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Fostering workplace respect in an era of anti-Muslimism and Islamophobia: A proactive approach for management
|
[
"Ethnic minorities",
"Workplace",
"Managers",
"Employee attitudes",
"Education",
"Discrimination"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For decades scholars have contended that to be genuinely representative, organizational settings must be inclusive and diverse (e.g. see Long, 1952). It is, therefore, incumbent upon managers to help create a workplace environment that supports inclusivity; a safe and respectful context where employees can effectively achieve their individual and collective performance goals. While these efforts offer universal benefits (McKay and Avery, 2015), performance demands, public discourse, media coverage, and today's broader sociopolitical narrative often impose a very different message. Rather than encouraging respect, the dominant focus amplifies and encourages self-interest, exclusion, and divisiveness. Democratic legal protections are intended to prevent discrimination and strive to support fairness, but the reality is that laws cannot ensure that an organization's climate genuinely endorses ethical actions that support inclusion and foster respect. For example, there is a rise in anti-Muslimism and Islamophobia in today's workplace, despite having policies in place that mandate employee training (e.g. to prevent harassment) (Society for Human Resource Management, 2018). The Council on American-Islamic relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the USA, reported a 57 percent increase in anti-Muslim incidents in 2016 over the previous year (CAIR, 2017). When Muslims are repeatedly marginalized in public, it is no surprise that Islamophobic forms of prejudice and discrimination are becoming more prevalent in today's workplace.\nLiterature overview: The term \"Islamophobia\" appeared in the early 1900s; however, historical accounts of phobic reactions toward multiculturalism and immigrant populations have been a part of the geopolitical dialogue for centuries (Oldenburg, 2009). Islamophobia is defined as an unfounded hostility toward Muslims (Runnymede Trust, 2000), representing negative judgments for those who adopt a range of discriminatory values and practices toward Muslims, Islamic discourse, and associated cultural practices (Allen, 2007). The Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia expanded the term's meaning and application, framing the stigmatization of Muslims and/or the Islamic faith as:\nCase study: Research targeting workplace discrimination largely focuses on racism and sexism, with few studies targeting how a Muslim religious identity in today's organizational milieu may foster discrimination. To address Islamophobia and anti-Muslimism as an ethical issue, managers need to understand how these types of discriminatory issues emerge. Leveraging this idea, we advanced this research by:\nDiscussion: The overarching takeaway from this inquiry suggests that employees and managers need time for discourse to foster awareness, sensitivity to, and respect for religious accommodation. Ignoring Islamophobia as a serious ethical issue in today's workplace sets the stage for discriminatory practices. While discrimination may emerge without intent, managers need to recognize their duty to explicitly ensure that religious practices are respectfully honored, without the imposition of discriminatory backlash. With the rise of Islamophobia around the world (Geddes, 2013; Strabac and Listhaug, 2008; Poynting and Mason, 2007), responsible managers need to address anti-Muslimism as an ethical issue, lest problems become deleterious legal issues and deplete performance capacity. While the average settlement in these cases was surprisingly low ($168,000), the cost of time and emotional energy that goes into HR litigation is exhaustive. Attorney work for discovery and seeking a ruling can cost an employer between $75,000 and 125,000. If the employer loses the summary judgment (which is often the case), they can expect to spend $175,000-250,000 to take a case to trial (Workforce, 2013). Finally, the reputational costs to the firm's image and brand reflect palpable damage, which may continue to deteriorate in the minds of consumers and other stakeholders for years to come (e.g. Abercrombie & Fitch; Barakat, 2015).\nImplications: Islamophobia is a palpable concern, one that requires proactive measures rather than reactionary impositions at the management level. Managers need to have an acute understanding of the potential organizational members' biases before interpersonal tensions create hostile work environments. Prevention of anti-Muslimism can help thwart the development of debilitating legal incidents. While the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1997, the Act held society accountable for accepting additional commitments to defend religious exercise. Therefore, it is essential that management does not wait for Islamophobia to present itself before working to address it as an organizational ethical issue. Reactionary approaches have a dramatic negative impact on individuals and society, which can be costly on many levels.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: The marginalization of Muslims can foster anxiety, anger, or fear in the workplace. Such negative reactions may prompt incivility among coworkers, denigrating a thoughtful regard for others. While legal protections are intended to promote fairness, mandates do not always prevent discrimination. As a result, management needs to frame anti-Muslimism as an ethical issue and proactively cultivate environments that support respect. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To understand how anti-Muslimism may emerge in organizational settings, this work defines Islamophobia and examines how it manifests as workplace discrimination. The extant literature on the subject and a sample of anti-Muslim discrimination cases are studied to better understand this phenomenon.\nFindings: An analysis of representative Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cases shows that a lack of accommodation for religious practices is a major ethical issue. Management can proactively address value tensions by creating safe spaces for organizational learning. Balanced experiential inquiry is offered as a process to help employees reveal their embedded biases through personal reflection and collective inquiry.\nPractical implications: If managers intend to encourage equity and inclusion, they need to foster organizational learning that tackles emerging forms of discrimination like Islamophobia. A sustained focus on moral development becomes an imperative toward establishing an ethical climate and a workplace that fosters respect for all organizational members.\nSocial implications: Because organizations are at the intersection of business and society, it is incumbent upon managers to create environments that reject hostilities toward those who may be perceived as different.\nOriginality/value: In today's sociopolitical climate, the concern of discrimination toward Muslims is a mainstream ethical issue. A compliance-based approach to advance organizational ethics is not enough. The authors present a way forward, building moral strength through moral competency.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM
|
[
"Structural equation modeling",
"Partial least squares",
"PLS-SEM",
"Model comparisons",
"PLSpredict"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For many years, covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was the dominant method for analyzing complex interrelationships between observed and latent variables. In fact, until around 2010, there were far more articles published in social science journals that used CB-SEM instead of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). In recent years, the number of published articles using PLS-SEM increased significantly relative to CB-SEM (Hair et al., 2017b). In fact, PLS-SEM is now widely applied in many social science disciplines, including organizational management (Sosik et al., 2009), international management (Richter et al., 2015), human resource management (Ringle et al., 2019), management information systems (Ringle et al., 2012), operations management (Peng and Lai, 2012), marketing management (Hair et al., 2012b), management accounting (Nitzl, 2016), strategic management (Hair et al., 2012a), hospitality management (Ali et al., 2018b) and supply chain management (Kaufmann and Gaeckler, 2015). Several textbooks (e.g., Garson, 2016; Ramayah et al., 2016), edited volumes (e.g., Avkiran and Ringle, 2018; Ali et al., 2018a), and special issues of scholarly journals (e.g., Rasoolimanesh and Ali, 2018; Shiau et al., 2019) illustrate PLS-SEM or propose methodological extensions.\nPreliminary considerations: The Swedish econometrician Herman O. A. Wold (1975, 1982, 1985) developed the statistical underpinnings of PLS-SEM. The method was initially known and is sometimes still referred to as PLS path modeling (Hair et al., 2011). PLS-SEM estimates partial model structures by combining principal components analysis with ordinary least squares regressions (Mateos-Aparicio, 2011). This method is typically viewed as an alternative to Joreskog's (1973) CB-SEM, which has numerous - typically very restrictive - assumptions (Hair et al., 2011).\nEvaluation of partial least squares-structural equation modeling results: The first step in evaluating PLS-SEM results involves examining the measurement models. The relevant criteria differ for reflective and formative constructs. If the measurement models meet all the required criteria, researchers then need to assess the structural model (Hair et al., 2017a). As with most statistical methods, PLS-SEM has rules of thumb that serve as guidelines to evaluate model results (Chin, 2010; Gotz et al., 2010; Henseler et al., 2009; Chin, 1998; Tenenhaus et al., 2005; Roldan and Sanchez-Franco, 2012; Hair et al., 2017a). Rules of thumb - by their very nature - are broad guidelines that suggest how to interpret the results, and they typically vary depending on the context. As an example, reliability for exploratory research should be a minimum of 0.60, while reliability for research that depends on established measures should be 0.70 or higher. The final step in interpreting PLS-SEM results, therefore, involves running one or more robustness checks to support the stability of results. The relevance of these robustness checks depends on the research context, such as the aim of the analysis and the availability of data.\nConcluding observations: PLS-SEM is increasingly being applied to estimate structural equation models (Hair et al., 2014). Scholars need a comprehensive, yet concise, overview of the considerations and metrics needed to ensure their analysis and reporting of PLS-SEM results is complete - before submitting their article for review. Prior research has provided such reporting guidelines (Hair et al., 2011; Hair et al., 2013; Hair et al., 2012b; Chin, 2010; Tenenhaus et al., 2005; Henseler et al., 2009), which, in light of more recent research and methodological developments in the PLS-SEM domain, need to be continuously extended and updated. We hope this paper achieves this goal.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive, yet concise, overview of the considerations and metrics required for partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis and result reporting. Preliminary considerations are summarized first, including reasons for choosing PLS-SEM, recommended sample size in selected contexts, distributional assumptions, use of secondary data, statistical power and the need for goodness-of-fit testing. Next, the metrics as well as the rules of thumb that should be applied to assess the PLS-SEM results are covered. Besides presenting established PLS-SEM evaluation criteria, the overview includes the following new guidelines: PLSpredict (i.e., a novel approach for assessing a model's out-of-sample prediction), metrics for model comparisons, and several complementary methods for checking the results' robustness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper provides an overview of previously and recently proposed metrics as well as rules of thumb for evaluating the research results based on the application of PLS-SEM.\nFindings: Most of the previously applied metrics for evaluating PLS-SEM results are still relevant. Nevertheless, scholars need to be knowledgeable about recently proposed metrics (e.g. model comparison criteria) and methods (e.g. endogeneity assessment, latent class analysis and PLSpredict), and when and how to apply them to extend their analyses.\nResearch limitations/implications: Methodological developments associated with PLS-SEM are rapidly emerging. The metrics reported in this paper are useful for current applications, but must always be up to date with the latest developments in the PLS-SEM method.\nOriginality/value: In light of more recent research and methodological developments in the PLS-SEM domain, guidelines for the method's use need to be continuously extended and updated. This paper is the most current and comprehensive summary of the PLS-SEM method and the metrics applied to assess its solutions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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A transaction cost economics model for estimating performance effectiveness of relational and contractual governance: Theory and statistical results
|
[
"Outsourcing",
"Transaction cost economics",
"Supply chain management",
"Buyer-supplier relationships",
"GMRG"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The literature has suggested the overall plant performance be measured by manufacturing competitive performance and financial performance (Peteraf and Barney, 2003; Ketokivi and Schroeder, 2004). Manufacturing competitive performance assesses how well the plant competes against its competitors. Meanwhile, financial performance is an important measure for manufacturing survival and sustainable competitive advantage (Ketokivi and Schroeder, 2004). Many supply chain management studies argue the contributions of various initiatives, such as integration, collaborative planning, and information sharing (IS), to both competitiveness and financial performance (Li et al., 2014). This study examines the effects of supplier management and governance on plant performance.\n2. Theoretical model: The relevant terms used in this study are formally defined in Table I, with the operational measures. Figure 1 is the basic research model based on TCE. TCE has been suggested as a theoretical framework to determine an effective governance structure (markets vs hierarchies) for inter-organizational transactions (Rendfleisch and Heide, 1997; Williamson, 2008; Vivek et al., 2008).\n3. Research hypotheses: 3.1 Buyer performance: MC and financial returns\n4. Research method: 4.1 Data and structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses\n5. Statistical results: 5.1 Overall model fit: hypothesized and truncated model\n6. Conclusions: This study extends the academic discussion of buyer governance by addressing three research issues that were not properly examined by the extant literature (Table AI). Under the theoretical framework of TCE, the relationships among pre-contract conditions, governance variables, and manufacturing and financial performance are fully examined and discussed. Overall, the statistical results suggest that manufacturing firms are able to strategically reduce PA through hybrid governance of CG and relational governance. The following is a summary of key findings in relation to the research issues:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As outsourcing continues to grow, supplier management becomes critical to the success of manufacturing firms. Transaction cost economics (TCE) suggests that firms should choose supplier governance mechanisms to ensure fulfillment of contractual obligations and safeguard against opportunism for their outsourcing activities. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine how buying organizations govern supplier contracts to improve manufacturing competitiveness and financial performance. The relative effectiveness of two primary governance mechanisms, contractual governance (CG), and relational governance, are examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Expanding upon previous studies, this study delineates three relational governance mechanisms (negotiation efficiency (NE), problem solving relations, and information sharing (IS)) that are conceptually, statistically and pragmatically different. Based on the TCE literature, a conceptual model is developed to decipher the relationships between pre-contract conditions (supplier asset specificity and environmental uncertainty (EU)), governance mechanisms, performance ambiguity (PA), and performance. Using the data collected from 987 firms, the statistical results present several important findings that would advance current theory and practice in outsourcing.\nFindings: The authors find empirical support for the effects of contractual and relational governance in improving manufacturing and financial performance. The governance of supplier contracts clearly facilitates manufacturers' ability to leverage their resources to improve performance. The relative effectiveness of these two governance mechanisms is related to the levels of EU and supplier asset specificity. Relational governance displays greater influence on performance than CG does. However, CG appears to be complementary to relational governance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The interplays between supplier asset specificity and EU should be examined in the future. The relationships among NE, IS, and problem solving should also be examined to facilitate the development of relational governance.\nPractical implications: Managers should be aware of the situational performance of governance mechanisms. Moreover, it is important to realize how differently each of the three relational governance mechanisms and CG contribute to performance.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the academic discussion of supplier governance by investigating the alignment of governance mechanisms (relational governance and CG) with pre-contract conditions to reduce PA and, thereby, enhance manufacturing performance. Under the theoretical framework of TCE, the direct and indirect effects of pre-contract conditions and governance variables are fully examined and discussed. Moreover, relational governance involves multiple mechanisms that are conceptually and pragmatically different, and future studies should not treat it as one single construct.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Embracing CSR in pro-social relationship marketing program: understanding driving forces of positive consumer responses
|
[
"Gratitude",
"Perceived value",
"Attitude",
"Emotion",
"Pro-social loyalty program"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Loyalty programs (LPs) are a conventional customer relationship marketing strategy that aims to build and enhance long-term customer relationships (Berry, 1983). An emerging trend in LPs is the emergence of LPs that reflect a firm's commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and contribute to the well-being of society. We define this type of LPs as pro-social LPs. Characteristics of pro-social LPs include encouraging consumers' purchases of socially responsible products through reward schemes of the LP. An example of pro-social LPs is Duane Reade's FlexRewards program that offers double points on purchases of eco-friendly/organic products while offering one point for all other purchases. Under the Starbucks \"Shared Planet\" campaign, every time consumers swipe a company-issued point card for the purchase of selected products, Starbucks donates 5 cents to Conservation International to save the environment. The current research focuses on pro-social LP, an emerging trend in relationship marketing area, in an effort to identify the central drivers of consumers' positive responses and behavioral intentions.\nLiterature review: CSR and embracing CSR\nHypotheses development: CSR-driven firm perceptions as endorsing cues\nResearch methods: Stimuli\nResults: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion and theoretical implications: Using an emerging relationship marketing approach that integrates companies' positive marketing efforts, pro-social LPs, this study seeks to identify interrelationships among consumers' reactions to service firms' CSR and their pro-social LPs. With data from a sample of general USA consumers, this research empirically demonstrates that service providers' CSR elicits consumers' cognitive perception and emotions toward the firm, which then attract favorable consumer reactions to pro-social LPs. Furthermore, we find a hierarchy among consumers' cognitions (i.e. value, attitude, intention) in a positive marketing context. These findings offer insights for practitioners related to pro-social LPs, which is an emerging trend for relationship marketing, and regarding the importance of CSR in a practical setting.\nManagerial implications: This study provides several managerial insights. First, pro-social LPs can be valuable to the differentiation of service firms' LPs in modern business environments in which companies often confront demands to incorporate CSR, as well as the need to devise more effective LPs in response to seemingly ineffective, identical, conventional LPs. As noted earlier, because LPs have been implemented by so many service firms with the very similar reward scheme, differentiating any single program is difficult, limiting the effectiveness of similar LPs across industries (Yi and Jeon, 2003). It also explains reduced consumer participations in retailers' LPs in recent years (Tuttle, 2013). Furthermore, depending only on an offer of monetary rewards to LP members is an unsustainable solution for retaining customers, because companies cannot afford such costs in the long run. Other than monetary incentives, companies need some way to provide value (Meyer-Waarden, 2007). Pro-social LPs deserve attention, because they offer symbolic values (e.g. making contributions to society through participation in pro-social LPs), which can be effective in differentiating service firms that offer them and thus in building customer relationships.\nLimitations and suggestions for further studies: Some of the limitations of this study suggest directions for further research. Although demonstrating a holistic model is valuable, including moderating variables (e.g. consumers' personal values, such as interests in ethical consumption) could clarify our understanding of consumers' dynamic perceptions and responses to CSR and pro-social LPs. In the past, global issues such as global warming and CSR have received attention from various stakeholders, including consumers. As this attention has increased, consumer empowerment in consumption contexts has increased too, resulting in growing numbers of ethical consumers (Shaw et al., 2006), who carefully consider the consequence of their consumption behaviors and engage in activities to benefit overall societal well-being, as well as personal benefit. Previous research already suggests the effect of consumers' personal values on their choices. For example, Dickson (2000) finds that personal values have a significant impact on the choice of purchasing clothes with no-sweatshop labels. In line with our proposed model, ethical consumers might be more sensitive to CSR information that elicits a greater emotional appreciation of firms' CSR efforts than less ethical consumers would be. They also might perceive greater value when they learn of pro-social LPs offered by service firms. Research thus should incorporate personal values, along with value perceptions of pro-social LPs, to identify how these factors interact.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This purpose of this article is to identify important factors that influence consumers' responses to pro-social loyalty programs (pro-social LPs). These positive marketing programs reflect represent an emerging phenomenon in relationship marketing associated with companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The test of the proposed model relied on data from 350 US consumers, obtained through web-based experiments. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results showed that consumers' CSR-driven cognition (CSR beliefs) and reciprocal emotion (feeling of gratitude) enhance their attitudes toward pro-social LPs and increased participation intentions. The perceived value of pro-social LPs also improved consumer attitudes and participation intentions.\nPractical implications: Pro-social LPs offer a noteworthy approach to relationship marketing that benefits both service providers that engage in CSR and society overall.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature on LP and CSR by investigating the roles of CSR-driven cognition, reciprocal emotion and value perception in explaining consumers' responses to an innovative approach of LPs and pro-social LPs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Reliability optimization in stochastic domain via genetic algorithm
|
[
"Interval valued parameters",
"Reliability optimization",
"Chance constraints",
"Genetic algorithm"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nAssumptions: (1) The reliability of some of the components are imprecise and interval valued.\nNotations: N(m,s2) normal distribution with mean m and variance s2(>0)\n1. Introduction: Of late, reliability allocation models have started drawing the attention of the reliability planners for arriving at reliability optimization designs as may be seen from the works of Gopal et al. (1980), Hikita et al. (1992), Kuo and Prasad (2000), Ravi et al. (2000), Kuo and Wan (2007) and Tzafestas (1980). The basic objective of a reliability allocation model is to assign the reliability to subsystems so as to arrive at a prefixed reliability goal for the system as a whole, subject to various constraints operating on the system/subsystems (Nakagawa and Nakashima, 1977; Tillman et al., 1977a; Xu et al., 1990; Kuo and Wan, 2007; Liang and Smith, 2004; Onishi et al., 2007; Lirong et al., 2004; Chern, 1992; Levitin, 2001). In fact, cost is mostly the important restriction that operates on a system. Sometimes, component availability can also be an operative constraint. If we consider the reliability optimization subject to the cost constraint as a primal problem, the dual problem can be viewed as cost minimization subject to the restriction of system reliability.\n2. Some basic concepts of importance: 2.1 Finite interval arithmetic\n3. Stochastic mixed-integer programming: a complex system with chance constraints: Let us introduce the problem of reliability optimization under chance constraints. For this purpose, let us consider a complicated system with n subsystems. The goal of the redundancy allocation problem is to determine the number of hot redundant components in each of q parallel subsystems involving imprecise/interval valued reliabilities and reliability levels of the rest (n-q) general subsystems which are of precise reliability values so as to maximize the overall system reliability subject to the given chance constraints mostly arriving out of cost consideration. Then the corresponding problem becomes a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem with m chance constraints, which can be formulated as follows:\n4. GA-based constrained handling technique: For solving the interval valued constrained optimization problem, one may apply a powerful computerized heuristic method like GA. First, we have to transform the constrained optimization problem into unconstrained optimization problem using penalty function technique given in Aggarwal and Gupta (2005) and Miettinen et al. (2003). In penalty function technique, generally, constraints are added/subtracted to the objective function to avoid the infeasible solutions. When fitness function is increased/decreased with a penalty term multiplied by so called penalty coefficient there arise some important questions regarding the selection of the initial values and upgrading strategy for the penalty coefficients (Deb, 2000). To avoid this situation we have to solve the same problem with a fitness function by penalizing a most negative number (say, -M which can be written in the interval form as [-M, -M]) following Gupta et al. (2009) and Bhunia et al. (2010). We call this penalty as Big-M penalty. The form of Big-M penalty is as follows:\n5. Numerical example: To study the performance of GA for solving stochastic reliability optimization problem with interval valued reliabilities of components, a numerical example of the five-link bridge network system under chance constraints has been considered for different choices of c\n6. Concluding remarks: For the first time, we have examined the reliability optimization problem in the stochastic domain with respect to available resources and in the interval domain with respect to the component reliabilities and employed the GA to arrive at an optimum solution set. It has been observed from the computational results, under taken herein for a five-link bridge network, that the mean system reliability coincides with the best found system reliability. This strict coincidence is due to the fact that each trial run provides us optimum solution in our study. Also, the lower ends of the standard deviations, measured in interval form, assume zero value. It may also be noted that the average CPU time required for implementing the GA, is also on the lower side. Further, optimization under stochastic setup converges to optimization under deterministic setup, as expected. This entire approach opens up a new scope for reliability optimization when reliability values and decision parameters are estimated from sample observations and hence vary over interval sets.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to formulate the reliability optimization problem in stochastic and interval domain and also to solve the same under different stochastic set up.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Stochastic programming technique has been used to convert the chance constraints into deterministic form and the corresponding problem is transformed to mixed-integer constrained optimization problem with interval objective. Then the reduced problem has been converted to unconstrained optimization problem with interval objective by Big-M penalty technique. The resulting problem has been solved by advanced real coded genetic algorithm with interval fitness, tournament selection, intermediate crossover and one-neighbourhood mutation.\nFindings: A new optimization technique has been developed in stochastic domain and the concept of interval valued parameters has been integrated with the stochastic setup so as to increase the applicability of the resultant solution to the interval valued nonlinear optimization problems.\nPractical implications: The concept of probability distribution with interval valued parameters has been introduced. This concept will motivate the researchers to carry out the research in this new direction.\nOriginality/value: The application of genetic algorithm is extended to solve the reliability optimization problem in stochastic and interval domain.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Endogenous specification of foreign capital inflows, human capital development and economic growth: A study of pool mean group
|
[
"Foreign capital flows",
"Human capital development",
"Economic growth",
"Pool mean group",
"F21",
"F43",
"F35",
"O15",
"Q43"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Foreign capital inflow is a tool for achieving economic integration and globalization in developing economies. In the aspect of domestic resources, financing long-term development projects in many of the less developed countries depends on external sources for executing their projects. However, the need for more foreign capital inflow to support domestic resources has been welcomed as an engine of economic growth and development, since it is considered as the central element of the process of economic growth in most developing nations. Foreign capital inflow also enhances domestic investment, improves managerial skills, promotes technology transfer as well as increases employment rates (Alfaro and Johnson, 2012). The economic effects of foreign capital inflows are highly crucial regarding moving the controls forward from the depression period into prosperity phase. Additionally, investment in both public and private sectors in most developing countries in Africa has been hindered by a shortage of capital for investment purpose (Onyeiwu, 2015).\n2. Literature review: The inflow of foreign capital stimulates a strong economy, improves production capacity, decreases unemployment rates and encourages efficient resource allocation. The growing trend of capital inflows has been deliberated by several researchers with some mixed results. Kentor and Boswell (2003) observed that the effects of foreign capital inflow were positively related to economic growth in the short run, but in the long run, the relationship between foreign capital and economic growth was found to be negative. Chowdhury and Mavrotas (2005), Pattillo et al. (2002), Cordella et al. (2005) and Ekanayake and Chatrna (2010) buttressed the negative result of the growth rates of an economy. Capital inflows also have a positive influence on the growth of an economy, as examined by Berument and Dincer (2004), Alfaro et al. (2009), Njoupouognigni (2010) and Karamelikli and Bayar (2015).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Theoretical framework\n4. Empirical analysis: 4.1 Descriptive analysis\n5. Conclusion: This study examines the effect of the relationship between the various forms of foreign capital inflows and HCD on economic growth in ECOWAS countries. Our capital flows variables include FDI, migrate remittance, official PFI and external debt and human capital is proxy by school enrollment. We find overwhelming evidence that foreign capital inflows and human development have a significant effect on economic growth in ECOWAS member countries. However, FDI, official development assistant, HCD and GDI were positively related to economic growth in sub-regions economies. Conversely, migrate official remittance, PFIs and external debts are negatively related to economic growth.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationship between foreign capital inflows, human capital development (HCD) and economic growth in ECOWAS countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In line with the augmented Solow model, the relationship between foreign capital inflows, human capital development and gross domestic product in the ECOWAS member countries is investigated using the pool mean group method.\nFindings: The authors find overwhelming evidence that foreign capital inflows and human development have a significant effect on economic growth in ECOWAS member countries. However, foreign direct investment (FDI), official development assistant, HCD and gross domestic investment are positively related to economic growth in sub-regions economies. Conversely, migrate official remittance, portfolio investments and external debts are negatively related to economic growth.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors recommend that sound economic policies should be targeted in encouraging foreign capital accumulation and HCD, especially on FDI, official development assistance that exerts a positive impact on the economic growth of the sub-region. Therefore, training is required to prepare the labor force to work with new technologies and promote efficient enterprise for ECOWAS economies to compete with developed countries and emerging economies.\nSocial implications: This study argued that the development of human capital is a pathway that may lead countries away from sustained growth. In the context of any economy which lack well-developed capital and education markets, many otherwise qualified citizens may be denied the basic skills they need in order to contribute fully to the nation's economic development. HCD would encourage foreign investments, resulting in reduction in poverty in ECOWAS countries.\nOriginality/value: Several studies have been done on foreign capital inflow and economic growth nexus such as Orji et al. (2014), Ajide and Raheem (2016), Musibau et al. (2017), etc.; however, none of the research studies has actually examined the effect of the relationship between foreign capital inflows and HCD on economic growth in ECOWAS countries. This study is designed to fill the vacuum.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Is life a balancing act?
