Things enables automatic gathering of data from real-time systems. Although sensors can provide plenty of data on assets, there remains data that require manual collection (Unsworth et al., 2011). Combining sensor data with manually collected maintenance information regarding a specific product item can lead to more effective and product-centric decisions (Madhikermi et al., 2016). The quality of this manually collected data has been the concern of several previous studies (e.g. Betz, 2010; Lehtonen et al., 2012).\n2. Manual data collection and CMMS: Manual data collection in the maintenance context is typically conducted by maintenance personnel handling work orders in a CMMS. These complex enterprise systems offer support for various levels in the organizational hierarchy: operators, maintenance personnel, maintenance planners, maintenance managers, accountants and senior management (Labib, 2004).\n3. Methods and data: Case studies were chosen as a method to answer the research question and for reaching a detailed understanding of the phenomenon of interest in its natural context (Yin, 2009). A similar approach has been used by Tretten and Karim (2014) in similar settings. Multiple data collection methods were used, including interviews, observations and group discussions with representatives from the involved companies. The primary research interests steering the material collection were the TOP factors, current workflows and the work environment of maintenance workers.\n4. Results and analysis: 4.1 Service technician work\n5. Discussion: The purpose of this study was to describe the contextual factors in manual data collection that differentiate best and worst performing sites in the case organization. This study has synthesized technological (e.g. Tretten and Karim, 2014), organizational (e.g. Lin et al., 2007) and people (e.g. Sandtorv et al., 1996; Unsworth et al., 2011) factors that have been identified in previous literature and used them in analyzing the cases.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify details of technological, organizational and people (TOP) factors affecting maintenance technicians' use of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) in manual collection of asset data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In addition to TOP factor details, results from six case studies in Finland, India and the Caribbean are presented. Interviews and observations clarify the role of TOP factors in CMMS use in industrial maintenance.\nFindings: In total, 17 detailed TOP factors are identified and criteria for analyzing CMMS contexts with them are defined. Analyzing the cases with these factors reveals that technicians who collect good quality data have received good training and instructions for the CMMS, are competent, and understand how manually collected data benefits them in their own work. However, even these sites struggle with the usability of the CMMS.\nResearch limitations/implications: The 17 TOP factors and the criteria for CMMS evaluation extend understanding on context and usability in manual data collection. Case study method does not imply the relative importance of the TOP factors, which calls for future research using quantitative methods.\nPractical implications: Management can use the criteria to analyze the context of manual data collection for improvements, e.g., in CMMS usability.\nOriginality/value: Insights from industrial environments and a new way of studying contextual factors of CMMS use are presented. The results extend a data quality research framework with details to manual data collection and define the TOP factors in CMMS context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Developing a measure for "connectorship" as a component of engaged leadership
|
[
"Social capital",
"Community",
"Leadership",
"Measurement",
"Networking",
"Scale development",
"Connectorship",
"Engaged leadership"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The world today is globally interconnected in ways that could not be imagined a decade ago. People tend to be better connected to others more than at any other time in history. This interconnection invalidates some of the past approaches to business and requires a new set of leadership skills in order to succeed (Adler, 2006; Archer and Cameron, 2009; Friedman, 2005). With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to share the findings of a study that explores how actively engaged and connected managers from across Canada are in their local and broader communities.\nBackground: Social capital and leaders\nConceptual model for EL: The underlying framework of our conceptual model consists of a three dimensional model of leadership, whereby one dimension represents the capability to lead (C\nMethodology: The long term objective of this research was to develop a framework for assessing the nature and level of EL. The present study specifically investigated a sine qua non and under researched aspect of EL - \"connectorship,\" with focus on developing a measure for the construct. The study was conducted in two stages.\nConclusion and discussion: The purpose of this paper was to report the findings of a mixed methods study that explored how active community engaged and connected managers were in their local and broader communities (EL) and also specifically investigate an under researched aspect of EL - \"connectorship\" - with focus on developing a measure for the construct. The paper presents the conceptual framework of EL, followed by the operationalization and measure development of \"connectorship.\" We came up with a 28-item connectorship measure as a result of our research. The final scale included eight conceptually distinct sub-dimensions of connectorship: interactivity, dependability, positive communication, presenting oneself, storytelling, belief in networking, tangible introduction, and online networking. We propose that these eight sub-dimensions are important for leaders in developing their capability to connect. The psychometric properties of the measure were presented for reliability and validity of the measure. The scale developed constitutes a foundation for further studies to measure and assess EL. The other two dimensions of EL (leadership skills and network) already have established scales in the literature; connectorship was the missing link that had not been previously investigated or measured before. Therefore, the scale developed in this study contributes to research in this area and provides a starting point for a comprehensive assessment of EL and its relationship with other variables of interest.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a mixed methods study that explored how active community engaged and connected managers were in their local and broader communities (engaged leadership, EL). The paper specifically investigates an under researched aspect of EL - \"connectorship\" - with focus on developing a measure for connectorship. The authors present the conceptual framework for EL, followed by the operationalization of \"connectorship\" construct.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper focusses on developing a measure for connectorship using data from a qualitative study of 18 senior managers followed by a survey of 458 managers in Canada.\nFindings: Content analyses of qualitative data led to the generation of 93 items measuring connectorship. Based on these items, quantitative analyses of survey data from 453 respondents yielded a final measure of connectorship, which consisted of 28 items explored under eight dimensions.\nResearch limitations/implications: An organization's emphasis on connectedness and engagement of leaders will improve knowledge sharing and better mutual understanding of organizational issues among managers. It will also help attain employment stability and decrease hiring and related costs by reducing turnover. Future research, specifically longitudinal studies of leaders at various organizational levels, could incorporate connectorship as a key criterion for leadership effectiveness.\nPractical implications: The focus on connectorship skills implies that in organizations the emphasis should go beyond traditional leadership skills development and included the neglected connectorship skills development. Increased connectedness and engagement among leaders will have positive performance implications.\nSocial implications: For effective corporate citizenship, the EL framework and a focus on connectorship would help leaders better understand the importance of social networks, be aware of their own network, and improve their skills in connecting the people within their networks.\nOriginality/value: Using a variable centered approach within the framework of EL the paper contributes to leadership literature by conceptually defining connectorship developing a measure for this construct and testing its psychometric properties.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Inverse socialization with technology: understanding intergenerational family dynamics
|
[
"Technology adoption",
"Andragogy",
"Aging and consumption",
"Intergenerational family dynamics",
"Inverse consumer socialization"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the twenty-first century, technological innovation is increasingly diffusing into many areas of consumption in ways that affect everyday life and family dynamics. The present research examines the inverse socialization process involved in the consumption of technology in families integrated by middle-aged and aging parents and their adult children. As the study of family socialization processes related to technology is one key route to deciphering social transformation, this study provides insights into family system changes and suggests a societal shift.\nTheoretical background: The evolving family: intergenerational socialization in consumption\nMethodology: To access the dialogue and negotiations that constitute family socialization processes, focus groups were used following Ekstrom's (2006) suggestion. Focus groups are preferable when the researcher wants to examine shared socio-cultural meanings (Alonso et al., 2013; Catterall and Mclaren, 2006) and group processes (Stewart et al., 2007). An informal atmosphere was encouraged so that participants would speak freely about their information exchanges and interactions with technologies.\nFindings: The following conceptual framework is provided as a guide to the structure of the findings that will be discussed next (Figure 1).\nDiscussion: This research provides a glimpse into the consumer socialization processes of contemporary extended families in which middle-aged and elderly parents interact regarding the consumption of new technology. The group of middle-aged and elderly people is expected to reach one billion globally by 2020 (Carlsson and Walden, 2015), but the elderly, the aging, and even young adults are the lesser-studied age groups with respect to their digital and technology needs and preferences (Fortunati, 2017). The increasing influence and demands of technology in everyday life and the differences in technological capabilities between aging parents and their adult children mark the present time as one of profound change in lifestyles, consumption and family relationships. Furthermore, these changes have the potential to impact society as a whole by altering the relationship patterns between young adults and seniors in situations of consumption and work involving technology.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the inverse consumer socialization processes, differences in technology adoption and changes in extended family dynamics occurring between adult children and their middle-aged and elderly parents when technology is consumed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Six focus groups, segmented into parents (50 to 75 years old) and adult children (18 to 35 years old) and grouped by gender and marital status, were conducted. Research questions examined consumption patterns, technology use, family structure and interactions between parents and adult children when consuming technology.\nFindings: This study acknowledges different levels of technology adoption coexisting in extended families between adult children, who act as influencers, and their parents, who model their technology consumption after them. It further reveals a limited inverse consumer socialization process, as parents' resistance to change hinders them from acquiring from their adult children significant knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding new technologies. This process is complicated by frustrations resulting from the parents' limited ability to learn new technologies and their children's lack of knowledge regarding andragogy (the art and science of teaching adult learners). Finally, this study reveals intergenerational alterations in extended family dynamics as aging parents depend on their adult children for their expertise with technology and children gain authority in an asymmetrical, two-way process.\nOriginality/value: This research reveals important limits in the inverse socialization process into technology between adult children and their parents, with attention to its effects on families and society.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Learning conditions for non-formal and informal workplace learning
|
[
"Workplace learning",
"Learning",
"Employees"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past few decades an unprecedented rapid change in society and working life has taken place causing the importance of continuous learning to increase both for individuals operating in the learning society and for organisations competing in international markets (Tynjala, 2008). Whereas the concept of learning used to be traditionally linked to formal education, nowadays workplace learning has gained a lot of popularity, making this field of research wide-ranged and interdisciplinary (Tynjala, 2008). Organisations need to be able to learn and act quickly to keep up with the rapidly changing economy in order to be able to compete with other organisations (Ellstrom, 2001). Another change is the flexibilisation of the labour market. Employees choose to learn when they feel the need for it. Last but not least, there is the financial aspect. Learning job related skills in the workplace costs noticeably less than formal training (Boud and Garrick, 1999). Eraut (1994) states that workplace learning is more efficient than formal training when it comes to learning job-related skills and obtaining knowledge, because these specific skills and knowledge are less appreciated in formal education and the learners frequently lack the necessary insight to put theory into practice. Formal learning on its own is not sufficient to anticipate the evolutions in society since it takes too long to set it up (Baert et al., 2000).Informal learning is described as an unplanned and implicit process with unpredictable results (Hager, 1998). This \"every day\" learning has a self-evident character and takes place in the daily working situation (Tjepkema, 2002; Van Biesen, 1989). It is never organised or intentional from the learner's point of view (OECD, n.d.). It is seen as the development of the individual through interaction with others (Marsick and Watkins, 1990). Informal learning often happens spontaneously and unconsciously without any a priori stated objectives in terms of learning outcomes. According to Baert et al. (2000) informal learning is an important determinant for the professionalisation of employees and organisations.Non-formal learning consists of all education that takes place outside of the school system (Schugurensky, 2000). In contrast to informal learning, this way of learning is rather organised and can have learning objectives (OECD, n.d.). It is a way of learning where not only the content is important but where there is also a strong emphasis on practical experience (Fordham, 1993). It creates an active learning environment that no traditional teacher can accomplish. New visions are created through the discussion of, and exposure to different values, norms and ideas (Tight, 1996). Non-formal learning is seen as an individual process where the individual learns out of his/her own will (Fordham, 1993) or as a by-product of more organised activities (OECD, n.d.).\n2. Theoretical background: learning conditions: Organisations can facilitate non-formal and informal learning by means of culture, policy and specific procedures (Marsick and Watkins, 1990). Billett (2004) states that the workplace needs to provide an optimal context for the individual to develop and grow in his job. In order to create solidarity, it is important that the affordances of the organisation match the individual engagement of the employee (Billett, 2001). After all, \"while the organisation of work sets the context and conditions for learning, it is still the reciprocal interaction between the individual and the workplace that determines learning\" (Tynjala, 2008, p. 12). Tjepkema (2002) defines these learning conditions as \"characteristics of the organisation and the individual that enable or hinder learning from team members\" (Tjepkema, 2002, p. 111).Learning conditions are defined as conditions created in the social, material or informational environment and in the work environment itself by key figures and agents of the labour organisation, and by the employees themselves so that other employees can learn (Clauwaert and Van Bree, 2008). The emphasis lies on conditions, possibilities or occasions created to make workplace learning possible.Many researchers have investigated factors that could have an influence on workplace learning. These descriptive and explorative studies resulted in a variety of stimulating and obstructing conditions. In this study we focus on the stimulating conditions. Earlier research underpins the importance of several stimulating conditions. In Table I an overview is given of the learning conditions that were found to have a stimulating effect on workplace learning, a distinction was made between \"context factors\" and \"learning factors\". Context factors refer to conditions present in the context of the learner, whereas learning factors directly relate to the learning process.The most important (general) stimulating learning conditions that were found in literature are communication and interaction (Collin, 2002; Education Development Center, 1998; Ellstrom, 2001; Eraut, 1994; Sterck, 2004), cooperation (Collin, 2002; Education Development Center, 1998), feedback (Ellstrom, 2001; Eraut, 1994; Skule, 2004; Sterck, 2004), evaluation (Collin, 2002; Ellstrom, 2001), participation (Collin, 2002; Ellstrom, 2001), reflection (Ellstrom, 2001), coaching (Ellstrom, 2001; Sterck, 2004) and information (Sterck, 2004).\n3. The present study: This research is an extension of the research done by Clauwaert and Van Bree (2008). The purpose of their research was to find suitable indicators for non-formal and informal workplace learning to construct an instrument to map the non-formal and informal workplace learning in labour organisations. Based on literature they constructed a questionnaire that they presented to 126 human resource development (HRD) managers. These HRD managers indicated which learning conditions were actually present in the labour organisations. Clauwaert and Van Bree (2008) divided the learning conditions into six categories: work organisation, internal learning networks, external learning networks, individual learning coaching, individual work coaching and information systems. In Table II you can find the learning conditions from literature (communication, interaction, cooperation, feedback, evaluation, participation, reflection, coaching and information) linked to the six categories of the learning conditions of Clauwaert and Van Bree (2008) and their specific items. They concluded that work consultation, internet, phone and trial periods were the most common learning conditions within labour organisations in Flanders.In this study we want to learn more about the perceptions of employees regarding the learning conditions for non-formal and informal learning and which learning conditions are present according to the employees. Moreover, we are investigating whether differences exist between different kinds of groups of employees in regard to the presence of these learning conditions.Research questions\n4. Method: 4.1. Participants\n5. Results: First, the results of the factor analysis and the interpretation of the factors are presented. Second, the results of the different analyses of variance are presented by characteristics of the employee or the organisation in which the employee works.5.1. Factor analysis\n6. Conclusion and discussion: We can conclude that for the five learning conditions that were identified by our research, different kinds of groups of employees have different chances for non-formal and informal learning. For every characteristic that we investigated, several significant differences were found. For the learning condition \"being coached\" we found some very clear differences. Generally, young employees who just started working in small non-profit organisations with an elementary degree would have more access to the learning condition \"being coached\" than other employees.Another remarkable finding is the fact that when we look at the differences between the different levels of education we can see that the differences between the groups increase or decrease gradually according to an increase or decrease in level of education.For the characteristic size of the organisation no unidirectional difference was found for the learning conditions. The results for the types of organisations are clearer. The employees in profit organisations have more access to the learning conditions \"being coached\", and \"new learning approach and communication tools\". The employees in a non-profit organisation have more access to the learning conditions \"feedback and knowledge acquisition\", and \"coaching others\". The employees working for the government have the most access to the learning condition \"information acquisition\". It is remarkable that employees in profit organisations have the most access to \"being coached\", whilst employees in non-profit organisations have the most access to the learning condition \"coaching others\". A more in-depth research on coaching in labour organisations might explain this apparent contradiction.Employees with different functions are exposed to different learning conditions. It is remarkable that clerks are always situated between the staff members and the workers. Staff members have the most chances for \"feedback and knowledge acquisition\", \"new learning approaches and communication tools\", and \"information acquisition\", while workers have the least access to these learning conditions. Workers have the most access to the learning conditions \"being coached\" and \"coaching others\". Different functions require different skills and it is logical that these different skills are addressed in different ways. However, one might wonder if for example a top manager would not benefit from being coached? This research focused on the learning conditions that are present in the labour organisations, further research could investigate the needs of the employees.There is not a lot of former research that focuses on learning conditions for non-formal and informal learning; moreover no research compared the learning conditions for different kinds of groups of employees. Therefore it is not possible to compare the results of this research with other research. Further research is needed to verify the factor structure and the differences that were found between the groups of employees.Since all organisations participated on a voluntary basis, it is possible that these organisations do not reflect the \"average\" organisation regarding non-formal and informal learning. Another limitation is that the number of participants was not equal for all groups. The lower response of staff members can be attributed to the fact that they are simply less represented within labour organisations. Future research could be carried out with a larger number of staff members or with equal groups for the characteristics that are examined in the research.This research has focused on the presence of learning conditions; however it is important to learn more about the learning effects of these conditions in order to gain more insight into the concept of workplace learning. Future research that focuses on these learning effects is needed.\n7. Implications for practice: For practitioners and training departments, it is important to realize that in order to improve workplace learning, supporting the condition of \"feedback and knowledge acquisition\" contributes the most. This means that creating occasions for feedback, such as working in teams, debriefings or peer feedback are essential for employees, so do possibilities to acquire knowledge (knowledge of results of inquiries, of important decisions, of assignments, of new skills, etc.).Further, it might be good to realize that learning conditions increase with a higher level of education of employees. As a consequence the former guideline will be more important for the low educated workers. Moreover, workers have also less access to learning conditions such as new learning approaches (e.g. permanent learning and complex assignments), communication tools (e.g. phone, internet and common space) and information acquisition (e.g. library and community of practice).Finally, for the different types of organisations, it might be useful to focus also on the learning conditions for employees they usually do not stress: for profit organisations this means also focusing on \"feedback and knowledge acquisition\" and \"coaching others\" (e.g. coach interns, interim employees and voluntary employees). For non-profit organisations this means focussing on \"being coached\" (e.g. personal development plan and buddy system) and \"new learning approach and communication tools\" (e.g. permanent learning, knowledge of new developments and work e-mail address).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the presence of learning conditions for non-formal and informal workplace learning in relation to the characteristics of the employee and the organisation he or she works for.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The questionnaire developed by Clauwaert and Van Bree on learning conditions was administered to 1,162 employees of 31 different organisations. An explorative factor analysis was performed to reduce the number of variables and to look for underlying constructs in the data. Second, a series of analyses of variance were calculated in order to be able to compare the factors in different kinds of groups of employees.\nFindings: - The authors concluded that for the five learning conditions that were identified in this research, different kinds of groups of employees have different chances for non-formal and informal learning. These learning conditions are \"feedback and knowledge acquisition\", \"new learning approach and communication tools\", \"being coached\", \"coaching others\", and \"information acquisition\".\nOriginality/value: - The value of this research is that it has shown that characteristics of the employee and his or her organisation have a relationship with the presence of learning conditions or chances for non-formal and informal workplace learning. Moreover, this research included all kinds of employees and not only those responsible for training and education in the organisation. This research focused on conceptions and perceptions of \"regular\" employees.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Diversity and inclusion: corporate communications advances the practice
|
[
"Trust",
"Storytelling",
"Relationships",
"Corporate communications",
"Conversation",
"Diversity",
"Inclusion",
"Human resources"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the mid-1990s, Walter Schubert became the first openly gay member of the New York Stock Exchange. A third-generation broker who had been a member for more than a decade at the time, he came out to the staff of his small firm and his colleagues on the exchange's trading floor. In June 2000, a front-page article in the Washington Post (Dugan, 2000) reported that doing so had resulted in \"harassing remarks and cold shoulders\" on the floor and the end of the rapid growth of Walter's business.\nBackground: diversity and inclusion: Some background may be useful here.\nWhose job is diversity and inclusion?: D&I practices may vary from corporation to corporation and country to country, but the business benefits of D&I are widely accepted. It is left for the individual employee and the individual department to determine for themselves how actively \"invested\" or involved they will be in their organization's D&I programs. My experience with Walter Schubert was but one vivid example demonstrating that CorpComms employees and departments can - and should - play a key role in the D&I work of an organization. It is also evident in the very \"DNA\" of CorpComms, as I will discuss below. However, the full potential of such involvement by CorpComms or any other department is easily missed. If asked who is responsible for D&I at their organization, many executives, managers and staff will not hesitate in responding that it is \"HR's job.\"\nUnique position and skills: To realize the potential contribution of CorpComms to D&I, and for CorpComms to reap the benefits of diversity, one must first understand the roles, skills and expertise of corporate communicators, and how they intersect with the work of D&I. With that understanding, individuals and organizations can create ways to capitalize on that intersection for the benefit of all.\nPaths to personal investment: There are a number of ways in which CorpComms staff can gain a deeper sense of personal \"investment\" in D&I. Although these paths are not unique to communicators, they can be instrumental for opening communicators' eyes to the importance of becoming involved in D&I and igniting their passion for the work. These include:\nMoving from interest to passion: For me, participating in all of these activities at one time or another has advanced my work in both CorpComms and D&I. But it was my first experience with D&I - as a member of a diversity council - that sparked my passion for the intersection of the two functions. The stories that my colleagues told in those council meetings shocked and moved me.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to make the case that corporate communications (CorpComms) can and should play an important role in diversity and inclusion (D&I). The paper identifies a number of benefits from CorpComms becoming \"invested\" in D&I and several ways to help communicators advance from just \"reporting\" on diversity to becoming an engaged part of the effort.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study offers perspectives and recommendations based on the author's three decades in CorpComms, two decades of which have also included serving as a member on corporate diversity councils.\nFindings: D&I is often viewed as human resources' (HR's) \"job\" rather than an integral part of everyone's own work. Such a view risks limiting the success of D&I programs and that of departments and organizations. Nowhere is this more apparent than with CorpComms, a function that involves new and different ideas, active listening and articulating the authentic story of an organization - all activities that align with D&I. Becoming a committed part of the diversity effort can offer communicators new perspectives, fuller context, deeper understanding and the opportunity to give voice to people and ideas that otherwise might not be heard.\nOriginality/value: For a group of professionals who are animated by the meaningful connection among people, it is difficult to conceive of more affirming and essential work.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Retrofitting commercial office buildings for sustainability: tenants' perspectives
|
[
"Sustainable design",
"Buildings",
"User studies",
"Customer satisfaction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A key global challenge of the twenty-first century is how to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations, 2007). With buildings estimated to account for approximately half of all annual energy and greenhouse gas emissions, one potential solution is to ensure that the design, construction and maintenance of the built environment is environmentally sustainable (Brown et al., 2005; Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2007). Fortunately, there is a strong business case for sustainable or \"green\" buildings, with a substantial body of work outlining the environmental, economic and social benefits; for example, a recent survey of over 800 green building owners, developers, architects, engineers and consultants in Canada and the USA concluded that \"green was good for asset value\", with green buildings perceived as outperforming conventional commercial buildings in terms of occupant wellbeing, building value and return on investment (Davies, 2005). Less clear, however, is whether and how existing buildings, which make up the bulk of commercial office accommodation, should be retrofitted and refurbished for sustainability. Thus, this paper explores the acceptability of retrofitting commercial office buildings for sustainability, focussing on the viewpoints, expectations and experiences of a small sample of commercial building tenants in Melbourne, Australia.\nThe appeal of green buildings: In the last decade, there has been significant international interest and support from governments, the construction and property development industry, private organisations and the general public for fostering a sustainable and climate-friendly built environment through building \"green\", carbon-reducing buildings. Whilst definitions vary, a green building is one that \"uses a careful integrated design strategy that minimised energy use, maximises daylight, has a high degree of indoor air quality and thermal comfort, conserves water, reuses materials and uses materials with recycled content, minimises site disruptions, and generally provides a high degree of occupant comfort\" (Kozlowski, 2003, p. 27). Crucially, through the integration of innovative and efficient technologies, sustainable design approaches and environmentally sensitive site planning practices, the ecological footprint of new buildings is significantly reduced at a minimal financial cost (Kozlowski, 2003; Lucuik, 2005). Indeed, California's Sustainable Building Task Force estimates that \"minimal increases in upfront costs of about 2% to support green design would, on average, result in life cycle savings of 20% of total construction costs - more than ten times the initial investment\" (Kats et al., 2003, p. ii). These economic savings are achieved primarily through lower operations and maintenance costs, specifically lower utilities costs for electricity, water and waste disposal, although an emerging body of evidence has also highlighted how green buildings enhance the productivity and health of occupants (Kats et al., 2003; Kozlowski, 2003; Lucuik, 2005). Although precise statistics are difficult to obtain, green buildings are becoming increasingly mainstream and are estimated to currently comprise 10 per cent of the new commercial building market in the USA and as much as 30 per cent in Australia (Green Building Council of Australia, 2008).\nThe challenge of retrofitting existing buildings: Whilst there is increasing recognition that green buildings outperform conventional buildings in terms of a variety of environmental, economic and social indicators, much less is known about how green building initiatives might be incorporated into existing buildings, which make up the bulk of the market. If the challenge of climate change is to be successfully addressed, therefore, this vast stock of older buildings (developed decades ago when sustainability was not a consideration) needs to be retrofitted. Unfortunately, retrofitting existing buildings is significantly more difficult than creating a new green building from scratch. For example, in existing multi-tenant commercial buildings, any sustainability retrofit or technology upgrade requires the cooperation and participation of a wide range of stakeholders (i.e. owners, managers, occupants and contractors) who often must reside in the building during the potentially disruptive retrofitting process. Moreover, whilst there is the technological capacity, issues such as cost and tangible demand from consumers, organisations and policy-makers will determine the priority that industry places on retrofitting existing buildings for sustainability.On the global stage, former US President Bill Clinton has helped focus public attention on building retrofitting through his Clinton Climate Initiative (2007) Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program. In an attempt to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings, the program brings together energy service companies, banks, and 15 of the world's largest cities, including Melbourne in Australia. The participating city councils will retrofit buildings and develop incentives to encourage private owners to audit and retrofit buildings, with the energy service companies conducting audits to identify energy efficient opportunities and the banks financing these retrofits at no net cost (paybacks for the loans plus interest will come from future energy savings). Whilst initiatives such as these are designed to raise awareness and foster the implementation of sustainable interventions into existing commercial buildings, to date surprisingly little is known about the general marketplace's expectations, support and interest in sustainability retrofits. On the one hand, in general, most people and organisations claim to be supportive of sustainability and initiatives designed to improve the environmental, economic and social effectiveness of their workplace (Lucuik, 2005). On the other hand, it is unclear whether organisations are demanding or will pay for such retrofits, which will almost invariably result in higher rents, at least in the short-term. Indeed, although recent research has explored the appeal of socially responsible property investment (Rapson et al., 2007) and energy efficiency in the commercial property sector (Dixon et al., 2008), researchers have not yet explored what commercial office tenants think about retrofitting commercial buildings for sustainability.Thus, this exploratory qualitative research is designed to be the first step in developing the knowledge base, focusing on identifying the perceptions and expectations of tenants, government officials and leasing agencies. The aims of this research project are three-fold. First, it explores tenants' experiences, beliefs and understandings, focusing on their knowledge of sustainable initiatives, design and technologies. Second, it identifies the key factors in building selection and the extent to which tenants are willing to pay a premium for a \"green rated building\". Third, it explores their expectations and predictions about the future of sustainable buildings.\nResearch methodology: The target population for the project was residents and neighbours of a case-study building, which was undergoing refurbishment for sustainability, in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. Built in 1979, the 7,008 m2 building consists of 11 upper levels of office accommodation, ground floor retail, and a basement area leased as a licensed restaurant. After refurbishment, which included the installation of chilled water pumps, solar water heating, waterless urinals, insulation, disabled toilets, and automatic dimming lights, it was expected that the environmental performance of the building would move from a non-existent zero ABGR (Australian Building Greenhouse Rating) star rating to 3.5 stars, with a 40 per cent reduction in water consumption and a 20 per cent reduction in energy consumption.Potential interviewees were contacted (via e-mail and phone) and invited to participate in an in-depth face-to-face interview exploring sustainability issues in commercial buildings. Although tenancy renegotiations and sustainability retrofitting were occurring during the research process, there was a 50 per cent response rate from the target building: five of the ten current case-study building tenants participated, as well as one state government representative and one leasing agent from neighbouring buildings. The building tenants were predominantly smaller, owner-operated businesses from a diverse range of industries (property, architecture, recruitment, professional associations for industry bodies, service delivery), with the seven interviews (one male, six females) conducted with the office manager, company owner or representative. Standard good practice interview and ethical protocols were followed, with the semi-structured discussion format interviews lasting between 45 minutes and two hours. The following key areas were covered:* key factors influencing commercial building selection;* experience in case-study building, including refurbishment process;* knowledge of sustainable initiatives, designs and technologies;* the relative appeal of sustainability; and* expectations for the future.Transcripts and responses were analysed using a thematic approach, identifying categories, themes and patterns (Liamputtong and Ezzy, 2005).\nResearch findings: Sustainability - the future is green\nDiscussion and conclusions: This exploratory research highlights how commercial property tenants, from predominantly smaller organisations, were on a journey to sustainability. On the one hand, there was general awareness of how the built environment contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, with increasing support for sustainable commercial office buildings designed to improve efficiency, conserve natural resources, and reduce carbon emissions. On the other hand, although tenants were interested and willing to engage in discussions about sustainability initiatives, knowledge was limited and they wanted significantly more information about the costs and benefits of sustainability designs, products and features, as well as details about the retrofitting process. Such findings highlights the value of ongoing generic industry and consumer awareness-raising activities, as well as the importance of developing and disseminating detailed cost/benefit information about specific sustainability initiatives that are common in commercial building retrofits, such as smart/low energy lighting, solar hot water, waterless urinals and green rated carpets.Several other important themes emerged from this qualitative research. First, there was strong recognition amongst these tenants of the growing importance of the sustainability issue across the community and the likelihood that it will increase in the foreseeable future. With participants unanimously expecting sustainability in commercial offices to become standard in the next decade or so, making the transition to sustainability should be a priority for developers and owners. Already, larger private and government tenants will not consider non-sustainable commercial office buildings, with smaller tenants anticipating the emergence of a \"non-sustainability discount\" for residing in a building without sustainable features. Such sentiments are consistent with research from the Green Building Council of Australia (2008), which foresees the emergence of a two-tiered property market, where sustainable buildings attract a premium and older buildings are discounted.Second, whilst there was some recognition of the relevance of the built environment (and of their offices), the level of knowledge and the implications and options within their workplace and accommodation remains disappointingly low. Tenants reported limited understandings of technology and potential building performance outcomes, which ultimately could impede the implementation of sustainable initiatives in older buildings. Indeed, whilst most acknowledged the advantages of sustainability, there was little interest in paying substantially more to access sustainable features. This may well indicate that despite the genuine interest in such improvements to existing buildings by property owners and managers, further work is still required to \"sell the case\" in a much more targeted and specific way that resonates with tenant corporations and the individuals and work groups who occupy the space. Smaller organisations wanted to see tangible proof and detailed cost/benefit analyses of specific sustainability features. With the marketplace reporting relatively limited knowledge of specific sustainability features, it is clear the business case needs to be further developed.Third, unlike new buildings, the process of retrofitting existing buildings for sustainability can be extremely disruptive to tenants. This research highlighted how these tenants were tired of the ongoing process and desired a clear transition plan, outlining the timeline, information and cost benefits of each sustainable feature or new technology. It is important to note that whilst the business community, tenants and the media are quick to identify the obvious merit good of sustainable practices - particularly in the built environment - it is left to the asset owner and financier to take the risk in additional upfront investment in sustainable features in the expectation that this investment will be adequately rewarded in higher rents and in a lower risk profile into the future. Regardless of the ability of designers and constructors to create high-quality sustainable built environment, such assets will only become mainstream when tenants demands stimulate changes in supply and to encourage the additional investment required to incorporate sustainable features in either new or existing assets. This research has highlighted that despite a basic level of enthusiasm and focus on sustainability, tenants currently have limited understandings of technology and potential building performance outcomes; ultimately, this limited knowledge could impede the implementation of sustainable initiatives in older buildings. Clearly, there is a need for an innovative approach to tenant and occupant education regarding these issues, and particularly the cost benefit of them.The limitations of our exploratory qualitative research need to be acknowledged, with further qualitative and quantitative research required to develop our knowledge base. Our findings, whilst informative, are based on in-depth interviews with seven commercial building tenants from pre-dominantly smaller organisations residing in Melbourne, Australia. Whilst the financial cost of sustainability initiatives was clearly the key deciding factor for most participants, such considerations will most likely be less relevant for larger organisations who may view residing in a sustainable building as a relatively easy way to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. However, as it is smaller organisations that reside in older buildings which are prime targets for sustainability retrofitting, this research offers a beginning point for understanding the difficulty of integrating green technology in older commercial buildings. Overall, traditional twentieth century buildings were not viewed as suitable for a twenty-first century focused on sustainability; the challenge is how to make the transition in a socially acceptable and cost-effective manner.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - Buildings, which account for approximately half of all annual energy and greenhouse gas emissions, are an important target area for any strategy addressing climate change. Whilst new commercial buildings increasingly address sustainability considerations, incorporating green technology in the refurbishment process of older buildings presents many technical, financial and social challenges. This paper aims to explore the social dimension, focusing on the perspectives of commercial office building tenants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with seven residents and neighbours of the case-study building undergoing green refurbishment in Melbourne, Australia. Responses were analysed using a thematic approach, identifying categories, themes and patterns.\nFindings: - Commercial property tenants are on a journey to sustainability. Tenants are interested and willing to engage in discussions about sustainability initiatives, but the process, costs and benefits need to be clear.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings, while limited by non-random sampling and small sample size, highlight that the commercial property market is interested in learning about sustainability in the built environment.\nPractical implications: - The findings highlight the importance of developing a strong business case and transition plan for sustainability in commercial buildings. As sustainable buildings become mainstream, tenants predicted the emergence of a \"non-sustainability discount\" for residing in buildings without sustainable features.\nOriginality/value: - This research offers a beginning point for understanding the difficulty of integrating green technology in older commercial buildings. Tenants currently have limited understandings of technology and potential building performance outcomes, which ultimately could impede the implementation of sustainable initiatives in older buildings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The influence of interactive window displays on expected shopping experience
|
[
"Affective response",
"Interactive window display",
"Shopping experience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This exploratory study aims to explore the role of an interactive window display in brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Retailers are seeking new ways to entice consumers back to the \"disenchanted\" physical retail outlet (Ritzer, 2010). This has become a fervent topic of concern given the increasing presence of online and omnichannel retailing (Badot and Lemoine, 2013; Herhausen et al., 2015; Verhoef et al., 2015). Technological elements are key atmospheric variables that are being used to enhance in-store shopping experience by digitalising the brick-and-mortar retail environment (Hagberg et al., 2016), by facilitating decision making (Grewal et al., 2017) and by promoting personalised use of digital technology in shopping (Hall and Towers, 2017).\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1 Interactive window displays and e-atmospherics\n3. Hypotheses and structural model: 3.1 S-O-R paradigm\n4. Research methodology and data collection: 4.1 Setting and research design\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Pre-test results for the scales\n6. Conclusion: Although extensive research exists on interior atmospherics, literature that focusses on exterior atmospherics is limited. This study extends our understanding of interactive window displays in the context of tourist bureaus by examining the relationships between interactive window displays, affective response, perceived global atmosphere, expected shopping value and patronage intentions. The results of the study show that usage of interactive window displays directly and positively influences arousal. This is consistent with exploratory research that finds that interactive window displays could be perceived by consumers as exciting and innovative (Pantano, 2016).\n7. Limitations and future research: The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of interactive window displays on expected shopping experience. The first limitation is concerned with the sample used in this study. The advantage is that we used a sample with real-life respondents and not a student sample, which is often regarded as a limitation in experimental studies. However, it should be noted that the sample mostly consisted of French nationals; therefore, cultural influence could bias the data. Future research should consider testing the model on different samples.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The global aim of this paper is to provide managerial and theoretical contributions in order to guide retailers in their decision to invest in interactive storefront technology and to fill in the gaps in the literature in regards to the influence and the role of exterior atmospheric variables in brick-and-mortar retail experience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of interactive technology in window displays and its influence on consumers' affective responses, expected shopping experience and behavioural intentions at the point of sale.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The design of the study is founded in the presence (=1) vs absence (=0) of interactive technology in the window display. A partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach is used to analyse the structural model and the correlations between the variables.\nFindings: This paper finds that the technology has a significant influence on arousal, and that expected shopping experience has a significant influence on patronage intentions.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study was conducted on French individuals in a tourist bureau setting. The study should be replicated in other retail settings in order to improve the generalisation of the findings.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to experimentally test the influence of an interactive storefront display in retailing. This paper also contributes to the retailing literature on exterior atmospheric variables.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How useful is the yield spread as a predictor of growth in Australia?
|
[
"Australia",
"Interest rates",
"Leading indicators",
"Yield spread"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The yield spread, or the difference between the yields on long- and short-term securities is frequently regarded by market participants and the monetary authority as an important predictor of output growth. According to the expectations hypothesis of the term structure, long-term securities generally command higher yields than their short-term counterparts because of the term premium associated with investors' preference to hold the latter. As a result, if we plot the yields on otherwise comparable securities of different maturities, we expect to observe an upward-sloping yield spread curve. However, one of the most enduring stylized facts in macroeconomics is the adage that an inversion of the yield curve caused by short-term yields rising faster than long-term yields often signals an impending recession[1].\n2. Literature review: The yield spread is regarded by many practitioners as a leading indicator of future economic activity. In part, this is because there is ample evidence suggesting that the narrowing of the spread frequently precedes the slowdown of growth, and in some instances, a recession. Despite this apparent spread-growth nexus, there is not a coherent theory on the underlying transmission mechanism, and the positive association between these variables remains a stylized fact in many macroeconomic textbooks (Benati and Goodhart, 2008).\n3. Methodology: 3.1. The baseline model\n4. Data: We collected data for up to 14 series from 1959 to 2014. However, some of these series were only available for a shorter period. Data were obtained from two main sources; namely, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Reserve Bank Bulletin. Additional series, including the spread and the real overnight cash rate, were constructed from these original 14 series, bringing the total number of series to 16. Specifically, we define the spread as the ten-year government bond rate minus the three-month government bill rate[9]. Meanwhile, because we cannot directly observe the ex ante real overnight cash rate, we follow Estrella and Mishkin (1997) by calculating the ex post real overnight cash rate as the difference between the average nominal overnight cash rate for a given period and the actual inflation rate over the same period. Table I lists the summary statistics, the source, and the sample period of these series.\n5. Results: 5.1. The baseline model\n6. Conclusions: In this paper we examine the extent to which the spread between the long- and short-term interest rates can predict economic activity in Australia for the period spanning from 1969 to 2014. Through this study, we find that first, the spread is capable of predicting cumulative and marginal changes for up to four years and six quarters, respectively. Second, the spread proves to be most useful for predicting changes in interest-sensitive components of GNP, including private dwellings, private gross fixed capital formation, and inventories. Importantly, we find evidence rejecting the positive consumption-spread nexus hypothesized in the CCAPM model.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness of the yield spread for forecasting growth in the Australian economy since 1969.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper applies time series analysis to evaluate the in-sample and out-of-sample forecasting power of the spread-growth nexus in Australia for the period spanning from 1969 to 2014.\nFindings: This paper concludes that the spread serves as a useful predictor of growth in output, private dwellings, private fixed capital formation, and inventories in Australia, both in-sample and out-of-sample. Its predictive content is not sensitive to the inclusion of monetary policy variables or the switch to the inflation-targeting regime by the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 1990s.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides significant evidence to policy makers and market participants on the usefulness of the spread in forecasting output growth for up to eight quarters ahead.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Establishing thought leadership through social media in B2B settings: effects on customer relationship performance
|
[
"Social media",
"Brand",
"Business-to-business",
"Content marketing",
"Customer relationships",
"Thought leadership"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Establishing thought leadership by disseminating digital content through social media has rapidly emerged as a key priority in business-to-business (B2B) markets (Barry and Gironda, 2017). To build thought leadership, firms are increasingly sharing their cutting-edge knowledge and industry insights using a number of tools such as blog posts, case studies, ebooks, podcasts, videos, webinars, white papers and infographics (Content Marketing Institute [CMI], 2018). According to Forbes, generating content that expresses thought leadership and sharing it through social media is among the four main trends that shaped B2B marketing in 2018 (Neumeier, 2018).\n2. Social media and thought leadership in B2B markets: The widespread adoption of social media in B2B markets and its capacity to enable new communication opportunities among firms is widely recognized (Lashgari et al., 2018). However, the growing body of research examining the usage and effects of social media in B2B contexts is mostly the result of the generalization of concepts and theories developed for business-to-customer (B2C) markets (Iankova et al., 2018; Salo, 2017). Hence, there is an urgent need to develop specific theories to explain the usage of social media in B2B markets to acknowledge the unique features of industrial markets - in particular, their relational nature (Iankova et al., 2018; Swani et al., 2014; Swani et al., 2017). Indeed, in B2B settings, social networks allow firms to interact and establish relationships with different actors such as end users, specialists, distributors and influencers (Bocconcelli et al., 2017; Huotari et al., 2015; Nunan et al., 2018; Salo, 2017). Based on their aims and targeted actors, B2B firms may use different types of social media (Lashgari et al., 2018). Overall, a recent study by Iankova et al. (2018) shows that business social media such as LinkedIn ranks first among B2B marketers, followed by mass-consumption social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Similarly, firms adapt the type of published information, ranging from promotional to technical content (Lashgari et al., 2018).\n3. Model and hypotheses: The suggested model draws on Social Capital Theory (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988), which has been largely applied to examine the development and impacts of B2B relationships, in offline as well as online environments (Rodriguez et al., 2012; Bondeli et al., 2018). Social capital is defined as \"the goodwill that is engendered by the fabric of social relations and that can be mobilized to facilitate action\" (Adler and Kwon, 2002, p. 17). In sum, social capital refers to the connections among people and to the reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them (Putnam, 2000). This capital takes time to accumulate and is the result of continuous investment strategies aimed at establishing or reproducing social relationships that are usable in the short or long term (Bourdieu, 1986). This process is endless, as social capital facilitates exchange, which, in turn, enhances social capital (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998).\n4. Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied to test the suggested hypotheses. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to a list of Italian companies that create and share content on social media. The questionnaire comprised multi-item measures for all constructs (Table I). Thought leadership capability was measured using three items from the operationalization of thought leadership competence provided by Barry and Gironda (2017). The items were slightly adapted because they were originally developed to reflect B2B marketing consultants' thought leadership, while this study focuses more broadly on B2B firms' thought leadership. Similarly, the three items used to register thought leadership (trusted authority recognition) were directly inspired by Barry and Gironda's (2017) definition of the concept. Brand relationship performance and customer relationship performance were measured using three items each from Hirvonen et al. (2016) and Jayachandran et al. (2005). Finally, three items from Agnihotri et al. (2009) were used to measure social media capability. All items were measured on five-point Likert scales (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).\n5. Results: First, the measurement model was evaluated through confirmatory factor analysis (see Table I). The overall goodness of fit was satisfactory (Bagozzi and Yi, 2012). In detail, kh2 (df = 80; p > 0.05) was equal to 99.14, with a kh2/df ratio of 1.23, lower than the cutoff of 3 (Kline, 2011). In addition, CFI was 0.98, well above the suggested threshold of 0.93 (Bagozzi and Yi, 2012). Finally, the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.03 (pclose = 0.76) and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) was 0.04, below the suggested cutoff of 0.07 for both (Bagozzi and Yi, 2012).\n6. Discussion: 6.1 Theoretical implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Establishing thought leadership by disseminating relevant digital content through social media has become one of the main priorities for marketers in business-to-business (B2B) settings. However, academic research has only recently started to address this phenomenon. In particular, researchers have not yet examined whether and how thought leadership positively influences a firm's relationship with its customers. This paper aims to propose and test a model to explain how a firm's thought leadership improves its customer relationship performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional research design was applied using covariance-based structural equation modeling to estimate the suggested model. Data were collected from a sample of 160 firms in different industries that create and share content on social media.\nFindings: Thought leadership on social media positively influences brand performance and, in turn, customer relationship performance in B2B settings. Moreover, establishing thought leadership on social media results from specific thought leadership capabilities and is supported by social media capabilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study advances knowledge on social media thought leadership in B2B settings by proposing and testing a model that combines available insights from three distinct but interrelated B2B streams of studies: branding, social media marketing and thought leadership. Moreover, this study conceptualizes the effects of thought leadership, which is consistent with the relational nature of B2B settings. In fact, it explores thought leadership as a means to maintain and strengthen business relationships. However, further studies are needed to explore detailed strategies that affect the effectiveness of thought leadership.\nPractical implications: The results provide managers with evidence on the effectiveness of a thought leadership strategy. Establishing thought leadership on social media can help to nurture customer relationships over time. By sharing valuable content, suppliers can continuously demonstrate their cutting-edge competences and expertise, thus keeping their brand relevant to customers.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to provide evidence of the benefits of social media thought leadership on customer relationships in B2B settings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Building financial brands: the Russian way
|
[
"Brands",
"Banking",
"Sales campaigns",