|
[
"Workplace",
"Stress",
"Quality of life",
"Job satisfaction",
"Employee productivity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: With the everyday pressures of work and home life seemingly increasing and our growing 24/7 lifestyles, balance is not a word that most of us would use to describe our lives. In a recent survey a staggering 97 per cent of senior human resource (HR) professionals stated that they believe stress is the biggest threat to the future of the UK workforce. With this overwhelming statistic in mind businesses need to look at how this situation can be changed and fast.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this case study is to highlight to individuals and businesses the importance of work-life balance and how it can have a massive impact on one's daily life. It aims to describe the pitfalls of not having a policy in place and also how a business can go about implementing a policy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The subject scope of the paper is to inform employers and employees of all aspects of work-life balance from the cause and effect to the methods available to help them achieve a great balance and improve productivity and wellbeing.\nFindings: - The case study shows that work-life balance is having a massive impact not only on businesses productivity, but also on the economy as a whole. A massive amount of money is being lost due to illness, etc. The information included from companies such as BT who have already implemented a work-life balance programme shows that the results are significant. The increase in staff wellbeing and productivity is amazing and shows that implementing these programmes really makes a difference.\nOriginality/value: - The case study is invaluable to any employer who has a team of staff. The findings of the research undertaken with BT shows that companies cannot wait until work-life balance becomes a \"must have\" - it needs to be implemented straightaway to ensure that staff are happy in their job and that no aspect of their career is contributing to ill health. BT show that by ensuring that \"work-life\" balance is prevalent in their business they have reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and have a more responsive and effective workforce.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Multicriteria decision choices for investment in innovative upper-middle income countries
|
[
"MCDA",
"AHP",
"Global innovation index",
"Pearson",
"World intellectual property organization",
"PROMÉTHÉE"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The global innovation index (GII) is a yearly report where innovative countries are analyzed and ranked considering their innovative profile. It is adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for observing innovative tendencies regarding countries and their perspectives via seven innovation indicators, where five are innovation input indicators and the other two are innovation output indicators. WIPO is a United Nations' self-funding agency with 189 member states. It was established in 1967 as an institution in Stockholm for promoting intellectual property global protection and innovative tendency studies (Olwan, 2011).\n2. Background: 2.1 Global innovation indicators\n3. Methodology: As it can see in Figure 2, the methodology is structured in three phases, namely,\n4. Results and discussion: After analysts explained the method for choosing innovative upper-middle income countries to invest in, it was possible to understand the tendencies and rankings using weights or not. As the qualitative data, according to GII 2016, was aligned with the quantitative result of the pilot project, analysts keep on calculating the MCDA using AHP-PROMETHEE and GAIA.\n5. Conclusion and final considerations: The question proposed by this paper was answered with the combined tools MCDA, AHP-PROMETHEE II giving opportunity for investing in upper-middle income countries. These countries were analyzed for their innovation indicators; being corroborated by short- and long-term economic prospects.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to observe how to invest in upper-middle income countries via an innovation perspective following global innovation index (GII) by multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) approach, once MCDA was designed to support subjective decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Pearson's correlation was the milestone for understanding innovation indicators at upper-middle income countries profiles. In a MCDA first step, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to obtain the criteria weight. In this step, the judgments or evaluations inputted in AHP were collected from a sample composed by five experts in GII. After getting the criteria weights compose to GII, Borda and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) methods were applied to obtain an MCDA-based GII. The inputs for this second step were: the weights come from AHP output; and the countries performance came from GII data.\nFindings: As a result, it was found out the upper-middle countries' rank to invest and groups with countries acting like \"hubs\" or \"bridges\" for economic sectors in near countries; when they are grouped according to their maximum and minimum scores profiles, observing not only a particular region but also similar profiles at diverse world areas.\nOriginality/value: Pearson-AHP-PROMETHEE works as a supportive decision tool for several and complex investment perspectives from criteria and alternatives analysis regarding innovation indicators for upper-middle income countries. This combination also demonstrates grouping possibilities, aligning profiles and not only ranking countries for investment and eliminating others but also grouping countries with similar profiles via innovation indicators MCDA combined application.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Reducing employee learning and development costs: the use of massive open online courses (MOOC)
|
[
"Training",
"Learning",
"Development",
"Organizational learning",
"MOOC"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Corporate training is part and parcel of talent development in organizations. However, the escalating cost of doing business and economic uncertainties surrounding global markets are forcing some companies to reduce costs to maintain their bottom line. As expenses relating to employee training and development rarely have an immediate impact on business operations, executive management often see such expense as one that can be reduced substantially if the need arises. From the employees' perspective, a reduction in training budget is seen as a blow to staff benefits. It can also be taken as a signal of deteriorating business conditions and can reduce employee morale. Longenecker and Fink (2014) pointed out that talented managers are more likely to leave an organization if training and development opportunities for growth are lacking.\nOrganizations currently using MOOCs: In one particular study carried out in 2013 with 195 corporate learning and HR practitioners, 70 per cent of respondents saw opportunities to integrate MOOCs into their existing training programs (Meister, 2013). Examples of large corporations who are already using MOOCs for employee training are:\nWhat are the potential benefits for organizations?: Cost reduction: Cost to hire expensive trainers can be significantly reduced and the hassle for training arrangements can also be eliminated. Switching cost from traditional classroom training to MOOCs results in savings, as the subsequent maintenance costs are relatively low. Studies in the USA have shown that organizations that adopt e-learning experience cost savings of more than 21 per cent in their training budget (Little, 2014).\nWhat are the potential downsides of MOOCs?: Downtime: Any service problems or technical errors on a MOOC website may affect the training process. A contingency plan should be negotiated with the MOOC provider.\nImplementation issues to consider: Before committing too many resources to MOOCs, it is worth running trial sessions and collecting feedback from employees to determine the feasibility of implementing the MOOC agenda in the organization.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper discusses the role of online learning, in particular the use of massive open online courses (MOOC), in reducing costs related to employee training and development. Businesses these days are facing escalating costs of doing business, and senior management teams are also looking for areas of cost reduction and savings within their organizations. The adoption of MOOC enables cost savings in regard to employee training and developments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The contents of this paper are of the authors' personal experience in using online learning and evidence gathered from available literature.\nFindings: Several large organizations are already using MOOC to replace or complement their traditional training program. One major benefit of using MOOC for employee training and development programs is the potential for huge cost savings for employee training.\nPractical Implications: Traditional employee training programs need to be reviewed in view of the vast development in internet technologies. The internet and the latest technology devices can be fully utilized to facilitate employee training and developments, thus resulting in overall cost savings.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents the operationalization of MOOC in organizations for training and development. The benefits and downsides of adopting MOOC in training and development are also discussed in this paper.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Encouraging consumer searching behavior on healthcare web sites
|
[
"Healthcare web sites",
"Usability",
"Information content",
"Attributions",
"Gratification theory",
"Worldwide web",
"Information management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: An organization's key to survival in the new information age revolution is in its ability to successfully integrate and adapt its management practices with new information technologies offered by the internet. Pharmaceutical personnel feel these data can improve individual health especially given the increasing fragmentation of health care delivery and medical errors that result from poor coordination of health care interventions. Healthcare organizations are quickly jumping into information age by going online spending between $250,000 and $1 million to create a web site (Dash, 2000). With over 145 million US adults surfing the web to research health-related information (Herrick, 2009), some healthcare organizations have quickly developed web sites in order to jump on the internet bandwagon, spending $4.7 billion on hospital IT in 2009 alone (Imaging Technology News, 2009) only to find out afterwards that becoming successful required much more than just going on-line with a web site.The healthcare industry is still grappling with a change in management philosophy, transitioning from one that grew out of the \"public health and health administration discipline\" to one that is based on the \"corporate management\" model. A significant challenge in the marketing and management of healthcare services is in understanding the different roles that the internet can play, especially in view of the high numbers of healthcare web sites that are being launched every week.Web sites can serve many purposes but the savvy user expects them to be gratifying and therefore highly interactive. They may provide a product, service or information, a forum for discussion, gaming or relationship building. They may even provide links to other web sites. Common among all of these uses is the need for quality and easily accessible information. Searching for information is particularly essential in healthcare web sites. Commercial healthcare web sites distinguish themselves in this respect, perhaps because this is their main access point to users; there is no brick and mortar. This would suggest that hospital-based web sites may be less effective in that they may rely more on their physical presence.The purpose of this paper is to compare commercial healthcare web sites with hospital-based web sites within the frame of health information searches. We speculate that despite being award winning hospital-based web sites, that improvements in overall quality, design, usefulness, ease of use, and quality of information are warranted when compared to their commercial healthcare counterparts.This paper is organized in the following manner. First, we discuss the importance of integrating internet in the traditional ways of communication, followed by a review of the \"Gratification Theory\" and its applications to media. Then we develop the hypotheses and present the research model. Then we explain the methodology and tests of psychometric properties that will lead us to the results and managerial implications.Building a relationship with your customer on the internet\nPredictors of attitude toward the healthcare web site: In the following sections we will outline the proposed predictors of attitude toward healthcare web sites (commercial and hospital) so that we are able to develop an outline of what web site attributes are important to users.Perceived quality of the web site\nMethods: Experimental design\nResults: The internal consistency of the constructs ranged from excellent to good: attitude toward the web site (0.977), perceived quality of the web site (0.943), perceived web site design (0.938), perceived usefulness (0.873), perceived ease of use (0.938), perceived quality of information content (0.922), liking (0.771) and knowledge of web sites in general (0.851).We first established that the attitude toward the web site did vary significantly across web site type (B=0.601; t=10.353, p<0.0001), indicating that commercial healthcare web sites lead to more positive attitudes than hospital-based web sites (H1 supported). See Table II and Figure 1. The adjusted R-squared for the model was 0.389.Note that the means for the hospitals are all below neutral, whereas the means for the commercial healthcare web sites are all above neutral. This shows a clear distinction of attitudes by users between hospital-based and commercial medical web sites.Next, we regressed the overall model of a series of predictor variables (perceived quality of web site, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived quality of information content, perceived quality of web site design, knowledge of using web sites, and liking to use the internet and comfort with computers) on attitude toward the web site across all web site types together (adjusted R-squared=0.841):* Perceived quality of web site (H2 supported) is a significant predictor of attitude toward the web site (B=0.675; t=9.173, p<0.0001).* Perceived usefulness of web site (H3 not supported) is not a significant predictor of attitude toward the web site (B=0.076; t=0.971, p>0.05).* Perceived ease of use of web site (H4 supported) is a significant predictor of attitude toward the web site (B=0.198; t=2.744, p=0.007).* Perceived quality of the web site information content (H5 is not supported) is not a significant predictor of attitude toward the healthcare web site (B=0.008; t=0.155, p>0.05).* Perceived quality of the web site design is not a significant predictor (H6 is not supported) of attitude toward the healthcare web site (B=-0.007; t=-0.102, p>0.05).* User liking to use the internet and comfort with computers (H7 is not supported) is a significant predictor of attitude toward the healthcare web site (B=-0.025, t=-0.523, p>0.05).* User knowledge of use of web sites in general (H8 is not supported) is not a significant predictor of attitude toward the healthcare web site (B=0.027; t=0.554, p>0.05).These overall model effects held across further regressions of the predictor variables modeled separately by web site type as well. This consistency of betas across the models gives us confidence that these predictors are important to user attitudes toward the healthcare web site regardless of web site type.\nManagerial implications: The results indicate that users have more positive attitudes toward commercial healthcare web sites than hospital-based web sites. This is interesting considering that these were award winning hospital-based web sites. This suggests that despite the awards, that at least in terms of users searching for information on their web sites, that the hospitals need to step it up a notch and try to emulate the commercial healthcare web sites, particularly in terms of overall quality and ease of use.Also, of interest were the non-significant predictors of user attitudes toward the healthcare web site from the overall model. Notably when regressed as the only predictor, perceived usefulness, perceived quality of information content, and perceived quality of design, each were significant predictors of user attitudes, however when all regressed together, the overall quality and the ease of use predictors accounted for their influence. This should provide some more specific areas to improve in and reveals the extent to which improvements are necessary for even award winning hospital-based health web sites.Further, when regressed as the only predictor, user liking to use the internet and comfort with computers, and user knowledge of use of web sites in general, each were still not significant predictors of attitude toward the healthcare web site. This is reassuring as this discounts one possible explanation of our results as stemming from the users' inherent past experience with computers, the internet and web sites in general.Limitations\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Commercial healthcare and hospital-based web sites appear to exhibit distinctive formats. This paper aims to compare two award winning medical web sites with two top commercial healthcare web sites in an effort to determine significant predictors of positive attitudes toward the web sites when actively searching for healthcare information.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Three linear regressions were utilized to test the paper's hypotheses. Subjects entered a computer laboratory and were given search tasks for health information to complete within four web sites (two commercial and two hospital-based web sites - order randomized).\nFindings: - The study shows how user perception, attitude and gratification are revealing of the strengths and weaknesses of hospital-based vs commercial healthcare web sites as a means of providing users with healthcare information. Commercial healthcare web sites are viewed significantly more positively than hospital-based web sites, revealing that overall web site quality and ease of use to be the dominant predictors of positive attitudes toward the web sites.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The ecological validity of using real web sites presents challenges in terms of controlling for alternative explanations stemming from within web site type. Future research could explore different tasks that can be facilitated by medical web sites and assess the attributes of the web sites accordingly.\nPractical implications: - The paper can help design and develop better hospital-based and commercial healthcare web sites.\nOriginality/value: - This research explored actual information search behavior and the resulting web site user perceptions in an effort to bring academic inquiry into practice. Nothing similar to the hypotheses or this methodology has been found within the web site effectiveness literature, neither generally nor specifically within the healthcare industry.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Benchmarking the use of tools and techniques in the Six Sigma programme based on a survey conducted in a developing country
|
[
"Six Sigma programme",
"DMAIC quality management",
"Quality improvement",
"Tools and techniques",
"Survey",
"Developing countries",
"Six Sigma",
"Benchmarking"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Presently, companies are trying to outperform their competitors by improving the quality of their products and the performance of their processes. Thus, to keep themselves competitive, organizations apply different management practices which, if used with rigorous criteria and disciplined methods, make it possible to overtake competitors by supplying better quality products and services (Linderman et al., 2003).Six Sigma is one of the management practices currently used by companies to preserve their business competitiveness, since the emphasis of organizations that apply Six Sigma is on backing up their decisions with facts and data to achieve greater and better control over production processes or services (Pande et al., 2000).Six Sigma is considered under different terms by the literature as well as by companies that adopt it. It is common to see terms that relate Six Sigma to \"initiative\", \"methodology\", \"practice\", \"programme\", \"technique\", and \"strategy\", among others. For the purposes of this article, the term \"Six Sigma programme\" is adopted. This management practice is understood as a structured methodology that comprised of defined stages that aim to meet pre-established goals.One important part when carrying out Six Sigma refers to the DMAIC, which is a method structured to conduct Six Sigma projects. This acronym refers to define, measure, analyse, improve and control. DMAIC is one of the most-cited methods, corresponding to 75 per cent of a total of 250 citations in a literature review by Brady and Allen (2006).Decisions within DMAIC are taken based on management tools and techniques. Typical tools and techniques are Pareto diagrams, quality function deployment (QFD), design of experiment (DOE), poka-yoke, among others. Some tools and techniques are simpler and others are more structured. By means of a systematic and disciplined application of those tools and techniques, Six Sigma aims to improve the profitability of companies in any industrial sector, increase market share, reduce costs, optimise operations, improve quality and promote the reduction or elimination of defects and errors (Folaron, 2003).Considering the importance of the subject and the relevance of obtaining more data on applications of the Six Sigma in a developing country, a descriptive-exploratory survey was conducted based on guidelines from Forza (2002). The survey aimed at identifying practices associated with Six Sigma, including evidence of the use of tools and techniques. Detailed survey results can be found in Cauchick Miguel and Andrietta (2010) and best practices are highlighted by Cauchick Miguel and Andrietta (2009).Even though there are recent studies of the Six Sigma in the studied country (Pinto et al., 2006; Andrietta and Cauchick Miguel, 2007; Santos and Martins, 2008) and abroad (Lee-Mortimer, 2007; Lai and Soltani, 2007), they do not specifically make an assessment of the tools and techniques used in Six Sigma, despite their importance. Other studies done in the Brazil (Werkema, 2002; EPSE, 2004; Carvalho et al., 2007) are limited in terms of the numbers of companies and do not specifically deal with tools and techniques in the context of problem solving methods (DMAIC, design for Six Sigma (DFSS) or others).Tools and techniques applied in Six Sigma programme is also in the context of some studies. Goel and Chen (2008) identified alternate tools in the context of business process reengineering approach to integrate global enterprise using Six Sigma. Chakravorty (2009) proposes a Six Sigma implementation model from which one of the steps is to identify overall improvement tools. Others discuss tools and techniques (Henderson and Evans, 2000; See, 2006) but very few of those studies are specific in investigating tools and techniques within Six Sigma. Antony and Banuelas (2002) and Antony et al. (2007), however, point out some of key elements when dealing with Six Sigma implementation.In this context, the present study presents more detailed results obtained from a survey conducted in a developing country (Cauchick Miguel and Andrietta, 2010). This paper focuses on the tools and techniques used in the stages of the DMAIC method as well as comparing them to the literature. Six Sigma principles are described next.\nLiterature on Six Sigma tools and techniques: Six Sigma seeks to achieve excellence in competitiveness by improving process operations. To do so, it considers continuous improvement involved in production of goods or services in a structured manner (Han and Lee, 2002). To achieve success, the implementation of Six Sigma requires a systematic and disciplined application of tools and techniques (Antony et al., 2007). This aids in defining the problems and the situations that need improvement. It establishes measurement procedures to obtain data and information, criticises and analyses collected data, implements improvements in processes and, finally, controls, or when necessary redesigns, the existing processes, and provides a cycle of continuous improvement (Lucas, 2002).Even though tools and techniques are not new to the Six Sigma or exclusive to it (Antony et al., 2007), adopt them may add considerable value to the programme. It disseminates a vocabulary for standardised metrics over the whole organization and also formalises the use of statistical tools, avoiding using them in isolation and individually (Hunter and Schmitt, 1999).Thus, considering the importance of these tools and techniques to the success of the Six Sigma and to improving performance and consequently the increase in gains (Ingle and Roe, 2001), this section undertakes a brief review of the literature on the use of these tools in the Six Sigma. It considers methods for selecting tools and techniques to be employed in problem solving, existing interactions among the tools and techniques applied in the manufacturing and services sectors as well as their integration in the stages of the DMAIC methods.Tools and techniques used in the Six Sigma programme\nResearch methods: The survey was developed to analyse practices related to the adoption of Six Sigma. One of the specific aims was to identify the use of tools and techniques within Six Sigma. The survey was constructed based on the literature (Malhotra and Grover, 1998; Forza, 2002). It can be categorised as descriptive, since this type of survey intends to advance knowledge about a given subject in the attempt to explain the occurrence of a phenomenon (Forza, 2002). Therefore, it does not have the characteristics of a testing theory survey.The survey instrument was a questionnaire posted to 121 Six Sigma users spread up all over the country. The intentional sample (non-probabilistic) was defined by using various sources such as: professional magazines and academic journals on quality management and operations management, consulting companies, professional associations dealing with Six Sigma, participation in short courses and seminars, and company sites. The users were then first contacted by telephone, confirmed they applied Six Sigma, and agreed to participate in the survey. Considering that the research had broad territorial coverage within the country, this non-probabilistic sample demonstrated adequate. Nevertheless, external validity was very limited since it was not a probabilistic sample.The survey instrument was a 15-page questionnaire with 34 questions that could be completed in 30 minutes, formatted in an A5 booklet. The questions were developed with the help of other academics and pilot tested to evaluate the survey's questions and provide suggestions for improving the data collection instrument in both form and contents. The questions included \"tick-box\", \"assign rate\", and very few \"open-ended\" questions. The questionnaire also included a glossary for technical terms used in the questions. The mail included a covering letter detailing the objectives of the survey as well as a statement of confidentiality and a self-addressed envelope for returning the questionnaire.Data were analysed by first use descriptive statistics and then by comparing the results with the literature in the sense of corroborating empirical data with Six Sigma publications. More detailed results from the survey with regard to other aspects are provided by Cauchick Miguel and Andrietta (2010). Data analysis concerning the use of tools and techniques is presented next.\nFindings: Response rate was 64.5 per cent (78 questionnaires). Companies are concentrated in the two most industrialised states of the country (Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais), Actually, the higher number of large companies which use Six Sigma is located in Sao Paulo state (about 64 per cent of returned questionnaires). There was, however, response from companies in seven other states, in a percentage distribution similarly to sent questionnaires.Companies characteristics\nConclusions: This study emphasised the use of tools and techniques used by companies operating in Brazil that adopt the Six Sigma programme. In this sense, the results of an exploratory survey is presented in order to identify best of practices related to the programme, among them the use of tools and techniques, the focus of this study. In order to make a comparison with the aspects reported in the literature, a review of the literature which highlights different aspects related to the application of the tools and techniques of the Six Sigma programme was undertaken.The results of the field work considered 58 tools and techniques which can be used in each of the five stages of DMAIC. Obtaining these data allowed to compare them with some studies which identified the tools and techniques most and least used by the companies. It was verified that few of the tools and techniques coincide with those studies.Another comparison is the association of tools and techniques in the Six Sigma programme and the DMAIC stages identified in the literature. Comparing them with the results obtained from the survey is possible to observe that companies are using the tools and techniques in more stages of the DMAIC than reported by those authors. This might indicate that no classification can be taken as unique and neither is this classification the most complete.It is worth stressing that the present results somewhat confirmed some claims from of the literature, i.e. the need for the Six Sigma to be supported by measurable and reliable data based on a set of tools and techniques. This also shows that the use of tools and techniques is essential in the DMAIC methodology. Finally, there is a possibility of undertaking a more detailed statistical analysis of the results obtained. This task was not undertaken due to the scope of the present article but is a proposal for further investigation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Six Sigma program is an approach currently adopted by many companies, which involves a highly disciplined and guided process, in which applications of many different tools and techniques aim at generating a cycle of continuous improvement. In this sense, a survey-based research was conducted in a developing country from which the aim of this paper is to identify and analyse the tools and techniques used in the stages of the DMAIC.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents parts of the results of a descriptive survey conducted by a postal questionnaire answered by more than 60 Six Sigma users. Specific results of tools and techniques applied in Six Sigma are compared with those prescribed in the literature.\nFindings: - The results confirm the use of Six Sigma tools and techniques suggested by the literature. It also points out that Six Sigma needs to be supported by measurable and reliable data, and thus that the use of tools and techniques is indispensable to the use of the DMAIC.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is not a probabilistic survey and, therefore, the generalisation is not feasible.\nPractical implications: - The paper may assist either academic and practitioners when teaching, researching and applying tools and techniques in Six Sigma.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is one of the few published studies that report tools and techniques applied in Six Sigma programme in developing countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Resistance to change needn't be futile: How employees' challenges can be beneficial