"Russia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPerception and reality: Reading the UK press one could be excused for assuming that Russia is still perceived by many as the \"Wild East\" - not helped by a more assertive energy-powered political profile on the world stage. Certainly, among the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Russia is still seen by many as a particularly difficult and dangerous place to do business. However, working there since 1998, we see a different reality - an increasingly fast track development of attitudes and practices led by unleashed consumer aspirations and fuelled by an economic boom. With low inflation, minimal taxes and 20 per cent annual pay rises, most Russians are enjoying the opportunity to spend and are rapidly improving their lifestyles.What has this meant for the banking sector? 1998 saw an economy collapse. The rouble crashed and overnight the banks became hated institutions with millions of Russians losing their savings. Small wonder banks have to work hard to become acceptable organisations to do business with.\nThe competitive marketplace: Russia has too many banks. In the 1990s, with about 3,000 banks quoted, it seemed anybody could get a banking licence. Today, there are about 1,200 banks and, with strict controls for licences, acquisitions are an inevitable consequence. This has led to an increased awareness of the importance of branding and marketing to help differentiate and grab market share. Initially, much of this could be seen as cynical \"repackaging\", image changing activity, either to increase value in preparation for a later takeover, or a \"patch up job\" to re-badge and unite disparate cultures and operations.Government bank brands such as Sberbank, Gasprom and Vneshtorgbank more or less belong to the government and are therefore perceived as trustworthy. Many Russians still feel that a state backed system is ultimately more likely to guarantee payment than a private enterprise. They are very influential and cover the whole country with very large networks.Like all markets after Perestroika, the retail-banking sector has been a major target for investors and existing corporate banks tapping into the new consumer market and growth of credit card services and opportunities. Late entrants face potentially large hurdles in getting involved in an increasingly saturated market. The cost of entry is now significant in terms of getting the best people and property, achieving appropriate critical mass and the investment to build and market a brand.\nMeeting new consumer expectations: While the motives may be questioned, the need to overhaul unfriendly, conservative, distrusted bank facilities and services was vital in order to meet the requirements and expectations of the \"new\" consumer society. As in the retail sector, international operations moving into Russia galvanised proactive local companies to embrace change and adopt latest western practices and thinking. Russian consumers now demand and expect better products and services in all walks of life. Banks therefore recognise that they must now constantly look to improve and leverage their services, image and reputation. Many banks are still at the re-imaging stage, accepting the need to modernise their profile, communications and brand design, but still not taking on the key next step of matching attitude and behaviours with the marketing promise. Changing employee and management style is difficult when many companies still have a tendency to command-led structures and suffer intensive staff poaching due to the lack of experienced, professional candidates. Brand values are easy to sign up to - trust, innovation, convenience are basics - but how that translates into positive action, design and a change in management ethos is not so readily embraced.\nThe influence of international banks: The pressure and influence of international banks moving into Russia has raised standards. Transparency and corporate governance are recognised as important factors in brand development, but the level of real commitment is still variable. The biggest foreign bank is Raiffeisen - eighth in Russia in asset terms. The others currently are Citibank, Societe General (in the process of acquiring Rosbank), Nordea, Kommezbank and Deutsche Bank. HSBC are aiming to have 35 branches open in Russia within the next three years. The challenge for international banks is how their global credentials and marketing approaches can be sensitive to the local mindset.We have witnessed a change from \"West is best\" to a Russian-first mentality in line with the rise in confidence (and standards) of local operations and national pride. However, international banks are perceived as stable with strong management teams and broad international credibility.\nTransparency and standards: One frustrating point in working with Russian management is the sometimes faceless stakeholder whom no-one can meet. As a consultant, getting second-hand feedback and not being able to \"eyeball\" the real client can be extremely irritating. However, moves to achieve more transparent shareholder involvement and an increased presence of western shareholders in major Russian banks will help issues of trust and commitment.Following a raft of less than transparent marketing claims on interest and \"deals\", Russia's Central Bank and supervisor of the country's banking system has, this year, produced a draft for obligatory standards and procedures for bank activities. From 2008 banks will need to have independent monitoring supervisors. This is another important step to achieving better and more open marketing communications.\nBranding - a \"nip and tuck\"?: We are still in an era where branding is still seen by many as a plastic surgery \"nip and tuck\" exercise to make a company or brand more attractive. But what starts out as a cosmetic process can be transformed into a catalyst for real change in thinking practices and culture. Enlightened management can achieve ambitious, well-rewarded and friendly staff - ultimately, the key for brand differentiation in all service industries, particularly banking. Certainly, our experience in Russia has confirmed the importance of branding being understood as an integral management ethos, rather than as a \"facelift\".In reality it is hard, and indeed rare, for a company to offer unique selling points without being fast copied by competitors. Therefore effective branding must achieve emotional as well as rational responses which, through communications, connections and experiences, become unique to the brand. Friendliness, efficiency and responsiveness are, however, givens in any service sector so we have to encourage bank clients to constantly raise their game accordingly. At the moment over 170 banks in neighbouring Ukraine - many of them with contemporary logos and updated images - are all competing for a growing retail and business market. It will be interesting to see whether this recent explosion in bank re-branding will be accompanied by a real change in corporate behaviour and service delivery.\nLeapfrogging the best in the West: We have seen how an incredible rate of change has taken place, which has enabled Russia to achieve in three years (in some sectors) what in the West took 30 years. Retail banking and real estate sectors are looking to leapfrog the \"best in the West\" thinking. Our clients are keen to gain an international perspective and apply it in a way that works in their market. They have succeeded in achieving super brand status (according to the published listings) in their own market - notably Alfa Bank, Russian Standard Bank and Rosbank. This year Forbes magazine rated two Russian banks, Sberbank and Uralsib Bank, among the Worlds best companies.\nRegional development: Russia is not Moscow and the development of the regions provides major opportunities for international and local bank expansion. Buying into regional banks to leverage their local equity and knowledge is a logical move for international and Russian banks.Particularly striking, is the success of certain local regional banking operations. They demonstrate truly customer centric policies that are refreshing for a Westerner, used to the increasingly diluted UK services offered by remote call centres and masquerading CRM policies.Our work with some of the regional financial operators has introduced us to an enlightened management approach (often missing from western corporate culture) fostering working methods and practices that achieve empowered, motivated staff. Within the context of a national branding programme our challenge can be leveraging local pride and identity as a positive part of a larger organisation strategy. Harnessing this energy and commitment demands a real understanding and sensitivity to the role of branding as a strategic company wide initiative for positive change.An example of a proactive Russian brand development strategy is the Life financial group, a network of leading regional banks. Their long-term strategy is: \"not to be like a bank\". Their aim is to be truly different. A glance at their creative and highly imaginative annual report immediately provides a lesson for some western corporate minded equivalents. They have high ambitions for their brand and people, with real customer focused policies and empowered, motivated staff. Working with them has been both challenging and rewarding as they have a sophisticated understanding of brand strategy and appreciate the importance of effective, innovative delivery.\nMarketing: A problem and feature of the Russian approach to marketing communications is the dependence on mass marketing awareness campaigns, rather than a more balanced approach that also combines strategic, focused and informed direct marketing. Despite some recent early moves to limit advertising excess in the city, Moscow is still dominated by billboard, plasma screen and neon sign excess. TV and billboard advertising suck up billions of dollars with no clear return on investment, except awareness ratings to justify the spend. There is no reason to think that Russian consumers are less immune to a constant barrage of media messages designed to encourage them to be more loyal to one bank or another. Brand loyalty will always be difficult in a financial market of me-too offers!If everybody is trying to be modern, friendly and relevant for real people, finding differentiation issues and messages becomes more difficult. In a marketplace where there is a multiplicity of special deals, ultimately, convenience, accessibility and how customers experience the brand are the key criteria for customer selection.\nBrand strategy: It is a real test of any corporate brand strategy to communicate the logic of a national brand take over to a highly successful and proud local regional operation who are being asked to forsake their established name and image equity for the new parent brand. Certainly, it raises the game for all concerned in communicating, launching and re-launching a brand to internal staff and external consumer and business audiences.Not surprisingly, given the problematic history of Russian banks over the past 15 years, there is a tendency to dump the past. Banks are often keen to create a new brand or sub-brand rather than reposition an existing brand, despite years of investment. This is understandable if new and different is immediately a more attractive option to the old enterprise. However, new names and faces for an unchanged offer can be a brand disaster. The transparency of the internet quickly exposes hidden parenthood!\nNew trends - new ways: The international trend for developing premier class private banking has been followed by leading Russian banks and will be going into the regions. We recently developed such an offer, providing clients with their own exclusive \"club\" facilities in the heart of Moscow.The younger generation, brought up with the internet and new technologies, are more open to modern bank practices and the world of credit than their parents who valued cash in the hand, not in the Bank.Russian banks are responding to their customers' demands for a choice of media to best support their lifestyles. Our brand communications and consultancy work which encompasses a wide variety of channels and delivery formats reflects this trend. The internet is now becoming an essential channel for Russian banks and over 50 per cent now utilise the internet as an additional service for customers. According to research, Alfa Bank provides the highest quality of service via the internet.In a country where mobile phones appear to dominate everybody's time and activities, mobile banking is still in the early development stage. However, given the Russian appetite for new advances and ideas, it will inevitably form part of many banks' service options as an additional channel choice.\nCredit and debit card uptake: Debit cards now cover 84 per cent of the plastic cards market and are much more widely used than credit cards. Sberbank took the first initiative in transferring salaries to debit cards rather than paying in cash. Alfa Bank is the second largest in the debit card market. Difficulties in assessing credit status hampered the initial growth of credit card services. With banks now improving and streamlining their credit rating approval systems, there is now a rapid expansion in credit card facilities - the market grew by 85 per cent in 2006.Russian Standard Bank, largest in terms of consumer lending, is starting to switch their emphasis from loans to credit cards and is currently the market leader. Even Sberbank is planning to start issuing credit cards. Others issuing credit cards include Citibank, Uralsib, Alfa Bank and Master Bank. It is forecast that, in the future, credit cards could overtake loans as the prime source of credit.\nInternational influences: Russia's increasing profile as a global player brings responsibilities and pressures for the financial sector. We were advised by our client Alfa-Bank that their positioning was bringing Russia to the world and the world to Russia. But this works both ways - raising standards but also sharing international problems and influences.Currently, there is a great deal of discussion regarding the possible repercussions of the US sub-prime lending problem which is having increasingly global knock-on effect for the financial markets and major banks. Confronted by an international credit squeeze, Russian banks with a relatively high reliance on international wholesale debt in their balance sheets could appear vulnerable, particularly those who do not have a diversified client funding base. Given the UK Northern Rock fiasco, hard won consumer trust and loyalty in some Russian banks could evaporate overnight, given memories of the 1998 fall out. As happened then, it would be the highly personalised, customer focused approach, typified by some of the leading regional operators that could win out over the potentially more faceless larger bank brands - a real test of brand equity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to report on home-grown methods to build financial brands the Russian way.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This is a viewpoint article based on the author's experiences of working with leading Russian banks as the managing director of SCG London, international strategic branding consultancy.\nFindings: - The increasingly competitive - and crowded - Russian retail banking market has led to a growing awareness of the importance of branding in helping domestic banks distinguish themselves.\nOriginality/value: - This article is of value to bank marketers wanting a brief overview and introduction to bank marketing and branding in Russia.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The moderating role of human values in planned behavior: the case of Chinese consumers' intention to buy organic food
|
[
"Organic foods",
"Theory of planned behaviour",
"Personal values",
"Moderation",
"Consumers",
"China",
"Behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With China's rapid economic development in recent years, a series of environmental and social problems have surfaced, including frequent food safety crises. These issues have caused a lot of concern among Chinese consumers and more and more consumers are turning to food with \"environmental\" certification and labeling, including organic food. In a national survey in 2008, 52.2 percent of the respondents expressed a preference for organic food (Ren, 2008). Since 2005, the Chinese government has also advocated organic food due to its beneficial environmental properties and alleged market potential. On the other hand, only few Chinese consumers actually buy organic food. According to a recent estimate, organic food accounts for only 0.08 percent of total food consumption even in large Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (Yin et al., 2010). This apparent \"intention-behavior gap\" (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006) can to a high extent be explained by extremely selective distribution of organic food leading to low availability, combined with high premium prices of such food (Magnusson et al., 2001)[1]. Still, in the light of the increasing demand for environmentally and personally safe food products and the increasing market for organic food, in China and globally, there is a need for research on how Chinese consumers view and make decisions about buying organic food.Most Chinese research on this topic has focused on structural aspects like legislation, organic food technology, and distribution or sales channels (Wang, 2005; Zhang et al., 2005; Zhao, 2008), or on the descriptive study of demographic characteristics of green food consumers (He and Yang, 2004; Wang, 2005; Ye, 2007; Yin et al., 2008). Hence, there is a lack of research on how the individual Chinese consumers respond to organic food. Globally, scholars studying consumers' choice of organic food have advanced from focusing on demographic characteristics to general psychological variables like human values and attitudes and some have included more specific environmental motives in their models (Baker et al., 2004). However, findings from other, especially Western countries may not be valid for the case of Chinese consumers.The theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been widely applied in research on individual behavior, including in the areas of public health and environmental behavior (e.g. Bamberg and Moser, 2007; Manning, 2009; McEachan et al., 2011). In China, Liu (2008) used the TPB as a framework for discussing Chinese consumers' green consumption behavior, but with no empirical testing. Chan and Lau (2001) applied the TPB in a comparative study of green purchasing behavior in China and the USA. They concluded that the model had satisfactory validity in both of these contexts. However, the antecedents proposed by the TPB had different weight and green purchasing intentions were to a higher extent translated into corresponding behavior in the American than in the Chinese sample. In none of these cases were possible contingencies of the relative weigh of the antecedents proposed by the TPB empirically investigated (Ajzen, 1989; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2008).In this study, we explore whether the weight of the antecedents of behavioral intentions proposed by the TPB is contingent on consumers' value orientations. Specifically, we apply the TPB to the study of Chinese consumers intentions to buy organic vegetables while including basic human values as moderating variables (see Vermeir and Verbeke, 2008). Concluding the article, marketing implications regarding the promotion of organic food and green consumer behavior are discussed.\nLiterature review: Theory of planned behavior(TPB)\nTheoretical framework: This research studies Chinese consumers' buying of organic food, investigating how buying intentions are formed and affected. The first step is to test the TPB in the field of organic food consumption with a sample of ordinary consumers in China. The second step is to study personal values as moderating variables, specifically how each of the four main domains of personal values identified by Schwartz (self-enhancement, self-transcendence, conservativeness, and openness to change) affect the relationship between the three antecedents proposed by the TPB (the attitude towards the behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) and buying intentions regarding organic food. The research model is shown in Figure 2.\nHypotheses: Buying organic food is often classified as a pro-environmental behavior. Most research on the value basis of pro-environmental behavior finds that the self-transcendence vs self-enhancement dimension is more important than the conservatism vs openness-to-change dimension (Schultz et al., 2005; Stern and Dietz, 1994; Thogersen and Olander, 2002). This is true for consumer purchase of organic food as well (Dreezens et al., 2005; Krystallis et al., 2008; Lea and Worsley, 2005; Thogersen, 2011). However, extant research also suggests that consumers buy organic food not only out of consideration for the environment, but also, and perhaps even more, out of health concerns (Hughner et al., 2007; Thogersen, 2009; Thogersen and Zhou, 2012). The latter implies that security values, which belong to the conservatism dimension, might be more important for this behavior. Actually, research in China suggest that food safety and health considerations are perhaps even more important motives for buying organic food here than in many other countries (Yin et al., 2008). Further, the fact that organic food is a novel thing in China (Thogersen and Zhou, 2012) may give openness-to-change elevated importance in this context. Hence, in the following we will develop hypotheses about the potential moderating impacts of all four main value domains.The moderating effect of self-transcendence\nData collection: Sample\nData analysis: AMOS 19 (Arbuckle, 2006) is used for the structural equation modeling (SEM). The main advantage of SEM is that it is possible to explicitly account for measurement error when a latent variable of interest is represented by multiple manifest variables. Measures of \"fit,\" that is, of the extent to which the implied variance-covariance matrix, based on the parameter estimates, reflects the observed sample variance-covariance matrix can be used to determine whether the hypothesized model gives an acceptable representation of the analyzed data.The usual assumptions about uncorrelated unique (\"error\") terms and a simple structure factor pattern in the measurement model were applied, but the first of these assumptions had to be relaxed in one case (an error correlation in the measurement model for the attitude) in order to secure an acceptable model fit. When there is only one item representing a latent construct, as for example with injunctive and descriptive norms in the present study, the measurement error cannot be estimated but has to be set to a fixed value. In this case, the error variance for injunctive and descriptive norms was fixed to 20 percent of the item's total variance (which is \"typical\" for survey measures, see, Andrews, 1984).\nResults: Predicting intentions to buy organic food - all participants\nDiscussion: This study, based on the TPB model, explores how intention formation regarding buying organic food consumers differs depending on consumers' value priorities. Four potentially moderating variables are investigated: the value dimensions of self-transcendence, self-enhancement, conservativeness, and openness to change. A study was conducted with a sample of ordinary consumers from urban Guangzhou, contacted outside up-scale supermarkets selling organic food products. This is a very relevant sample for this kind of study, but it also has some limitations. Our sample is obviously not representative of China as a whole, but limited to urban China, which may differ from towns or the countryside, and results may also differ from other big cities in china. Hence, future studies could try to collect more diversified samples, and make comparative studies between different geographical areas in China.Despite the limitations, our study finds that the TPB model can be effectively applied on the prediction of Chinese consumers' buying intention in cases such as organic food and that the strength of at least some of the antecedents proposed by the TPB, the attitude and perceived behavioral control, vary between consumers with different value priorities.To be specific, self-transcendence values strengthen the effects of the person's own attitude and perceived control on buying intentions regarding organic food. The impact of subjective norms on intentions was not influenced and none of the other three analyzed value domains had a significant influence on relationships between the analyzed variables.The stronger influence of self-transcendence values than of any other value dimension is consistent with prior research finding that values in this domain seem to guide pro-environmental behavior in general and specifically the purchase of organic food. Hence, it seems that also Chinese consumers view the behavior as environmental, and they primarily buy organic food out of the benefits to the environment and society. In that case, people with strong self-transcendence values are likely to be more involved in organic food, which is why their attitudes are more predictive of their behavioral intentions and behavior (e.g. Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2009; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006; Verplanken, 2002).The lack of a moderating effect of values on subjective norms may be due to subjective norms having a non-significant impact overall in this case. In the studied case, organic food was still a very new concept that had been adopted by only a small minority of consumers, which means that there was a lack of social models or social expectations to back up a decision to adopt (Thogersen and Zhou, 2012). Hence, future research should study this potential moderating effect in cases where there is a stronger normative effect overall.Consumers are not homogeneous, but are differentiated by personal values, among other features. This study shows that consumers' value priorities influence how they make purchase decision, and specifically how much they rely on their personal values and perceived behavioral control. Several studies suggest that marketers should adapt their marketing plans to different value segments and, in an emerging market such as the one studied here, especially focus on consumers whose value priorities fit the product. This study shows that not only consumer goals, but also their decision-making strategy depends on their value priorities; and insight that should be taken into account by marketers. When promoting organic food, marketers should especially focus on improving consumer attitudes and perceived control, according to this study.Education is a key means to both create more favorable consumers attitudes toward and strengthen their perceive behavioral control regarding organic food consumption (Paul and Rana, 2012; Roitner-Schobesberger et al., 2008; Thogersen, 2005). Especially important for perceived control is education about relevant organic labels and about the certification and control systems behind them (Thogersen et al., 2010; Thogersen et al., 2012). In contexts where objective conditions are unfavorable for organic food product, such as high prices, limited availability and/or a lack of a credible accreditation, control and labeling system, the main focus should be directed towards improving these conditions (i.e. improving \"actual control\", see Ajzen, 1985).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This article aims to study the role of personal values as moderators of the antecedents of consumers' \"green\" buying intentions in the context of Chinese consumers' inclination to buy organic food.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Ordinary Chinese consumers (n=479) were intercepted and filled out a questionnaire outside upscale supermarkets in Guangzhou. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses about personal values' moderating effect in the theory of planned behavior.\nFindings: - Self-transcendence values moderate the relationship between two antecedents and behavioral intentions: the attitude towards buying organic food and perceived behavioral control. Both of these antecedents have a stronger impact on intentions among consumers with strong self-transcendence values than among consumers with weak ones.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study is based on a single consumer survey collected from a convenience sample of consumers from one Chinese city. Hence, care needs to be exercised when making inferences about causality and representativeness.\nPractical implications: - Study results have direct implications for the marketing of organic food. As the food safety problem in China is getting more severe and environmental issues are increasing on the political and public agendas, the consumption of organic food is being increasingly advocated by both the government and food producers, as a healthy and environment-friendly alternative, which also may contribute positively to the development of the economy.\nOriginality/value: - This article extends the rare literature analyzing Chinese consumers' inclination to buy organic food. It also extends the understanding of the role of personal values as moderators of antecedents of consumers' buying intentions for \"green\" products.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Sport team loyalty: integrating relationship marketing and a hierarchy of effects
|
[
"Team loyalty",
"Sport team trust",
"Sport team attachment",
"Team self-expression",
"Team involvement",
"Sports",
"Relationship 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.Currently, firms are focusing on brand loyalty strategies because they realize several benefits. Brand loyalty creates entry barriers to competitors, and generates greater sales and profits. Moreover, loyal consumers become less vulnerable to competitors' actions (Dick and Basu, 1994; Ballester and Aleman, 2001) and less price sensitive (Birgelen et al., 1997). Research shows that brand loyalty is directly related to reduced marketing costs, increased new customers (Aaker, 1991), favorable word of mouth (Dick and Basu, 1994) whereas it mediates the relationship between brand attitudes, and brand equity (Chaudhuri, 1999). Therefore, generating loyalty between firms and customers is considered central to business success (Cronin et al., 2000).\nConceptual model - research hypotheses: A relational perspective in the study of loyalty\nMethodology: The target population for this research is professional soccer sport teams. Sport teams are highly symbolic and experiential products that allow for the development of strong emotional bonds between them and their fans. Moreover, recognizing the benefits of branding and capitalizing on the emotional attachment of their fans, sports teams are consistently turned into brand management strategies in order to instil fan trust and foster loyalty (Desbordes, 2007). Data were collected from a questionnaire distributed to sport fans of various soccer teams in a Southeast European country. A total of 287 completed questionnaires were collected.\nResults: First, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used for testing the measurement model and then, structural equation modeling (SEM) was deployed to test the theorized model (Figure 1).\nDiscussion of findings and future research directives: This study provides important contributions, both in theory and practice, for understanding the formation of sport team loyalty and responds to recent calls for more research on the topic (Funk and James, 2006a; James, 2001).\nLimitations/future research recommendations: This study has certain limitations that qualify its findings and provide directions for further research. First, the findings and implications (theoretical and practical) of this study should be read in the context of the specific sample. Results may not be generalized but they are probably useful as a qualified confirmatory approach to analyze the relationship among the constructs under investigation. As previously discussed, the results of the study are in line with the theoretical expectations. However, as in any research, further investigation is needed to replicate and extend these findings. Because the data of the study comes from a single sport (professional soccer) and a single country (a South East European country) the present model should be validated in other sports (e.g. hockey, basketball, golf, etc) and other countries (e.g. USA. and UK). The use of a market setting other than the larger markets (e.g. US) does not diminish the significance of the findings reported in this paper and could be applicable to similar markets. The role of self-expression and trust need further investigation since these constructs have been included for the first time in the study of team loyalty and sport teams.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: Given its importance in the brand management of sport teams, the present research initiative primarily concerns the investigation of the formation process of sport team loyalty. By integrating a hierarchy of effects model into a relational perspective, the study aims to investigate the role of sport consumers' involvement, self-expression, trust and attachment with a sport team in building loyal relationships. A conceptual model is proposed and tested in the context of professional soccer teams.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data of the study comes from 287 consumers of a South East European country. The fit of the model is tested using structural equation modeling and the statistical program LISREL.\nFindings: The results confirm that: all the hypothesized constructs constitute either direct or indirect determinants of sport team loyalty; a hierarchy of effects approach, cognition-affect-conation, can explain how strong consumers-team relationships can be developed; and team attachment acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between the cognitive components of the model (team involvement, trust and self-expression) and team loyalty.\nPractical implications: The findings provide several implications to marketing managers of sport teams in how to go about and develop loyal sport fans.\nOriginality/value: No previous investigation has integrated relationship marketing with a hierarchy of effects in order to explain loyalty to a sport team.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Prompting additional purchases while providing service: does it offend the customer?