|
[
"Change management",
"Employee behaviour",
"Employee involvement",
"Individual behaviour",
"Organizational change"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nLack of understanding not to be confused with refusal to accept: Just because a bunch of Star Trek cyborgs were fond of telling their opponents that \"resistance is futile\" does not mean we have to believe it. Even though, when it comes to organizational change, those in charge of pushing forward changes might wish it were true. Unfortunately for them, they are not dealing with a band of science-fiction oddities lacking individual thought, but a group of employees whose first reaction to any management plan to change the status quo is likely to be resistance. That resistance might or might not alter management's desired outcome, but it should not be regarded by anyone as either futile or useless as it might actually turn out to be useful.Taking people out of their comfort zone by bringing in changes in working conditions, possibly sweeping changes that may involve them in an uncomfortable period of adjustment, probably new methods of going about their day-to-day duties, and possibly an increased workload is likely to meet with resistance, initially at least. It is normal; it is human nature.What supervisors, top management, or specially-briefed change agents from inside or outside the organization need to keep in mind is that a lack of understanding should not be confused with resistance. It may be just that - a lack of understanding. And whose fault is that? Certainly not the workforce's. They are not the change agent. Appraised of the full facts, they might be well and truly \"up for it\", open to change, receptive to the new ideas, and ready and willing to cope with the undoubted upheaval.Long faces and apparent unwillingness to embrace change might merely be, and often is, the fact that it has not been properly explained. Management has not given the communication exercise enough preparation or time, and has not picked conditions best suited for the discussion. Note the word discussion. Call it discussion, conversation, or what you like. Just so long as it engages the staff concerned and is not a self-destructive edict along the lines of: \"This is how you're going to do it from now on, no arguments, no dissent, no discussion. Just do it.\"Given the choice, employees would prefer not to have changes thrust upon them, but most of them appreciate that a leader's role is not to protect the status quo but to drive the company forward by making whatever changes are necessary however unpleasant they might at first seem.So resistance, if it comes, can be regarded as a legitimate reaction. It can be treated not as a threat to the organizational planning which must be confronted and diffused at all costs, but more of an asset - an occurrence which helps the process along, identifying and predicting problems which might not otherwise have been envisaged. After all, people doing the job they are hired to do tend to become the experts in that job, not their managers or the company's top brass.\nAllowing a pause for fuller explanation of management's plans: Criticism of the plans, so long as it is given and received in a constructive spirit, can be a welcome opportunity to legitimize change, a pause to allow the fuller explanation from management which might be necessary for the appropriate appraisal of the plans. Consequently the conversation which has been born out of resistance becomes a useful tool in the iterative process of getting the changes through.Getting quick acceptance of change, rather than acceptance after a slow process of discussion and listening, can often not be the bonus it seemed to be. Bringing on board people who initially have \"thoughtful resistance\" is far better than having the \"unthoughtful\" acceptance of those who fall into line without question, and who then moan about the changes as they occur.Change agents can themselves be a cause of resistance if they go into the undertaking with the self-fulfilling view that they will meet resistance. They are in danger of blaming any difficulties in completing their project, even before those difficulties emerge, on resistance rather than their own lack of communication and persuasion skills, one of which is diplomacy - an acceptance that it is people's lives they are dealing with.That is not to say, however, that the \"soft\" approach is always preferable to the \"hard\" one. On the contrary, a strong rather than weak justification for the necessary changes must be made at the outset and those explaining, and demanding, the new ways of working must be resolute in their conviction that the changes will be made. The \"soft\" part comes in their ability to balance that firmness with an openness to engage in conversation about it. Quite a balancing act.\nDangers of pretending you know something when you do not: Those advocating change must demonstrate right from the start their deep knowledge of current practices and how they are likely to change. Engaging in dialogue with people who may resist the change, it is essential to be confident that nothing has been overlooked. Perceived ignorance of vital facts will put doubts in the mind of even those employees who might otherwise be positive towards change. Conversely, if the change agent does not know the answer to a question posed by a skeptical, or merely curious, employee, he or she should say so. Having a small \"gap\" in their brief can be forgiven; pretending they know something which they do not cannot.The change agent must avoid being inflexible, ambivalent or contradictory and, if promises are made to \"look again\" at a particular aspect of the change at a future date in exchange for employees' agreement to move forward, those promises must be kept. Like many other aspects of relationships within organizations, trust among players is vital.\nLingering resentment can lead to rejection of reasonable changes: If there is a history of trust within the organization, organizational change is a much easier process than in a distrustful environment. Take the case of an engineering company, hit badly by the current worldwide economic downturn, and delighted at being awarded a contract which would ensure at least their short-term survival. Tight delivery dates meant, however, that a majority of the workforce would have to work seven-day shifts for a time - not extra hours but the same hours spread over more days. It was certainly a reasonable request at a time of dwindling orders and economic uncertainty.The workforce resisted the change, putting the order in jeopardy, not because the proposed changes were particularly distasteful to them but because they felt they had been let down by management on a previous, totally unrelated, matter. There was distrust and, consequently, resistance to a reasonable request seemed a convenient way of demonstrating their lingering resentment.That point is emphasised by Stacie A. Furst and Daniel M. Cable in their study of how employee resistance to organizational change is linked with leader-member exchange (LMX). They say: \"Employees may selectively attune to and interpret managerial behaviors in ways that reinforce existing perceptions of the manager-employee relationship.\"Further evidence of the dangers of trust violation come from Jeffrey D. Ford et al. who note that: \"Research on organizational justice has shown that when people see themselves as being or having been treated fairly, they develop attitudes and behaviors associated with successful change. However, when people experience an injustice or betrayal, they report resentment... in extreme cases, people may seek revenge or retaliation.\" All is not lost, however. They also report that \"change agents who repair damaged relationships and restore trust both before and during change are less likely to encounter resistance than agents who do not.\"Listing creativity, perseverance, forbearance and salesmanship as necessary attributes for a successful change agent, Deborah Wainwright adds humility - \"to keep from locking horns when times are fractious and messages may be misunderstood.\"Change is a constant requirement in today's business environment - so too is keeping open clear channels of communication.\nComment: This review is based on \"Resistance to change: the rest of the story\" by Ford et al. (2008). \"Employee resistance to organizational change: managerial influence tactics and leader-member exchange\" by Furst and Cable (2008), and \"The training manager as a change agent\" by Wainwright (2008). Ford et al. counter the view that resistance to change is irrational and propose how resistance might be restructured. They say the change agent's job must include responsibility for the relationship with recipients, as well as the tactics of change implementation. Stacie A. Furst and Daniel M. Cable examine how employee resistance to organizational changes is related to managerial influence behaviors and the relationship the employee has with the supervisor who is the source of influence. Deborah Wainwright discusses why there is resistance to change and how it should be handled. She does so from a personal perspective, having introduced a BTEC-accredited training program to her organization.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints 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: - Taking people out of their comfort zone by bringing in changes in working conditions, possibly sweeping changes that may involve them in an uncomfortable period of adjustment, probably new methods of going about their day-to-day duties, and possibly an increased workload is likely to meet with resistance, initially at least. It is normal; it is human nature.\nPractical implications: - 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"
}
] |
Antecedents and consequences of observing workplace sexual behavior
|
[
"Turnover intentions",
"Workplace romance",
"Organizational climate",
"Sexual behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A brief perusal of the popular business press suggests that sexual expression is common in the workplace. Blogs have been devoted to the topic (e.g. Ryan, 2013; Nance-Nash, 2013), journalists provide advice about how to flirt at work (e.g. Castillo, 2012), and employees claim to have been fired for being too sexy (e.g. Gregorian, 2010). Increasingly, scholars are recognizing that, in contrast to the Weberian notion that sex and emotions have no place at work, sexual expression in organizations can affect employees' personal and professional lives (Williams et al., 1999; Lobel, 1993; Powell and Foley, 1998). Although research regarding sexual harassment has been ongoing for decades (see Willness et al., 2007, and O'Leary-Kelly et al., 2009, for reviews), organizational researchers are starting to explore the role non-harassing sexual behavior plays in the workplace.\nAntecedents of sexual behavior in the workplace: A number of situational antecedents have been linked to sexual behavior in the workplace, both harassing and non-harassing. Situational antecedents include the gender ratio of the workplace and the gendered nature of the workgroup - more sexual harassing behavior is reported in contexts where women are in the minority (Fitzgerald et al., 1997; Glomb et al., 1999; McLaughlin et al., 2012). More non-harassing sexual behavior is also reported in these workplaces (Gutek et al., 1990), as men are more likely to perceive sexual interest from others (Abbey, 1982), view sexual behavior in the workplace more positively (Berdahl, 2007; Berdahl and Aquino, 2009); and have more license in contemporary Western society to act in sexually uninhibited ways (Baumeister and Twenge, 2002; Keltner et al., 2003). In addition to the gender ratio, the degree of male-female contact is also a predictor of non-harassing sexual behavior in organizations (i.e. the \"contact hypothesis\") (Gutek et al., 1990). Male-female interaction is seen as limiting condition for sexual behavior to occur (Gutek et al., 1990, p. 563) and has been linked to both sexual harassment and non-harassing sexual behaviors, such as the formation of workplace romances (Salvaggio et al., 2011; Mainiero, 1989; Mano and Gabriel, 2006; Riach and Wilson, 2007).\nConsequences associated with observing sexual behavior at work: What are the consequences of observing non-harassing sexual behavior in the workplace? The most direct answer to this question was supplied by Berdahl and Aquino (2009). They found that observing workplace sexual behavior was associated with feeling less valued by the organization, and more job withdrawal cognitions. Curiously, these findings were unrelated to employees' enjoyment of the sexual behavior. Berdahl and Aquino (2009) theorized that unconscious associations between sexuality and negative emotions such as shame and vulnerability might underlie their findings. There is evidence that implicit attitudes toward sex are more negative than explicit attitudes, and often are associated with shame (Geer and Robertson, 2005). It may be that sexual behavior in a professional context, no matter how fun in the moment, brings up fears and anxieties which in turn lead to a negative appraisal of the work environment (Salvaggio et al., 2011).\nStudy 1: Method\nStudy 2: Method\nGeneral discussion: The goal of the present research was to explore the antecedents and outcomes associated with observing non-harassing sexual behavior in the workplace. Results across two studies suggest that individual perceptions of workplace climate are related to observed sexual behavior. The results of the study also suggest that observing non-harassing sexual behavior is associated with more physical strain symptoms and higher turnover intentions. Sexual behavior in the workplace, therefore, may have deleterious effects on employees, even if it is not perceived as harassment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents and consequences of non-harassing sexual behavior in the workplace. Individual perceptions of climate were examined as antecedents; physical strain and turnover intentions were studied as consequences of non-harassing sexual behavior at work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were administered to two samples of working adults. In the second sample, criterion measures were collected four months after the predictors.\nFindings: Innovative and traditional climates were associated with workplace sexual behavior; sexual behavior was positively associated with physical strain and turnover intentions, both concurrently and four months later.\nResearch limitations/implications: Climate was not assessed at the group level of analysis; only individual perceptions of workplace climate were measured. The research design was not longitudinal, thus causal conclusions cannot be drawn. Despite these limitations, the results suggest that perceptions of climate are related to sexual behaviors in the workplace. Further, the findings highlight negative outcomes associated with observing even non-harassing sexual behavior at work.\nPractical implications: Managers may consider implementing specific guidelines around non-harassing sexual behavior in the workplace. Organizational leaders may have the ability to affect how non-harassing sexual behavior is interpreted, based on the kinds of climates they create in their organizations.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that assesses both the antecedents and consequences of non-harassing sexual behavior. It expands the literature by including psychological perceptions of the workplace as predictors of sexual behavior at work.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
You can't always get what you want: change management in higher education
|
[
"Leadership",
"Resistance",
"Participation",
"Change management",
"Stakeholders",
"Collaboration",
"Curriculum design",
"Distributive",
"Top-down",
"Bottom-up",
"Feral systems",
"JISC"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Higher education systems around the world are facing major challenges. Many post-industrialized countries with declining tax bases due to aging populations combined with the effects of the global recession are struggling to maintain higher education provision, while rapidly developing countries although less perturbed by the recession are experiencing massive growth in demand for university places. In both cases it seems change is required to meet demand for higher education: large-scale systemic change at the level of whole institutions and across the sector more broadly. Particular challenges in the UK are political and economic pressures for widening participation in higher education to include groups traditionally underrepresented; finding ways to increase learner motivation and skills to engage more effectively with study in order to reduce student dropout and failure; demands for more personalized learning to accommodate a wider range of learners; demands for more effective engagement of external stakeholders such as employers in curriculum design to ensure the supply of graduates better meets the needs of industry; and more agile curriculum design and flexible delivery systems that can be more responsive to rapidly changing circumstances. Yet universities are peculiarly resistant to change (Marshall, 2010) and managing change in universities is perhaps the most daunting challenge facing senior managers in organizations today (McMurray, 2001, p. 74).\nEmergent themes: All the projects began with baseline reviews that included not only quantitative metrics such as numbers of students undertaking certain kinds of courses, length of time required to approve new courses or numbers of uneconomic courses, but also views of stakeholders about the systems and processes targeted for revision by the projects. These baseline reviews revealed the presence in all of the institutions of various alternative \"feral\" systems developed as workarounds by staff on the ground to bend official systems to local needs and preferences. The emergence of unofficial systems has been observed elsewhere (Bell, 2004, p. 249), but their proliferation here was a revelation to the teams that highlighted the importance of considering how users would respond to new systems and applications. As one project observed:\nConclusions: The overarching conclusion of this study has to be that effective, sustainable change requires not only new policies and procedures and new technical systems but a change in the culture of the organization as well. However, while it is relatively easy to make executive decisions about new ways of doing things and to design systems and processes that deliver these new things, if the hearts and minds of those who have to implement these systems are not fully engaged then the result is likely to be proliferation of alternative feral systems and lack of real change therefore. Engaging with the culture of an organization is harder than redesigning policies and systems. It takes more effort and time, the outcomes are less predictable and top-down management led initiatives are likely to be resisted in universities.\nRecommendations: The results reported here are just some of the lessons learned over the four years of the JISC Curriculum Design programme. The key lessons learned from the experiences of Design Cluster B were drawn together and presented via a JISC Webinar on Monday 14 May 2012 entitled \"Managing large-scale organizational change: lessons and approaches from the JISC Curriculum Design programme\". The Webinar has been archived in the Design Studio site set up by the JISC to hold useful outputs from the Curriculum Design and Delivery programmes, including the reports referenced in this paper (http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/53679069/Managing%20large-scale%20organisational%20change%20webinar). The panel discussion focused on the following recommendations, structured around different stages of a project and illustrated with case study examples from the participating institutions. While not all of these recommendations stem directly from the evidence reported in this paper, they are included here for the sake of completeness and in the hope that others will find them useful.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively describe an attempt to enhance curriculum design and delivery processes in universities through the development and introduction of new information systems and procedures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author examines the experiences of five out of the total 27 institutions involved in the UK JISC Curriculum Design and Delivery programme as they attempted to implement campus-wide changes.\nFindings: Common themes that emerged across all five projects were the interconnectedness of university systems, proliferation of alternative \"feral\" systems, a tendency for project remits to drift, resistance from other parts of the institution, planning imperatives, staff turnover and dependency failures. Conclusions are that cultural change underpins effective innovation and that cultural change is harder than technical innovation.\nPractical implications: Change is best achieved through participatory, campus-wide approaches, although a \"submarine\" strategy may be necessary to deflect opposition. Stakeholders should be kept informed about benefits to them and it is important for projects to be responsive and adaptive and to recognize that participatory approaches may be institutionally risky. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for achieving lasting large-scale change in the higher education environment.\nOriginality/value: The JISC Curriculum Design and Delivery programme was arguably the largest single co-ordinated Information and Communication Technology-based change management programme yet seen in the UK and the findings of this study provide insights into common barriers to effective change in universities and how to overcome them.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Would you please stop that!? The relationship between counterproductive meeting behaviors, employee voice, and trust
|
[
"Trust",
"Voice",
"Workplace meetings",
"Counterproductive meeting behaviors",
"Meeting load"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The study of meetings is of critical importance to organizations because of the role they can play in an organization's overall effectiveness, as well as the wellbeing of its employees (Rogelberg et al., 2014). Additionally, employees engage in activities in meetings that cannot easily be done in other workplace settings (e.g. collaboration, decision making, problem solving, etc.). Being able to investigate solutions to problems, discuss information, and come up with new ideas, all while building community, makes meetings a vital part of any organization (Elsayed-Elkhouly and Lazarus, 1997; Green and Lazarus, 1991). It is perhaps because of these unique interactions that meetings hold such potential to affect work relationships, attitudes, and behaviors long after the meeting has ended (Rogelberg et al., 2010).\nCMBs: In this study, our working definition of CMB is action(s) taken by one or more attendees that cause dysfunction or in some way hinder the progress made in a meeting (Lehmann-Willenbrock et al., 2013). These behaviors include placing blame on other attendees, engaging in irrelevant discussion, and complaining, among other behaviors (Kauffeld and Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012; Lehmann-Willenbrock et al., 2013). For example, an attendee talking about his or her plans for the weekend during the official meeting time is an example of a CMB. These counterproductive behaviors likely have implications for the development of and maintenance of good job-related attitudes/behaviors that serve as resources to effective employee function. One such job attitude/behavior is employee voice, to which we now turn.\nMeeting load as a moderator: Although we believe there will be a direct relationship between CMBs and both voice and coworker trust, these relationships may also depend upon an important contextual factor, specifically employees amount of meetings or meeting load (Luong and Rogelberg, 2005; Rogelberg et al., 2006). In the present study and consistent with previous studies (Luong and Rogelberg, 2005), meeting load refers to the frequency in which an employee is required to attend organizational meetings. Although meetings can be an effective way to share information through face-to-face communication, Luong and Rogelberg (2005) found evidence that efforts to encourage communication through meetings can also be taken to the extreme and lead to detrimental outcomes. Specifically, they found a positive relationship between meeting load and reported workload and fatigue. We seek to expand on this research by examining how individual meeting load affects the relationship between CMBs and trust, as well as between CMBs and voice.\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: Table I contains the means, standard deviations, intercorrelations, and a reliability estimates for all measures (see Table I). Of note is that participants indicated they attended between three and four meetings per week (M=3.64).\nDiscussion: In an effort to understand the negative outcomes of so many workplace meetings, we examined the relationship between CMBs, co-worker trust, and employee voice as potentially moderated by meeting load. Our first finding was that CMBs are negatively related to voice. Although the directionality of this effect cannot explicitly be tested with the present data, the findings, and theory suggest that as CMBs increase, voice appears to decrease. In terms of the meeting, when people see others engage in CMBs, they may be less likely to express their thoughts, opinions, and feelings. For example, when someone shows up late to the meeting or engages in unrelated side conversations, meeting participants may want to voice their frustration, but think better of it and therefore voice behaviors do not occur. This finding is consistent with the notion derived from CoR theory that CMBs drain resources (Hobfoll, 1989). If someone is working hard not to voice their frustration, then they are not likely to be able to simultaneously pay attention and voice their ideas/opinions related to the meeting's aims.\nConclusion: Meetings are crucial to an organization's success. When designed and implemented effectively, they can be a powerful tool to allow employees to come together, interact, and share information, as well as build rapport that can facilitate organizational functioning long after the meeting has ended. However, the achievement of these outcomes is not inevitable, but largely dependent on what occurs during the meeting. This study suggests that any organization interested in maximizing the effectiveness of its meetings and optimizing the wellbeing of the work environment (specifically voice, trust, and the benefits that accompany each) must take measures to reduce, if not eliminate, CMBs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Meetings are ubiquitous in organizational life and are a great source of frustration and annoyance to many employees in the workplace, in part due to counterproductive meeting behaviors (CMBs). CMBs include engaging in irrelevant discussion, complaining about other attendees, arriving to the meeting late, and other similar, disruptive behaviors. Consistent with conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the potential resource draining effect of CMBs on two key workplace attitudes/behaviors, employee voice, and coworker trust.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used Amazon's MTurk service to recruit a sample of full-time working adults from a variety of industries who regularly attend meetings. Participants completed a survey with items relating to CMBs, trust, voice, and meeting load.\nFindings: The authors found that CMBs were indeed negatively related to both employee voice and coworker trust. Further, both of these relationships were even more negative for those who had fewer meetings (i.e. meeting load as a moderator).\nResearch limitations/implications: The results of this study suggest that behavior in meetings may spill over and impact employees in other areas of their work life, perhaps harming other important work-related outcomes (e.g. performance). The cross-sectional nature of the sampling strategy is a limitation that provides opportunities for future research as discussed.\nPractical implications: The practical implications are rather straightforward and poignant. Managers and meetings leaders should seek ways to reduce CMBs and promote good meeting processes generally.\nOriginality/value: The current study is the first to overtly investigate CMBs in workplace meetings and connect them to meaningful, non-meeting-related, outcomes. Further, the study shows the usefulness of conservation resources theory for explaining the dynamic processes that occur for meeting attendees.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Introducing MathQA: a Math-Aware question answering system
|
[
"Digital libraries",
"Information retrieval",
"Database management",
"Mathematical information retrieval",
"Question answering systems",
"Wikidata"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: ACM Reference Format:\n1. Introduction: Question answering (QA) systems are information retrieval (IR) systems, allowing the user to pose questions in natural language to provide quick and succinct answers - in contrast to search engines which deliver ranked lists of documents. In this project, we developed an open source QA system, which is available at https://github.com/ag-Gipp/MathQa. Our system can answer mathematical questions in the form of natural language, yielding a formula, which is retrieved from Wikidata. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge-base that can be read and edited by humans and machines. It stores common sources of other Wikimedia projects, especially for Wikipedia infoboxes. In addition, our system enables the user to perform arithmetic operations using the retrieved formula. (Figure 1) We developed three modules: The Question Parsing Module (1) transforms questions into a triple representation and produces a simplified dependency tree. The Formula Retrieval Module (2) then queries the Wikidata knowledge- base for the requested formula and presents the result to the user. The user can subsequently choose values for the occurring variables and order a calculation that is done by a Calculation Module (3). If available, the system retrieves the identifier names and values from Wikidata, so that the user can understand their meaning (Figure 4). Moreover, we developed a module which can answer questions in the Hindi language. In contrast to the English, which is exploiting the dependency graph of Stanford NLP, the Hindi module uses regular expressions to parse the questions and before passing the triple representation to the Formula Retrieval Module. Our QA system builds upon Ask Platypus (S. by Lexistems SAS and E. de Lyon, 2018), an existing QA engine that can answer English questions using Wikidata. We chose Ask Platypus as the best among other Wikidata-based QA systems and extended its functionality to include mathematical questions. Finally, we evaluated the system's performance and the quality of results in comparison to a commercial computational mathematical knowledge engine. Our system outperforms the reference engine on some definition and geometry type questions, and we conjecture that the validity can be expanded to the whole domain.\n2. Background: 2.1 Wikipedia and wikidata\n3. Implementation: This chapter describes the implementation details of the formula seeding and QA system. Figure 3 shows the workflow of the data transfer from Wikipedia to Wikidata. The first task was to download the Wikipedia data dump and identify the articles that are related to mathematics. Subsequently, we needed to determine and extract the defining formulae from each article. The extraction process was divided into two categories. We distinguished articles related to geometry from the rest of general mathematics. After the extraction, the formulae were added into Wikidata using its Primary sources tool [S. S. (Google), 2018] that allows users to approve or reject a claim and its reference.\n4. Evaluation: Finally, the individual success of the Wikidata seeding and our QA system was evaluated by the standard Information Retrieval measures precision, recall and the combined f-measure.\n5. Conclusion: The overall goal of this research project was to extract mathematical knowledge in the form of formulae from English Wikipedia and seed it into Wikidata. This served as a necessary preparation for building a QA system that can answer mathematical questions in English and Hindi language. Additionally, the user can perform arithmetic calculations using the retrieved formula, after providing input values for the detected identifiers. We have been able to provide the Wikidata community with more than 17 thousand new Wikidata statements containing formulae. Our seeding achieved a precision of 80 per cent, recall of 88 per cent and a combined f-measure of 84 per cent for general mathematical formulae. For the geometry formulae, the precision was 98 per cent, the recall 81 per cent and the f-measure yielded 87 per cent. The Formula Retrieval Module of our QA system possessed an accuracy of 49 and 31 per cent for general and geometry formulae, respectively. As far as we are concerned, our QA system is the only available to answer mathematical questions in the Hindi language.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present an open source math-aware Question Answering System based on Ask Platypus.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The system returns as a single mathematical formula for a natural language question in English or Hindi. These formulae originate from the knowledge-based Wikidata. The authors translate these formulae to computable data by integrating the calculation engine sympy into the system. This way, users can enter numeric values for the variables occurring in the formula. Moreover, the system loads numeric values for constants occurring in the formula from Wikidata.\nFindings: In a user study, this system outperformed a commercial computational mathematical knowledge engine by 13 per cent. However, the performance of this system heavily depends on the size and quality of the formula data available in Wikidata. As only a few items in Wikidata contained formulae when the project started, the authors facilitated the import process by suggesting formula edits to Wikidata editors. With the simple heuristic that the first formula is significant for the paper, 80 per cent of the suggestions were correct.\nOriginality/value: This research was presented at the JCDL17 KDD workshop.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Stressing the importance of stress
|
[
"Aviation",
"Employee well-being",
"Job burnout",
"Security guard"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: What is the best antidote to stress? For those of us working in modern corporations, we see the impact of stress all too frequently. The CEO who ages before your eyes; the director who is over 60 years old and failing to keep pace with those 20 years younger; the over-reaching young executive sleeping too little and having much touch of caffeine and other stimulants. The result all to often is sub-optimal performance and eventual burnout - the exact opposite of what everyone involved would intend.\nFlying high?: Understanding how some low-paid workers deal with extremely stressful roles is one aim of authors Rosenbloom et al. (2016) in their research article entitled \"Job burnout of security guards of aviation company\". Their study looks at those security guards working for an airline and the effect of the stress they suffer in their jobs, which includes very difficult working conditions such as international travel at very short notice. In particular, the authors look at employees' outlooks and whether certain ones help mitigate against potential job burnout.\nCoping with stress: To find out more about stress and how certain people cope with it at work, the authors looked at two factors for the target group of airline security guards. First, they looked at the notion of burnout as one of the most advanced stages of stress and one that is relevant for people in all walks of life. Burnout can be a result of extreme stress at work and is exhibited by emotional exhaustion, deep cynicism and a lack of effectiveness on the job. Usually burnout is caused by four stress points:\nFrequent flyers: Using a group of 100 Israeli security guards, most of whom flew more than 15 times a year with work at very short notice, the researchers Rosenbloom et al. found significant differences in the propensity to burnout among the set of employees. However, this was set against the fact that the levels of burnout were actually less than anticipated. That said, there were a number of deeper findings that were of considerable interest:\nComment: The article \"Job burnout of security guards of aviation company\" by Rosenbloom et al. (2016) is one of the rare academic articles that not only seems to have its main propositions reversed by the evidence uncovered, but also uses this to point toward new ways of overcoming business problems. Whereas many businesses will be reluctant to send their employees on too many trips for fear of burnout, it actually seems that in stressful jobs, this travel helps employees handle their jobs. This is a key finding for international businesses and could transform the way employees are deployed.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: What is the best antidote to stress? For those of us working in modern corporations, we see the impact of stress all too frequently. The CEO who ages before your eyes; the director who is over 60 years old and failing to keep pace with those 20 years younger; the over-reaching young executive sleeping too little and having much touch of caffeine and other stimulants. The result all too often is sub-optimal performance and eventual burnout - the exact opposite of what everyone involved would intend.\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"
}
] |
Conceptualisation of intellectual capital in analysts' narratives: a performative view
|
[
"Narrative analysis",
"Intellectual capital",
"Sell-side analysts",
"Performative view"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The topic of intangibles, or intellectual capital (IC), has been attracting significant scholarly attention for nearly two decades. The established narrative within this research theorises IC as a typology of separate elements categorised into human, structural and relational capital, whose properties are known and measurable, and whose roles and effects on value creation are predetermined. Mouritsen (2006) calls into question and contests this well-established IC paradigm. By invoking Latour's performative and ostensive dichotomy, Mouritsen (2006) proposes that the identities, roles and relationships typically ascribed to IC based on positivistic epistemology may not be \"typical\" and predetermined at all, particularly when viewed critically or from the perspective of different practices. This performative theorisation of IC has opened up IC research to new lines of inquiry and potential understandings of the IC phenomenon. Indeed, several eminent IC researchers have argued that the next stage of IC research should be based on a critical performative analysis of IC practices in action (Dumay, 2014; Guthrie et al., 2012; Mouritsen, 2006). However, empirical research into the performativity of IC is only beginning to emerge (e.g. Murthy and Mouritsen, 2011; Veltri and Bronzetti, 2015), and more needs to be done to examine the performativity of IC from a perspective of a field of practice that is external (yet fundamentally important) to the organisation where IC is hosted.\n2. Theoretical background and prior literature: 2.1 Theorising IC research: \"traditional\" ostensive paradigm vs \"new\" performative view\n3. Research design: 3.1 Sample\n4. Findings: Each of the next three sections explains patterns in sell-side analysts' mobilisation of IC information, organised by the study's research questions.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: 5.1 In support of a performative view of IC\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the performativity of intellectual capital (IC) from the perspective of sell-side analysts, a type of actor who consumes and creates IC information and in whose practice IC information plays a significant role.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical component of the study comprises a narrative analysis of the text of a large corpus of sell-side analysts' initiation coverage reports. The authors adopt Mouritsen's (2006) performative and ostensive conceptualisations of IC as the theoretical framework.\nFindings: The authors find that the identities and properties of IC elements are variable, dynamic and transformative. The relevance of IC elements in the eyes of analysts is conditional on the context, temporally contingent and bestowed indirectly. IC elements are attributed to firm value both directly, in a linear manner, and indirectly, via various non-linear interrelationships established with other IC elements, tangible capital and financial capital.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study challenges the conventional IC research paradigm and contributes towards a performativity-inspired conceptualisation of IC and a resultant situated model of IC in place of a predictive model.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to apply a performative lens to study IC identities, roles and relationships from the perspective of a field of practice that is external to the organisation where IC is hosted. Examining IC from analysts' perspective is important because not only can it provide an alternative perspective of IC, it also enables an understanding of analysts' field of practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Firm risk and self-reference on past performance as main drivers of lean production implementation
|
[
"Decision making",
"Lean manufacturing",
"Automotive industry"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past three decades, companies have faced novel challenges due to constant changes in market conditions. In order for manufacturers to retain their competitive edge and be able to address the need to manage the different sources of environmental variability (customer demand, supply chain, environmental shocks, etc.), firms have been prompted to adopt the particularly salient lean production management system (Womack and Jones, 1996). This multi-dimensional approach (Gupta et al., 2016) encompasses a variety of management practices (Bhasin and Burcher, 2006) and ultimately aims to eliminate any type of waste or source of internal and external supply chain variability (Shah and Ward, 2007). This managerial toolset comprises the principles of cost reduction, which is achieved by eliminating any unnecessary expenses, thus turning the primary focus toward enhancing operational performance (Panwar et al., 2017).\n2. Literature and hypotheses: Lean production emerged from the 1950s Toyota Production System as an innovative and flexible way to manage the increasing need for a variety of products (Shah and Ward, 2003). The term itself was first coined by Krafcik (1988) and referred to a set of manufacturing practices first used in the Japanese manufacturing industry. Lean production has since been described as an integrated socio-technical system that aims to eliminate any kind of waste by means of minimizing internal and external system variability (Shah and Ward, 2007).\n3. Research methodology: Data collection and sample characteristics\n4. Results: The results of the hierarchical regression analyses are presented in Table VI. Model 1, which comprises only the control variables, shows that the degree of LP implementation increases with the size of the companies. Regarding age, except for model 3, the level of lean production implementation can be observed to decrease with age, which indicates a certain lack of flexibility when implementing lean production as companies get older. Model 2 indicates that companies facing higher risk tend to implement lean production to a higher level. Since this relationship is statistically significant, H1 is supported. Model 3 reports the results with respect to H2 and predicts that the greater the reduction of a company's past operational performance compared to its performance in the last three years, the higher the level of LP implementation. This is supported by the data, which lead to the acceptance of H2.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: It is crucial to take environmental uncertainty into account when making decisions in order to ensure a company's survival. There is a current trend in business evolution that risk is becoming more prevalent as a consequence of the changing market environment (Harland et al., 2003). Therefore, it is important that managers identify risk from a multidimensional perspective (Clemons, 2000). In the context of lean production, the implementation process entails a change (Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009) in which failure has been observed to be an inherent danger, especially in the initial stage of the implementation (Martinez-Jurado et al., 2014). There is an accepted view among scholars that companies pursue lean production as a result of the benefits that it offers, such as lower system variability (Shah and Ward 2007), improved product quality, reduced per unit manufacturing costs and lead time (Womack and Jones 1996), which then contribute to an increase in operational performance (Panwar et al., 2017).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of external and internal sources of variability on the degree of lean production implementation. For this, this paper analyzes the effects of environmental risk and the company's past operational performance on the level of lean production implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Utilizing the reasoning of prospect theory and the threat-rigidity hypothesis, three hypotheses have been developed as to the impact of internal and external sources of variability on the degree of lean production implementation. A questionnaire has been developed to test the hypotheses of the paper on a sample of first-tier suppliers in the Spanish automotive industry. The methodology comprises a combination of hierarchical regression analysis and mediation analysis.\nFindings: In line with the propositions of prospect theory, the results obtained show support for the influence of firm risk and past operational performance variability in terms of undertaking decisions that favor further progress in lean production implementation.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the explanation of the circumstances that ultimately lead to the implementation of lean production. Consequently, the impact of the external and internal environment influences a company's commitment to increasing its level of lean production implementation and fosters managers' strategic decision making. Furthermore, its implementation could help guarantee firm survival.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of developmental relationships on the learning of practice competence for new graduates
|
[
"Interpersonal relations",
"Learning methods",
"Mentoring",
"Workplace learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entering the workforce can be likened to learning to drive on a busy city traffic grid. The environment is fast-paced and diverse; other drivers seem too intent on their own destinations to provide neophytes with assistance on getting to theirs. Great skill is necessary to keep up with traffic, notice all of the signals and signs, and emerge unscathed. Imagine the plight of the novice driver trying to get somewhere in the city. Such is the experience of new graduates entering the world of work. Their undergraduate degrees may give them something of a license to operate, but they quickly find out, if they do not already know, that having a learner's permit and being able to skillfully navigate the city are two different things. Most will become confident drivers eventually, and how they do that is the subject of this study.The importance of mentors and developmental relationships to career success has been well documented (Allen et al., 1999; Baugh and Scandura, 1999; Chao et al., 1992; Higgins and Thomas, 2001; McCauley and Douglas, 1998; Noe, 1988; Rock and Garavan, 2006) yet the theory and research on developmental relationships specifically is in its infancy (Rock and Garavan, 2006). There are differences in how developmental relationships are defined and limited empirical research has been conducted (Rock and Garavan, 2006). More recently, researchers call for studies to address the distinctions between different types of developmental relationship and their related outcomes (Rock and Garavan, 2006).This study explored the impact of different types of developmental relationships on the development of practice competence for new graduates just entering the workforce. The learning of practice competence for the graduates in this study involved an interplay of developer-directed teaching activities, learner-directed activities in interaction with others, and episodes of learner action and cognitive processing. The results highlight that in this context, learning in relationship to others is significantly learner-directed. The study additionally found that \"teaching\" is an important function of developmental relationships, one that is unaccounted for in most developmental relationship models. The findings also suggest that developmental relationships can form relatively quickly, opening the door to applying traditional mentoring and developmental relationship theories to the new graduate population early in their careers. From a practical point of view, the results suggest that organizational attention to ensuring strong developmental relationships for new graduates could speed up time to competence in organizations. Aligning newcomers with supervisors or senior peers who are available to teach and to respond to questions clearly promotes learning and allows new practitioners to contribute more quickly. The following pages document the background, methods, and findings of the study as well as the implications for both theory and practice.\nLiterature background: The literature stream on mentoring and developmental relationships has evolved to focusing on the relational approach to career development, which posits that career growth depends more on developing capacity for interrelating with others than on developing abilities to complete tasks independently. Kram's (1996) conceptualization of the relational approach to career development illustrates the connection between multiple developmental relationships and task and personal growth outcomes such as identity, individual performance, and the acquisition of new competencies. Hall and Kahn (2002, p. 53) went a step further in their exploration of the connection between relationships and career success by defining \"relational learning\" as \"the enlargement of an individual's capacities to approach new situations, integrate and interpret new information, to learn about the self, and act effectively in those situations through relationships with other individuals or groups at work\". The conceptualization of career development that they advanced put emphasis on the roles of a wide range of developmental relationships, and they saw these relationships as critical to developing specific skills as well as in developing the ability to learn.Higgins and Kram (2001) define developmental relationships in terms of an individual taking an interest in and assisting another's career advancement. D'Abate et al. (2003) prefer to build from an interaction approach and categorize developmental relationships as those pursued by two or more people with the focus on career development. Developmental relationships have been defined alternatively as informal interactions or formal programs created by organizations, and can range from short to long term (Rock and Garavan, 2006). In their literature review on developmental relationships, Rock and Garavan (2006) identified five generic dimensions within which developmental relationships can be categorized, including relationship type, network effect, objective of learning, time span of outcomes and developer style. For the research described in this paper, developmental relationships are defined as relationships characterized by support for development including career support and psychosocial support (adapted from Fletcher, 1996; Kram, 1988).Viewing the relational approach model from the new graduate's perspective, we can focus on the acquisition of practice competencies as an individual outcome with multiple developmental relationships as catalysts for learning. Note, however, that most relational approach models were developed out of studies focusing on mid-career individuals and leaders; to this point, no study has examined these concepts through the eyes of traditional college graduates in their first year on the job.A practical understanding of the role of relationships in careers can be based on four key studies: Kram's (1988) seminal work on mentoring, Kram and Isabella's (1985) companion study on peer developmental relationships, McCauley and Young's (1993) study of developmental relationships for managers, and McDaugall and Beattie's (1997) study of non-hierarchical developmental relationships. Each of theses studies found functions and behaviors that directly impact the development of practice competency. According to these theories, developmental relationships serve a number of broad functions including sharing expertise, giving feedback, role-modeling, and more (see Table I). Recent studies (Allen and Finkelstein, 2003; D'Abate et al., 2003), somewhat broader in scope, suggest teaching (including directing and goal-setting), collaborating (including problem-solving and helping on assignments), and networking as additional functions not found in earlier studies. The studies, however, do not cover a wide range of career fields, and most draw from the experiences of individuals already a number of years into their careers, frequently on a management track. While studies explore peer relationships in early career, they do not focus on the one-year window that encompasses the time when new graduates are making the transition from academic work to practice, which is the focus of the study reported here. As well, these studies assumed participants had one or at the most two primary peer developmental relationships, and did not consider the potential existence and impact of a network of developmental relationships.The literature streams related to mentoring, developmental relationships, and relational learning, then, have documented the role that developers play in impacting learners' careers. Conspicuously missing, however, is an exploration of developmental relationships very early in career. In today's fast-paced work environments, new employees are expected to come up to speed quickly, and newcomers may rely on experienced peers, supervisors, and mentors to help them learn the tasks and competencies necessary to be effective. This study was designed to explicate how developmental relationships support the development of practice competence for newcomers to the workforce.\nResearch question and methodology: The purpose of this study was to better understand the experience of learning through relationships specifically for new graduates who have academic backgrounds in their fields of practice. The research question was: How does learning through relationships contribute to the development of practice competencies for new graduates transitioning from academic knowledge of their field to full-time practice? This research used a qualitative interview methodology along with thematic data analysis. Participants met the following criteria: they were recent graduates with degrees in the field of work of their current job (e.g. an education major who was a teacher, a communications major employed in marketing), employed in their first (full time, permanent) jobs for between six months and one year, and 20-24 years of age. There were ten participants, identified through a snowball purposeful sampling (networking with contacts, posting through university alumni association) (see Table II).The primary data-gathering method for the study was a series of two in-depth 90-minute interviews designed to identify important interpersonal relationships and explore how these have impacted the newcomers' learning. Interviewing methods followed guidelines laid out by Weiss (1994) and Kvale (1997). The goal of the first interview was to establish rapport, identify relationships, and begin to talk about how those relationships contributed to the development of practice competencies. The second interview was used to clarify or expand on topics from the first interview and to explore more fully how the participant described the role of relationships in learning practice competencies. A standardized, open-ended interview protocol was used with an interview guide to focus probes (Patton, 2001, p. 343). Interviews were taped and transcribed, and Atlas-ti and Excel were utilized to help manage and sort the data.Data analysis methods were adapted from Weiss (1994), Miles and Huberman (1994), Kvale (1997), and Patton (2001). The methodology involved coding transcript data, transferring data to worksheets or data matrices in order to analyze it and look for patterns, and interpreting the data. To ensure quality in the analysis results (Kvale, 1997), several different types of reviews of the coding process and results were conducted. These included having several peer researchers verify a sample of the original transcript coding (to ensure quotations had been coded according to the definitions), having another peer researcher comment on and verify summary categorizations, verifying coding, discussing findings, and reviewing tentative conclusions with the dissertation committee, and obtaining a final member check of the conclusions of the study. A graphical representation of the entire research and analysis process can be found in Figure 1.Limitations\nFindings: In describing the process of learning to practice, participants cited a wide range of learning methods used in iterative combinations to develop specific competencies. Developers played a critical role in many of these activities, both directly (they initiated teaching action) and indirectly (learners relied on them as models and resources). The competencies that participants developed included tasks and skills very specific to their fields, relationship management skills, facility with practice language, and role confidence as well as more widely applicable skills such as organizational savvy, interpersonal skills, and general work skills (Lombardozzi, 2004).Analysis of the interview data resulted in a list of 15 distinct learning methods. Those were further categorized as developer-directed, learner-directed, or learner action and cognitive processing. These categorizations surfaced in the data and were chosen to highlight that learning activities were frequently initiated and followed through by the learners themselves in addition to what the developers initiated - a finding not often highlighted by previous studies in the developmental relationship arena. It should be stressed that the learning described by participants was almost always iterative in nature - involving several of the various learning methods captured. The tables which follow summarize these methods and the narrative following describes these in more detail.Developer-directed teaching activities\nDiscussion: The process of learning through relationships for these participants consisted of an iterative interplay between learner-directed activities, developer-directed activities, and learner action and cognitive processing. Developer-directed activities included teaching, formal training, advising, critiquing, networking, and encouraging; learner-directed activities included observing, asking questions, discussing, accessing resources, and taking notes, and learner action and cognitive processing activities included doing, acting independently, applying prior experience, and reflecting. While these activities align with previous theory on the functions of developmental relationships (Kram, 1988; Kram and Isabella, 1985; McCauley and Young, 1993; McDaugall and Beattie, 1997), there were subtle but important differences. The process of learning through relationships for these participants is illustrated in Figure 2.Reconceptualizing developer functions as learner's methods\nImplications: The learning model in Figure 3 captures the experiences of learning through relationships for this small sample of the new graduate population. Whatever the catalyst for learning, the participants in the study relied at least partially on multiple developmental relationships to gain the additional knowledge and skill they needed to effectively practice in their fields. A critically important aspect of the catalyst for learning was the learners' openness to it - their commitment to building practice skill and their ongoing quests for learning opportunities, whether they be directed by the developer or self-initiated. As new practitioners, they sometimes did not know what they needed to learn and relied on developer-directed activities to get them started. But as well, they were capable of articulating what they wanted to know and seeking that out from their developers either directly (e.g. asking questions) or indirectly (e.g. observation). The building of skill and knowledge was an iterative process, often using several different learning methods. As skill was acquired, participants applied that learning to action and reflected on outcomes, often leading to additional learner-directed or developer-directed activity around the same skill. While not intended to fully explore the outcomes of learning processes, the study identifies a number of aspects of practice competence that result from learning through relationships. Overall then, the study expanded on Kram's (1996) original model to provide an illustration of how developers and learners engage with each other to produce new and added competence in the learner.Recommendations for theory\nSummary: This study deepens our understanding of the role of learning through relationships in the development of practice competencies and further explores the concept of relational learning. While most developmental relationship literature has studied people in mid-career, this study focused on an understudied population - traditional-age college graduates entering their first full-time jobs in their fields of practice, and it can serve to begin to link developmental relationship models to this group.Developmental relationships play a critical role in competency development for new graduates entering fields for which they have academic preparation. Despite the knowledge base they bring to the job, new graduates must learn a wide range of competencies in order to effectively practice in their fields. Development of competence is accomplished by employing many different learning methods. Certainly, developers in the workplace play an active role in bringing newcomers up to speed on practice. Through teaching, formal training, advising, storytelling, critiquing, networking, and encouraging, they make a deliberate effort to communicate to new graduates the knowledge and techniques for practice. But the learners themselves play an important role in seeking out the knowledge and skills they need, and they initiate learning from developers through observing, asking questions, discussing, accessing resources, and taking notes. To solidify learning from either developer-directed or learner-directed methods, learners also engage in an action-reflection cycle wherein they do the job, act independently, apply prior experience and reflect on what they have learned.While newcomers may sometimes feel \"thrown to the wolves,\" they actually exercise a great deal of power and judgment in the process of learning in interaction with others. Most developmental relationship theory does not view learning through relationships from the perspective of an eager, active learner; instead it tends to focus on the knowledgeable, exemplary developer as the person passing on knowledge and skills to the next generation. It is critically important that we explore developmental relationships from both perspectives in order to fully understand the complete spectrum of activities or learning methods that are in play in these relationships. By continuing to study learning in the workplace from this angle, researchers can contribute to practice by identifying the most effective methods for both developers and learners in varying situations.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: - This study of the impact of relationships on the development of practice competence in new graduates entering the workforce aims to contribute to the understanding of relational learning activities and enrich the knowledge about the overall process of learning practice skill.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research used a qualitative interview methodology with thematic data analysis.\nFindings: - Findings revealed that the process of learning through relationships involved an iterative interplay between specific developer-led teaching activities, learner-led activities in interaction with others, and learner action and cognitive processing.\nOriginality/value: - A model for the process of learning through relationships specifically for new graduates who have academic backgrounds in their fields of practice is proposed.\n",