|
[
"Self-monitoring",
"Core and supplementary services",
"Cross-selling",
"Psychological reactance",
"Public vs private proposal"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Situations in which a service provider proposes a supplementary service during the provision of a core service are common. Customers of hair salons are well accustomed to being offered extra services in the early stage of the delivery of the service actually booked: hair care treatment at an extra cost, for example. Similarly, in a car wash, it would not be at all unusual to be invited to opt for additional waxing, again at extra cost. Economic and competitive pressures have sparked firms' interest in adding extra revenue by means of the provision of a paid-for supplementary service (Jasmand et al., 2012). However, service providers face the difficulty of selling additional services without offending the customer by coming across as \"too pushy.\"\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: The \"service product\" is generally seen essentially as a bundle of different services, tangible and intangible, which together constitute the total service offered. The main constituent is conventionally designated the \"core service\" (Gronroos, 1978), and the others as \"supplementary services\" (Lovelock, 1991). The former provides the basic value of the service product and the latter facilitates and enhances the uptake of the core service (Storey and Easingwood, 1998). According to Patterson et al. (2014), service providers who are motivated by the potential to improve revenues without increasing operating costs are increasingly telling their frontline employees to engage more actively in cross-selling during service encounters by offering an extra-cost supplementary service with the core service. Aydin and Ziya (2008) suggest that such a tactic can be thought as a special form of bundling, in which the customer is given the option to purchase the bundle only after first committing to the initial purchase of a product or service.\nOverview of the studies: This paper presents three experimental studies, the relationship of which to the general conceptual framework is shown in Figure 1. They were designed to examine the impact of an unsolicited cross-selling proposal of a supplementary service on participants' overall satisfaction and purchase intentions. Study 1 tested the prediction that participants' reactions to such a proposal made during the delivery of a core service would vary as a function of its perceived relevance to that core service. Specifically, they were expected to respond less positively when the level of relevance was perceived to be low rather than high. However, it was considered unlikely that the response to a high-relevance offer would apply to all participants alike. To test the boundary condition, Study 2 examined the moderating role of psychological reactance on the relationship between unsolicited cross-selling of an extra service that had high perceived relevance to the core service and customer outcomes. To identify the conditions under which a low-relevance offer can be made without offending the customer, Study 3 tested for differences in relative reactance to a low-relevance offer with respect to participants' tendency to self-monitoring when it was proposed in public rather than privately.\nGeneral discussion: Despite the volume of published research on the promotion of services, one aspect that has been very little studied is the possibility that a persuasive strategy could have a counterproductive effect on customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Our study contributes to the body of knowledge by offering an empirically based view of customer reactions to attempts at cross-selling during service encounters. In particular, it identifies the conditions under which consumers view such explicit sales attempts in a negative light, making it likely that their satisfaction with the service encounter will thereby be diminished. Our examination of psychological reactance also makes a contribution to understanding why the proposing of an additional purchase to one already agreed may offend the customer. A challenge for the service provider is thus how to make such cross-selling proposals and yet not damage the overall customer experience.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' responses to unsolicited cross-selling of supplementary paid-for services made during delivery of a core service, and the contextual and personal variables moderating those responses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three formal experiments test the effect on participants' responses of the perceived relevance of the supplementary service to the core service, personal psychological reactance, in the case of a high-relevance supplementary service, and self-monitoring, in scenarios in which a low-relevance supplementary service is proposed either in public or privately.\nFindings: The experiments found that participants' satisfaction ratings were reduced in response to cross-selling of a supplementary service that was of low relevance to the core service, and that satisfaction ratings if it was perceived to be of high relevance compared were not reduced despite the unsolicited attempt at cross-selling. However, the non-negative response to a high-relevance offer was limited to participants with a lower tendency to reactance. Furthermore, a high predisposition to self-monitoring evoked more positive judgments if a low-relevance supplementary service was proposed in public rather than privately. That of low self-monitors was no different in either case.\nOriginality/value: This paper examines the trade-off faced by a service provider between customer satisfaction and extra revenue from supplementary services, and explores conditions under which a provider can propose unsolicited supplementary services without offending customers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How authentic leadership and inclusion benefit organizations
|
[
"Diversity",
"Authentic leadership",
"Citizenship behaviors",
"Organization-based self-esteem",
"Organizational inclusion",
"Peer report data"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Diversity research has focussed on understanding both positive and negative outcomes associated with difference (Shore et al., 2011). Following Cox's (1991) typology of monolithic, plural and multicultural organizations, researchers have been investigating factors and processes that facilitate movement toward inclusive workplaces and the associated individual and organizational outcomes (Mor Barak, 2011).\nReview of the literature: Diversity and inclusion\nMethodology: Research design\nResults: Reliability, descriptive statistics and scale intercorrelations\nDiscussion: Our findings suggest that authentic leaders play a significant role in contributing to employee perceptions of inclusion. The results provide empirical support to AL theory, which posits that authentic leaders encourage open communication and followers' ability to be their \"true selves\" (Avolio et al., 2004). This study extends the literature on AL and OCB (Walumbwa et al., 2008), adding further evidence that authentic leaders can encourage greater citizenship behaviors through the inclusive environment they create.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of inclusion and related factors, to understand how organizations can encourage and facilitate the full participation of employees. The research explored authentic leadership (AL) as an antecedent of inclusion, and two outcomes, organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using an online survey, data were collected from 107 primary and 219 peer participants in various industries throughout the USA. Primary participants provided perceptual ratings on inclusion, AL, OBSE and OCB. Co-workers assessed primary participants' OCB.\nFindings: AL was positively related to inclusion (b=0.58, p<0.01) as well as self-rated OCB (b=0.36, p<0.01). Inclusion was positively associated with OBSE (b=0.48, p<0.01) and self-rated OCB (b=0.63, p<0.01). Inclusion mediated the relationship between AL and self-rated OCB. OBSE mediated the relationship between inclusion and self-rated OCB. All analyses controlled for the effects of race and gender.\nPractical implications: Results suggest organizations can promote inclusive environments through AL, and that inclusive environments promote employees' work-related self-esteem and their willingness to go above and beyond in their jobs.\nOriginality/value: This paper examines previously unstudied relationships, thus contributing to organizational theory and practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Influence processes of implementation effectiveness in challenged information technology projects in Africa
|
[
"Implementation",
"Absorptive capacity",
"Adoption",
"Technology adoption",
"Innovation driver/enabler/factors/process"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Information systems (IS) projects success, especially in developing countries of Africa, continue to be characterized as \"challenged\" in various studies. Since these IS projects are implemented as innovations, we look at success from an innovation adoption perspective. An innovation is considered as a product or service that is new to its developers and/or to its potential users (Klein and Knight, 2005). For organizations to survive and thrive in a changing environment, innovation adoption and implementation are critical.\n2. \"Challenged\" information technology (IT) projects in Africa: Projects are the instruments of choice for technology transfer initiatives by various international development sponsors and their partners. Failures in project implementation seem to be the rule rather than the exception in Africa (Ika et al., 2012). Since 2000, the project failure rate for World Bank projects in Africa was estimated at 50 per cent (Chauvet et al., 2010); while the Independent Evaluation Group discovered 39 per cent of World Bank projects were unsuccessful in 2010 (Ika et al., 2012). Various organizational and managerial reasons are proffered, including imperfect project design, poor stakeholder management, delays between project identification and start-up, delays during project implementation, cost overruns and coordination failure (Kwak and Radler, 2002; Youker, 1999; Kilby, 2000; Ahsan and Gunawan, 2010). Matavire et al. (2010) identified factors related to IT project leadership weaknesses, task conflicts and institutional fragmentation as contributing factors to project implementation challenges in South Africa. Lungo (2008) plus Sheikh and Bakar (2012), reported on the implementation effectiveness of health IS projects in Tanzania. They illuminate the issue of challenged projects by highlighting the role that relationships play between developer - sponsor; global developer - local developer and local developer - local user groups. These relationships exarcebated the technology implementations in Tanzania.\n3. Framework for the analysis of implementation effectiveness: One theoretical perspective for assessing implementation effectiveness of IT projects in higher education for Africa is a set of constructs proposed by Johnson (2001). Johnson's argument is that in assessing implementation effectiveness, there should be a positive weighting of the three factors of innovation framing, innovation environment and innovation attributes. Each of the three terms is the subject of many journal articles, but typically in a disaggregated manner. The attractiveness of Johnson's approach is in how the three concepts are used as structuring metaphors for establishing the success of innovation implementation effectiveness. He makes the argument that none of the three on their own, are sufficient in determining the success of a project. The structuring metaphors present eight possible conditions for success that arise from a combination of the three factors (Johnson, 2001). Implementation effectiveness success can only be realized if an innovation is properly framed according to stakeholder expectations with an internal innovation environment present and specific attributes of innovations must outweigh the cons (Johnson, 2001). The key determinants in their conceptualization of successful perceptions needs to be inferred as being positive or negative and the result is then used to determine the outcome of the implementation effectiveness (Kazemi et al., 2013).\n4. Research methodology: We adopt a qualitative approach, based on an interpretive perspective, seeking to explain the social practice of the discourse surrounding innovation implementation effectiveness of \"challenged\" IT projects implemented in HCI of Africa. In the next subsections, we describe the research methods that were employed in this study.\n5. Analysis of results: In line with the deductive research approach above, the qualitative analysis relied on theoretical thematic analysis to analyse and interpret the interview transcripts. The ensuing sections describe the analysis of data and the emerging interpretations.\n6. Conclusions: Three inherent assumptions are postulated to be critical to the successful implementation of IS innovations. The first set of factors is related to innovation framing, typically involving \"sense making\" by top management and external stakeholders who grapple with issues related to the purpose of the innovation and how to coordinate action during implementation. A key attribute of the innovation framing is the satisfaction of the external stakeholders who provide resources, especially in large public sector projects (Johnson, 2001). The second set of factors is related to the innovation environment predominantly associated with middle management creating a supportive organizational climate for the success of an innovation. The third set of factors are related to innovation attributes, which have historically been linked to Roger's innovation attributes (Tornatzky and Klein, 1982) of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability. This study recognizes that most studies on assessing the effectiveness of IS implementations failed to recognize the interplay of factors at these three levels as a basis for speculating on the success of a project. Three main insights emerging from a theoretical thematic analysis based on propositions by Johnson (2001) present the prime contribution of this paper to IS research as follows.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This research reports on how influence processes (IP) impact on the implementation effectiveness of information technology (IT) projects. Drawing on an innovation perspective that elevate the interplay of factors related to innovations framing, innovations environment and innovation attributes, the study focused on IT projects based in Africa that are generally classified as \"challenged\" due to the conditions in the environment. The purpose of this paper is to assess how IP related to innovation framing, innovation environment and innovation attributes can be used to determine implementation effectiveness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a interpretive approach, a case study of institutions under a partnership that has been implementing various educational technologies in five African countries formed the sample. In all, 25 interviews of top-management representatives, project leaders and user representatives were conducted between 2012 and 2013 to assess the implementation effectiveness of these projects. Theoretical thematic analysis, based on a deductive approach, was employed to analyse the data.\nFindings: The results show that a majority of these development-oriented projects are \"mandated failures\" characterized by high framing, a bad internal environment and typically negative innovation attributes. That typically, the institutions engage symbolically in such innovations initiatives which are regarded as \"show\" projects. Such behaviour can be construed to be a pattern of cynical technology adoption linked to the appeasement of external stakeholders. In addition, participation in initiatives was largely symbolic and is considered as a mere demonstration of a modern organization that is technologically aware, yet the requisite innovation environment is lacking for effective appropriation of the technology. Third, mandated failures result in low morale of employees, who regard themselves as pawns in the process which make them grudgingly participate in the implementation process.\nPractical implications: These findings have implications for managing innovations in such challenged environments: the first proposition is that projects in challenged environment for innovation adopting organizations need to be considered as technology transfer projects. Second, the innovation environment and attributes can only be improved during implementation of the conditions related to absorptive capacity of the organization and the individual are addressed.\nOriginality/value: The research reported in this paper, provides an empirical determination of the concept of implementation effectiveness by using three constructs of innovations framing, environment and attributes. On the basis of the empirical findings, an original contribution is claimed, especially in \"challenged\" IT project environments where the concept of success if fluid and outcomes uncertain.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Candidates' integration of individual psychological assessment feedback
|
[
"Career development",
"Selection",
"Individual psychology",
"Employee development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Individual psychological assessment (IPA) refers to the administration of a set of psychometric instruments by a trained assessor to make inferences regarding an individual's competencies and/or suitability for a job context (Jeanneret and Silzer, 1998). One of the distinguishing features of IPA is the integration by a trained psychologist of multiple pieces of information obtained through assessment to provide a rich description of individuals. Organizations can use these descriptions for various purposes (e.g. selection, development, succession planning). IPA also involves a feedback session to present candidates with their assessment results and identify developmental needs (Meyer, 1998). Professional literature suggests that IPA feedback can greatly accelerate candidates' development by providing insights that can serve for further placement, coaching or onboarding of new hires (Hazucha et al., 2011; Moses, 2011). If this is true, more attention is required at the end of the IPA assessment process to study how insights gained in the IPA feedback can influence candidates' behaviors.\nCognitive integration of feedback: acceptance and increased awareness: Cognitive integration of feedback refers to candidates' incorporation of the feedback provider's message in their self-concept (London, 2002; Plunier et al., 2013; Ripon, 1998). Cognitive integration of the IPA feedback can be achieved by two ways: feedback acceptance, and awareness gained from the feedback (Plunier et al., 2013). According to the Image Theory (London, 2002), when the message is concordant or reinforces pre-existing schema, its acceptance will be easily achieved. In contrast, when the message provides new information that is not (yet) incorporated in the self-concept, a more elaborated cognitive treatment of the message is likely to occur which might lead to increased awareness if the individual perceives some value in the message. Changes in these two forms of cognitive integration are expected to be related, but there is no conditional or necessary association between them. For example, one can perceive a message to be accurate (Ex: \"You are a highly sociable person\"), but not necessarily leading to increased awareness if the message is perceived as obvious or already known. On the other hand, the feedback might lead to an increased awareness perception (Ex: \"You have a great potential for success in expatriate mission\") while not being fully accepted based on the fact that it must be confirmed by other evidences or reconciled with existing schemas.\nMotivational intention: the link between cognitions and behaviors: Studies in different contexts suggest that feedback accepted as accurate will in turn influence the desire or intention to respond (Ilgen et al., 1979; Kinicki et al., 2004). According to Ilgen et al. model (1979), this is thought to occur by increasing instrumentalities expectations and by reinforcing efforts that are consistent with the feedback provided - encouraging candidates to make changes they already thought might help them to be more successful. In an IPA context, candidates that trust the professional judgment of their assessor and perceived their profile description as accurate should be more motivated to follow developmental recommendations included in their IPA feedback. In developmental feedback studies reviewed by Byham (2005), feedback acceptance was found to correlate positively with motivation to engage in follow-up activities (r=0.29-0.63, p < 0.05). Yet, the magnitude of this effect seems to vary across studies and needs to be further examined.\nBehavioral integration of feedback in the work context: As stated by Novack (2009), \"the ultimate goal of feedback is to help translate awareness into successful behavioral change\" (p. 282). As proposed by Ilgen et al. (1979) and other fundamental theories (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), there should be a relationship between cognitive reactions to feedback, motivational intention and post-feedback behaviors. A meta-analysis of studies conducted in a variety of settings based on the Theory of Planned Behavior indicate that intention explains in average 22 percent of the corresponding behavior (Armitage and Conner, 2001), and that the perceived control over behavior can increase this prediction substantially in the case of motivational intention (e.g. desire to perform behaviors). To our knowledge, no study has yet substantiated the relationships between motivational intention and post-feedback behaviors in an IPA context.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Table III presents descriptive statistics based on participants that completed T1 and T2. Some correlations were moderately high but were not indicative of multicollinearity problems (VIF < 4; Tolerance > 0.25; Martins and Bridgmon, 2012) and should not result in problematic rate of type-II error in model estimates based on Grewald et al.'s (2004) simulation. A type-I error rate of 0.05 has been set to test the statistical significance of relationships between variables.\nDiscussion: This research aimed at testing a model of feedback integration based on Ilgen et al. (1979) in the specific context of IPA. Consistent with the proposed model, nine of the ten hypotheses were supported by the data. The selected feedback characteristics were related to feedback acceptance as in previous developmental feedback studies (Bell and Arthur, 2008; Byham, 2005; Kudisch et al., 2002) and appeared to be related to awareness gained from feedback, a dimension of candidate's cognitive integration which is not often studied nor included in feedback models (Ilgen et al., 1979). This study provided support for hypotheses proposing that awareness gained in IPA is related to the intent to act on IPA feedback, which is subsequently related to behavioral efforts to develop on the job.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically verify a theoretical model of candidates' feedback integration in the context of individual psychological assessment (IPA).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted in a two-wave longitudinal study. A total of 97 candidates completed questionnaires immediately after their feedback session as well as three months later.\nFindings: Results indicate that candidates' motivational intention to act on IPA feedback is a pivotal variable linking feedback perceptions and post-feedback behaviors. Source credibility, assessment face validity, as well as perception that the feedback helped increase candidate's awareness were related to motivational intention. Conversely, feedback acceptance was not related to candidates' motivation to act on feedback and post-feedback behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because the authors relied on self-report questionnaires, future studies would benefit from including externally assessed behavioral outcomes. Future research efforts should continue distinguishing candidates' acceptance and awareness based on their distinctive contributions in the feedback integration process.\nPractical implications: The results indicate that motivation created during the feedback session is a stronger predictor of day-to-day behavioral changes than it is of involvement in specific developmental activities.\nOriginality/value: This research fills a gap in IPA literature by highlighting some IPA benefits and the processes involved in increasing feedback value for the participant.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Sustainability orientation, supply chain integration, and SMEs performance: a causal analysis
|
[
"Sustainability",
"SMEs",
"Integration",
"Performance measures",
"Small- to medium-sized enterprises"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the dominant form of business organization which are strategically necessary for the economic growth of both developed and developing countries (Redmond et al., 2016). SMEs are playing a pivotal role in generating employment opportunities, reducing poverty and improving technical manufacturing capabilities. They contribute to higher export rate which is highly important for the economic development. However, considering environmental footprint, SMEs are accountable for the significant carbon emissions (Lewis et al., 2014; Redmond et al., 2016). They are responsible for approximately 70 percent of the global industrial pollution, justifying the need for the urgent measures for promising environmental solutions (Reyes-Rodriguez et al., 2016). SMEs should not focus just on operational performance, accordingly, but also on the integration of sustainability practices throughout their supply chain (SC).\n2. Literature review: In this section, we review the body of knowledge available in the literature according to the systematic literature review approach proposed by Shashi et al. (2018) and Gaur and Kumar (2018) to ascertain the existing gaps between theory and actual practices.\n3. Conceptual framework: By the reviewed literature, we develop a conceptual framework to test the relationship among SO, SC integration, SP, SD, EP and CP at the SMEs level.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Questionnaire development\n5. Results: In this section, we use relevant tools and techniques to convert survey data into valuable information. To do so, following Qi et al. (2017), we employed a three-step methodology: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). EFA deals with theory building and CFA with theory testing (Gaur and Gaur, 2009), and SEM tests the hypothesized relationships (Hair et al., 2010).\n6. Discussion and managerial implications: In this paper, we developed a framework to test the effects of SC, SC internal and external integration, SP and SD on the SMEs' environmental and CP. This is the first systematic attempt to reveal hidden facts to improve the sustainability of the SMEs.\n7. Limitations and future research directions: This research contributes to the literature and practices related to the operations of the SMEs. However, it has some limitations based which we can highlight several areas for future research. First, we used in this paper only primary data that had explicitly been collected for the aim of this study. Therefore, future research could test the validity of the proposed framework when primary data are analyzed together with secondary data (reported by government publications, websites, books, journal articles, internal records, etc.). Second, we collected survey responses from SMEs who active in six different industries, thus the further research can test our framework by considering only a single sector to understand the sustainability exposure in that particular industry. Third, this study proposed a conceptual model based on seven sustainability constructs for SMEs. The constructs, however, are not limited to SMEs, meaning that they may also be relevant for large companies. Scholars may repeat the research by considering large-scale companies and compare the results with findings of this study to offer more insights about the relationship between SO, IN, EX, SP, SD, EP and CP. Fourth, including additional constructs into the proposed conceptual model, e.g., cooperating product and process innovation may produce further insight into the performance of the SMEs. Fifth, to carry out this research, we targeted a single respondent in each firm. Targeting more respondents from each of the SMEs could extend the understanding of the results and make the study finding stronger. Finally, the field analysis has been conducted in India which is one of the most promising developing countries. For the generality purposes, similar studies could be done in other countries.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The pressure of globalization has raised social concerns related to the protection of the environment, forced companies to use sustainability as a strategic weapon to fulfill the legal obligations and achieve overall competitiveness. It is reported that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are globally responsible for approximately 70 percent of the industrial pollution, justifying urgent attention to the operations of these businesses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of sustainability orientation (SO) and supply chain (SC) integration implemented by SMEs on their sustainable procurement (SP) and design. Moreover, this study examines how SMEs' SP and design affect their environmental and cost performance (CP).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors develop a comprehensive model to test the relationships among SC, SC integration, SP, sustainable design (SD), environmental performance (EP) and CP at the SMEs level. The authors investigate the relationships of the mentoned factors by a data set that is collected from 358 Indian manufacturing SMEs.\nFindings: The results indicate that in the SMEs' context: SO positively influences both SP and SD; external integration positively affects SP; internal integration positively affects SD; SP positively influences EP and has not impact on CP; and SD positively influences both EP and CP.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a broad view of the relation between driving factors that may direct SMEs toward a better sustainability performance and offers practical managerial insights into these important business entities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Unlocking supply chain disruption risk within the Thai beverage industry
|
[
"Thailand",
"Beverage industry",
"Structural equation modelling (SEM)",
"Disruption risk",