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Towards setting a sustainable manufacturing safety programme in Nigeria
|
[
"Accidents",
"Safety measures",
"Accident prevention",
"Nigeria"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One area in which the concern for safety is growing rapidly is the manufacturing industry. Apart from cost due to downtime, overtime work, loss of wages and equipment and hospitalization, the tragedy associated with personal injury, disability and fatality is enormous (Duignan, 2002). In respect of fatalities, industrial accidents take the third place after vehicular accidents and homicide (Watch Tower, 2000). In the USA, it is about 6,500 fatalities per year; 9 million of deaths and disabling injuries (Roland and Moriarty, 1990). In the UK, 1.6 million of injury accidents and 27 million of non-injury accidents are recorded annually (Phelps, 1999). In Australia, fatalities were 2.6 per 100,000 employees while injury rate was 2.7 per 1,000 employees in 2002-2003 (NOHSC, 2004). In India, overall injury rate was 1.25 per 1,000 workers per year (Mohan et al., 2004); and 37 per cent of all reported accidents in Lebanon (Fayad et al., 2003). In the Latin America and Caribbean region, the number is as high as 13.5 per 100,000; 34 per 100,000 workers in the Republic of Korea and 140 per 1,000 of reported accidents in Iran (Roudsari and Ghodsi, 2005). In Finland, 20,016 hospitalization for injuries were recorded between 1990 and 1999 (Mattila et al., 2006); in France 862 500 occupational accidents including 1,597 fatalities were recorded in year 2000 alone (Fadier and De la Garza, 2006). In Nigeria, the situation may be worse, as inferred in the following report by Nigerian Institute of Safety Professionals (NISP) (NISP, 2000): \"over 11,000 people die from on-the-job accidents each year and a worker is injured every 18 seconds in chemical industries in Nigeria\".In many nations, regulatory agencies are saddled with the task of ensuring that industry conforms to Government safety programme standards. The National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) pursues active programmes of research surveillance, prevention interventions, information dissemination, and health professional education in order to prevent work-related illness, injury, disability, and death. Other agencies with similar responsibility include: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EASHW); European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP); Health and Safety Executive (HSE); Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); American National Standard Institute (ANSI); Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON); and Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). In addition, the intermediaries such as Small Business Service, Chambers of Commerce, Learning and Skills Councils, Trade and Professional Associations, Health and Safety Consultants and Good Neighbours contribute a lot in the provision of information, advice and training courses.Despite the large numbers of national and international safety monitoring and enforcement agencies, hazardous conditions are still prevalent in manufacturing. As earlier mentioned, industrial losses of lives, limbs; machine-hours and man-hours of labour and revenue through accidents persist. There seems a significant communication gap between these agencies and the manufacturing industry. While the former may be zealous about their job calling upon industry to invest and effectively manage safety programmes, the latter often perceives enforcement of safety standards as cost increasing. Consequently, rather than comply, they often resist safety regulatory agencies.The main goal of this study to develop a template for a manufacturing safety programme development and management. It is hoped that the template will provide a framework for identifying the interrelationship between accident causing and prevention parameters relevant for controlling safety programme rather than taking static snapshots decision on development of the safety programme.\nMethodology: In the process, audio and visual inspections; data vetting; personnel interviews; review of previous work; participation in selected safety programme activities and dynamic group decision approaches were employed. The safety programme variables, parameters, inputs and outputs were identified from two main categories of activities; accident causing and prevention activities.\nDiscussions: General findings\nConclusions: In this study the possibility of developing a manufacturing safety programmme template was carried out. In the process manufacturing systems were examined and safety engineers interviewed; manufacturing accident causing factors and safety programme accident prevention activities were identified.The number of accidents causing factors is classified into human factor, deficient maintenance and environmental factors. Also, prevention activities are classified into training, guarding, awareness, incentive, accident investigation and personal protective equipment (PPE). These provide baseline information for setting a profitable manufacturing safety programme.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The manufacturing industry in Nigeria often perceives government safety standards as an attempt to increase production cost. This is due to lack of acceptable template for setting an attainable standards and safety programme to the manufacturing industry. It is the goal of this work to develop such a template for an effective and sustainable manufacturing safety programme.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 30 manufacturing firms were examined and five experienced manufacturing, and three safety engineers interviewed for information on types of SP activities. Review and synthesis of literature was carried out.\nFindings: - Four types of accidents are identified as fatal, serious, minor and trivial wounds. Accidents causing factors are classified into human factor, deficient maintenance of facilities and environmental factors. The prevention activities were categorized into training, guarding, awareness, incentive, accident investigation and personal protective equipment (PPE).\nPractical implications: - This study provides baseline information for academics, industry and safety practioners to setting an attainable and effective manufacturing safety programme.\nOriginality/value: - The paper suggests a mathematical approach for developing a manufacturing safety programme.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Academic performance, publishing and peer review: peering into the twilight zone
|
[
"Ethics",
"Publishing",
"Rankings",
"Access",
"Peer review",
"Writing style"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Here we set out to reflect on the future of academic performance measurement, publishing and peer review in a global accounting academic context, particularly in light of the transformational technologies of the digital age. To do this we offer reflective arguments about the changing world faced by interdisciplinary accounting academics, based on observations and evidence from the accounting and wider scholarly landscape. We are entering a period of rapid change in academic publishing and research measurement change, yet we academics are notorious for lagging behind practice, rather than driving policy and practice change. Accordingly we consider several of the challenges that confront us now to understand better the changing nature and future of academic performance measurement, publishing and the peer review of academic work. From this we provide imaginative insights into the \"middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition[1]\", and the future of academic performance measurement, publishing and peer review.\n2. The open access profile: In general, open access uses digital technology to make research findings widely available. Access is free, rather than research being hidden behind a subscription pay wall. While the majority of academic journals are now published online (some exclusively), they are only available to subscribers, including institutional subscribers. Open access is challenging this entrenched practice of locking up academic articles behind the subscription pay wall. For example, in the UK, Research Councils UK (RCUK) now has an open access policy whereby they advocate:\n3. Open access impacts: The burgeoning impact of peer-reviewed electronic journals (e-journals), which have now been in existence for about 15 years, is another potential area of change in academic publishing. There are several innovations, mainly in the sciences, but also now in the social sciences (Cavanagh, 2012). For example, PLoS ONE, launched December 2006, is now a \"mega\" journal. It publishes \"original research articles from all scientific disciplines - from ecology to medicine to physics\". Little qualitative research is included and PLoS ONE does not have an \"Accounting\" category. PLoS ONE articles are gold open access and indexed by Google, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and many more - making them easy to find, read and cite. Every article published by PLoS ONE is assessed by an academic editor and an average of two reviewers drawn from an expert global network. In addition, PLoS ONE states that it upholds the highest international standards for research ethics, publication ethics and scientific reporting serving over 100,000 authors since its inception and over one million article downloads every month in 2013. Over 20,000 articles have received ten or more citations. \"PLoS ONE clones\" being launched include BMJ Open, Sage Open, Scientific Reports, Biology Open, AIP Advances and SpringerPlus. Thus, the existence of open access publishing and e-journals potentially challenges the currently dominant positioning of the more traditional journal formats, with which we are familiar (Lozano et al., 2012; Lariviere et al., 2014).\n4. In def(er)ence of peer review: Although double blind peer review has been central to publishing in science and the social sciences, the process itself has not been widely discussed, especially in terms of standards for peer review. Unlike the formal training we receive as accounting scholars, few of us train to be a reviewer.\n5. Towards ethical review and authorship: Emerald has an extensive \"For Authors: Support and Services\" webpage where authors can find information on all aspects of academic writing[9]. All Emerald journal editors are members of, and subscribe to the principles of, the COPE, a forum for editors and publishers of peer reviewed journals addressing all aspects of publication ethics. It also advises editors on how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct. It has an extensive array of materials dealing with a variety of matters including peer review. The \"COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers\" (Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), 2012) state that:\n6.AAAJ is more than just a publishing score: As is usual, since our first commentary published in 1992, we like to celebrate and recognise the contribution of all those who interacted with AAAJ to make 2014 an outstanding year for the interdisciplinary accounting scholarship. The following briefly outlines some of the activities in which the AAAJ community participated during 2014 and also a brief mention of several future activities.\n7. Conclusion: It is clear that the publishing landscape is changing. Electronic publishing, open access and journal proliferation presents challenges and opportunities to all researchers. Risks, rewards and ethical issues all bubble below the surface of these developments. The implications of these changes are far reaching in their scope and potentially significant in their future impact. For scholars they suggest the need for careful reflection on choice of presentation and communication styles as well as dissemination venues. For reviewers they call for the need to be prepared to accept the breaking of the mould and to support innovation in research design and communication. For publishers they reinforce the importance of vigilant monitoring of ethical processes and responsibility for fostering significant new contributions to knowledge and society.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a critique of published research access and peer review, considering their impacts on accounting scholarship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on literature and publishing document review, experiential reflections and argument.\nFindings: The authors reveal changes in publishing formats and accessibility, the challenges of managing research quality and significance and the challenges of avoiding constraint and foreclosure of significant new knowledge and its effective dissemination.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper discusses the research and publishing community's opening to new, flexible opportunities for knowledge creation and dissemination.\nOriginality/value: The discussion challenges the status quo of traditional academic journal publication and points to an innovative future.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Who suffers from food insecurity in Indonesia?
|
[
"Indonesia",
"Food insecurity",
"Stereotype logistic regression"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, population of 255m, and has a relatively high population growth rate of 1.38 percent per year (BPS, 2013). Despite recent rapid economic growth, the high population growth rate and wide economic disparity within and between provinces in the country make it difficult for some Indonesians to emerge from poverty. Although the headcount ratio has almost halved from 19.1 percent in 2000 to 10.1 percent in September 2017 (BPS, 2018a), every one in ten individuals in Indonesia remains in poverty. Thus, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Food Security Index, which measures food security conditions comprehensively across the three internationally established dimensions of affordability, availability, and quality and safety of food, Indonesia ranked 69 out of 113 countries in 2017. Therefore, providing adequate and safe food at affordable prices for a rapidly increasing population, improving access to food among the poor and thereby eradicating food poverty is one of the most notable policy goals in Indonesia.\nData and method: Data\nResults and discussion: Household food security status of sample households\nConcluding remarks: Although food poverty issue has been eradicated to some extent because of the rapid economic growth in Indonesia, vulnerable groups remain, particularly in rural areas and economically backward peripheral regions. Eradicating food poverty is a critical goal for policymakers in the Indonesian Government. Therefore, this study aims to understand the status and socioeconomic determinants of household food insecurity in Indonesia. The results from the cross-analysis between caloric consumption and the share of food expenditure to total household expenditure indicate that 20.8 percent of households are in the food insecure category, 26.6 percent are in the vulnerable category, 21.5 percent are in the lack of food category and the remaining 31.2 percent are in the food secure category. A stereotype logistic regression model was applied using individual household data obtained from the 2015 nationwide SUSENAS survey. The estimation results showed that a household fulfilling one or more of the following conditions is likely to be food insecure: many household members, low education level of household head, a divorced household head, household head that is a smoker and a residence in rural or backward regions. To improve food security at the household level, the accumulation of human capital in each household, improvement in labor productivity in agriculture and construction industries, economic development in backward regions and greater equality in income distribution nationwide should be encouraged.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the socioeconomic determinants of household food insecurity in Indonesia using individual household data obtained from the 2015 nationwide household socioeconomic and expenditure survey called Survei Sosial Ekonomi Nasional.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A stereotype logistic regression model is applied to detect factors determining household food security.\nFindings: The results from the cross-analysis between calorie consumption and share of food expenditure to total household expenditure (Engel coefficient) indicate that 20.8 percent of households were in the \"food insecure\" category, 21.5 percent in the \"lack of food\" category, 26.6 percent in the \"vulnerable\" category and the remaining 31.2 percent in the \"food secure\" category.\nResearch limitations/implications: The main limitation relates to the data set because the collection was conducted in March 2015. Furthermore, the analysis is restricted because of the limited availability of information on socioeconomic factors of respondents. Further research based on the latest data set with more detailed information on respondents is necessary to deepen the discussion.\nOriginality/value: Researchers have not specifically discussed the factors determining household food security in Indonesia using reliable nationwide household survey data. The estimation results clearly indicate that a household fulfilling one or more of the following conditions is more likely to be in the \"food insecure\" category: many members, low education level of household head, divorced household head, household head is a smoker, household head engages in agriculture or construction work and residence is in rural or backward regions.\n",
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Medical training helps L&G to shine: Underwriters and claims assessors get specialist knowledge
|
[
"Training",
"Life assurance",
"Service quality",
"Higher education",
"Underwriting",
"Cost reduction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Enhancing the specialist medical knowledge of 150 underwriters and claims assessors at Legal & General Assurance Society has helped the company to save thousands of pounds in costs for referring claims to chief medical officers.\nRange of medical specialties: Legal & General worked with the university to design eight modules that covered a range of medical specialties including cardiology, oncology, neurology and mental health. The modules were four to six days in length, with a maximum of ten delegates per module. The program ran over 14 months.The modules were:* timetabled to cause little disruption to the operation of departments (a fortnight gap between sessions enabled reflection and consolidation of knowledge);* delivered through a mixture of presentations, industry visits, workshops and case studies using real L&G examples;* presented by practicing clinicians and industry experts;* designed around the needs of adult learners;* supported by a virtual-learning environment, providing a blended-learning approach to enable online support for teaching and learning in between the teaching days; and* accredited with ten credits at level 2, which is equivalent to second-year undergraduate study.Content and design involved collaboration between Cardiff University and L&G, and were flexible throughout the program. L&G researched which medical topics were mostly being referred to CMOs. Cardiff University then undertook training-needs analysis surveys, highlighting key areas where delegates would benefit from training.University academics spent time at L&G to gain a clear and comprehensive understanding of specific working procedures. Discussions between the partners established the most effective learning approaches and methods. This combined approach allowed modules to be developed that reflected the exact needs of delegates, L&G and its customers.Legal & General chose 75 delegates for the first program, consisting of senior medical underwriters and claims assessors, with a minimum of three years' experience, from UK Legal & General offices.\nDramatically improved knowledge and confidence: The company found that, on completing a module, delegates showed dramatically improved knowledge and confidence, enabling them to make decisions they would previously have referred to chief medical officers. They were also able to act as referral points for colleagues with difficult or unusual cases.As a result of the specialist training, Legal & General has experienced 500 fewer referrals a month. This is a 35 percent reduction, which translates to a saving of PS12,000 a month. The course paid for itself within 13 months. There was also a reduction in errors, improved quality, quicker decision-making on applications and therefore improved customer service.In addition, L&G has noticed:* increased delegate confidence;* greater confidence from reinsurers, allowing more favorable terms to be negotiated;* improved knowledge being passed to other staff through delegates cascading the learning to colleagues through internal presentations and workshops;* improved teamwork between claims and underwriting departments and across sites;* a demand from staff to be involved in the training; and* ongoing and improved commitment by individuals to their development.One delegate said that the training, \"exceeded my expectations. I was pleased to find that I got so much out of it.\" Another commented: \"I now feel more confident in making decisions without the input of the medical officers.\"\nExcellent example of teamwork, feedback and flexibility: Legal & General's consultant cardiologist noted that the training \"has certainly improved the quality of my interaction with the underwriters. They definitely have better specialist knowledge than our final-year medical students.\"Andy Parker, operations and quality manager at Legal & General, said:The development of these modules is an excellent example of teamwork, feedback and flexibility. The development and delivery have evolved with each new set of modules and Cardiff University has supported all our requirements. The value of the modules and the interaction between our underwriting teams, claims teams and reinsurers have surprised all of us.Legal & General has added four new modules to the training, which is ongoing and is currently benefiting another 72 Legal & General staff.Legal & General Assurance Society (L&G) offers life-assurance, critical-illness, pensions and income-protection policies. It has major underwriting centers in Wales, Scotland and England.The success of the program has also been recognized externally. It has won a regional prize in the Wales Training Awards and a regional prize for partnership and collaboration in the UK National Training Awards. It also featured in the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) report, \"Employer demand and its influence on higher education\" and the Confederation of British Industry/Qineiq report, \"Excellence in service innovation\".The partners continue to work closely to identify further training needs and new solutions.L&G's senior operations manager (claims and medical) concluded:The ongoing collaboration between L&G and Cardiff University to develop and deliver accredited courses for underwriting and claims specialists put us head and shoulders above our competition.\n",
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},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Describes how enhancing the specialist medical knowledge of 150 underwriters and claims assessors at Legal & General Assurance Society has helped the company to save thousands of pounds in costs for referring claims to chief medical officers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Explains the reasons for the training, the form it took and the results it has achieved.\nFindings: - Details how the company has established a pool of UK-wide specialist underwriters and claims assessors with an enhanced knowledge and understanding of common diseases, disorders and syndromes, and this is helping it to underwrite risks and prognoses more effectively.\nPractical implications: - Reveals that, as a result of the training, Legal & General has experienced 500 fewer referrals to chief medical officers a month. This is a 35 percent reduction, which translates to a saving of PS12,000 a month. The course paid for itself within 13 months.\nSocial implications: - Highlights the benefits to L&G clients, in terms of better quality and faster service.\nOriginality/value: - Describes an effective training partnership between L&G and Cardiff University Center for Lifelong Learning.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Determinants of the result of new rural development program in Vietnam
|
[
"New rural development",
"Public budget",
"Effort",
"Propensity score stratification",
"OLS model"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Vietnam has been implementing the national target program on new rural development (NTP-NRD) since 2010 on a whole country territory with 8,973 communes (GSO, 2017) of 63 provinces and first-tier cities. NTP-NRD in the period 2010-2020 has general objectives \"To build a new countryside with gradually modem socioeconomic infrastructure, rational economic structure and forms of production organization; to associate agriculture with quick development of industries and services and rural with urban development under planning; to assure a democratic and stable rural community deeply imbued with national cultural identity; to protect the eco-environment and maintain security and order and to raise people's material and spiritual lives along the socialist orientation\" (Prime Minister, 2010). The specific objective is to have 50 percent of communes acknowledged as new rural commune in the year 2020. The general objectives of NTP-NRD are similar as the definition of rural development in being universally used in literature (OECD, 1990; Kearney et al., 1995; Kulkarni and Rajan, 1991; Moseley and Gaskell, 1994). The objective of NTP-NRD is very similar to the definition of rural development of Moseley and Gaskell as rural development is \"a sustained and sustainable process of cultural, social and economic change, designed to enhance the long-term wellbeing of the whole community\".To achieve the mentioned objectives, the NTP-NRD has 11 activities to implement, including: (1) planning to build a new countryside; (2) developing socioeconomic infrastructure; (3) restructuring and developing the economy and increasing income; (4) poverty reduction and social security; (5) renewing and developing forms of effective production organization in rural areas; (6) developing education and training in rural areas; (7) developing medical services and providing health care for rural inhabitants; (8) building a cultured life and developing information and communications in rural areas; (9) clean water supply and environmental sanitation in rural areas; (10) raising the quality of party organizations, administrations and sociopolitical organizations in localities and (11) maintaining social security and order in rural areas. (Prime Minister, 2010).The whole political system from central to commune levels is mobilized to implement the NTP-NRD activities. The rural people and community are determined as the subject of the NRD program. The government increased public budget for the NRD program. The government has also issued many policies to facilitate rural development activities such as preferential policies on rural agricultural credit, policies to attract businesses to invest in rural agriculture and policies for vocational training for rural laborers, promulgating the national target program on sustainable poverty reduction, increasing budget investment for rural agriculture, developing cooperative economy, and so on.The overall indicator measuring the result of the NRD program is the proportion of communes meeting 19 national NRD criteria. According to data from Central coordination office (CCO)-NRD, in the beginning of October 2019, the whole country has 55.3 percent of communes that met 19 NRD criteria, in which 52.4 percent of communes that are officially recognized as NRD commune and 2.9 percent of other communes are making procedure to be acknowledged as NRD commune (CSC-NTPs, 2019). However, the percent of communes meeting new rural criteria varies greatly among the provinces. This stems from the differences in the starting points in the NRD of each province, the economic potentials as well as the effort and methods of each province. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of NRD results in Vietnam and identifies the factors that influence this outcome in the provinces.\n2. Research model: The comprehensive criterion to measure the result of NTP-NRD at provincial level is the percent of communes acknowledged as new rural commune. So, this criterion is used as a dependent variable to identify the determinants on it. It is assumed that the proportion of new rural communes of the given province (Yi) is a function of several variables as presented in the function of Eqn (1).(1)Yi=aXi+bDi+eiIn which, Xi is the vector of variables reflecting the resource mobilization of the province i in the NRD while Di is a category variable that captures the characteristics of the provinces on the natural and socioeconomic conditions. a and b are the estimates related to variables X and D. It is assumed that e ~ (0, 1) and meets theoretical assumptions of least square estimation.63 provinces of Vietnam have large difference in natural and socioeconomic conditions. In order to reduce these differences, the provinces are classified into groups so that the provinces in a given group have the most similar condition while maximin difference between groups. The distribution of the observations into the subgroup can be implemented by methods as cluster analysis (CA) method or propensity score (PS) methods. However, in this research, we use the method of PS stratification because (1) the CA is more commonly accepted and applied in experimental studies (Peck, 2005; Gibson, 2003; Yoshikawa et al., 2001); (2) the CA is formulated using only baseline characteristics, which are exogenous to the treatment (D'Attoma et al., 2017), while PS is also based on baseline characteristics but related to treatment (in this study, it is the result of the NRD program) and (3) among PS adjustments, PS stratification is one of the more effective ones (D'Attoma et al., 2017; Schafer and Kang, 2008).A PS is the \"conditional probability of assignment to a particular group, given a vector of covariates\" (Rosenbaum and Rubin, 1983). The purpose of the PS is to improve the quality of estimates from non-randomized observations through the randomization process (Rosenbaum and Rubin, 1984; Shadish and Steiner, 2010; Stuart, 2010).Several researchers have showed that PS methods can substantially reduce bias in observed covariates (Austin, 2014; Bai, 2013; Garrido et al., 2014; Stone and Tang, 2013). Consequently, D'Attoma et al. (2017) mentioned that over the last three decades, PS methods used in several studies in the different science field as program evaluation, economics, political science, sociology, medicine and educational research. The PS can be used as regression covariate. Hade and Lu (2014) showed that there is a substantial portion of studies using PS adjustment treat, the PS as a conventional regression predictor and the adjustment for the PS through stratification followed by regression appear to be a good practical strategy to reduce the bias associated with non-experimented data.In this study, we estimate PSs using a logistic regression in which all covariates are used as predictors to estimate the predicted probability that each province can be classified into a group. The provinces are classified into two groups: Group (1) consists of the provinces having more than 50 percent of new rural communes and Group (2) consists of the remaining provinces. The probability p (D = 1) of a province that has more than 50 percent of communes that met new rural standards, can be generalized by using Eqn (2):(2)log it[p]=log[p1-p]=l0+l1Z1+...+lnZnIn which, l0 is the average probability in log unit of receiving the proportion more than 50 percent of new rural communes across communes in assuming that all the covariates are centered and normally distributed. The parameter l1 refers to the effect of variable Z1 , the log odd ratio that D = 1 controlling for the other Zs. Maximum likelihood (ML) estimation is used in the logistic model.The PS with stratification divides or classifies the sample into strata in based on their estimated PS. Cochran (1968) and Rosenbaum and Rubin (1984) found that stratifying a sample based on one continuous variable into five subgroups or quintiles eliminated 90 percent of the bias due to that one confounding variable. Stratification yields a series of subsamples of individuals with estimated PSs from both the treatment and control group.In this research, based on the PS, the provinces are stratified into five subgroups, then these subgroups are used as category covariates in the linear regression model as presented in Equation (1).\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Result and discussion: 4.1 Result of new rural development program\n5. Conclusion: Based on data at provincial level in the period 2011-2019, the impact of factors on result of the NRD program in the period 2011-2019 is estimated. The result of the NRD program is measured by the proportion of communes meeting all 19 national NRD criteria. The PS stratification method is used to classify the provinces in the subgroup. The variables used in the PS method is the number of achieved NRD criterion in 2011, per capita income in 2010, the proportion of minority ethnic and mountainous communes of the provinces and population density. Based on PS, 63 provinces are classified into five subgroups with very different characteristics. The subgroup 1 is the most difficult and consists of the provinces in difficult regions as the Northern Mountains, the Central Highland and Central Coast. The subgroup 5 is the most favorable and consists of favorable provinces as Red River Delta and South East.A part from PS subgroups that shows significant impact on result of the NRD program, the study finds significant impact of the variables as per capita income growth rate and the effort level of the provincial authority. All other variables remain unchanged, the provinces that public authority is evaluated as very high effort have higher proportion of 8.7 percent of NRD communes than the provinces that are considered as having no effort. The increase of per capita income has positive impact on the result of the NRD program.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of the proportion of communes that met all national new rural criteria (hereafter NRD communes).\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the method of propensity score (PS) stratification is used to classify 63 provinces into the subgroups. Second, the ordinary least squares (OLS) model is used with the subgroups classified from the PS stratification method as one of explicative variables. The dependent variable in the OLS model is the proportion of NRD communes.\nFindings: With the sample of 63 provinces of Vietnam, the author found that per capita income growth rate, high growth of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) and effort of the provincial authority have positive impact on the proportion of NRD communes.\nPractical implications: This research suggests that the provincial authority should actively participate in the NRD program, and the economic development is key factor for success implementation of the NRD program.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to understand the factors impacting the result of the NRD program and then help to identify the measures to support this program.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Foresight in cities: on the possibility of a "strategic urban intelligence"
|
[
"Organizational learning",
"Transition management",
"Forward planning",
"Scenario methods",
"Strategic policy intelligence",
"Urban policy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Cities are highly permanent artifacts, the most tangible of all human creations. Their infrastructure and built structures are slow and costly to produced, with lifetimes of indefinite extent. So, urban planning aims in principle to provide long-term futures perspective based on strategic policy intelligence. But the reality is often different: urban planning is hindered by lack of evidence, lack of financial power, political pressures and disconnection of citizens from government. This suggests an essential role for a city-level foresight process, not just as a one-off futures study but embedded into urban policy and urban institutions. A successful foresight would build capacity for social learning and collective intelligence, and anticipatory governance, but again the reality is lacking and good examples are short-lived.\n2. Mapping foresight: Here, we look at the principles of foresight as a means of transformation and apply them to the main components of \"subject, process and object\". In each of these, it is clear that there is some kind of transformation effect from the foresight process: but in practice, this is often not visible or explicit. For instance, if we run a foresight on urban housing, detailed questions on housing numbers are often entangled with ethics or issues of political economy: complex collaborations between producers' intermediaries or users, or the linkages of housing with other fields, are not easy to separate out.\n3. UK foresight on future of cities: This section reviews experience from the Future of Cities Network, which worked 2014-2015 with parallel projects in GM, Newcastle, Liverpool, Cardiff, Reading. In the background was a wider set of 22 \"City Visions\" projects with at least some foresight or futures components. Both were sponsored as part of the national UK Future of Cities programme, run by the Foresight Unit at the Government Office of Science, with details on https://futureofcities.blog.gov.uk/. The aim here is not a comprehensive report on the national programme, but a brief outline of four city projects, to illustrate the methods and point towards future opportunities.\n4. Ways forward: 4.1 Towards a city foresight platform\n5. Conclusions: This paper draws from personal experience of foresight processes at the city or city-region level. We present an outline framework and methodology which has emerged from this experience, with wide applications. We review the recent experience in the UK Foresight for Future of Cities, explore the scope and \"possibility of a City Foresight Platform\" and sketch a current prototype in GM as work in progress. Overall, there are no forecasts or guaranteed models. We live in an age of flux and uncertainty, where many assumptions are giving way, with systemic transformations in urban economies, communities, governments, technologies and cultures. At the same time, we are in an age of crunches and crisis points and \"grand societal challenges\": cities are the locus for conflict, within and between local and global: on environment and climate, cultural differences, social inequalities or financial vulnerabilities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the challenges of urban foresight via an analytical method: apply this to the city demonstrations on the UK Foresight Future of Cities: and explore the implications for ways forward.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology is based on the principles of co-evolutionary complex systems, a newly developed toolkit of \"synergistic mapping and design\", and its application in a \"synergy foresight\" method.\nFindings: The UK Foresight Future of Cities is work in progress, but some early lessons are emerging - the need for transparency in foresight method - and the wider context of strategic policy intelligence.\nPractical implications: The paper has practical recommendations, and a set of propositions, (under active discussion in 2015), which are based on the analysis.\nOriginality/value: The paper aims to demonstrate an application of \"synergy foresight\" with wide benefits for cities and the communities within them.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Your job doesn't love you: Workaholism and the professional woman
|
[
"Job satisfaction",
"Workaholism",
"Social support",
"Work engagement",
"Professional women"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nMain body of article review: People who are highly engaged with their work say that it makes them feel invigorated and motivated. But workaholics seem to have a compulsive need to keep on working even when they get nothing out of it. It's a condition, or predisposition, that can interfere with a person's satisfaction with their job, their career and even life itself. If working conditions encourage or add to workaholic tendencies, then both employer and employee have a problem.\nWhat is a workaholic?: Workaholics display an overwhelming need to keep working, so much so that it may affect their health, happiness and interpersonal relationships. It's different from work engagement in that the workaholic may not even enjoy their work - they just have an obsessive, guilt-ridden compulsion to keep doing it.\nWhy does workaholism matter?: Heavy work involvement combined with low enjoyment comes at the expense of emotional wellbeing. Anyone can be affected, but evidence suggests that the signs of workaholism show up differently in men and women. Working women in industrialized countries report higher levels of stress, at comparable levels of work involvement, than their male counterparts. Increasing numbers of women are pursuing professional careers, but they still have to deal with socio-cultural norms that leave them combining that career with the bulk of household and family responsibilities. This suggests that female managers who are balancing professional dedication with family life may be particularly at risk of the effects of workaholism.\nHow does workaholism affect professional women?: Itis widely accepted that social support can act as a buffer against psychological distress - and women tend to have broader and more diverse social networks than men. But it is uncertain whether they get more benefits from having a bigger social network - or are just exposed to an increased need to offer support to others.\nWhat implications does this have for employers?: This investigation confirms that a compulsive and guilt-ridden approach to work can reduce job and life satisfaction. If working conditions encourage or add to workaholic tendencies, this not only increases the individual's dissatisfaction but also makes them less effective in their role.\nComment: This is a review of \"Effects of workaholism on satisfaction among USA managerial and professional women\", by Levy (2015). Focusing on a group of highly educated, highly paid MBA graduates, Levy asks them to report on their enjoyment of work and the perceived extent of their social support network as well as their job, career and life satisfaction. This investigation extends the literature on workaholism in women and indicates areas for further empirical research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: People who are highly engaged with their work say that it makes them feel invigorated and motivated. But workaholics seem to have a compulsive need to keep on working even when they get nothing out of it. It's a condition, or predisposition, that can interfere with a person's satisfaction with their job, their career and even life itself. If working conditions encourage or add to workaholic tendencies, then both employer and employee have a problem.\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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] |
A study on health care consumers' diabetes term usage across identified categories
|
[
"Social media",
"Diabetes",
"Multidimensional scaling (MDS) method",
"Question and answer",
"Term analysis",
"Yahoo!Answers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Diabetes is a chronic disease which results in high levels of sugar in the blood. Diabetes is connected to human production and consumption of insulin, a special hormone that regulates the uptake of glucose from the blood. Type 1 diabetes results when dysfunctional cell prevents the pancreases from generating insulin and type 2 diabetes happens when the human body resists the effects of insulin or fails to maintain insulin at a normal level.\nRelated research: The internet has been playing an increasingly important role in health care consumers' health information seeking and is an important source for people who are seeking health care information (Hesse et al., 2005). The Pew Internet Project estimated that at least 75 percent of US internet users searched for health information online, with eight million Americans seeking health information online in a typical day (Fox, 2006, 2008). One study found that due to the richness and availability of health information on the internet some health consumers prefer to search on their own rather than see a doctor (Milewski and Chen, 2010).\nResearch methodology: MDS visualization analysis was used in this research. The first step processed a social Q&A log: a proper Q&A web site was selected, raw questions and answers from the web site were collected, and then free texts were parsed from each record; and term associations were built. The second step identified related categories in a schema. The third step applied the MDS visualization method to reveal patterns among the terms in the selected categories of the schema. The third step is the focus of this paper.\nResults: The social Q&A forum in Yahoo!Answers was used in this study. The formulated query was Diabetes in the question field of the Health category. Data were collected from the log between August 10, 2011 and November 10, 2011. There were 2604 records collected from Yahoo!Answers. Any records not related to diabetes were deleted, leaving 2565 records. Each record consisted of a question and its related responses. The total number of extracted words from the records was 1,043,158.\nDiscussion: Health care consumers' diabetes term usage can be studied by other methods. One of the widely used methods is survey research method. Compared with a survey research method, Q&A log analysis method has many advantages. The sample size of a survey method is much smaller than the sample size of a Q&A log analysis method. Due to a low survey return rate and high cost, the sample size of a survey method is difficult to compare with that of a Q&A log method. In addition, the sample size of a Q&A log analysis method can be adjusted at a very low cost. For instance, in the beginning of this study, 1,500 Q&A records on the topic diabetes were obtained. It was found that the number of unique terms did not reach a stable status. With the addition of 1,065 more records the growth of unique terms finally reached a reasonable and stable level which is crucial and essential to producing sound and reliable term analysis results.\nConclusion: As more and more health information resources become available online and Web 2.0 technology matures, health care consumers will become more active in online information access and consultation. Health consumers search health information, interact with other health consumers with similar health information, and make a variety of healthy decisions for them and their family members. There are many social Q&A forums that can provide health information and offer answers to their health questions. As a leading social Q&A forum, Yahoo!Answers attracted health care consumers and patients. The Q&A logs in the forum are open to public for browsing and searching purposes. These logs are rich, dynamic and diverse as well. Utilizing these users' Q&A logs to study health consumers' term usage pattern is a unique and productive means of revealing important patterns in information seeking of consumer health.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate health care consumers' diabetes term usage patterns based on Yahoo!Answers social question and answers (Q&A) forum, identified characteristics and relationships among terms within three pairs of related categories identified from the Q&A log, and revealed users' diabetes term usage patterns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The Q&A analysis method allowed first-hand investigation of massive data from health care consumers. Visual term clustering analysis across categories was conducted using a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) visualization method which provides an intuitive and interactive way to explore and discover term association patterns in a visual environment. Closely related categories were identified and corresponding visual term clustering analyses between categories (Sign & Symptom and Organ & Body Part; Diagnosis and Test; and Diagnosis and Medication) as well at the term level were analyzed.\nFindings: The findings show that there are close relationships between terms in two related categories. Related terms were grouped and patterns were revealed. All the stress values of the MDS analyses fall below 0.10 and RSQ for each of the combined categories is over 0.90 which indicate the investigated terms were well clustered in the visual analyses.\nOriginality/value: The study provides a unique research methodology for similar consumer health research studies. The results of this study offer insight into consumer health term use behavior, and enrich existing thesauri and subject heading lists, enhance diabetes-related web sites or portals, and improve effectiveness of internal search engines.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effects of an educational program on knowledge, attitudes and intentions regarding condom and emergency contraceptive pill use among Thai female university students
|
[
"Educational program",
"Peer-led education",
"Condom and emergency contraceptive pills use",
"Unintended pregnancy",
"Pregnancy in adolescence-prevention and control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Unintended pregnancies are an increasing public health problem among youth in both developed and developing countries, including Thailand[1, 2]. Unintended pregnancies are related to individual characteristics, child marriage, gender inequality, poverty, sexual violence and coercion, obstacles to human rights, age at first sexual intercourse and limited knowledge, which influences attitudes toward and use of contraception[3, 4]. In 2014, the estimated number of worldwide unintended pregnancies among teens aged 15-19 was 16m and the birth rate 49 per 1,000[5]. This rate has not decreased[5]. The birth rate among female Thai adolescents aged 15-19 was 44.8 per 1,000[6, 7], which is higher than the Asia-Pacific region[4]. According to the 2013 Abortion Surveillance in Thailand Report, two-thirds of Thai female adolescents had their first sexual intercourse at age 17, and more than half did not use contraception[8]. In 2015, the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, reported 3,286 births in the Chon Buri province. The birth rate among girls aged 15-19 was 66.3 per 1,000, the highest in Thailand[9]. Most female adolescents are unaware of the consequences of unprotected sex[10]. The lack of knowledge about reproduction and contraception paired with modern lifestyles and open relationships contribute to a high prevalence of unintended pregnancies[11]. Unintended pregnancies significantly affect maternal and child health, leading to higher rates of depression, school dropout, economic problems, preterm births and low birth weight[12]. There is thus a need to increase pregnancy-prevention behaviors. A previous study found that 59.8 percent of teens did not use condoms during their first sexual encounter and 24.7 percent always use emergency contraceptive pills[13]. No previous studies have tested the effect of educational programs on knowledge, attitudes, and use of condoms and emergency contraceptive pills among Thai university students. This study examines contraception use among Thai university students and the effect of an educational program on their knowledge, attitudes and intentions regarding contraception. This study's educational program was designed based on a self-efficacy theory and peer-led education. The research assistant was of a similar age and lived in the same context as participants, creating a comfortable climate for data collection.\nMethodology: Study design\nResults: During the study period, one student in the intervention group dropped out because she was expelled from the university, leaving 36 students in the intervention group and 37 students in the comparison group, with 73 students in the final analysis.\nDiscussion: This educational program showed significant effects on knowledge and intention in the intervention group. Moreover, the educational program had significant in-group effects on knowledge, attitudes and intention, similar to another study on an educational program with nursing students[20]. The research assistants in this educational program were selected from fourth-year students of the same age and trained in pregnancy-prevention content and techniques to communicate about safe sex. This was similar to another study on \"Smart boys\" and \"sweet girls\" sex education needs in Thai teenagers: a mixed-method study[21]. Knowledge, therefore, was easily transferred to university students, and the participants' attitudes, intentions and behaviors about using condom and emergency contraceptive pills improved. The RAs liked peer-led sex education on adolescent and reproductive health, as reported in many other studies[22-24]. However, one study found that peer-led education was an ineffective strategy to change adolescent behaviors[25].\nConclusion: This peer-led educational program on condom and emergency pill use had a positive effect on improving the knowledge and intentions of Thai female university students.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: University students who have low knowledge, attitudes and intentions regarding the prevention of unintended pregnancies may experience higher rates of unintended pregnancies. An educational program was developed based on the self-efficacy theory and peer-led education to improve unintended pregnancy problems among university students. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of an educational program on knowledge, attitudes and intentions regarding the use of condoms and emergency contraceptive pills among Thai university students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The effectiveness of the educational program was tested by a quasi-experimental study with a pre- and post-test design. The study was conducted between September and October 2017. Multistage sampling was used to recruit 73 Thai female university students, including 36 students in the intervention group and 37 students in the comparison group. The intervention group received an eight-week educational program, while the comparison group did not. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the improvement of knowledge, attitudes and intention regarding condom and emergency contraceptive pill use. Descriptive statistics, paired samples t-test, Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney tests were used for data analysis.\nFindings: Most participants in both groups had sexual intercourse. After the end of the program, the before-after mean score of the intervention group's knowledge (8.0, 11.0), attitudes (29.4, 32.4) and intention (17.4, 20.4) were significantly increased (p-value<0.001). Post-intervention, there were statistically significant differences in knowledge scores (p-value<0.001) and intention scores (p-value=0.04) between the intervention group and the comparison group.\nOriginality/value: This educational program increases knowledge and intention but does not influence attitudes toward using condoms and emergency contraceptive pills.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A new perspective: consumer values and the consumption of physical activity
|
[
"Education",
"Social marketing",
"Value",
"Physical activity",
"Consumer value"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The leisure sector is worth PS117 billion and in 2014 accounted for 7.4 per cent of UK GDP and is growing at faster rate than the retail sector (Deloitte, 2016). Despite the industry's growth physical inactivity remains a significant issue within society today, in particular participation levels remain relatively stagnant (Sallis et al., 2016), which contributors to the increase in non-communicable disease (BHF, 2017; WHO, 2017b) and costs the nation over a billion pounds (BHF, 2017).\nOverview of literature: Research has identified that individuals know an active lifestyle is healthier than a sedentary one (Department of Health, 2004), they understand what the benefits of participating in physical activity are, as well as how much physical activity they should participate in (Williams-Burnett, 2014) - yet participation in physical activity has been stagnant for the last decade (Sallis et al., 2016). To facilitate a voluntary behaviour change Influencers must provide Enactors with something beneficial in exchange (Russell-Bennett et al., 2013, p. 225), something that is valued, something that incentivises them (Dann, 2008; Kotler and Lee, 2008) and boosts their inclination to change (Hastings and Saren, 2003a, b, p. 309). This study posits that it is only through investigating what the dimensions of consumer value underpinning the consumption of sport and physical activity are, will policy makers and practitioners be able to offer \"valued exchanges\" by design products, services and offerings that offer value. The study attempts to identify the consumption values underpinning physical activity by using the S&PAVAL Model (Kearns, 2014) to gain an \"understanding of customer value in the consumption of physical activity\" (Zainuddin et al., 2011, p. 363).\nLiterature review: Physical activity\nMethodology: In total, the questionnaire was made available online for four weeks (October 2017) and a total of 477 responses were collected. The questionnaire was based on Kearns's (2014) S&PAVAL Model, using the physical environment - ambiance, physical environment - surroundings, altruistic value, benefits of exercise, quality services experience, cost of exercise, and social value dimensions.\nFindings: Descriptive analysis\nDiscussion: This paper is offers a different perspective to educators, policy makers and service providers alike by first adopting a midstream social marketing perspective proposing that that participation in sport and physical activity is a locally motivate consumption behaviour and second by advocating the role of the consumer value construct where value expectations influence an individual's health behaviour intentions. Consumption values are a new and essential resource needed by midstream social marketers operating in the sport and physical activity sector if they are to increasing the proportion of adults that are physically active. Given the low levels of physical activity with-in the adult population (Sallis et al., 2016) combined with the potential public health benefits that arise from being physically active - the physical inactivity status quo is no longer acceptable. As Henry Ford once said \"if we keep on doing what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got\".\nPractical and managerial implications and recommendations: Recommendations for pre-consumption\nConclusion: Current physical activity interventions are failing to encourage and motivate individuals to participate in physical activity even though people are educated in understanding the benefits and expected levels of participation (Williams-Burnett, 2014). A new approach to physical activity is needed (Das and Horton, 2016) by understanding consumer value and the consumption of physical activity (Kearns, 2014). Physical activity is an offering where value expectations influence individual's health behaviour intentions. This paper suggests that it would be unwise to attempt to understand the behaviour of physically active adults and/or the decision-making process of non-active adults without incorporating affective components, which are centred on feelings generated by the purchase and consumption experience (Gronroos, 2004). This paper contributes to an under researched area in understanding the dimensions of consumer value and the consumption of physical activity. It brings a new focus in understanding the active and non-active individual to those who educate future sports providers, the sport provider and facilitators, therefore allowing future physical activity interventions to be created and targeted more effectively at the midstream community level and sports providers hopefully greater success in attracting and retaining individuals within participation. It may be that participation levels in physical activity could be increased if policy makers, leisure service providers, educators and sports marketers move beyond the rational or functional understanding of value based primarily on the quality-price trade-off, to instead understand the importance of the emotional or hedonic aspects of value in a sport and physical activity context.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Physical inactivity is a global pandemic and is the fourth biggest cause of death worldwide. Numerous campaigns and initiatives have been implemented globally but yet participation levels remain static. The purpose of this paper is to offer sports providers, educators, policy makers and facilitators a new perspective on consumer values and the consumption of physical activity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Researchers conducted a quantitative questionnaire and collected 342 responses through Facebook (social media) from the geographical region, South Wales. Data were analysed using independent t-tests to compare the means between two unrelated groups (active/non-active) against the Sport and Physical Activity Value Model value dimensions.\nFindings: The findings are divided into three sections of consumption (pre, consumption, post), results identify differences of consumer values between the active and non-active respondents. For example, service values, the non-active individual have higher expectations of the servicescape and provider than active individuals, suggesting that servicescape concept is one of the key dimensions of consumer value.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was confined to one geographic region (South Wales) and only quantitative data were collected when further studies will require exploratory qualitative methods to have a greater understanding.\nPractical implications: Findings from this study have been used to assist with the design and creation of an exercise class within a deprived area focussing on the values of consumption for the active and non-active. This study offers the sports provider, educator, policy maker another viewpoint of the consumption of physical activity.\nOriginality/value: Extant literature on physical activity predominately focusses on levels and there is little benefits in the way of understanding the dimensions of consumer values and the consumption of physical activity. This study contributes to this literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Making organizational change happen - Does what we now know from neuroscience have any impact?