"Logistic risk"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade, supply disruption risk has emerged as a distinct topic of supply management research (Norrman and Jansson, 2004; Tomlin, 2006; Wu et al., 2007; Yang et al., 2009; Srinivasan et al., 2011; Silbermayr and Minner, 2014; Gulpinar et al., 2014). Supply networks now span multiple geographic regions, increasing the exposure of local firms to environmental and operational risk. For example, the 2011 Floods in Thailand interrupted local and global distribution channels, creating shortages of critical components across a wide range of industries, including electronics and automobiles. The disruption not only impacted traditional manufacturing sectors, but also food and beverage industries. For example, the Thai floods significantly affected the downstream supply chain of the beverage industry for over four months. Bars and supermarkets reported a shortage of beer, with distributors struggling to identify routes through which they could have their product delivered. The interruption of the beverage supply chain not only affected the retail outlets, but also caused a knock on effect on the entertainment sector as well as tourism in some of the popular holiday destinations within Thailand (Armstrong, 2011).\nLiterature review: The meaning of risk has evolved overtime; risk varies for different areas and different people, depending on their individual perceptions of the world. Risk is generally described as a situation which would lead to negative consequences, and has a certain level of probability to occur. Dowling (1986) stated from the perspective of the decision theorists: \"risk is the situation where a decision maker has a priori knowledge of both the consequences of alternatives and their probabilities of occurrence\". Alternatively, scientific perspectives of risk are provided by Mitchell (1995), who defined risk as \"[...] the probability of loss and the significance of that loss to the organisation or individual\". Sjoberg et al. (2004) view perceived risk as \"the subjective assessment of the probability of a specified type of accident happening and how concerned we are with the consequences\" (p. 8). Yates and Stone (1992) state risk refers to the judgement of potential loss likelihood and loss significance. Both loss likelihood and loss significant are considered important factors in the judgement process. The above definitions reflect that risk constitutes two major dimensions, the magnitude of the negative effect and the respective probabilities of occurrence.\nTheoretical development: The development of our supply disruption risk model is based on the Yates and Stone (1992) risk perception framework. Yates and Stone's model presents a structural model of how different elements affect decision maker's risk perceptions, so as to affect the decision making. In the literature, there are other models representing risk perception. For example, Slovic et al. (1987) propose a psychometric model in order to investigate the level of risk perceptions of a range of risk incidents. The model includes multiple dimensions of risk perception, and is a useful tool to analyse and predict decision makers' responses to various risks by identifying their similarities and differences (McDaniels et al., 1995; Savadori et al., 2004; Feng et al., 2010). Slovic et al.'s (1987) risk perception approach is a useful tool to analyse and predict decision makers' responses to various risks by identifying their similarities and differences. Also, it has been widely adopted in risk and applied psychology literature in various areas, including automobile defect, product recall and bio-technology. However, most of these risk perception models are representing the lay people's risk perception and its profiling. In Yates and Stones's model, it provides an interesting insight about how risk perception is constituted when decision makers face risky decision making. Also, it provides a more holistic view of the risk presentation and its elements which are seldom mentioned in supply chain management literature.\nResearch methodology: In this research, a quantitative approach is chosen as the research methodology for investigating the representation of supply chain disruption risk. By the research acknowledging the impact of the subjective risk perceptions of practitioners, and more objectivist, quantitative approach reflects the systematic nature of the analysis of supply chain risk, providing more generalizable results. The quantitative approach is thus considered a more appropriate method to provide a clear understanding of disruption risk in the Thai beverage industry. The quantitative approach is more likely to take account of variations in individual perceptions, and thus the developed environmental uncertainty measurement instruments can be applied reliably within subsequent studies.\nAnalysis and findings: Assessment of unidimensionality\nDiscussion: Our research contributes to supply chain disruption risk literature. More specifically, our research provides insight regarding the structure of supply chain disruption risk, in particular the Thai beverage context. Most of the literature in supply chain risk management focuses upon practices, with this research instead focusing on the understanding of risk perception of purchasing manager. The results provide support for the risk representation approach initially proposed by Ellis et al. (2010). Our findings also provide evidence that their basic structure of disruption risk is suitable for representing disruption risk in beverage industrial context within other national contexts. In Ellis et al.'s (2010) work, the findings indicate that both magnitude and probability of disruption are determinants of upstream disruption risk in which probability of disruption has a more significant relationship with overall risk than risk magnitude. Our research returns similar findings, representing cumulative investigations within the domain of downstream disruption risk. The probability and the magnitude of risk are both significant, with the probability of loss having a more significant relationship. The result implies that in forming their perception of supply disruption risk, Thai beverage company managers give more emphasis to the probability of risk occurrence. This can be explained by the major role within beverage supply chains of beverage distributors, whose main target is to ensure the smoothness of the product flow from the manufacturer to its customers (Gebennini et al., 2013), rather than accounting for the compensation of loss to the customer when supply chain interruptions occur.\nConclusion: While this study extends previous empirical investigations of the representation of supply disruption risk, several extensions can be made to this research area to add further insight. As this research has focused on the Thai beverage industry, it is important to test the generalizability of the findings to other countries and across other industries. Kristal et al. (2011) demonstrate that the effectiveness of different supply chain practices is affected by national culture, with Behara et al. (2014) demonstrating the lack of supply chain research in developing economies. Future research conducted using multi-group data sets could allow exploration of the effect of national context or the impact of operational context on disruption risk management practices. Larger groups would also assist in the examination of the moderating effect of firm size, industries and supply chain position on disruption risk perception.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: A growing need for global sourcing of business has subjected firms to higher levels of uncertainty and increased risk of supply disruption. Differences in industry and infrastructure make it more difficult for firms to manage supply disruption risks effectively. The purpose of this paper is to extend developing research in this area by addressing gaps within existing literature related to environmental turbulence and uncertainties.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors test the model using data collected from 253 senior managers and directors in the Thai beverage industry using advanced statistical techniques to explore the relationship between representations of supply disruption risk and uncertainty.\nFindings: The results show that both magnitude and probability of risk impact on the disruption risk, but the probability of loss is a dominant determinant. The authors also find that demand uncertainty and quality uncertainty affect the risk perception of purchasing managers, and are related to the magnitude of disruption risk, rather than the frequency of occurrence. Interestingly, the results show that quality uncertainty negatively impacts on the severity of disruption risk.\nResearch limitations/implications: The construct validity of demand uncertainty was under the required threshold, intimating the need for further construct development.\nPractical implications: The framework provides managers with direction on how to formulate and target their disruption risk management strategies. The work also allows practitioners to critical reflect on implicit risk management strategies they may already employ and their effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: The paper identifies key antecedents of supply disruption risk and tests them within a novel industrial context of the beverage industry and a novel national context of Thailand.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Finding m-similar users in social networks using the m-representative skyline query
|
[
"Decision support",
"Social network",
"Database management",
"R-tree",
"Similar-user finding",
"Skyline query"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Personalized recommendation systems are attracting considerable attention (Hanze and Junmanee, 2005; Horozov et al., 2006; Hsieh et al., 2012; Lu et al., 2012), for their ability to make recommendations (e.g. products and destinations) based on data obtained from social networks. When User A inputs a search request, the system first searches for all similar users in the social network and then makes a recommendation to User A based on the preferences of these comparable users. For example, User A is living in Tokyo and wants to make a trip to Sapporo. But he/she is not sure what local attractions in Sapporo would be interesting and so enters a relevant search request into the system. Table I shows how a number of social network users (including User A) have rated destinations they have previously visited. The number 10 under Tokyo National Museum for User A means that User A has visited the museum and rated it at 10. The \"null\" rating under Sapporo Beer Museum for User A means that this user has not previously visited this attraction. The system then searches for other users similar to User A. It is clear from the table that Users B and D are more similar to User A than to Users C, E and F because Users A, B and D all highly rated the Tokyo National Museum but poorly rated the Tokyo shopping mall and central park. The ratings of Users C, E and F, however, were exactly the opposite. The system then determines which of the four destinations (Sapporo Beer Museum, Sapporo shopping mall and Sapporo central park) would suit User A based on how Users B and D have rated these attractions. As Users B and D rated the Sapporo Beer Museum much higher than the other three destinations, the system recommends User A to visit the Sapporo Beer Museum.\n2. Related work: Common skyline query algorithms include the block nested loop (BNL) algorithm, divide and conquer algorithm (DAC), sort and limit skyline algorithm (SaLSa) and the branch and bound skyline (BBS). In this chapter, we briefly outline the concepts behind these four algorithms. We also discuss the s-neighborhood skyline query, which is highly relevant to our research.\n3. m-representative skyline algorithms: In this chapter, we first introduce the means by which the depth of the target user is compared to that of all users in the social network. We then discuss the means by which the algorithm generates answers in response to the requests of the target user. We develop two algorithms by which to compare the depths of users in the social network, which is the bottleneck in this system: the naive algorithm and the R-tree-based algorithm.\n4. Simulations: In this section, we examined three types of distribution involving the target user and other users in the social network: independent distribution, anti-correlated distribution and correlated distribution. We selected these distributions because they are the benchmark distributions for the skyline-related algorithm. The independent distribution represents the general case, the anti-correlated distribution represents the worst case and the correlated distribution represents the best case. For each distribution, we adopted the parameters generally used for skyline-related simulations (Chen and Lee, 2011b, 2015), i.e. 1 M points (virtual users). The first simulation addresses the problem of depth and the efficiency of the proposed algorithms. In the second simulation (Borzsonyi et al., 2001; Papadias et al., 2003), we verified the computing speed of the proposed algorithm under various numbers of dimensions.\n5. Conclusions: The use of skyline queries to identify social networks users with characteristics similar to those of the target user is crucial to the further development of personalized recommendation systems. Unfortunately, most previous methods have been hindered by enormous fluctuations in the number of similar users. Too few users can undermine recommendation accuracy, whereas too many users greatly increase the computational overhead of the recommendation system. In this work, we developed a novel scheme, referred to as m-representative skyline queries, to provide control over the number of similar users that are returned. We also developed a naive algorithm and an R-tree-based algorithm to provide additional control over the search process. Experiment results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach. In our future works, we will apply the results of this work to a variety of applications, such as social networks and trip recommendations, to further demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of this approach.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Using social networks to identify users with traits similar to those of the target user has proven highly effective in the development of personalized recommendation systems. Existing methods treat all dimensions of user data as a whole, despite the fact that most of the information related to different dimensions is discrete. This has prompted researchers to adopt the skyline query for such search functions. Unfortunately, researchers have run into problems of instability in the number of users identified using this approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: We thus propose the m-representative skyline queries to provide control over the number of similar users that are returned. We also developed an R-tree-based algorithm to implement the m-representative skyline queries.\nFindings: By using the R-tree based algorithm, the processing speed of the m-representative skyline queries can now be accelerated. Experiment results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.\nOriginality/value: Note that with this new way of finding similar users in the social network, the performance of the personalized recommendation systems is expected to be enhanced.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Market investments in resource interfaces: understanding market assets in networks
|
[
"Business networks",
"Bridging resources",
"Fish farming industry",
"Market assets",
"Market investments",
"Resource interfaces"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In IMP thinking business relationships develop over time as firms commit resources and adapt to each other (Hakansson and Snehota, 1995). In this way business relationships are seen as key resources for business firms. Some argue that business relationships can be viewed as assets to which firms commit resources (Anderson et al., 2001). The resources that are committed can be seen as market investments aiming at creating, maintaining, and developing the network position of the firm (Anderson et al., 1998; Henders, 1992; Johanson and Mattsson, 1985; Mattsson, 1989; Mattsson and Johanson, 1992) thus creating what Johanson and Mattsson (1985, pp. 188-189) terms \"market assets.\" According to these scholars, market assets are the positions that give a firm access to assets of other firms in the network (Johanson and Mattsson, 1985).\nLiterature review: market investments in resource interfaces creating market assets: Viewing the commitment of resources into resource interfaces as investments has two major consequences. First, being able to account for the value of the investment becomes significant, as well as being able to discern who is making it and what manifestations it may have. Hence, market investments are likely to be subjected to various types of accounting tools aiming at accounting for its value in terms of its capacity to generate beneficial economic returns. Second, being able to model such market investments in a more precise way becomes important. This means finding a way to model what market assets conceptually are in an elaborated conceptualization of market investments.\nMethods: To investigate what market investments that were made by which actors into which resource interfaces we draw on a case network based on an investigation of the Chilean salmon production network. To this end, we chose the fish - being the focal object resource (Prenkert, 2003, p. 215ff.; Prenkert and Hallen, 2006, pp. 400-401)[1] in that network - as a point of departure. We then systematically investigate the specific interfaces that this resource has with three other specific resources: feed, vaccines and fishmeal production facilities in a thick case study. Together, fish, feed, fishmeal facilities and vaccines constitute four central resources in the resource constellation that enable the production of North Atlantic Salmon in South Pacific waters. This paper scrutinizes the investments being made by some actors in the interfaces between the fish and the feed, the fish and the fishmeal facilities and between the fish and the vaccines.\nCase study: a Chilean salmon production network: A (very) short history and background of the Chilean salmon industry 1984-2013\nAnalyzing the market investments into resource interfaces in salmon farming: Following the structure of the analysis depicted in Table I, we now investigate Resource Interfaces A, B, and C - in that order - as interfaces where tangible and intangible market investments are continuously being made. While the previous sections provide a general understanding of the Chilean salmon production network in our case, the next sections provide a detailed analysis of the specific resource interfaces that have been identified in it.\nDiscussion: who forms what market assets by making what investments?: At the outset, we formulated the following research question:\nImplications for our understanding of resource interfaces: We discuss two main implications for our understanding of resource interfaces. First the value of the market assets that market investments creates in terms of multilateral resource interfaces. Second, we discuss the characteristics of such multilateral resource interfaces.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of who forms what market assets by making what market investments in a business network.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To investigate what market investments were made by certain actors into resource interfaces as market assets, the author draws on a case network based on an investigation of the Chilean salmon production network. To this end, the author chose the fish - being the focal object resource in that network - as a point of departure. The author systematically investigates the resource interfaces that this resource has with three other specific resources: feed, fishmeal, and vaccines in a thick case study.\nFindings: This study shows that market investments entail committing resources to resource interfaces which turns them into market assets. Resource interfaces as market assets have implications on how we characterize and value resource interfaces. Multilateral resource interfaces become valuable to firms as a result of continuous market investments made into them. This produces different types of resource interfaces, some of which are of mediatory character bridging between distant resources in a network.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study focuses on the market investments being made to create and sustain market assets. Of course such assets are linked to a firm's internal assets which this study do not investigate. In addition, this study emphasizes the commitment of resources into existing resource interfaces, the ensuing creation of market assets, and its use and value for firms and downplays a firm's need to account for market investments and the market investments required to create a new resource interface.\nPractical implications: As resource interfaces are valuable market assets, it is important to understand the functioning of different types of resource interfaces so as to exploit their potential as efficient as possible. This paper shows that some resources act as bridging resources connecting the borders of two indirectly related resources. Controlling bridging resources becomes an essential task for managers in business networks.\nSocial implications: Understanding the market investments into resource interfaces enables firms to become more skilled in organizing and controlling networks. These networks can play important roles in the economic development of society and create improved societal conditions for people, organizations, and economies.\nOriginality/value: By combining a market investment and market asset conceptualization of investments in networks with a resource interaction approach, this paper provides an enhanced understanding of resource interfaces as market assets. Theoretical implications for our understanding of resource interfaces - its value and character - are discussed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Gender diversity and management aspirations in public sector workplaces in Denmark
|
[
"Management aspirations",
"Gender diversity among peers",
"Gender stereotyping",
"Gender asymmetry"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For several decades, most developed countries have seen increased workforce diversity (Forbes Insights, 2012; McKinsey, 2017). Women's increasing participation in education and paid employment as well as migration are important sources for workforce diversification (Forbes Insights, 2012; McKinsey, 2017; OECD, 2017). In the social sciences, workplace diversity has attracted considerable attention (DiTomaso et al., 2007; Roberson et al., 2017). Diversity research is often directed towards the analysis of whether and how various kinds of workforce diversity affect aggregated business outcomes in general, especially corporate profits and earnings (Herring, 2009; Noland et al., 2016; Shore et al., 2009; Tinker et al., 2004). However, workplace diversity is also an essential part of the intimate social environment for the individual employee with possible importance for work-related experience and wellbeing. As Pfeffer (1983) states: \"the relative proportions [of social categories] condition the form and nature of social interaction and group processes,\" all of which can affect employees' \"psychological well-being, attitudes, and even job performance\" (303-304). In the present study we hypothesize, that gender diversity among peers can affect the social and psychological environment in workplaces in ways that may form their career aspirations. We want to investigate whether workplace gender diversity of peers can affect entry of employees into the recruitment pipeline for lower-level management positions.\nGender gap in management positions: After several decades of struggle for gender equality in the labor market, men still occupy a clear majority of the authority positions in private as well as public organizations. Numbers from the OECD indicate that men's share of managerial employment totals almost 70 per cent (OECD, 2017). The gender gap with respect to workplace authority increases through the hierarchical levels, and in the OECD countries, women's share among chief executives in 2016 amounts to 4.8 per cent on average, though coming up from 2.4 per cent in 2013 (OECD, 2017). Even though Denmark is characterized by relatively high gender equality, especially when it comes to labor market participation and a shrinking wage gap, women's representation in management in general as well as top management positions is below OECD average (OECD, 2018). In the public sector, which, on average, is numerically dominated by women, men are also overrepresented in authority positions (European Commission, 2009). Again, when it comes to chief executive levels in the public sector, men typically hold the positions (European Commission, 2009). In Denmark, even in branches with overwhelming majority of women among regular employees, senior or chief executives are typically men (Madsen et al., 2010). If the gender gap with regard to workplace authority is less marked today than it was a century ago, it is still quite evident, and changes are coming slowly especially in countries abstaining from the use of quotas and other legally binding measures (OECD, 2017).\nMen's and women's career aspirations and gender diversity of peers: Traditionally, career aspirations are heavily gendered (Alvesson and Billing, 2009; Kirchmeyer, 2002; Powell and Butterfield, 2013). Several empirical studies have found that women's and men's orientations towards career, promotion and job authority fit different typical patterns (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2006). In general, and in conformity with traditional gender roles, authority oriented career aspirations are more prevalent among men than among women (Heilman, 2012; Madsen et al., 2010; Powell and Butterfield, 2013; Sheppard, 2018). It is widely discussed across different research perspectives, however, whether the widespread gender differences with respect to career aspirations are determined by societal and organizational structures, or, rather, if they are the expression of free choices of women and men. Economists, on the one hand, often referring back to the work of Becker (1985), typically account for differences between men's and women's work orientation and career aspirations on the basis of job seekers' utility maximizing choices, and they find that women with responsibilities in the family often choose to allocate less effort and commitment to their jobs than men with similar levels of skill and labor market experience do (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2006; Thevenon, 2013). Many sociologists, on the other hand, begin with the assumption that \"workers' location in social structures affects their work attitudes and behavior because location signals whether career advancement is possible, and workers react accordingly\" (Reskin and Bielby, 2005, p. 79). In accordance with this assumption, Cassirer and Reskin (2000), in a study among 733 employed General Social Survey respondents, find that the differences between men's and women's career aspirations are due to different structural opportunities for women and men when they are placed in a gender segregated labor market.\nGender stereotyping, diversity and career aspirations: From organizational studies it is well known that organizations in general contribute to the construction of shared meanings, beliefs and values among the individuals they comprise (Jaffee, 2001). As expressed by Pfeffer:\nHypotheses: Assuming that pronounced gender stereotyping typically restrains management aspirations among women and furthers them among men, and assuming that organizational gender diversity of peers counteracts gender stereotyping through increased inter-gender interaction, we hypothesize that:\nResearch design, data and measures: In the following, we present the context and design for testing the hypotheses, the data and measures used and how we carried out the statistics.\nFindings: The results of the analysis are shown in Table II. The question is, first of all, whether or not gender, as expected, means anything to employee management aspirations - and, if so, whether or not introducing workplace gender diversity of peers to the explanatory model is in itself significant and changes the differences between males and females' interest in and perception of the possibility of getting a management position. As shown in Table II (both model 1 s), gender makes significant difference to both the interest in getting a management position and to the individual's perception of how possible it is to become a manager one day. As expected, men are both more interested and find it more possible that they will become managers than women (the gender variable has a significant negative effect). However, as shown in both \"model 2\"-columns in the table, adding gender diversity of peers to the explanatory model does not in itself change anything. In relation to both dependent variables, gender diversity of peers is in itself negative - but non-significant. Furthermore, it has a non-significant effect on the association between gender and management aspirations. But, in both columns of model 3, we control for the interaction variable between gender and gender diversity of peers to test whether or not gender diversity associates differently with management aspirations for male employees than for females, and hence, we test H1a/H1b concerning asymmetric effects for men and women. As shown in the last column (Model 3) in Table II, the interaction variable is insignificant and introducing an interaction variable to the model does not change the explanation of variation in the employee's perception of the possibilities of getting a management position. Whether or not the gender diversity of peers is high or low, it doesn't change either the male or the female employees' perception of their possibilities of getting a management position. Regardless of the organizational level of gender diversity of peers, the female employees perceive their possibilities of getting a management position to be less than their male colleagues - and that is the case even though we include the different control variables. Hence, even when men and women choose to spend an equal number of hours on their work and career, are in the same profession and in equal personal life situations, and work in fairly gender diverse organizations, women perceive their possibilities of getting a management position to be less compared to men. The association between gender diversity of peers and perceptions of the possibility of getting a management position is symmetrically non-significant to men and women.\nConclusion and discussion: We have explored the relationship between workplace gender diversity of peers and career aspirations in a sample of female and male employees in workplaces within 13 public sector occupations. The multivariate analyses disclose that the associations between workplace gender diversity of peers and managerial aspirations are asymmetric between women and men. We find a negative correlation between workplace gender diversity of peers and career aspirations among male employees, while there is no significant correlation among female employees. In other words, male employees in mixed-gender workplaces are less likely to express management aspirations than male employees in mono-gender workplaces. Female employees in mixed-gender workplaces, however, seem to express management aspirations to the same degree as female employees in mono-gender workplaces. We consider this asymmetric response to be our main result. Furthermore, this association between gender diversity of peers and management aspirations is only relevant to interest in management positions. Both male and female employees' perception of the possibilities of obtaining a management position is unassociated with gender diversity of peers. Note, however, that management aspirations and positively perceived career possibilities are more widespread among male than female employees, even when we include several control variables. This is not unexpected, and it confirms findings from other studies of both private and public organizations. As mentioned, the data used in this study covers only public organizations, but as the uncovered correlations are argued to be based on general social-psychological mechanisms it seems fair to expect similar findings in private organizations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationship between workplace gender diversity among peers and management aspirations among male and female employees. It focuses on whether gender diversity influences men and women's management aspirations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study builds on cross-sectional survey data from the Danish public sector.\nFindings: Results shows that in mixed-gender workplaces, male employees are less likely to express management aspirations than male employees in mono-gender workplaces, but female employees in mixed-gender workplaces express management aspirations to the same - low - degree as female employees in mono-gender workplaces. All in all, the findings show that gender differences in career aspirations are not just a matter of individual preferences and/or macro-structural factors but also a matter of factors at organizational level. The findings suggest both positive and negative implications of gender diversity, and hence problematize a - rather common - simplistic celebration of gender diversity. First of all, gender diversity seems to counteract the fertilization of rigid stereotypes of men and hence prevents some men from being pushed into management positions and a career ladder they perhaps do not want to be placed at in the first place.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.\nPractical implications: The findings seem to identify that the challenge of secure a large and qualified pool of potential managers might be even extra challeging for managers in gender-diverse organisations.\nOriginality/value: A more nuanced view of the implications of gender diversity based on a basic argument of gender-asymmetry. Furthermore, the study are build on a unique dataset that allows to study the implications of gender diversity across a wide range of occupational setting and hence control for occupation specific characteristics.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Innovation generation process: Applying the adopter categorization model and concept of "chasm" to better understand social and behavioral issues
|
[
"Behaviour",
"Organizational theory",
"Innovation",
"Biotechnology",
"Australia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are many companies that depend for their survival and prosperity on the ability either to radically improve existing products and services or, better still, develop new ones, and then deliver them to their customers in a timely manner. Companies operating in high technology fields such as computing and biotechnology are particularly faced with this imperative. In this sense, one could think of these firms as having an existential dependency on innovation.There are many activities and practices associated with converting ideas into commercially successful products and services. Gopalakrishnan and Damanpour (1997) group these together and call it the \"innovation generation process\". They differentiate this process from the \"innovation adoption process\", which is mostly about the use of an innovation within a social system. Many frameworks have been proposed describing the innovation generation process, with most beginning with idea generation and finishing with commercialization. However, this process is not usually a straightforward or simple one for organizations to implement (Barclay et al., 1994; Eisenhardt and Tabrizi, 1995; Jayanthi and Sinha, 1998).Both Type I and Type II errors are frequently committed; that is, many firms reject potentially successful ideas, or accept for development ideas that are inherently flawed. In both situations, considerable effort, resources and opportunities can be wasted. Many suggestions have been put forward to avoid making these errors. These include a strong focus on critically analyzing the attributes of the innovation, using objective and stringent criteria to assess the progress of the innovation and applying highly deterministic project management principles to monitor the progress of the innovation development. These approaches bear strong rationalistic sentiments. The hope and expectation is that careful analysis and monitoring would improve decision making. Largely missing from this mix is consideration of the social and behavioral aspects that are part of the innovation generation process. These factors can contribute to the Types I and II errors, and therefore, it is just as important to include these with the rationalistic tools when attempting to better manage the innovation generation process. The purpose of this paper then is to examine the social and behavioral actions, activities and practices in order to group them together to create behavior-based profiles that characterize the various stages of the innovation generation processes within organizations.It is generally well known that individuals and groups within organizations hold varying opinions, ideas and conceptions (Klein et al., 1994; Klein and Sorra, 1996), including how ideas are conceived and progressed within organizations. Accordingly, a priori, we explicitly accept the notion that organizations are heterogeneous. We intend to assess the nature of these heterogeneous views as they relate to the innovation generation process. We use empirical data from a group of nine companies operating in the biotechnology sector in Australia. For theoretical insights, we depend mostly on the diffusion of innovation literature, particularly the ideas encompassed within the \"innovation adoption process\" area (Gopalakrishnan and Damanpour, 1997). Specifically, we use the \"adopter categorization model\" that was initially developed by Rogers (1962, 2003) and popularized by Moore (1991, 2002) as the \"technology adoption life cycle model\", to identify and collate social activities, actions and practices that individuals, groups, or even whole organizations typically exhibit at various stages of the innovation generation process. This enables us to construct behavior-based profiles. Further, it is evident that significant hurdles, which can be considered as being analogous to Moore's \"chasm\", exist within organizations as far as their ability to convert innovative ideas into commercially successful products and services is concerned. Collectively, the findings of this study have the potential to improve our understanding of the social and behavioral aspects of the innovation generation process. They would enable the generation of additional and richer strategies to deal with the problems that generally arise as innovations progress within organizations.In the next section, the literature relating to the innovation generation process and diffusion of innovation are reviewed. This is followed by a description of how data from the nine firms was collected and analyzed. Then, the results of the study are summarized. The paper concludes by drawing out the implications of the study for researchers as well as practicing managers.\nLiterature review: Innovation generation process\nResearch method: We used a multiple case study design in the form suggested by Yin (2003) to explore practices pertaining to the innovation generation processes. The cases were nine biotechnology companies in Australia. Case study research is especially appropriate for this type of exploratory research where the focus is on gathering soft information and understanding the emergent conditions within organizations (Eisenhardt, 1989).The biotechnology industry sector was chosen for two main reasons. First, firms in the biotechnology area are well known for their high innovation capabilities and capacities, with many of them having an existential dependency on innovation. Second, the biotechnology sector in Australia has been the recipient of special attention in the last few years in terms of support for innovation. In practical terms, this has seen support for the development of concentrations of firms (clusters), seed capital being made available and government policies being actively directed towards the industry. These features made the industry an ideal candidate to study innovation management processes. Table I provides brief descriptions of the firms that were subjects of this study.The firms that were selected for inclusion in this study were chosen purposively so that a wide cross-section of firms from the industry sector, were included. We wanted to ensure that the sample consisted of firms that were large, medium and small in size. We also wanted to ensure that there was a fair representation of firms from the various sub-sectors within the industry. Finally, we were keen to ensure that firms were at different stages in terms of the life cycles of their main products. As Table I shows, the organizations involved in the study had the expected range of diverse organizational characteristics that was sought.Data collected were in several forms. The primary data were in the form of interviews with senior management teams that included managing directors, heads of research and development, as well as managers and individual team members. In the majority of cases, the interviews involved more than one manager per organization. The interviews, lasting between one to two hours and numbering nine in total (one per organization), were semi-structured in nature. All the participants were provided with a brief set of questions prior to the interviews, which helped them prepare for the interviews. Key questions related to the interviewees reflecting on the innovation management processes in their respective organizations, particularly on activities that were involved as ideas moved from conception to commercialization.This primary data were supplemented with the researchers visiting each of the case study sites in teams of two, which allowed the case organizations to be viewed from different angles. In addition, internal publications and externally available information relating to the companies were reviewed. These three sources of data provided triangulation.The grounded theory approach to data analysis was adopted (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). This approach attempts to describe social phenomena by analysing and reinterpreting the subjective descriptions and interpretations of a number of actors involved in a social system (Goulding, 2002). The specific version of grounded theory promoted by Strauss and Corbin (1990) was used. While this methodology stresses that theory should emerge from empirical data, this does not preclude the role of extant literature in the theory-building process. According to Goulding (2002, p. 42), pre-existing knowledge and literature can be used \"as if they were another informant\" during data analysis.The interviews were recorded and transcribed. This text was then systematically coded and then logically categorized. As allowed by the grounded theory approach, we did not start with a complete \"clean slate\" to coding (Goulding, 2002). Instead, we used the five categories from Rogers' adopter categorization model and Moore's concept of chasm as the coding family to code and classify data. In practice, this meant that we searched for statements within the interview transcripts that could be assigned to one or more of the six concepts. As a result of this abstraction coding process, thick descriptions of concepts associated with the six categories was achieved. Since the intent of this study does not involve proposing a theory, the full capabilities of the grounded theory methodology have not been utilized in this case.\nResults: Categorization of behaviors exhibited within organizations\nDiscussion and conclusions: A key objective of this study is to better elucidate the innovation generation process model by describing the social and behavioral factors associated with various stages of the model. From the results of this study, we not only get insights into the social and behavioral aspects of the innovation generation process, but also a good description of the nature of difficulties associated with this process.Utility of applying the adopter categorization model to innovation generation process\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the social and behavioral actions, activities and practices in order to group them together to create behavior-based profiles that characterize the various stages of the innovation generation processes within organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Qualitative data were collected from nine Australian companies from the biotechnology sector. Using the grounded theory approach to data analysis, labels from Rogers' adopter categorization model were used to broadly identify and classify typical actions, activities, practices and behaviors exhibited within organizations that can be described as being \"innovator\", \"early adopter\", \"early majority\", \"late majority\" or \"laggard\" types. Further, Moore's metaphor of \"chasm\" was applied to explore the nature of difficulties that organizations face in converting innovative ideas into commercially successful products and services.\nFindings: - The use of the labels from the categories of the adopter categorization model enabled suitable behavior-based profiles to be developed.\nOriginality/value: - The use of the adopter categorization model provides a fuller and richer insight into the innovation generation process. The model can also be used to assess more holistically the viability of innovations as they progress from inception to commercialization.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Recession: a chance for hospitality SMEs?
|
[
"Hospitality",
"SMEs",
"Recession",
"Graduate employment",
"Career perception"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have been identified in both policy and academic literature as having an important role in providing graduate employment (Hart and Barratt, 2009; Connor and Shaw, 2008). The \"massification\" of higher education (HE) combined with the changes in skills requirement within graduate occupations has necessitated constant readjustment between HE and graduate employment (Elias and Purcell, 2003; Harvey, 2001). In recent years a number of government funded, private initiatives and projects have been introduced to strengthen graduate representation in SMEs and boost economic growth (Holden et al., 2007; Westhead and Matlay, 2005; Bowen et al., 2004). This is clearly evidenced by the increasing supply of highly qualified graduates in the labour force, which has led some to assume graduate recruitment by SMEs is inevitable (Walmsley et al., 2006; King, 2003). Nevertheless, significant proportions of hospitality graduates have trouble accessing SMEs employment and making full use of their potentials upon graduation (Green et al., 2009). As evidenced within academic literature, the hard knocks syndrome of working life in the industry and the indecisiveness which surrounds career paths in SMEs impacts hospitality students' aspirations and perceptions towards SMEs employment (Heaton et al., 2008; Barron et al., 2007; Connolly and McGing, 2006). This study aims to examine hospitality students' perceptions towards SMEs employment and the extent to which recent changes in the labour market influence initial career-related decisions. It is argued here that the economic downturn now creates a new challenge for graduates as it is difficult to predict and discuss future labour market issues and trends. Therefore, it is important to explore whether the new economic environment has modified the nature and context of hospitality students perceptions towards SMEs. This would allow key stakeholders in graduate employment to understand the effect of the economic environment to graduate SMEs perceptions and take measures in improving SMEs-graduate employment within the hospitality industry.\nSMEs labour market and the hospitality industry: The hospitality industry is dominated by small independent operators and comparatively few large firms with traditional patterns of graduate recruitment (Prospects, 2010).There is no single definition of SMEs due to the wide diversity of businesses. The main factors determining whether a company is an SME are either the number of employees or the turnover (Department of Trade and Industry, 2013). For the hospitality industry, almost 86 per cent of enterprises in the UK hospitality industry are classed as SMEs and 76 per cent of establishments employ fewer than ten people and 50 per cent fewer than five (British Hospitality Association, 2012). Such data highlights the critical role of hospitality SMEs in employment and graduate recruitment. However, recent academic evidence suggests that hospitality students are more likely to start their professional career in large organisations (Brien, 2004; Jenkins, 2001). It would appear that graduates prefer to start their professional careers by searching for jobs in large, alleged \"better-quality\" organisations (Hanage et al., 2004), with only a small proportion of graduates consider SMEs to be potential (and assumed preferable) employers (Martin and Chapman, 2006). Yet, whilst there is some anecdotal evidence which supports the case that graduates can add value to SMEs, there is also a body of evidence that identifies stubborn barriers and graduate labour market constraints, including the \"ignorance barrier\" and the \"market barrier\" to employment within SMEs (Belfield, 1999; Westhead, 1998).\nMethodological considerations: This study adopted an interpretivism, qualitative approach as the researchers attempted to collect and analyse knowledge from parts of a phenomenon by getting inside situations and involving the actors in the everyday flow of life (Gill and Johnson, 2002). Hollinshead (2004) argues that it is now inadequate for researchers to adopt research approaches based on method-level decisions alone. Instead, he suggests that it is important, particularly within qualitative research, to base such decisions (i.e. the techniques to be employed in data collection) on a strategic understanding of the research as a process of knowledge production. Thus, it is important to provide a \"deeper\" understanding of social phenomena (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000) in relation to SME employment through detailed exploration of the social experiences of hospitality students. An interpretation of an individual's meaning is vital in exploring how the current recession poses a challenge for graduates. As Grant and Perren (2002) argued, the real gain in understanding graduate employment will only come from detailed, situational and qualitative work. The interpretive approach is based around the notion of people being studied to provide their own explanation of their situation or behaviour (Veal, 1997), and the researcher's role in revealing this. The researchers seek to understand the context and then make an interpretation of what is found. For example, Phillimore and Goodson (2004) note that the debate surrounding qualitative research has grown with increased recognition of qualitative methods within the social sciences (Decrop, 1999). To a large extent this is because qualitative research is less codified than quantitative research, which leads to difficulties in establishing the reliability and validity of data collected (Silverman, 2009). Nonetheless, a quantitative approach leaves little space for the researchers to understand effectively how people interpret and behave in a social context (Bryman, 2008). Presenting the hospitality students with pre-set questions will restrict them to saying only what they are asked for, thus limiting their views and expressions. In other words, a qualitative approach provides a deeper understanding of social phenomena than would be obtained from purely quantitative methodologies (Silverman, 2009).\nHospitality students' perception towards SMEs employment: Despite the current economic uncertainty, it transpires that the study participants expressed a general preference for work in large organisations for career development and progression reasons. A number of organisational and personal factors influence hospitality students' SME perception. The findings reflect our understanding of how participants make sense of, interpret and justify career opportunities in hospitality SMEs.\nConclusion, implications and future research: The main purpose of this study was to examine hospitality students' perceptions towards SMEs employment. The study reveals that such a relationship is affected by a wide range of barriers and constraints including information failures (awareness of, and perceived value amongst SMEs and graduates), SME capacity constraints (resources available to recruit graduates) and developmental problems (a lack of developmental opportunities, employment reputation). Such findings confirm the assertions of Belfield (1999) and Westhead (1998) that \"ignorance barriers\" and \"market forces\" do not encourage overall students to consider SME employment. Totally, 12 years further on in the midst of a major recession, participants still express their determination to build up a career in large organisations. This generation of hospitality graduates still emphasise the importance of progression, social recognition and structured advancement within large organisations. Therefore, the interpretation of participants' perception highlights a number of implications and recommendations for HE, policy makers and SMEs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The research takes a comprehensive evaluation of hospitality students' perceptions towards small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) employment and explores whether the current recession and labour market changes influence hospitality students career-related decisions. Such exploration would provide vital information as to how the new economic environment has modified the nature and context of hospitality students perceptions towards SMEs. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research focuses on a constructionist philosophy in order to interpret how hospitality students construct of career choice. The qualitative methodology adopts semi-structured interviews in order to explore the socially constructed views of hospitality students' perception of SMEs employment.\nFindings: In spite of recessional challenges which particularly affect the graduate labour market, the research confirms the original academic arguments that socially constructed barriers and influencing factors do not highlight SMEs as an attractive first employment destination.\nPractical implications: This research recognises the need to reconsider the curriculum for hospitality students to embed the notion of SMEs as a possible career choice.\nSocial implications: Socially SMEs have not either historically or in the present day been seen as providing adequate resources for graduates entering the world of work. Such an implication has a considerably impact upon the supply and demand side of SMEs graduate labour market.\nOriginality/value: The economic downturn now poses a real challenge for new graduates as it is difficult to predict and discuss future labour market issues and trends. The research allows key stakeholders in graduate employment to understand the effects of the economic environment to graduate SMEs perceptions and take measures in improving SMEs-graduate employment in hospitality.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Simulation-based Six Sigma value function for system-level performance assessment and improvement
|
[
"Six Sigma",
"Performance management",
"Analytical hierarchy process",
"Simulation",
"Entropy method",
"Value function"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Performance management (PM) is gaining more attention from firms pursuing a high level of quality and excellence. According to Armstrong and Baron (1998), PM can be defined as a \"strategic and integrated approach to increase the effectiveness of companies by improving the performance of the people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors.\" PM is imperative to any successful effort spared by different business functions toward improved productivity and effectiveness. It goes beyond the measurement of various performance indicators to include performance analysis, improvement, and innovation. PM can be applied to individuals, teams, business units, and the overall organizational performance. Also, PM seeks a balanced assessment of key performance indicators (KPIs) including financial, customers, and society. Furthermore, through the use of PM, organizations can generate essential information as inputs to the various management tools and methods such as balanced scorecard (Kaplan and Norton, 1992) and the European Foundation of Quality Management excellence model.\n2. Literature review: Six Sigma provides a structured approach for the attainment of quality products and services with a focus on improving a set of critical-to-quality (CTQ) and critical-to-service (CTS) measures. It targets product/service attributes as well as the overall process improvement. It improves process performance by reducing products defects and process variability with an ultimate goal of meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Thus, Six Sigma initiative has received wide acclaim as a data-driven methodology for system design, problem solving, and improvement (Harry and Schroeder, 2000). Erdogan and Canatan (2015) summarized the literature associated with the Six Sigma approach, evolution, and tools. Further details of Six Sigma methods and applications can be found in Breyfogle (1999).\n3. Proposed methodology: The proposed methodology in this study consists of three modules (DMAIC process, system simulation, and VF) as shown in Figure 1. The \"define\" stage of DMAIC specifies the set of CTQs or KPIs that characterize the system performance. In the \"measure\" stage, a simulation model was used to estimate the performance of the underlying system. Multiple simulation runs generated the average KPIs values that were estimated under stochastic and dynamic conditions. These multiple estimates often presented several challenges to the subsequent DMAIC stages of analysis and improvement when translated into multiple SRs. Therefore, a VF was developed to combine the multiple SRs into a unified utility value (i.e. a system-level SR). The utility value was derived from the simulation values and their corresponding targets. It was expressed as a weighted average of multiple KPIs. In the case of unequal importance of quality attributes, AHP or the entropy method were used to derive attributes weights. The resulting VF was used as a criterion for comparing performance improvement actions and strategies. As shown in Figure 1, the simulation model and the generated system-level SR were also utilized in the \"analyze\" stage for scenario analysis and in the \"improve\" stage for prototyping, testing, and alternative evaluation.\n4. Numerical example: To illustrate the proposed methodology, a numerical example was adapted from a study conducted by Al-Aomar and Awad (2012) in which dynamic simulation was used to improve the performance of a healthcare clinic based on multiple KPIs. The clinic has the following sequential processes: patients booking and scheduling, reception and registration, waiting for treatment, treatment by doctors and nurses, and release from the clinic. The main reason for the initiation of a Six Sigma project was due to the several clinic performance challenges in terms of scheduling problems, long waiting times, increase in the number of complaints, and the reduction in the generated revenues. The project utilized the clinic simulation model as a platform for performance assessment and analysis. The following is a brief description of the Six Sigma DMAIC process application to the clinic example with a focus on the proposed methodology outlined in the previous section.\n5. Conclusion: In this paper, we presented a methodology for combining multiple performance measures of production or service systems into a system-level SR. Such methodology supports Six Sigma studies that target performance improvement of systems. Simulation was used as a platform to estimate the system KPIs under conditions similar to the real-world environment. A VF was developed to guide the improvement effort at the different stages of the Six Sigma DMAIC process. The VF was formed by normalizing multiple KPIs, assessing their weights of relative importance, and determining their overall system utility and the corresponding SR. AHP, entropy, and VM were used to assess the VF. These methods were applied at various stages of the DMAIC process. The performance KPIs were first identified for the underlying system in the \"define\" stage of DMAIC. At the \"measure\" stage, the simulation model of the underlying system was built and validated to provide a realistic estimate of the system KPIs. Equal weights were initially used to form the VF and to estimate the current state SR. In the \"analyze\" stage, AHP was utilized for weights assessment based on the availability of additional information and the results of Six Sigma analysis typically enable the team to establish consistent pairwise comparisons amongst the identified performance measures. In the \"improve\" stage, objective performance data generated from process simulation were generated and the entropy method was employed to assess the weights. Also, in this study, the AHP subjective weights with the entropy objective weights were combined to obtain a balanced VF. Finally, the study utilized the VM in the \"control\" stage of DMAIC to financially monitor and control the system performance. The methods used in the study were set to be utilized alongside the standard Six Sigma graphical and statistical tools. A numerical example was used to illustrate the application of the proposed methodology. Extension of this work would be to analyze the practical aspects of utilizing the VFs in Six Sigma projects and to provide guidelines on integrating the VFs in Six Sigma projects targeting the various sectors of the manufacturing and service industries. Also, it will be worthwhile endeavor to identify and incorporate external attributes related to the context of this study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a simulation-based value function (VF) that combines multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) into a unified Sigma rating (SR) for system-level performance assessment and improvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Simulation is used as a platform for assessing the multiple KPIs at the system level. A simple additive VF is formed to combine the KPIs into a unified SR using the analytical hierarchy process and the entropy method. Value mapping is utilized to resolve the conflict among KPIs and generate a unified value. These methods are integrated into the standard Six Sigma define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) process.\nFindings: Simulation results provided the Six Sigma DMAIC process with system-level performance measurement and analysis based on multiple KPIs. The developed VF successfully generated unified SRs that were used to assess various performance improvement plans.\nResearch limitations/implications: The accuracy and credibility of the results obtained from using the proposed VF are highly dependent on the availability of pertinent data and the accuracy of the developed simulation model.\nPractical implications: The proposed approach provides Six Sigma practitioners and performance mangers with a mechanism to assess and improve the performance of production and service system based on multiple KPIs when conducting Six Sigma studies.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the previous research by handling multiple KPIs in Six Sigma studies conducted at the system level using simulation and VF. The research also provides guidelines for using the different methods of weights assessment to form the VF within the DMAIC process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does transitioning from family to non-family controlled firm influence internationalization?
|
[
"Family firm",
"SEW",
"Export activity",
"Family control transitioning",
"PSM methodology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Despite the growing literature on the intersection between family firms and internationalization, research in this area has produced contradictory findings. Two recent reviews have been published (Kontinen and Ojala, 2010a, b; Pukall and Calabro, 2014) and these do not report a consensus on whether family firms constrain or facilitate export activity. While some studies (Carr and Bateman, 2009; Kontinen and Ojala, 2011) find that the small size and flexibility of management teams in family firms allow them to react quickly to new international opportunities, others (Fernandez and Nieto, 2005; Graves and Thomas, 2006; Merino et al., 2015) conclude that family controlled firms are less internationalized than non-family controlled firms because of their concern to preserve family control of the business. Yet other scholars (Cerrato and Piva, 2012; Pinho, 2007) find no difference between family and non-family firms regarding certain dimensions of internationalization.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1 Internationalization of family controlled and non-family controlled firms\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics and correlations\n5. Conclusions and discussion: While some authors conclude that family involvement has a positive impact on the internationalization of a business (Carr and Bateman, 2009; Zahra, 2003), others contradict this, arguing that family-related factors have a negative impact on a firm's international activities (Fernandez and Nieto, 2005; Graves and Thomas, 2006; Kontinen and Ojala, 2010b). Yet other scholars find no difference between family controlled and non-family controlled firms regarding certain dimensions of internationalization (Cerrato and Piva, 2012; Pinho, 2007). Starting from these mixed findings, this paper takes a first step toward understanding the trade-offs in family controlled firms in balancing their desire to increase their internationalization (and the risk associated with it) and their wish to maintain SEW (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2007, 2010). The central questions addressed in this paper relate to family firm internationalization: the static differences between family controlled and non-family controlled firms in terms of their export activity; and the dynamic differences between the export behavior of family firms remaining in family control (non-switchers) and those moving from family control to non-family control (switchers).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the internationalization of family firms, exploring specifically if the transition from family control to non-family control (losing family managerial influence) affects a firm's export activity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on panel data for Spanish firms from 2006 to 2012, a random effect tobit and probit regression and a propensity score matching were run on a sample of 225 firms moving from family to non-family control (switchers) matched with 4,213 firms remaining under family control (non-switchers).\nFindings: Although from a static viewpoint family controlled firms export less than their non-family counterparts, from a dynamic perspective family firms remaining under family control (non-switchers) are associated with a fall in export activity in comparison with family firms transitioning to non-family control (switchers). Both findings are related back to the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this study shed light on the trade-offs that family firms experience in order to balance their desire to increase their internationalization (and the risk associated with it) and their wish to maintain SEW.\nPractical implications: The findings should encourage family owners and managers to take long-term strategic decisions leading to internationalization which, although risky, will prevent subsequent loss of SEW in terms of family control.\nOriginality/value: This work provides evidence concerning family firms' willingness to undertake risky activities, such as internationalization, considering the threats to their wealth.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Children's use of the internet for information-seeking: What strategies do they use, and what factors affect their performance?