|
[
"Neuroplasticity",
"Change management",
"Organizational change",
"Neuroscience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Hold onto your head! - The amazing and rapidly growing wealth of insights gained from neuroscience will change everything you thought you knew about change management, leadership, advertising, raising children [...].\" You may have come across some of these outlandish claims, seeking to draw in your valuable and limited attention. When I hear such openers, I am immediately skeptical as should you be. It is far more likely that insights from neuroscience result in confirming and crystalizing things you intuitively knew to be true. However, giving objectivity to intuition, particularly regarding change, can help us view things more objectively and improve the planning, managing, and embedding stages.\nKey impacts experienced with clients: Getting attention and holding it\nKey insights from Neuroscience: Limitations in processing capacity lead to habits\nThe change recipe: We are often asked how long it takes to change a habit, and as with many things, it is not a straightforward answer. For example, Lally (2010) suggests that on an average 66 days from a range between 18-254 days. When doing anything new as an adult, we are initially likely to be using preexisting neuronal networks. This can help get things done in a new way, albeit less confidently, or smoothly as we/others may like. It is only through prolonged repeated action that the brain, through neuroplasticity, will make the necessary changes to develop new connections devoted to a new way of operating.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight how developments in neuroscience can positively impact the likelihood of successfully implementing change in organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the author's experience of working with organizations over the past 10 years.\nFindings: Change must be regarded as a cognitive process rather than a program, project, or training event.\nOriginality/value: Based on developments in the field of neuroscience, the author provides a recipe for those involved in bringing about organizational change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The cycle of grief - helping to deal with unexpected change
|
[
"Change management",
"Redundancy",
"Human resource management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Managing redundancies is often unchartered territory for HR professionals and the truth is that in many companies large and small, the process is often handled badly. Managers leading the process fail to communicate the situation appropriately; they neglect the wellbeing of staff leaving the company and they fail to re-engage with remaining staff quickly enough, so employees are fearful and unmotivated, which impacts on business productivity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To advise HR professionals how to handle major change and redundancies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper shows how HR professionals are helped to cope when handling unexpected change.\nFindings: - The article focuses on the \"cycle of grief\" and how this can help managers.\nOriginality/value: - Helping managers deal with unexpected change and manage large scale redundancies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Aligning organizational culture and strategic human resource management
|
[
"Organizational culture",
"Alignment",
"Strategy",
"Strategic human resource management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Strategic human resources management (SHRM) has been defined as \"the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals\" (Wright and McMahan, 1992, p. 298). Within SHRM, the goals being achieved should typically be dictated by the organization's strategy as there is an inherent connection between strategy and SHRM. However, previous research has found that there is often a discrepancy between intended and realized implementation of strategy (Mintzberg and Waters, 1985), and by extension SHRM (Jackson et al., 2014), thereby making this connection at times tenuous at best. Moreover, research into strategy and SHRM has been hampered by level of analysis issues (Buller and McEvoy, 2012) as well as a lack of research examining factors that are unique to an organization which may result in competitive advantage (Jackson et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper is to address these issues by examining the impact of organizational culture on the linkage between strategy and SHRM. Specifically, we propose that discrepancies between intended and realized strategies may be due, at least in part, to the culture of the organization which is an important factor to overall organizational outcomes. Therefore, this paper contributes to the SHRM literature by explaining how organizational culture moderates the relationship between organizational strategy and implementation of SHRM and how misalignment may lead to detrimental outcomes.\nTheoretical background: SHRM includes various HR practices, which from the universalistic view, are considered best practices (Delery and Doty, 1996). However, it is understood that the practices that are best for one organization may differ from those that are best for another. The contingency view maintains that the best practices are dependent on the \"best fit\" of the organization. The configurational view introduced \"bundles of practices\" depending on the needs of the organization. Regarding these views, these practices will vary based on the needs of the organization (Delery and Doty, 1996). The following discussion will outline various approaches to defining fit and explain why organizations would be well-served to consider organizational culture when determining the fit in order to align their strategic and SHRM practices.\nMulti-level theory: In addition to considering the alignment between strategy, culture, and SHRM, researchers must also consider additional levels of analysis. Individuals throughout hierarchical levels of the organization, not only the top management team, must be considered to develop the organizational culture and whether it is congruent with the strategy and SHRM.\nDiscussion, implications, and future research: Because SHRM is typically studied as its fit with strategy, an important moderating variable, organizational culture, may be overlooked. Importantly, culture may impact the discrepancy between intended and realized strategy. When mismatch occurs, organizational culture should be examined to determine corresponding organizational outcomes.\nConclusion: We examined a gap in the literature regarding the impact of the organization's strategy on SHRM when taking into account organizational culture in order to develop propositions for future research. In addition, a model was developed to show the resulting outcomes when alignment or misalignment of culture is present in the strategy-SHRM linkage. We further extend the literature by presenting a table of suggested organizational culture values necessary to encourage a strategy-supportive culture.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As strategic human resource management (SHRM) continues to grow as an important issue for organizations, it is imperative to examine all factors that contribute to the success and failure of the organization's human resources (HR) and strategy implementation. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that organizational culture should be an integral factor when considering SHRM. The authors also present a model for the strategy-culture-SHRM linkage and propositions to guide future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors present a conceptual model proposing organizational culture as a moderator of the relationship between an organization's strategy and SHRM.\nFindings: In addition to the conceptual model, the authors present a number of testable propositions for determining how firm performance and effectiveness may depend on the linkage between strategy and the utilization of HR as a competitive advantage.\nOriginality/value: Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the conceptualization of organizational culture as a moderator between an organization's strategy and SHRM. We discuss the importance of the alignment of HR both as a source of competitive advantage and an influence on an organization's strategy. The authors integrate the current research to create arguments for testable propositions and future research directions. The authors also argue that misalignments may occur which may prove detrimental to the organization.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Modeling and analysing system failure behaviour using RCA, FMEA and NHPPP models
|
[
"Failure modes and effects analysis",
"Fuzzy logic",
"Modelling"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In today's turbulent business environment global competition characterised by both a technology push and a market pull had forced organisations to compete on various platforms such as faster delivery, price tags, state-of-art-technology and higher quality dimensions. Various innovative techniques such as total productive maintenance (TPM), total quality management (TQM), business process engineering (BPR), manufacturing resources planning (MRP), just in time (JIT), etc. are becoming popular among the business houses (Carpinetti et al., 2003; Najmi, 2005; Sharma et al., 2005a, 2006, in press). However, benefits obtained from these innovative management practices have often been limited because of the unreliable or inflexible nature of systems/components/parts. The expectation of troubled free operation of such systems/components/parts has not been completely achieved. As a consequence, the processes are becoming vulnerable to various kinds of disturbances resulting in unexpected sudden and sporadic failures. It is nearly an unavoidable phenomenon in mechanical systems/components. One can observe various kinds of failures in past under various circumstances such as nuclear explosions (e.g. the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986), Industrial plant leakages (the oil pipeline at Jesse, Nigeria in 1998), aero plane crashes, and electrical network shut downs, etc. which may be due to human error, poor maintenance, inadequate testing/inspection, unstable operating conditions and so on. The advances in technology has made the job of reliability/system analyst(s) more challenging as they have to study, characterise, measure and analyse the behaviour of system using various techniques such as Markov modeling (MM), fault tree (FT), failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), root cause analysis (RCA) and non-homogeneous Poisson point process (NHPPP) (list of notations used in this article can be found in Appendix 1). The use of each single technique for failure analysis can be found in literature studies. For instance, Aneziris and Papazoglou (2004) used MM to accurately model the dynamics of process. They presented a method for evaluating the probability of catastrophic failure in process plants. Hauptmanns (2002, 2004) used the FT approach to analyse propagation of uncertainties through fault trees for process plant safety using frequency and probability ranges. Madu (2005) in his paper \"Strategic value of reliability and maintainability\" emphasised on the need of maintaining the equipment in good condition in order to eliminate the sudden and sporadic failures resulting in production loss. Various models such as RCA, FMEA and Pareto charts were discussed to uncover the problems related to system unreliability. Sharma (2005) used the RCA to identify the causes resulting in poor/less/rough plating in cylinder liners. Numerous researchers such as Teng and Ho (1996), Sankar and Prabhu (2001), Xu et al. (2002), Guimaraes and Lapa (2004),Sharma et al. (2005b) carried out FMEA research focused on improving traditional FMEA limitations by using different schemes to identify and prioritise failure causes in engineering systems. Coetzee (1997) presented application of NHPPP models to analyse failure data. Saldanha et al. (2001) discussed the application of NHPPP to analyse the reliability of service water pumps in a typical pressurised water reactor.As such, the reliability of a system is determined by the constituent sub-systems and reliability of each subsystem is, in turn, determined by the associated components and their possible failure modes. In a hierarchical structure (as depicted in Figure 1), it is usually important that the reliability or system analyst should make use of the information produced at lower level. There is, therefore, a need to develop a structured framework to model, analyse and predict the system failure behaviour in a more realistic manner.To this effect, in the present paper authors purpose a contemporaneous adoption of three different methodologies namely RCA, FMEA, and NHPPP to build an integrated and helpful framework (as depicted in Figure 2), which could prove beneficial to maintenance/reliability engineers to not only understand the failure behaviour of component(s) in the system, but also to plan/adapt suitable maintenance practices:* To ascertain the mechanism of failure (through modelling of failure data) which will help to adopt adequate aging management actions.* To identify the most critical components and select the best maintenance mix based on cost dimensions.An industrial case from paper industry is undertaken to discuss the proposed framework. In brief the framework is summarised as below.In the qualitative framework, RCA is used to provide comprehensive classification of causes related to failure of paper machine. To quantify the sources of unreliability related to process problems a detailed FMEA analysis of forming unit is carried out by listing all potential failure modes, their causes and effect on system performance. The numerical values of parameters i.e. Of, S and Od obtained from expert elicitation are used to compute the RPN score for each failure cause. The discrepancies associated with the traditional procedure of risk ranking were modelled using a decision support system based on fuzzy methodology. The system makes use of well-defined membership functions for Of, S and Od to capture /handle the element uncertainty and subjectivity. Finally, in quantitative analysis NHPPP models has been used to reproduce the time dependent failure rates and to determine the best maintenance strategy for two most important components (wire mat and vacuum pumps) of the system. By assuming the relevant cost information the economic analysis has been done to find the trade off between maintenance cost and capital expenditure.\n2. Failure analysis methods: Among various failure methods as listed in the introduction, the present section presents a brief account of only those that are used in the study for analysing the system.2.1. RCA\n3. An illustration: As an example a case from process industry (paper mill) situated in northern part of India (producing 180 tons of paper per day) is taken to discuss the techniques described in section 2. There are many functional units in a paper mill such as feeding, pulp preparation, pulp washing, screening, bleaching and preparation of paper (as shown in Figure 4). The current analysis is based on the study of forming unit of paper machine. It consists of head box, wire mat and suction box as three main components. Cooked pulp after processing through number of stages is fed to the head box of a paper machine from where (in controlled proportion) it is made to run over the wire mat running over the rollers. The synthetic belt provides support to run the fibre mat through the press section and drying section. The dewatering of pulp is accomplished with the help of vacuum pumps arranged in parallel. Finally, the moist paper is passed through the heated rollers along with a synthetic belt (press section) and is dried in a drier section. The dried paper is finally rolled on the pope reel. Figure 5 shows the components involved in paper manufacturing process.3.1. Qualitative analysis\n4. Cost analysis: By assuming the relevant cost information i.e. cost of repair and cost of replacement the cost analysis has been done to find trade off between maintenance cost and capital expenditure. Using Type-II and Type-III replacement policies (Coetzee, 1997), maintenance decisions are optimised in terms of:* optimal operational time (T*);* optimal cost/unit time C(T*); and* number of minimal repairs (n).The governing equations, numerical values of parameters, repair and replacement costs for the components are shown in Table VIII.From Table VIII it is inferred that, for WM, Type-II policy gives the optimal replacement frequency T*=3,226 hours (nearly after five months) and Type-III policy gives the optimal replacement frequency n* =11 (approximately) i.e. minimum 11 repairs and then be replaced at the next failure.Similarly, for VPs we get T*=12,452 hours (nearly 18 months.) n*=73 (approximately)\n5. Managerial implications: The analysis of system reliability often requires the use of subjective judgments, uncertain data and approximate system models. Although the results still depends on the analysts'/experts' judgement and the quality of the information derived from different sources, as with any modelling framework one has to exercise great care to ensure that the data and inputs presented to the method are of good quality because without these the results could be biased. The application of a proposed framework that makes use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches (summarised as below) will help reliability analysts/managers/practitioners to analyse, model and predict the system failure behaviour in more realistic manner:* RCA, a failure analysis tool provides in-depth analysis of system unreliability aspects by comprehensive classification of causes and also helps to build a knowledge base for conducting FMEA.* The application of decision support system based on fuzzy principles not only addresses the seriously debated disadvantages associated with traditional procedure for conducting FMEA, but also integrates expert judgment and their experience in more flexible manner by using well-defined membership functions.* (The application of NHPPP models assists the maintenance managers in understanding the failure behaviour of aging components by providing mathematical model. The model not only helps in forecasting future failures, but also helps in optimising the maintenance decisions based on cost dimensions (repair or replacements).\n6. Conclusion: In capitalising on the studies available in the literature an attempt has been made by the authors to develop a contemporary framework that could help the maintenance engineers/managers/practitioners to model, analyse and predict the system behaviour. From the study it is concluded that the application of proposed framework which makes use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches will no doubt help the maintenance managers/analysts/engineers to adapt/practise suitable maintenance management strategies in order to improve the reliability and maintainability aspects of the systems and thereby to improve the overall system performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to permit system reliability analysts/managers/practitioners/engineers to analyse system failure behaviour more consistently and plan suitable maintenance actions accordingly.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper adopted three important tools, namely, root cause analysis (RCA), failure mode effect analysis (FMEA), and non-homogeneous Poisson point process (NHPPP), to build an integrated and helpful framework, able to facilitate the maintenance managers in decision making. The factors contributing to system unreliability were analysed using RCA and FMEA. The failure data related to the components are modelled using NHPPP models and are used to optimise maintenance decisions (repair or replacements) based on cost dimensions.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the in-depth analysis of a system using RCA and FMEA helps to create a knowledge base to deal with problems related to process/product unreliability. From the results it is observed that NHPPP models adequately analyse time-dependent rate of occurrence of failures. Thus, assisting the maintenance analyst in development of suitable maintenance strategy by properly understanding the mechanism of failure (through modeling of failure data); adopting adequate aging management actions (such as predictive or periodic testing) to predict or detect the degradation of components; and performing cost analysis.\nOriginality/value: - The contemporaneous adoption of the three proposed techniques for failure analysis will help system reliability engineers/managers/practitioners not only to understand the failure behaviour of component(s) in the system, but also to plan/adapt suitable maintenance practices to improve system reliability and availability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Can students be taught to articulate employability skills?
|
[
"Employability skills",
"Co-op",
"Non-co-op"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last decade, employers have become increasingly vocal about employability skills: the set of transferable skills characterized as the higher-order thinking skills and personal attributes that employees need to succeed in a work environment (Dacre Pool and Sewell, 2007; Lowden et al., 2011). As listed in recent reports, the top 10 employability skills for undergraduates as identified by employers include oral and written communication, leadership, teamwork, conflict management, initiative, responsibility, decision making, problem solving and critical thinking skills (Hart Research Associates, 2013; Drummond and Rosenbluth, 2015). Research suggests that employability skills are highly valued, and that many employers rank employability skills above degree designation or university reputation (Finch et al., 2012). Governments have taken note of this trend, too. In some cases, they insist that postsecondary funding be tied in part to preparing graduates for the workforce. Canada, Australia and the UK, for example, have made funding partly contingent upon the twinned \"demonstrable graduate outcomes\" of disciplinary competence and employability skills (Bridgstock, 2009).\nLiterature review: Within the literature on employability skills, the topic of skills awareness has been the focus of much discussion in the last 15 years (e.g. Knight and Yorke, 2003; Jiang and Alexakis, 2017). Of the many studies, several studies identify and track significant academic and professional consequences, ranging from students being unable to communicate the qualities that they have to prospective employers (Jones et al., 2010) to being unaware of how their course skills apply to the workplace (Luk et al., 2014) to rating the importance of employability skills higher than their self-assessed competency levels in them (Chan et al., 2017).\nMethodology: This study extends an earlier pilot study of one course (47 students) that members of the research team ran using the same research parameters: a teaching and learning intervention, followed by a six-month post-course survey. The pilot study found that students in the experimental group were better able to provide evidence of retention to articulate learning and to transfer learning (p<0.05) than the control group, as measured by the ability to \"sharpen,\" \"deepen\" and \"transfer.\" Further information about the pilot study can be found at https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-awards-and-grants/grants/learning-innovation-and-teaching-enhancement-grants/descriptions-funded-lite-grant-projects/eportfolios-career-reflection-and-competency-integration.\nResults: In this section, we outline the statistics model, report the quantitative results and connect the results to the study hypotheses; in the Discussion section, we will explore the implications of these results.\nDiscussion: In this study, we found that students' ability to articulate their employability skills, as measured by sharpen, deepen and transfer:\nImplications for universities: To answer the question posed in the title of this paper, \"Can students articulate their employability skills?,\" the study data demonstrate that students in all years of study, in a wide range of academic majors, both co-op and non-co-op, supported by regular practice and feedback in a course setting, can articulate their employability skills long after the course intervention is finished. This study, then, points to one significant implication for universities: to help students articulate their employability skills to prospective employers, universities should support the integration of employability skills assignments into academic courses.\nLimitations: There are three limitations that may have affected this study: time on task, composition of the survey respondents and employability skills tested.\nConclusion: This research is an original contribution to research because its study design combines practical instructional design with empirical research of significant scope (institution-wide) and participant size (3,400 students), and therefore, contributes quantitative evidence to the employability skills articulation discussion. By surveying students six months post-course, the study captures whether articulation instruction can be recalled, an ability of particular relevance for career preparedness. Likewise, our research study can help to answer other, larger calls for university accountability, such as Harvey Weingarten's, who laments that postsecondary institutions have \"little information about whether students arrive on campus with these [employability] skills or to what degree they acquired them through their studies, because we don't test for them\" (Weingarten, 2016). Most broadly, our study can also help to meet the underlying rationale of postsecondary education, which assumes that \"knowledge, skills, and attitudes learned in this setting will be recalled accurately, and will be used in some other context at some time in the future\" (Halpern and Hakel, 2003, p. 38).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on research findings from a teaching and learning intervention that explored whether undergraduate university students can be taught to articulate their employability skills effectively to prospective employers and to retain this ability post-course.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study included 3,400 students in 44 courses at a large Canadian university. Stage 1 involved a course-level teaching and learning intervention with the experimental student group, which received employability skills articulation instruction. Stage 2 involved an online survey administered six months post-course to the experimental group and the control group. Both groups responded to two randomly generated questions using the Situation/Task, Actions, Result (STAR) format, a format that employers commonly rely on to assess job candidates' employability skills. The researchers compared the survey responses from the experimental and control groups.\nFindings: Survey results demonstrate that previous exposure to the STAR format was the only significant factor affecting students' skills articulation ability. Year of study and program (co-operative or non-co-operative) did not influence articulation.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that universities should integrate institution-wide, course-level employability skills articulation assignments for students in all years of study and programs (co-op and non-co-op).\nOriginality/value: This research is novel because its study design combines practical, instructional design with empirical research of significant scope (institution-wide) and participant size (3,400 students), contributing quantitative evidence to the employability skills articulation discussion. By surveying students six months post-course, the study captures whether articulation instruction can be recalled, an ability of particular relevance for career preparedness.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Resource configurations for services success in manufacturing companies
|
[
"Servitization",
"Capabilities",
"Resources",
"Service infusion",
"Manufacturer",
"Resource configurations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Manufacturers are increasingly focussing on services in order to enhance customer relationships, to develop new sources of revenue and to resist product commoditization and parity through service-based product differentiation (Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). The addition of services to a core product offering is often described as servitization (Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988) or service infusion (Brax, 2005). Servitization is linked to the concept of manufacturers going \"downstream,\" that is, identifying and exploiting opportunities in the customer's value chain (Wise and Baumgartner, 1999). To address the opportunities from servitization manufacturers are developing a range of offerings: services supporting their products (SSP), whereby the direct recipients of the services are their products (Mathieu, 2001); services that support the client's actions in relation to the supplied products (SSC) (Mathieu, 2001); solutions, which are longitudinal relational processes designed to solve strategic customer-specific problems (Storbacka, 2011). Although many benefits are associated with servitization (Ulaga and Reinartz, 2011; Gebauer et al., 2011); further investigation is required to understand which capabilities better enable manufacturers to develop and deliver successful services.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1. Measuring the success of manufacturers' services\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Data collection and sampling\n4. Results: Multiple regression was used to assess the extent to which five resource configurations predict services success. Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure that data were suitable for this analysis. Multicollinearity was assessed by confirming that all variable correlations were below 0.8 and that tolerance and variance inflation factors were within acceptable guidelines (Field, 2009). Outliers, normality, linearity and homoscedasticity were assessed by inspecting the \"Normal Probability Plot of the Regression Standardized Residual\" and the \"Scatterplot,\" with no violations detected (Field, 2009).\n5. Discussion and contribution: 5.1. Theoretical contribution\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate which resources and capabilities are most important to enable large manufacturers undergoing servitization to develop and deliver successful services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey of 155 UK-based manufacturers provided the basis for the study. Data analysis was undertaken using confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression.\nFindings: In total, five constructs (\"resource configurations\") which enable the development and delivery of successful services and a construct to measure services performance (\"Success of Services\") were developed from the literature. A measurement model based on these constructs was empirically tested and verified. Two resource configurations; \"Leaders and Services Personnel\" and \"Services Methods and Tools\" were found to make a unique and statistically significant contribution to \"Success of Services.\"\nResearch limitations/implications: The study highlights the importance of corporates leaders and service employees in developing and delivering success. Service-specific methods and tools are important for developing compelling customer offerings. The study demonstrates the utility of a resource-based perspective in terms of understanding the factors that enable successful services, but also exposes the limitations of using such broad measures, with common lower order resources underpinning multiple resource configurations. The study was conducted from the manufacturer's perspective, and future studies could also include the customer's perspective.\nPractical implications: The research identifies important factors in developing a greater service orientation in manufacturing companies.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies to develop and test a model of services success, generalizable to the population of large manufacturers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
International transfer and perception of retail formats : A comparison study in Germany and Romania
|
[
"Format transfer",
"International retailing",
"Retail brand equity",