|
[
"Internet",
"Information retrieval",
"Children (age groups)",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: In its short history, the web has generated numerous studies of the search habits of its users. The most popular way of studying these habits has been the analysis of large sets of transactional data collected from real web searches (e.g. Silverstein et al., 1998; Spink and Xu, 2000; Spink and Ozmutlu, 2002; Broder, 2002). Although these have the advantage of being non-intrusive, they can only record searchers' decisions and the consequences of those decisions. They can say nothing about the process by which those decisions were arrived at.To overcome this shortcoming, qualitative studies have been carried out that combine observation of users, in-depth interviews, diaries, and \"think-aloud\" techniques. However, such studies have tended to restrict the actions and choices of the searcher in order to fit in with experimental design (Martzoukou, 2005a). An example of such a restriction is the use of a search engine specified by the researcher rather than selected by the student (Bilal, 2000, 2001, 2002; Ford et al., 2003). Furthermore, there were, until recently, relatively few studies of children's information seeking and use of the internet (e.g. Schacter et al., 1998, Bilal, 2000, Madden et al., 2003, Case, 2003).In the last few years, this lack has been addressed by a growth in the number of studies of children's information seeking, particularly on the internet. As with studies of adult users however, many of these studies have restricted the actions of searchers (e.g. Hirsh, 1999; Bilal, 2000, 2001). These restrictions undoubtedly affect the behaviour of the searchers. Fidel et al. (1999), for example, found that \"In some searches students took somewhat drastic measures to stay within the bounds of the assignment\".Perhaps a more significant restriction than the stipulation of a specific search engine was identified by Gross (1999). She discussed the behaviour of people searching in response to \"imposed queries\": i.e. queries that emanate from a source other than the searcher. Dresang (1999) questioned the validity of studies based on queries \"structured by adults usually in a school environment, ... [where] young people are asked to engage in completing (or solving) them using information resources\". It could be argued that imposed searches are routinely carried out when children use the internet to help with research for school assignments. However, undoubtedly there is considerable value in learning how students might find the information they need for their schoolwork.Searches are likely to be affected by a variety of factors - including the searcher's vocabulary and understanding of the subject area, as well as his or her ability to frame a query and to use a search engine. Domain knowledge has been demonstrated to affect internet searching (e.g. Lazonder et al., 2000, Wildemuth, 2004), and, where search topics are imposed by researchers, school children generally have less domain knowledge than adults. Bilal for example, set 15 students aged around 13 to 15 the task of using Yahooligans to answer the question: \"How long do alligators live in the wild, and how long in captivity?\" (Bilal, 2000). She set the same task to graduate students (Bilal, 2000) and recorded a considerably higher success rate amongst the latter. Her question was a good one, in that the concepts required to understand it are easily graspable, and were therefore likely to be equally comprehended by all the searchers. However, a graduate student is considerably more likely to recognize the relevance of the word \"longevity\" to the task, and so has additional resources for framing an effective search.Such factors were recognized by Bilal, 2000, who noted that children's cognitive ability, terminology and problem-solving skills are not as developed as those of adults, making them a \"special\" user group to study; and indeed, she found that the children in her study were more successful on self-generated tasks than on assigned ones and many of the children seemed to prefer them.The lack of recognition given to the role of cognitive development on searching may account for the confusion in this area of research noted by Shenton and Dixon (2003), who comment on the \"conflicting evidence as to whether youngsters search most successfully if the task is simple and concrete or vague, abstract, and ill-defined.\" Dresang too, implies there is confusion by drawing attention to an apparent paradox: that children often seem to have difficulty using the world wide web to find relevant information, but that they have at the same time become mentors and role models for adults \"in determining how best to approach the internet proactively, flexibly, and productively.\"\nThe study: In November 2001, a three year project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), \"Education for evidence-based citizenship: improving pupils' information seeking skills\" was begun at the University of Sheffield. One of the aims of the project was to increase our knowledge of school children's internet search and evaluation behaviour with a view to increasing the effectiveness of teaching. In an effort to achieve this aim, a study (described below) was carried out in a school environment.Research objectives\nResults: Sample characteristics\nSearch strategies: This section presents a description of a several searches. In the subsequent \"Discussion\" section, a number of tentative generic themes are brought out from these descriptions.Using URLs\nDiscussion: Limitations of this study\nConclusion: It is no surprise that older students proved to be better at searching for information on the internet than did younger students. Table III summarizes the factors that contribute to students' successful use of the internet in information seeking, and Table I illustrates the point that, although these factors are not directly linked to age, they are associated with it.Dresang (1999) commented on the paradox that, on the one hand, research findings indicate children to be poor searchers of the internet, while, on the other hand:many young people have become partners with adults, or even mentors and role models for them, in determining how best to approach the internet proactively, flexibly, and productively.This study helps to resolve Dresang's paradox. Although, mistakes were made, by the students, in their searches, what problems there were owed more to lack of discrimination than to lack of competence with the technology. This lack of discrimination was manifested in two ways. First, in the adoption of modifications (such as use of brackets) that were assumed to improve searches but were never actually tested; and, second, in the selection of web sites.The use of inappropriate modifiers is little cause for concern. It did not adversely affect any of the searches, and, in most cases will disappear as students learn more about internet searching. Lack of discrimination in the selection of web sites is a more serious issue. The students taking part in this study clearly had no problem coming to terms with the technicalities of information seeking on the internet, but needed to be made more aware of the structure of web, and of how much can be learned from an informed reading of a URL.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - A common criticism of research into information seeking on the internet is that information seekers are restricted by the demands of the researcher. Another criticism is that the search topics, are often imposed by the researcher, and; particularly when working with children, domain knowledge could be as important as information-seeking skills. The research reported here attempts to address both these problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 15 children, aged 11 to 16, were each set three \"think aloud\" internet searches. In the first, they were asked to recall the last time they had sought information on the internet, and to repeat the search. For the second, they were given a word, asked to interpret it, then asked to search for their interpretation. For the third, they were asked to recall the last time they had been unsuccessful in a search, and to repeat the search. While performing each task, the children were encouraged to explain their actions.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the factors that determined a child's ability to search successfully appeared to be: the amount of experience the child had of using the internet; the amount of guidance, both from adults and from peers; and the child's ability to explore the virtual environment, and to use the tools available for so doing.\nOriginality/value: - Many of the searches performed by participants in this paper were not related to schoolwork, and so some of the search approaches differed from those taught by teachers. Instead, they evolved through exploration and exchange of ideas. Further studies of this sort could provide insights of value to designers of web environments.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Building supplier innovation triads: The effects of leadership relationships and alliance partner diversity
|
[
"Innovation",
"Strategic alliances",
"Leadership",
"Supply chain management",
"Supplier triad",
"Toyota supplier association"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In response to changing customer preferences and rapid technological innovations, a growing number of leaders have restructured the way their firms develop new products (Ates et al., 2015). In particular, research within the leadership literature has found that executives are becoming increasingly involved in New Product Development (NPD) to improve project and product performance (Green, 1995; Felekoglu and Moultrie, 2014). This research suggests that leaders often help NPD teams by generating new ideas, sharing knowledge, encouraging workers and importantly, using their relationships to involve external stakeholders into the NPD process (Hult et al., 2000; Richtner and Ahlstrom, 2010). However, studies have shown that while executive involvement can improve project performance, it can also impede the creativity that is needed to make new products successful in the market (Bonner et al., 2002). Consequently, there remains some debate within the leadership literature about the effectiveness of executive involvement in NPD and the consequences it has for inter-firm innovations (Felekoglu and Moultrie, 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Executive involvement in the innovation process\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Research context: the Toyota supplier association\n4. Results: 4.1 Main results\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Conclusions, research limitations and future research directions: We use social capital theory at the interface of the leadership and SCM literatures to provide unique insights into how inter-firm leadership relationships influence the evolution of supplier innovation triads within a supply network. Specifically, we identify that firm-customer leadership relationships and firm-supplier leadership relationships play important roles in the formation of buyer-supplier-supplier innovation triads. Our findings also provide a richer understanding of how inter-firm leadership relationships and strategic alliances influence the development of innovation triads across the supply network.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The past decade has seen substantial changes in how organizational leaders work with external stakeholders to improve innovation performance. As leaders have encouraged the extensive involvement of suppliers and customers into the innovation process this has led to the formation of supplier innovation triads that are often governed by a portfolio of strategic alliances. The purpose of this paper is to explore how leaders' inter-firm relationships and strategic alliances influence the development of supplier innovation triads.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample of firms in the Toyota supplier association is constructed from multiple data sets, including the Japan Patent Office, BoardEx and S&PCapitalIQ. The authors test the hypotheses using multivariate techniques, moderation analysis and endogeneity tests.\nFindings: The results indicate that leadership relationships to Toyota and its suppliers have a positive effect on the formation of supplier innovation triads. The authors find that firm-external leadership relationships and alliance partner diversity have differential moderating effects on how customer and supplier leadership relationships could be used to build supplier innovation triads.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results focus on the firms within the Toyota supplier association, and this limits the paper's generalizability. Although patent data provide a detailed information resource, it do not capture all collaborations.\nOriginality/value: The authors expand the leadership literature by undertaking one of the first studies of inter-firm leadership relationships and their differential effects on innovation triads. The authors contribute to the literature by exploring the antecedents and moderating factors that influence buyer-supplier-supplier triads within an innovation setting.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Study and labour market effects of graduate students' interaction with work organisations during education: A cohort study
|
[
"Higher education",
"Graduates",
"Collaboration with work organizations",
"Labour market effects",
"Study effects",
"Work-integrated learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In Europe, the last decade has seen an enhanced emphasis on networks and collaborative practices in higher education. New types of study programmes with applied and cross-disciplinary profiles have emerged. New programmes often have built-in components such as practice periods, internships, or projects for companies, aiming to meet a diverse set of expected learning outcomes and to enhance the employability of graduates. Such development can be seen in most countries and higher education institutions, and has been spurred on by the Bologna process and by the implementation of the European Qualification Framework (Alesi et al., 2005; Kehm et al., 2010).\nStudy and labour market effects of interacting with WOs: theory and hypotheses: Recent research offer several different classifications of work and education interaction activities (Jackson, 2015; Lee et al., 2010; Lester and Costley, 2010; Tynjala et al., 2003; Brandt et al., 2008). One form described by Brandt et al. (2008) is interaction with private and public sector organisations to develop new, or change existing, educational courses or programs, to ensure that programs and courses are adapted to the needs to the local labour market A second form concerns collaboration to deliver parts of the educational programs, through practice periods, project work, joint supervision or teaching, and staff secondments. Third, private and public organisations can also support teaching without being directly involved in the programmes, by providing access to facilities and equipment, development of business case studies, development of projects and dissertation topics. Finally, there is extensive interaction with private and public organisations to facilitate transfer from education to work life in most subject fields, such as company visits, mentoring, career guidance, internships and summer jobs (Brandt et al., 2008).\nMethodology and data: Context of the study\nResults: Participation in WO interaction activities\nResults of regression analyses: It was expected in H2 that WO interaction during education would give students increased motivation to complete studies. In H3it was expected that having participated in WO interaction during study is associated with lower proportions of graduates that are mal-adapted (unemployed or employed in irrelevant work) on the labour market after graduation, and in H4 it was expected that these labour market effects would be higher in subject fields with short tradition for WO collaboration. In H5, it was expected that the benefits - both study and labour market benefits - would vary by mode of WO interaction, and that interaction forms with some length and commitment on the part of the work life organisation would carry the most benefit for the students.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The paper has addressed the issue of higher education graduates' interaction with work life organisations during higher education and potential benefits of such interactions for students, focusing on master's degree students. This topic is relevant as increasing numbers of national educational authorities and higher education institutions develop programmes and practices to facilitate better integration between education and work, through cooperative student placements, project work, collaborative diploma and master projects and related mechanisms (Tynjala et al., 2003).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an empirically based discussion of how cooperation between higher education institutions and work organisations (WOs) can increase graduate learning experiences and employability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data are based on an electronic and mail-based graduate survey among Norwegian master's degree graduates six months after graduation. 2,232 master degree graduates responded to the survey, giving a 54 per cent response rate. All subject fields were represented.\nFindings: 77 per cent of the graduates have some forms of interactions with WOs during their studies. The level and mode of participation differ, however, very much, and the benefits of participating differ by mode of interaction. Project-based interaction is positively and significantly associated with completing studies on time. Further, graduates who have participated in either project-based interactions or practice periods have better labour market situation after graduation than their peers. The results hold also when controlling of subject field differences and students' abilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study indicates that it is important to look at a wide range of interaction activities and look at the benefits from these activities both in terms of effects on the quality of the learning experience, as well as benefits realised in the transition to work. The data on learning benefits of interaction with WO during higher education are, however, limited, and further studies are needed on this issue in particular.\nPractical implications: The study indicates that only certain forms of interactions between students and WOs have benefits for students; namely the ones that involve a certain degree of time and commitment. Programme officers in higher education should target more committed interaction forms, because the added value is significantly higher for the students.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes new knowledge about the external networks of higher education institutions, by looking at the role of students in such networks and by measuring the benefits by using a representative sample of students.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The changing dynamic of leading knowledge workers: The importance of skilled front-line managers
|
[
"Employee behaviour",
"Line managers",
"Organizational performance",
"Employees",
"Qualitative methods"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recently, both HRM academics and practitioners have recognised that worker performance is shaped by a variety of factors. This recognition is evidenced in models of worker performance which posit that both the individual's attributes and the organisation's activities play important roles in fostering optimum performance outcomes (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Process models of HRM go one step further, emphasising that a pivotal mediating role between these two factors is the behaviour of the front-line manager (FLM) (Wright and Nishii, 2013; Paauwe et al., 2013). The FLM, in their supervisory capacity, is the agent of the organisation who is charged both with the responsibility for motivating superior performance from the individual, and also for ensuring the efficacious delivery of HRM practice (Hales, 2005; Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007). To some extent, we can consider this a relatively new role for the FLM, as Hales (2005, p. 475) notes that during the 1990s \"supervisory responsibilities for scheduling, work allocation and discipline remained the norm and broader human resource management responsibilities were the exception\".\nMethod: To explore the influences on KW performance and behaviour, we adopted a phenomenological approach in which we sought to understand the \"lived experiences\" of our KWs through \"scrutinising the text for meaning 'units' which describe the central aspects of the experience\" (Goulding, 2002, p. 25). Lee (1992) took this further suggesting that to \"grasp the meaning and significance of social phenomena it is necessary to understand this interpretative process and discover the motives, the reasons, and the goals which lead people to act in the ways they do\" (p. 89). Cognisant of both this advice and that \"qualitative inquiry\" can be achieved through a variety of \"data collection techniques\" (Anfara et al., 2002, p. 30), we employed a two-pronged research design, administered consecutively, to understand how KWs experience work. Stage 1 involved a paired statement exercise and was immediately followed by stage 2, in-depth interviews. Each session lasted between one and two hours.\nResults: In this section we present the themes which emerged from our interview data and intersperse this, where appropriate, with the results from the paired statement exercise (see Table II). Each emergent theme and sub-theme is summarised in Table III, and is primarily divided into FLM behaviour and FLM support. Key quotes are utilised to reinforce our findings, and each interviewee is identified as number one to 73 (for example I:1).\nDiscussion: The primary aim of this study was to identify key factors that underpin KWs' performance with a view to contributing to their effective management. Early in our paper, we ventured that KWs, because of their disposition and motivational characteristics, would be reasonably cognisant of how they are managed. Arguably, the most salient aspect of management, the literature would have us believe, is experienced HRM-related practice. It was, therefore, surprising that our study highlighted the significance of the role played by the FLM.\nConclusions: Nearly ten years ago Hales (2005) suggested that the new role for FLMs saw them afforded a responsibility \"for actively monitoring and improving performance [...] [that is in effect] 'performance-oriented supervision'\" (p. 495). Our study has helped extend on this important finding by identifying, from the perspective of the worker, some of the specific ways in which FLMs are able to achieve this. In doing so, our findings highlight some implications both for research and for practice. Our research findings strongly support the view that FLMs are seen by KWs as a significant factor in their performance. We concur with the findings of Purcell and Hutchinson (2007) that FLM training in \"people management\" is both warranted and necessary and senior management need to take heed of this when appointing technically competent individuals to supervisory roles. Davenport et al. (2002, p. 25) found that when asked \"who is responsible for enabling higher levels of knowledge-worker performance\", no one seemed to want to take responsibility. Our data suggest this should fall to FLMs, and again we suggest senior management give serious consideration to this if they wish to avoid compromising the efficacy of initiatives within the HRM sphere. So, rather than adopting the practice observed by Davenport et al. (2002) of hiring KWs and then leaving them to their own devices, based on our research, we suggest senior management ensures FLMs of KWs are well trained and are of high quality. However, we concede that, while it is likely FLMs can be taught how to support their workers through providing developmental opportunities and the like, the deeper and more emotive aspects of FLMs' behaviour, such as the building of trust and rapport may be much more difficult to impart.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate, from the perspective of knowledge workers (KWs), the factors which underpin worker performance. Although a broad array of factors is examined, the role played by the front-line manager (FLM) appears pre-eminent.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data collected in 2012 from a sample of 73 New Zealand KWs, the authors adopt a phenomenological approach to understanding how the FLM influences their performance motivations. A two-pronged research design was employed; stage 1 involved a paired statement exercise, which was immediately followed by stage 2, an in-depth interview.\nFindings: The behaviour and support afforded to KWs by their FLM emerged as an important influence on their individual performance. Specifically, behaviours which convey value, trust and respect, and afford support, recognition and an appreciation for work completed seemingly empower and motivate KWs to superior performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The distinctive qualities of KWs and what constitutes their effective management needs to be given consideration in research. Identifying the depth and breadth of the FLM role contributes to this understanding.\nPractical implications: FLMs need contemporary development and continued support across the broad spectrum of people management activities, to enable them to build positive relational ties, which are so important to KWs.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes much needed empirical data to the understanding of how FLMs contribute to KW performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
An empirical investigation of the learning effect in concrete operations
|
[
"Management",
"Productivity",
"Construction planning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The topic of construction productivity has always attracted the interest of the construction community. This attention results from several factors, namely, the increasing competitiveness of the construction business environment (Chia, 2012; Ghoddousi and Hosseini, 2012; Chia et al., 2012), the need for optimizing manpower requirements and price offers to clients, and the establishment of a reliable project time schedule (Zhang et al., 2014), cost control and waste reduction (Lutz et al., 1994; Pellegrino et al., 2012; Ismail, 2015), among others (Emir, 1999). Productivity is explained as a ratio of a measure of output to a measure of a certain or all of the inputs used to produce this output (Grimes, 2007; Weber and Lippiatt, 1983). In construction industry, inputs include the resources associated with manpower, machinery, equipment, materials, and transportation; outputs include the physical element associated with the improvement of construction project (Gouett et al., 2011; Dzeng and Wu, 2012; Huang et al., 2009; Thomas and Mathews, 1986). In construction industry, labor is considered to be one of the key inputs because without human performance, other resources would not be utilized and transformed into productive use (Al-Saleh, 1995). Also, some writers have reported that labor costs account for between 30 and 50 percent of a project's total cost (Al-Saleh, 1995; Harmon and Cole, 2006; Hanna, 2001). Hence, labor productivity, defined as the amount of goods and services that a laborer produces in a given amount of time, is considered a very important issue in construction industry since it affects the time and cost performances of any construction project (Al-Saleh, 1995), and, therefore, it plays a key role in determining the financial success of a project (Liu and Ballard, 2008). Alinaitwe et al. (2007) stated that poor productivity of construction workers is one of the most daunting problems faced by construction industries, especially those in developing countries. Poor productivity is one of the main causes affecting cost and time overruns in construction projects. Accordingly, great attention should be paid to this very important driving factor in construction industry. Therefore, any improvement in labor productivity will contribute a high deal to the improvement of the overall productivity and improvement in the whole performance (cost, time, and quality) in construction industry.\n2. Literature review: Simply put, productivity is efficiency in production: how much output is obtained from a given set of inputs. As such, it is typically expressed as an output-input ratio. Single-factor productivity measures reflect units of output produced per unit of a particular input. Hence, single-factor productivity levels are affected by the intensity of use of the excluded inputs. Two producers may have quite different labor productivity levels even though they have the same production technology if one happens to use capital much more intensively, say because they face different factor prices (Syverson, 2011). This is why researchers often use a productivity concept, that is, invariant to the intensity of use of observable factor inputs (Saenz-Royo and Salas-Fumas, 2013), namely, the total factor productivity that reflects variation in output produced from a fixed set of inputs (Syverson, 2011; Oglesby, 1988; Arditi and Mochtar, 2000). However, construction is a labor-intensive industry, most of the activities are handcrafted with a very low level of capital intensive technology, material quantities do not vary considerably for defined outputs (Park, 2006). Hence, it can be argued that labor may be the most important productive resource whose use can be improved, and therefore construction productivity is mainly dependent upon human effort and performance (Jarkas, 2012).\n3. Research method: In order to address the issue discussed in the previous section, we empirically investigate the change of productivity shown by a typical construction worker throughout his working life and that shown by a crew during the execution of the repetitive construction process in a given project. Then, we compare them.\n4. Data manipulation and findings: Figure 1 shows the productivity enhancement due to the professional development of typical Italian construction workers during their working life, according to data of the five contractual levels recorded in Table I (y-axis data are in the column (C), while x-axis data are in the column (I)). The curve can be interpreted as the learning by a typical construction worker involved in concrete construction activities during his working life. The improvement of individual performance, in fact, \"relates to the acquisition of general knowledge, training and skills that pertain to a particular specialized trade or profession culminating in a level of general performance typical of the normal or average performance characteristic of experienced persons engaged in that trade or profession\" (Gates and Scarpa, 1972). As work experience increases over the years, work hours for the same produced unit decrease. The increasing rate is very slow (particularly after the first 1-2 years) as always it happens in handcrafted activities, where the requested \"tacit\" knowledge needs to be gained in the long process of \"learning by doing.\"\n5. Discussion and closing remarks: The findings suggest differentiating between productivity gain as a result of the learning effect of the individual worker which is independent on the specific site (individual learning) and that of a crew composed by more workers which repeat reinforced concrete operations in a given specific project (project-specific learning). These two types of productivity gain are characterized by different unfolding patterns over time. As Figure 3 shows, a 10 percent increase of individual productivity requires more than four years of practice (see, in Table I, the variation of productivity, and the related needed time, between levels O1 and O2), while a similar gain is reached after about two weeks of work in project construction (see, in Table III, the variation of productivity, and the related needed time, between floors I and II). The first may be referred as the accumulated learning from the experience of an individual worker in performing his job throughout his working life. The latter is the productivity improvement of the particular task in the specific construction project. It is related to the specific \"context\" of the considered project. Hence, it differs from individual learning since this type of \"learning\" will have to do with coordination activities and/or project-related issues, rather than with the ability and the experience of one worker in doing his job. It can be interpreted as a \"project-specific\" LC due to other factors beyond the pure worker learning. They are, for instance, the knowledge of the workers about the specific site conditions rather than about the content and the execution of the technical activity itself, group dynamics as the increasing harmony of the whole group, improvement of the project management with the solution of technical problems caused by design deficiencies or issues not considered during the design phase and progressively solved when moving to the upper floors. When a construction worker repeats a task in a concrete structure, he learns from experience. Thus, the time spent on a given task decreases gradually with a rate that is generally low for craft based activities (Figure 1). When the same worker performs this task (usually together with other workers) during the construction of a building, the findings suggest that the collective learning effect achieved by the crew in the considered project (inclusive of the other effects cited above: knowledge of the specific site conditions, group dynamics, management and design improvements) prevails at a faster rate, if compared with that of individual learning in the same time. The learning by a crew that occurs during the execution of a project is affected by variables such as design deficiencies, lack of constructability analysis, job sharing in the work crew, proper planning/time scheduling, availability of the material and ease of handling, leadership and competency of construction management, etc., all problems that are usually progressively solved, going from the first storey to the following ones (Pellegrino et al., 2012; Jarkas and Bitar, 2012; El-Gohary and Aziz, 2014). Actually, the specific construction operations for each building analyzed in this paper lasted for a very short period of time (about four months): in that period the crews did not change. However, generally speaking, a change in the crew composition creates inefficiencies in the work flow, even when \"experienced\" ones are added by replacing the original ones. This, along with other external factors, may be one of the reasons of the irregular trends of productivity improvement sometime shown by multi-storeys. The careful consideration of these factors during the planning phase of a construction project is the prerequisite for productivity improvement during its execution (Yi and Chan, 2014). When these factors are not timely considered, performance improvement does not occur, as found by Jarkas and Horner (2011) in many concrete structures in Kuwait (Jarkas and Horner, 2011). This study, in fact, deliberately omitted the consideration of factors such as delays, supervision quality, crew size and composition, and skill of operatives. It focused only on individual learning with the obvious negligible impact on crew productivity improvement. So, the results are fully congruent with ours: if project-specific improvements are not considered, the productivity gains due to learning effect of the individual worker in the relatively short construction time of the single building are negligible.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on productivity as it unfolds during the execution of a particular task, i.e., reinforced concrete operations. The main aim is understanding whether the learning effect explaining the improvement of productivity in subsequent cycles of a given repetitive construction process is mainly attributable to a pure worker learning (independent on the specific site) or to the experience developed by the crew on the site conditions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conduct a research that empirically investigates and compares the change in productivity data of a single worker during his/her working life and that of a crew involved in specific repetitive work, such as the concreting activities of a multi-storey building.\nFindings: The findings suggest differentiating between productivity gain as a result of the learning effect of the individual worker throughout his/her working life (which is independent of the specific project and site) and that of a crew composed by more workers which repeat reinforced concrete operations in a given specific project.\nResearch limitations/implications: Despite the great attention reserved to learning in construction, few researchers discuss on the real applicability of the learning curve (LC) theory in the construction industry. The authors contribute to this literature by empirically investigating the contributions that the learning effect of the individual worker and that of a crew repeating a given task (i.e. reinforced concrete operations) in a given project have on the productivity improvement for subsequent cycles of the repetitive construction process.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study have important managerial implications. The shape of the LC of the individual worker implies that learning increases relatively slowly in his/her working life (particularly after one to two years), while the effects of the crew experience are immediately significant in a time range of few weeks. This means that a single \"one-off\" multi-storey building project will show in the first storey the \"historical,\" individual productivity of the individual workers (i.e. not going to vary significantly in the next few weeks). The productivity improvement in the further storeys will only depend on the project-specific (and collective, for the crew) \"learning\" due, for example, to better coordination or to other issues that are progressively solved moving from the first storey to the following ones. So, the project-specific LC increases in a faster way than the individual one, and the overall productivity can be improved by accelerating the project-specific learning rate with more accurate project-specific design and management.\nOriginality/value: This paper enhances the understanding of the contributions that the learning effect of the individual worker and that of a crew repeating a given task (i.e. reinforced concrete operations) in a given project have on the productivity improvement for subsequent cycles of the repetitive construction process. This will contribute to improve the planning and control of site work activities, avoiding time and money wastefulness.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
To speak or not to speak the language of numbers: accounting as ventriloquism
|
[
"Communication",
"Accounting",
"Social innovation",
"Performativity",
"Numbers",
"Ventriloquism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that is counted counts.(Alfred Einstein, apocryphal)\nThe performativity of numbers: a brief literature review: \"What are we doing when we do accounting?\" (Boland, 1987, p. 272); \"How accounting does or does not make the transition from non-being to being?\" (Choudhury, 1988, p. 549); \"(How) to investigate numbers more adequately as unique mercurial elements of social life?\" (Vollmer, 2007, p. 597); \"How does accounting differ from others languages at the point where its signs are consumed?\" (Graham, 2008, p. 757). These are old questions associated with what is known today as interpretive accounting research (IAR) (Ahrens et al., 2008; Boland, 1993; Busco et al., 2007; Chua, 1988; Cooper and Puxty, 1994; Lavoie, 1987; Macintosh et al., 2000; Robson, 1992). The literature in this field suggests that equality, comparison, or commensuration (Espeland and Stevens, 1998) is a primary form of \"ostensive accounting presence\" (Catasus, 2008; Choudhury, 1988) that makes the speaking of numbers possible.\nAccounting-as-ventriloquism: In order to emphasize the constitutive and creative role of this type of oscillation in communication and dialogue, we propose to use the metaphor of ventriloquism (Cooren, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016). Why ventriloquism? Because this lower form of entertainment - which is often identified with the art of \"making voices\" (Connor, 2000) - has a lot to tell (pun, of course, intended) about the way people mobilize and are mobilized by numbers in a discussion, as well as about how more things can be done with them once this reciprocity is established. As pointed out by Goldblatt (2006), ventriloquism is indeed marked by a form of oscillation, since it is extremely difficult, analytically speaking, to identify who or what is speaking when a vent (the name ventriloquists sometimes use to speak about themselves) makes her figure (the name they use to speak about their dummies) say things (Goldblatt, 2006).\nContext and methodology: In order to examine this ventriloquial approach to accounting, we propose to analyze the various ways numbers manage to speak or do things in the context of video-recorded conversations taken from fieldwork completed with Medecins sans frontieres (also known as Doctors without Borders or MSF) in 2005 and 2010.\nVarious ways numbers do things in conversations: The following analyses portray the language of numbers by contrasting episodes during which this presumption that numbers matter - that they tell people things - is embodied in talk. We analyze in particular what happens: when numbers do not say the same thing; when numbers compete with other figures; and when numbers backfire on their own promoters.\nDiscussion: To what extent does this view of accounting-as-ventriloquism inform how business and social innovation could be performed through accounting inscriptions (Ahrens et al., 2008; Busco et al., 2007; Quattrone, 2015; Quattrone and Hopper, 2001; Vollmer, 2007)? Let us summarize our main points. One of the two main objectives of this paper was to understand the conditions and mechanisms of accounting performativity through the lens offered by the metaphor of ventriloquism. The mechanisms already identified in the literature are clearly at stake in the first episode through the difference enacted between a strict vision of accounting as exact equivalency and equality between each account and a more managerial vision of accounting.\nConclusion: Numbers have an important role in modern organizing (Burchell et al., 1980; Vollmer, 2007). Calculated and communicated more quickly than ever, they travel fast and far across various social situations without too much distortion, appearing as ideal types of textual agents (Cooren, 2004), relocatable inscriptions or immutable mobiles (Robson, 1992). This paper proposed a framework for analyzing ways of speaking the language of numbers based on the four aspects of ventriloquism: oscillation: numbers allow us to compel others to do things (we make the numbers say something and the numbers make others repeat it); authority: numbers incorporate multiple authors (they gain authority by the voices they make present, yet they speak with one voice); matter: numbers have to matter (and thus can say things that we do not want them to say); and resistance: numbers have an autonomy (they can surprise us, making us say things we had not anticipated).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on accounting's performativity by developing a ventriloquial perspective that directs the attention to the reciprocity between the accounting signs and the accountants: they both do things by making each other speak. This oscillation explains where accounting number's authority, materiality and resistance come from.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to show the relevance of this approach, the authors examine various ways numbers manage to speak or do things in the context of video-recorded conversations taken from fieldwork completed with Medecins sans frontieres (also known as Doctors without Borders) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.\nFindings: The analyses show how this ventriloquial perspective can inform the way the authors interpret what happens: when numbers do not say the same thing; when numbers are competing with other figures; and when numbers backfire on their own promoters.\nResearch limitations/implications: Even if some of the numbers studied are sometimes far from accounting per se, it shows how the absence or presence of accounting can make a difference.\nPractical implications: The authors then discuss the implications of this research for accounting social innovation through accounting inscriptions.\nSocial implications: This perspective helps to understand that numbers can give great power, but that everything cannot be told with numbers. This is why making numbers speak is a great talent.\nOriginality/value: This refreshing perspective on accounting could be extended to other fields such as auditing and auditing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Model-supported supply chains for cost-efficient intelligent enterprises
|
[
"Supply chain management",
"Simulation",
"Cost reduction",
"Response flexibility"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the year 2000 business objectives began to focus on new visions due to greater domestic and foreign competition at all levels of business functions. Firms that wanted to survive or achieve greater competitive advantage defined their visions in the light of strategies like cost reduction, quality improvement, increased flexibility and customer satisfaction.Everybody has been working on decreasing costs of production for many years so it would be better to deal with a new area which has the most potential to reduce costs further: supply chain management (SCM).Recent SCM literature focuses on various definitions. In general, all definitions emphasised that SCM is a management philosophy which has both inter-enterprise and outer-enterprise scope. It includes all activities from the raw materials stage through to the end-user by bringing trading partners together with the common goal of optimisation and efficiency (Tan et al., 2002).This definition of the supply chain highlights the complexity in itself, but to extend this definition the number of members and their relationships should also be taken into consideration. So it becomes difficult to set parameters for inter-organisational targets and for performance measurement. This generally finds a solution in literature by means of model-supported analysis. Since experimenting, most of the members use a model-based simulation. However, to develop an effective and efficient supply chain a business must perform all types of decision support capabilities and tactical planning. At this point, the importance of knowledge-based systems in becoming an intelligent enterprise comes into play.This paper promotes supply chains by means of simulation and allocating the results to solver in Excel for decision modelling in order to integrate the supplier and manufacturer relationship for a cost-efficient enterprise.\nSupply chains and model-supported analysis: Effective SCM is the most important competitive strategy in the new business era. In particular the global competition among manufacturers to manage the value chain from supplier to customer emphasises the key role of decision making. To be able to work with sufficient production volumes and also with good quality, highlighting the relationships between supplier and manufacturer becomes inevitable. The rapid advance in information technology is deployed not only to improve existing operational effectiveness of a business, but also to build the new capability to meet today's business environment and complexity (Choy et al., 2003).In the early twentieth century, businesses generally performed their own manufacturing, sourcing, warehousing, sales and distribution activities by themselves. This means that they are vertically integrated. However, increasing complexity and competition in business life makes them add new external partners to their supply chain such as suppliers, distributors, etc. Within this, it became very difficult to control and integrate the activities. Supply chain integration and supply chain optimisation became vital for most of the organisations. Modern enterprises still have vertically integrated functions, but the result comes with the cost of reduced competitive flexibility. One way to improve competitive flexibility is to integrate these functions virtually (Reddy, 2003a, b, c). Supply chain integration focuses on improving the information between links in the chain and supply chain optimisation focuses on making decisions that reduce the information asymmetry, resulting in excess inventory in the supply chain (McLaren et al., 2002). However, the important point is that to create local optima will not be enough, the entire supply chain should be optimised. Thus organisations make their decisions by thinking about both internal and external partners in order to create value for all involved.Optimisation and creating value requires decision making at three levels:1. strategic (months to years);2. tactical (days to months); and3. operational (hours to days).To analyse supply chain problems at all these three levels, interconnected modelling systems are needed (Shapiro, 2002).The connection between the supplier and manufacturer, contributes to the competitive advantage of the manufacturer in improving business processes, efficient production scheduling, through decreasing cycle times and increasing throughput. Further advantages through this relationship will be substantial cost reductions, quick response to changing customer demands and increasing customer service levels. These all together will serve today's only important competition factor which is customer satisfaction.We are living in an environment which is surrounded by uncertainties and risks. Therefore, managers should have to make decisions in a situation that is determined by uncertainties and risks, indeed without having enough information on the results and effects of these decisions.Model-supported decision making provides a business environment free from risks and helps to analyse the effects of critical business decisions. This virtual environment will increase the decision support capabilities of the business and management.Thus, the advantages of a model supported procedure are (Kaczmarek and Stullenberg, 2002):* saving of time;* minimising the risk; and* a higher transparency.Also, while making plans about the future no real system exists. Therefore, decision modelling and simulation will be the only alternatives in generating results about the actions of the plans. Figure 1 shows the steps for simulation modelling.Advantages for applying simulation can be as follows:* improvement of business functions through service times, costs, throughput, flexibility and time;* the analysis of the effects of various decisions; and* the visualisation of the benefits and costs.It is important to remember that simulation cannot always be the best tool. Simulation studies must be economical. Sometimes the cost of using the simulation may be higher than its expected benefits due to insufficient information or to complexity. In this case, other analysis tools can be chosen. The cost measures that are the basis for decisions must always be integrated into the modelling process. Also, the non-simulated data that have the possibility to affect decisions should be incorporated to the evaluation process.Within these, there are some factors that should be taken into consideration while using simulation models:* setting the objectives truly;* determining the causes of the problems;* evaluating all the inputs and absorb the ones which are related to the decision;* analysing the data correctly;* assigning the experienced and correct staff;* setting the exact model with the exact dimensions; and* searching the other tools besides simulation.Effective co-ordination and other advantages come with the simulation. Co-ordinating suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, third-party logistic providers and retailers will be the key for achieving competitive flexibility. Negative aspects of poor co-ordination include (Simatupang et al., 2002):* higher inventory costs;* longer delivery times;* higher transportation costs;* higher levels of waste; and* lowered customer service.In order to provide system-wide and co-ordinated optimisation in SCM, a single objective function for optimisation during all the stages of supply management should be used. The objective for the manufacturer should be maximising throughput. Without such an objective it is impossible to determine the most effective techniques based on cost benefit in achieving this goal in a manufacturing system and SCM.\nSimulation model: As mentioned before, within SCM delivery speed and customer satisfaction have become the key factors for competitiveness. However, efficiency requires not only delivery speed, but also lower costs and reduced cycle times supported with detailed capacity constraint analysis.This study includes a modelling with simulation that provides a relationship between supplier and manufacturer within SCM. The partners of the chain follow individual aims and try to maximise their own profit. In the framework of simulation studies a very simple model is developed. Also, to support the management decisions, the information supplied by the simulation was processed in the context of an Excel-based decision modelling. Utilisation of resources integrated with the Excel-based logistics costs optimisation.Within this integrated model, three performance measures are especially taken into consideration:1. cycle times;2. levels of capacity utilisation; and3. cost reduction.Reducing cycle times and determining levels of capacity utilisation is regarded as tactical decision making, but cost reduction should be regarded in the context of strategic decision making. Integrating simulation and Excel also helps us to integrate tactical and strategic decisions simultaneously.In recent years, many models have been developed. Most of these models focus on minimising work in process (WIP) to reduce cycle times and to reduce inventory costs. However, to be both efficient and effective, reducing WIP is not enough. The system should optimise the material flow as a whole. Therefore, as in Figure 2, reducing WIP should be supported with the optimisation of manufacturing cycle time and buffer controls.Supporting optimisation with capacity constraints and buffer management developed by Goldratt in the mid-1980s and evolved from optimised production timetables (OPT). This concept as a whole became known as Theory of Constraints (TOC). Goldratt determined the \"throughput\" as the most important performance measure, but supported it with reduced cycle times and reduced costs.Rahman (2002) performed the causal relationships between SCM and customer satisfaction with TOC's thinking process as:* long cycle times;* less flexible supply chain;* low in responsiveness; and* low customer satisfaction.Figure 3 illustrates the simulation model constructed by using a simulation package Extend LT (Prentice-Hall, 2002). This model is the visualisation of a manufacturing flow including scheduling by using buffer management. The raw materials coming from the supplier are assumed to be exponential and they arrive at an average rate of one unit per second.In the simulation model, the buffer represents a protective time period. Regarding buffer management, activity multiple blocks (representing production units/stages) are connected with input random number blocks in order to find the most efficient buffer time. The main reason is to determine the time period that results within most efficient production flow. The buffers set before and after the activity multiple blocks that have the capacity constraint, will help to balance production flow. By doing this, they prevent the delays in the production due to the capacity constraints.In Table I, the capacity of the three production units in three different plants of the same organisation is given. According to these capacities, the simulation model is run for three of them. Table II gives the results of the simulation and the raw material requirements are determined for each plant.After this point, the importance of co-ordination with the supplier comes into play. Co-ordinating the rate of order to match the required raw material consumption will result in on-time deliveries, which means customer satisfaction. If the company shares the sales and stocking data with its suppliers and also if the supplier shares the raw material stocks data with their main customers (manufacturers), the result will be increased flexibility and reduced costs. Table III shows the raw material which is ready in the suppliers' stocks.From the simulation model, raw material requirements have already been determined and, with the help of the co-ordination, the key suppliers' stocks are also known. This knowledge-based, two-sided information flow will enable the manufacturer to perform an Excel-based integrated decision model. The requirement for an integrated model is to visualise the situation in Excel. This enables a quantitative description of the transportation link between manufacturer and supplier as well as a basis to perform an optimised transportation model.Given the data of the unoptimised situation in Table IV, the basis for the decision-making process within the Excel transportation model was performed.When the solver parameters are entered, the result will be an optimised decision model which is shown in Table V for the efficient material flow from different suppliers to different plants. Addition to this evaluation, Figure 4 can help give a better representation of the comparison of unoptimised and optimised models based on the units.The decision-making process can be effectively supported, if the management also obtains the necessary evaluation of the transportation costs. For an efficient and effective decision-making process, cost measures should also be integrated with the results of the simulation and the Excel transportation models.In order to achieve the results of the cost optimisation, a second group of data that includes the unit transportation costs is given in Table VI. On the basis of these data the total cost performance of the Excel transportation model is analysed. To achieve a better comparison, the cost model is performed for both unoptimised and optimised transportation models. Tables VII and VIII show the total cost performance of these models.Figure 5 can be a better representation of the comparison of the total cost performance of unoptimised and optimised models based on the units.To highlight the development of the Excel-based models and the performance results, the optimisation and sensitivity reports for the solver parameters are given in Tables IX-XII.Simulation and optimisation models allow managers to evaluate different alternatives, to give strategic decisions and to visualise the constraints. These are the analytical tools capable of solving complex problems at all levels of business operations. Using an integration of simulation-Excel, in most cases, utilisation of resources and cost minimisation can be achieved at the same time.\nConclusion: A manufacturing firm really needs to develop effective co-ordination within and beyond its boundaries in order to maximise the potential for converting competitive advantage into profitability. Tight co-ordination especially with the key suppliers certainly will increase product availability due to on-time deliveries and reduced inventory and logistics costs. This synchronisation of activities will create value to both members of the supply chain (supplier and manufacturer) and also, it will create value to the end customer by satisfying delivery dates.So far, many organisations may choose many different methods to create value in their supply chain. If the cost-benefit approach allows choosing the simulation as an alternative, it can be easily said that, model-based analysis provides the suitable and sufficient statistical, financial and economical information. To establish a knowledge-based intelligent enterprise simulation can be the first step to evaluate the performance and the Excel-based optimisation can be the second step to supporting the decisions considering the performance results. To reduce ineffectiveness in supply chains and in organisations, integration, co-ordination among members, flexibility within and beyond the organisation should be maximised in order to turn customer satisfaction to profitability.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The twentieth century brought great competition and complexity to business life. Advanced technologies and new production techniques resulted in shortening product life cycles. Firms that wanted to survive began to implement different strategies directly focused on customer satisfaction. Supply chain management, as a management philosophy, highlighted a new area that has the potential to reduce cost further than production costs. This paper promotes the supply chains for cost-efficient intelligent enterprises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Promotes the use of supply chains by means of simulation and allocating the results to solver in Excel for decision modelling in order to integrate the supplier and manufacturer relationship for the cost-efficient enterprise.\nFindings: - Finds that a manufacturing firm really needs to develop effective co-ordination within and beyond its boundaries in order to maximise the potential for converting competitive advantage into profitability. Good co-ordination with the key suppliers especially will increase product availability.\nOriginality/value: - The synchronisation of activities in supply will create value to both its members (supplier and manufacturer) and in addition it will create value to the end customer by satisfying delivery dates.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The changing landscape of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing
|
[
"Supply chain management",
"Distribution channels and markets",
"Distribution management",
"Purchasing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The last two decades have witnessed the development and continuing evolution of a number of related disciplines including supply chain management (SCM), marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing. Reflective of both academic development and managerial innovation, advances occurring within these fields and across them have yielded considerable insights and furthered business knowledge and practice. At the same time, this evolution has fundamentally altered the scholarly landscape addressing these related fields and their managerial practice.\nBackground: Drawing on selected literatures and with the intention of providing background (versus an in-depth review), we first overview accepted definitions and research topics of interest for each area, common units and levels of analysis applied to research, prevalent theories and methods for such research, and recent trends identified for both research and practice. Table I organizes our analysis framework and summarizes the key findings of this overview.Supply chain and supply chain management\nAnalysis and discussion: Our overview of the related disciplines of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing highlights significant developments and changes occurring in these fields reveals insights regarding the relationship among them and points to a number of opportunities and challenges for scholarship and attendant consequences for practice. We briefly describe key findings here.Key developments and changes\nConclusion: The related disciplines of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing have undergone significant development and evolution in the last two decades. Spurred by both external and internal forces, changes in and across these disciplines have fundamentally altered the scholarly landscape to which they relate and the way in which they are practiced. This essay sought to examine and take stock of this new landscape and to reveal its opportunities and challenges for scholarship and its consequences for practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to examine the changing landscape of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors examine and take stock of the changing nature and landscape surrounding the related disciplines of supply chain management, marketing channels of distribution, logistics and purchasing. This examination highlights the considerable evolution and significant advances occurring within and between these disciplines.\nFindings: - The authors find that this new landscape provides both opportunities and challenges for future scholarship and practice in these related disciplines.\nOriginality/value: - The examination and findings should be of value to those attempting to understand the evolving nature and interrelationship of these fields, and those who currently practise within them.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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