"Store attributes"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the last two decades, we have witnessed an aggressive internationalization of retailers that first entered developed economies and subsequently entered emerging economies (Swoboda et al., 2009; Vida, 2000). The internationalization behavior of retailers differs in many regards from that of manufacturers (e.g. Dawson, 1994). In particular, grocery retailers operating abroad are forced to adapt their transferred offers and to be locally responsive (Gamble, 2010; Swoboda et al., 2012) to position their formats as strong retailer brands in the minds of local consumers. Thus, scholars have focussed on the adaptation of single retail format attributes (e.g. prices or assortments, Fam and Yang, 2006; Wigley and Chiang, 2009) and have often considered adaptation to be a success factor (e.g. Bianchi and Ostale, 2006; Evans et al., 2008). By contrast, it has been shown that retailers operating overseas adapt some elements of a format abroad, whereas other elements are transferred unchanged (e.g. Goldman, 2001; Jonsson and Foss, 2011). Moreover, in international expansions, successful retailers tend to use formats that are familiar to them (Gielens and Dekimpe, 2001). Format transfer decisions may be strongly determined by a retailer's preferred format and its specific characteristics.\n2. Conceptualization and hypothesis development: Our basic conceptual model comprises three constructs: retail attributes, retailer brand equity, and store loyalty. Retail attributes are marketing instruments that are known to represent both the position of a retail company and its format in the minds of consumers (Martineau, 1958). These attributes are frequently conceptualized as antecedents of retailer brand equity (e.g. Ailawadi and Keller, 2004; Jinfeng and Zhilong, 2009), as are the effects of retailer brand equity on consumer loyalty (e.g. Pan and Zinkhan, 2006). Thus, our basic conceptual model is based on previous research.\n3. Empirical study: 3.1 Context and sample\n4. Results: The results regarding the discount format show that consumers in the two countries do not perceive the core attribute as significantly different (see Table VI). Thus, H1a is supported. We can conclude that the core attribute of discounters is perceived similarly in both developed and emerging economies, whereas consumer perceptions of other attributes vary (except for the location attribute). Among supermarkets, H1b is not supported. Although service is perceived similarly in both countries, assortment and location are perceived to be significantly different. However, assortment and location show the highest mean values compared with other attributes in both countries, which slightly underlines their role as core attributes of supermarkets. With respect to the perceptions of hypermarkets, H1c is not supported. Although service is perceived similarly in both countries, the differences in the mean values of store layout and assortment vary between the two countries: perceptions of store layout are stronger in Romania, whereas perceptions of assortment are stronger in Germany. However, it must be emphasized that assortment is the two strongest core attribute in both countries. In sum, our reasoning concerning the unchanged perceptions of core attributes for particular retail formats does not hold, but certain core attributes are perceived as being the strongest attributes within each format.\n5. Discussion: This study builds on existing research on the increasing internationalization of retailers, which has considered adaptation to be a success factor for grocery retailers in particular but has largely neglected the role of retail formats in the transfer and positioning decisions of international retailers. Because retail formats are considered the products of retailers, this study specifically focusses on the role of the core attributes of a particular format in building a strong retailer brand and in positively influencing consumer responses in Germany and Romania. The results show that although most consumer perceptions of core attributes differ between the retail formats in both markets, when retailer brand equity is considered, similar core attributes are found to be relevant for the positioning of each format as a strong brand in both markets. Therefore, the successful internationalization of grocery retailers occurs through local responsiveness and through the adaptation of offers (Goldman, 2001; Swoboda et al., 2012), but this adaptation occurs within the boundaries of core attributes that are specific to each format. Thus, format-specific core attributes determine format transfer efforts and consumer-related market success. However, other attributes are also relevant. These observations allow for three theoretical and managerial suggestions.\n6. Limitations and further research: As previously noted, the current study is not without limitations, and additional research should be undertaken to better understand the effects of retail formats that are transferred abroad on consumer behavior. We wish to highlight four major issues. Although we devoted special attention to data collection, this study is limited in scope. We collected data in two countries, focussed on only two cities, and considered only the three most important grocery retail formats. We did not control for other potential differences relating to the brands or store locations or to further differences between the investigated retailers. Broadening the database would mitigate these limitations and allow for further conclusions. For example, although Romania is an emerging European economy, future studies may target other transition economies, control for country-of-origin effects, or explore cultural differences in retailing (e.g. Baldauf et al., 2009; Evans and Mavondo, 2002). Because format attributes are highly subjective and the literature lacks a standardized definition (Gonzalez-Benito, 2005), changes in the dimensionality of the measurement of certain attributes (e.g. placing greater emphasis on the breadth and depth of assortments) may influence the role of an attribute in explaining retailer brand equity. Thus, a closer investigation of the core attributes (e.g. using objective attribute descriptions) may extend the observations that can be drawn from such a study. Furthermore, intra-format competition was not observed in this study, as we followed most of the studies on spatial competition and summarized retailers within each format. Thus, analyzing intra-format competition or additional formats would allow for more detailed investigations. Finally, the inclusion of moderating factors, such as income levels, shopping motives, or global citizenship behavior, may also enhance the research on this topic.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the important but neglected role of retail formats in the transfer and positioning decisions of international retailers. The paper examines the role of core and country-specific attributes of particular formats in determining retailers' local positioning in inter-format competition.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Focussing on three distinguished grocery formats (i.e. discounters, supermarkets, and hypermarkets) and using multiple-group structural equation models, the authors conducted consumer surveys in Germany and Romania to evaluate consumer perceptions of the core attributes of those formats and their influence on retail brand equity and consumer loyalty.\nFindings: Although consumer perceptions of core attributes differ between formats in Germany and Romania, most of the core attributes of the formats affect retail brands with equal strength in both markets. Retail brand equity determines loyalty to all formats in both countries.\nResearch limitations/implications: Retailers transferring their formats to foreign countries should place particular emphasis on managing the core attributes of a specific format, as these attributes are of paramount importance in establishing a strong brand. Additional country-specific attributes are also relevant to varying extents, depending on the particular format that is used. Assessing causal relationships extends retailer knowledge of the role of format attributes.\nOriginality/value: This study proposes a format-specific approach that is novel to international retailing research. The country comparison strengthens the study's implications, considers both a developed and an emerging economy, and accounts for the preference of Western European retailers to expand into Eastern European countries. The paper concludes that format transfer and positioning decisions occur within the boundaries of core format attributes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Auditing Corporate Governance Statements in Greece - the role of internal auditors
|
[
"Internal control",
"Internal auditing",
"Corporate Governance Statements"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate governance is considered as a top priority in most of the publicly and in a certain amount of non-publicly listed enterprises, as it involves a large number of stakeholders such as Board of Directors (BoD), Executives, Non-Executives, Investors, Governments and Academics. \"Corporate Governance\" as a term first appeared in the 1980s (Earl, 1983). Yet, the field of corporate governance has been previously encountered in the prevalent model of Principal-Agent (Agency) theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Committee of Sponsoring Organizations\n3. Methodology: Our sample constitutes of all large (20) and medium (25) capitalization companies listed in the Athens Stock Market. The reason we focused only on publicly listed firms is the legal obligation to develop Corporate Governance Statements annually and set up an Internal Audit Department. Our questions were focused on Corporate Governance and Internal audit. SPSS was also utilized to create hicks which demonstrate views of different stakeholders. The results, with this method, can drive us to come up with specific conclusions. The research took place in Athens, Greece from October to December 2017.\n4. Empirical findings: 4.1 Demographics\n5. Conclusions: The study makes an important contribution to recent academic research by providing valuable insights into the major aspects of Auditing Corporate Governance Statements as we conclude that Internal Auditors limit their role in verifying the compliance with the relevant laws and regulations rather than play a consulting role toward the improvement of the content and quality of Corporate Governance Statements information. In addition, the findings of the study are important from a practical perspective, as enable professionals to better understand the components of internal control systems.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of internal audit with respect to Auditing Corporate Governance Statements based on a practical approach. Moreover, it examines the application of internal control best practices in the Athens publicly listed firms based on a series of related statements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted all large and medium capitalization publicly listed companies via a research questionnaire which forms a basis of a descriptive research analysis. The methodology is based on the best worldwide acceptable practices as represented by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations internal control - integrated framework, as well as the relevant laws and regulations and best practices with respect to Corporate Governance Statements.\nFindings: The research concludes that internal auditors limit their role in verifying compliance with the relevant laws and regulations rather than adopt a consulting role toward the improvement of the content and quality of Corporate Governance Statements information. Also, it contributes to the corporate governance research by verifying that the effectiveness of internal controls contributes to sound corporate governance practices.\nPractical implications: Internal auditors depending on the organization they serve may adopt different roles regarding Corporate Governance Statements preparation, review and audit such as consultative which may add value to the quality of Corporate Governance Statements.\nOriginality/value: It is the first research regarding quality characteristics of the Corporate Governance Statements and the role of internal audit in Greece, and it provides the basis for further research among European Union countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
What's the best entrepreneur learning style? Experimentation, observation - or a bit of both?
|
[
"Entrepreneurs",
"Learning",
"Cognition",
"Start-ups",
"Entrepreneurial education",
"High-technology firms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: If he did not possess the skills of delegation, entrepreneur Richard Branson would not have time to skydive, abseil off a Las Vegas casino, attempt world-record flights in hot air balloons, or drive an amphibious car across the English Channel. He would be too busy at the office, worrying about spreadsheets and strategies.\nStrong interest in founding team learning traits and interactions: Organizational learning in a business setting is often highly experiential by nature and within business disciplines, \"entrepreneuring\" knowledge is viewed as among the most highly tacit and most easily acquired through experiential learning activities. It is, therefore, not surprising that many theories of entrepreneurial learning heavily emphasize \"learning by doing\" to augment relatively explicit technology or market-specific domain knowledge with more tacit knowledge of \"how to be an entrepreneur\".\nGrasping knowledge from more than one learning styles: In an attempt to find out whether there is a prevalent entrepreneurial learning style trait associated with successful knowledge industry entrepreneurial practice, Dr Gemmell used the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, whose creator, Dr David Kolb, asserts that learners have a preference for certain learning modes that are mapped into a two-dimensional space with two axes, one that measures how a learner acquires experience and the other for how they process experience into new meaning and understanding.\nComment: This review is based on \"Learning styles of entrepreneurs in knowledge-intensive industries\" by Robert M. Gemmell, who explores whether there is a prevalent entrepreneurial learning style trait associated with successful knowledge industry entrepreneurial practice. The paper reviews prior entrepreneurship studies utilizing experiential learning theory and - using the Kolb Learning Style Inventory - examines the learning style preferences of 168 knowledge industry entrepreneurs to deduce a hypothesized entrepreneurial learning style.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Preference for the Kolb Active Experimentation (AE) learning mode over Reflective Observation (RO) predicts adoption of a key entrepreneurial innovation behavior and significant entrepreneurial performance benefits. In contrast to published theories, the RO learning mode exhibits surprizing negative effects on entrepreneurial performance. Data analysis also reveals that 90 per cent of sampled co-founder/partners had at least one partner with the hypothesized entrepreneurial style.\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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] |
Students' use of one to one laptops: a capability approach analysis
|
[
"1:1 laptops",
"ICT supported learning",
"Education",
"The capability approach",
"Students",
"Learning",
"Information technology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is undeniable that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have had an impact on education. ICTs are said to be able to improve education in many ways, e.g. improve the delivery of education, improve the learning process, improve students' writing, support more interaction and reduce the teachers' workload (Venable et al., 2011; Lei and Zhao, 2008; Grimes and Warschauer, 2008). Technology is being introduced at all levels of education and it is increasingly common for students to receive a laptop to supplement their regular classroom learning (1:1 laptops). In Sweden, where the research presented in this paper takes place, the first initiatives came from private schools wishing to gain a business advantage. However, with increased emphasis on IT skills in the national school curriculum (Skolverket, 2011) the number of 1:1 laptop schools is increasing in both private and public schools. The rationale behind 1:1 implementations is that the new opportunities provided by the laptops should improve the learning in schools (Bebell and O'Dwyer, 2010; Peck and Sprenger, 2008). The positive effects of the use are, however, not always clear and there is little empirical evidence of the effects (Bebell and O'Dwyer, 2010; Johnson and Maddux, 2008). What is clear, however, is that exposure to technology does not automatically lead to meaningful usage or knowledge acquisition (Madon, 2000). The laptop \"is only the first step toward using the technology as an effective instructional and learning tool\" (Silvernail and Buffington, 2009, p. 13). Too much focus on technology may divert our attention away from what really matters: \"It is really not about the laptops. It's about what the 1:1 laptops enable in terms of new ways of teaching and learning\" (Dunleavy et al., 2007, p. 451).Commonly studied 1:1 laptop themes are success factors for the implementation of computers in schools such as the teachers' importance and the need for school-level leadership (Bebell and Kay, 2010; Drayton et al., 2010). For teachers the benefits are often in terms of management and administrative efficiency rather than pedagogical changes (Lai and Pratt, 2008). Regarding outcomes for students, 1:1 laptops are said to lead to, e.g. a more fun learning environment, students writing longer essays, improvements in scientific skills, the use of more sources and increased critical thinking (Grimes and Warschauer, 2008; Bebell and Kay, 2010; Dunleavy and Heinecke, 2008; Efaw et al., 2004). On the negative side there are reports on increased plagiarism, disruptive social media use and students having difficulties assessing information on internet (Lai and Pratt, 2008; DeGagne and Wolk, 2007). Most studies on the effects of 1:1 laptops are quantitative and report the results from a teacher's perspective. If we are to understand the effects laptops have on students we have to take a broader approach. We have to focus on the outcomes, not just as quantifiable measures in test scores, and we have to look at the positive as well as the negative effects.In this study we evaluate the effects that 1:1 laptops have on students from a capability perspective. In doing so, we investigate the perceived positive and negative outcomes of students' use of computers in their education. Our interest is not only in changes related to the learning situation, but rather in how 1:1 laptops enable or restrict students' choices and opportunities. The motivation for using the capability approach (CA) in this study is its focus on the enablement of valued opportunities for individuals. A key factor in education is the students' agency, not only as prerequisites to act on choices offered, but also in terms of the students' autonomy. CA also helps us move away from superficial variables of use and access (Madon, 2004) and enables us to take a holistic perspective on the effects that 1:1 laptops have on students' well-being and agency. Using CA also forces us to take an individualistic approach where inequalities within a population are not hidden. The research question for the study is:\nThe CA as a theoretical framework: The theoretical framework used in this study is Amartya Sen's CA (Sen, 1992, 1999, 1980, 1984). CA has primarily been used to evaluate interventions in developing countries, but Sen never meant for CA to be exclusively used in \"traditional\" development contexts. Even those not belonging to the poorest can of course be in need of better health facilities, better education, etc. (Sen, 1999). CA is a broad framework that can be used for a variety of aims (Robeyns, 2005a, b). The focus of CA is the expansion of people's freedoms, so that they can live a life they have reason to value. This can either be achieved by making new freedoms available or by removing unfreedoms (Sen, 1999). CA focuses on capacities and the creation of societies where individuals can realize their potentials (Prakash and De, 2007).Main concepts in the CA\nMethod: The method for this study is an interpretive case study (Walsham, 1993, 1995). The case study methodology was chosen because it is well suited to answer both the how and why questions and because it enables us to generate a theory from practice (Benbasat et al., 1987). This is suitable for this study since our aim is to evaluate and understand the development process for the students, i.e. we do not only want to list what the 1:1 outcomes are, we also want to understand why and how these outcomes occur. Case studies mean that we study a phenomenon in its natural setting and that we can use multiple data collection methods or respondent groups to validate our findings (Benbasat et al., 1987). The case study being interpretive means that we \"[...] attempt to understand phenomena through accessing the meanings that participants assign to them\" (Orlikowski and Baroudi, 1991).Case description\nOne-to-one laptop outcomes: From the analysis of the data five themes emerged representing the increase and decrease in the students' agency and well-being. The themes relate to positive and negative effects on: learning; health and security; technology access; social behaviour; and educational management (for the frequencies of the themes see Tables I and II at the end of this section).Effects on learning\nDiscussion: We have demonstrated that a great number of freedoms have been increased and decreased due to the introduction of 1:1 laptops. Many of the new opportunities are valued by the students and lead to positive outcomes when acted upon. The major positive outcomes include a more fun learning environment, efficiency gains, increased access to information and support for their education management. On the negative side the major factor is distraction.In our study we see that students often are expected to be able to make their own choices. A decrease in teacher-lead time and an increase of individual work means that students have to take more responsibility for their learning and for choosing among the opportunities offered. Earlier research has shown that too much individual work decreases students' performance (Hansson, 2010), and it has also been shown that there has been a trend towards increased individualism before 1:1 laptops (Lindblad and Sahlstrom, 1999). The increased responsibilities and choices that the 1:1 laptops have caused have both positive and negative outcomes. On the positive side some students report to have become more self-reliant and analytical in their learning. However, the decrease of teachers' ability to observe what is going on together with the more individualistic approach to learning have caused problem for students. Distractions from social media and computer games have been difficult to control and the students often have to handle the responsibilities on their own. The aspects of choice and what is personally being valued are problematic. When relating the findings to the dimensions of choice (Kleine, 2010) there are a number of concerns:\nConclusion: This study investigated what 1:1 laptop use has meant for students in regards to their well-being and their ability to act on opportunities. We found that students were provided with more choices, which they sometimes had difficulties finding strategies coping with. The outcomes of the opportunities and choices also differ among students. Conversion factors such as how motivated the students are, what rules and norms the schools have, etc. enable and restrict the students' choices differently. New enabled opportunities meant that the students' agency and well-being were increased. However, we also found that some of the new opportunities, when acted upon, led to negative outcomes for some students. In many cases the students also lost the choice not to use the laptop. Hence, even though the 1:1 laptops have expanded the students' capability set they have also restricted some of their choices.School policies, rules and regulations also have an effect on how the students cope with the new opportunities. In lower grades, schools often have rules preventing the children from, e.g. using social media that can be disruptive for their learning. From the seventh grade and upwards the students are, however, free to use the laptops as they see fit. For some, the increased freedom is positive but for others this freedom results in more choices than they can handle. They become less social and their schoolwork is suffering. Students need to be supported by the schools and parents, and be equipped with tools to handle the increase in choices. The by far most mentioned disadvantage was that many students felt that the laptop was a distraction that diverted their attention from the learning and that they lacked strategies on how to overcome this distraction. Many students also reported having become less active and that their social behaviour had changed from face-to-face communication to online communication. Another negative outcome was that some students felt that the teaching and learning had become too computer dependent and that they missed the choice to use pen and paper in their studies. Moreover, some students' health was negatively affected, with back problems and headaches reported, and in some cases the laptops even posed risks to the personal security due to an increased risk of being robbed.On the positive side the most apparent valued new opportunities were related to the efficiency with which the students go about their schoolwork and the increased access to more information on internet. New tools also enabled students to use different media to fit their individual learning styles. This was very apparent for students with disabilities who now were provided with tools to significantly overcome their disabilities. Provision of free laptops also meant more equal access to computers. Students also report improved management of activities and materials; to have all information and schoolwork in one place (the laptop) increased their agency. In regards to students' well-being the students mentioned a more \"fun\" learning environment.Implications for practice: our findings show major challenges concerning how responsibility for successful schoolwork should be distributed among teachers and students during the different stages students pass through as they grow older. The same goes for the overall leadership challenge which is yet little addressed in the schools. Rules and agreements for access to internet are policy issues which have direct implications on students' work and performance. The positive outcomes also need to be supported and strengthened. While this is partly a teacher development issue there is also a need for management leadership in providing opportunities so as to make pedagogy and student development a shared issue at the school, not left up to each teacher - or even student - in splendid isolation. This paper has pointed to a large number of issues involved with 1:1, some of which are legally regulated responsibilities for school management, such as health and safety issues. This, in combination with the sheer number of issues that have to be addressed implies that school management must take a clear overall responsibility. The paper contributes to that by providing a model for 1:1 implementation issues.Implications for research: this study takes a holistic view of the effects of 1:1 laptops in school and we see a need for further research in several areas. For example, how different school rules and policies affect students' agency and well-being and different solutions to support the students in their choices. Our main contribution is pointing to the wide variety of issues involved and the role of these issues for the outcome of education for students. CA has proven to be effective in understanding these factors and their effects. However, a lot of research is needed to find solutions that are effective not just for single issues but also in terms of optimizing 1:1 education at system level, taking all factors and the interrelationship among them into account.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of students' 1:1 laptop use from a capability perspective by investigating increases and decreases of students' opportunities and choices. The paper investigates changes that have taken place and how these changes enable or restrict students to do and be what they desire.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper undertakes an interpretive case study based on group interviews and questionnaires. Sen's capability approach is used as theoretical framework and has informed the data collection and the analysis.\nFindings: - 1:1 laptops in schools have provided students with new opportunities and choices, but also restricted others. An evident opportunity is the equalization of access to computers. Other opportunities relate to schoolwork efficiency and increased access to information. Gains also include the use of different media for overcoming disabilities or to fit individual learning styles. Regarding students' well-being, a \"fun\" learning environment is mentioned. However, the \"fun\" is often about playing games or using social media - something which diverts the students' attention from the learning. Students also find that they are less social, too computer dependent, and that they miss using pen and paper. Additionally, health issues such as back problems and headaches are reported, as well as an increased risk of being robbed.\nOriginality/value: - Most research on 1:1 laptops in education focuses on easily quantifiable measures and reports from a teacher perspective. The paper takes a broader approach and investigates the impact 1:1 laptops have on students' well-being and agency.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Analyzing bloggers data on software design patterns and applications integration; methodology and implementation
|
[
"Internet",
"Communication technologies",
"Communication",
"Public opinion"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: There are different methodologies available for accessing data on the internet including; link analysis, transactions log analysis and blogs trend analysis. Such data often provides a good source of information and represents a current and real picture of the use of technologies and the views of implementers and researchers.Blogs (a term that is short for weblogs) are considered by many as a means of getting public opinion about various topics. Blog are increasingly growing and are a source of first-hand information. One of the main features of blogs that has been instrumental in its popularity is the ease in which it can be set up. It is free and is used by both individuals as well as teams as a means of communicating opinions and/or help collaboration across teams. There are various definitions for what a blog means;A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically - like a \"what's new\" page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly - from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction (www.blogger.com, 2006).A blog is your easy-to-use web site, where you can quickly post thoughts, interact with people, and more - all for free (www.blogpulse.com, 2006).This paper targets blogs posted on the internet and that are related to discussions on two software development domains: integration solutions and software design patterns. Section 2 and 3 introduce the reader to the definitions and concepts of integrations solutions and software design patterns, respectively. Section 4 lays down the methodology that has been developed and later used to analyse bloggers posts on two subject areas. Section 5 is dedicated to the documentation of the data collection and analysis on the selected topics. Section 6 elaborates on the findings that has been drawn from the exercise of studying blogs posted on the two subject areas along with own conclusion.\n2 Enterprise applications integration (EAI) and web services: Different approaches to integrate disparate information and communication technology (ICT) applications have evolved as a result of series of mergers and acquisitions, and the use of different platforms. This has resulted in solutions such as platform integration, data integration, component integration and application integration. A so-called concept of EAI has been coined to represent efforts of integrating different technologies, multiple platforms, and different systems into a unified operation for the support of business process. Web services-based solutions are the latest in the progress of EAI, and although they started as a new form of EAI, they are so widely accepted and well received by industry and academia to the extent that they are now a category in their own within the integration domain.Practitioners implementing web services-based solution for applications integration have realized that this concept is wider than being restricted to the boundaries of application integration. Web services have now paved the way to the service-oriented architecture (SOA) and the support for business agility. One major concern of application software adopters has been the speed with which software applications would cope with dynamic nature of the today's businesses. Web services enthusiasts promise that SOA would enable - through loosely coupling - the flexibility needed to modify applications to support business changes.\n3 Software design patterns: Theorists and practitioners of ICT applications have always challenged the issues of reusing software within software applications. These efforts have resulted in emergence of object-oriented architecture and object-oriented analysis and design, both have contributed to the solution for the problems of software reuse. The concept of software design patterns is one that attempts to address issues of software reuse. The idea of software design patterns is not new as it emerged from the architectural profession in the late 1970s when Christopher Alexander from the University of California at Berkley published a catalogue of architectural design patterns. He defined a pattern as:Each pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice (Gamma et al., 1995, p. 2).The concept of patterns found its way into software profession and was first presented at the 1987 object-oriented programming, systems, language and applications conference by Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham with design patterns for Smalltalk. This was then followed by James Coplien publishing patterns for C++ few years later. The year 1995 saw the first definitive work on software design patterns when Eric Gamma and three other researchers published their book: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-oriented Software (Roger, 2002, pp. 74-5).Gamma et al. (1995, pp. 6-7) used a \"consistent format\" to define their patterns and grouped patterns into a catalogue. The template they used to define patterns consisted of 13 sections.\n4 Methodology: The methodology developed here covers the collection of data, data cleansing and data analysis for bloggers posts. This methodology uses a combination of some of link analysis process ideas (Thelwall, 2004) and blog trend analysis fetaures from BlogPulse.com. BlogPulse applies machine-learning and natural-language processing techniques to discover trends in blogs. BlogPulse includes features such as blog search engine, Buzz-Tracking, blog stats and trend search blogger profiles (www.blogpulse.com). The following steps were followed to collect and analyse blogs data:* Decide on the search criteria to be used for collecting data that is relevant to your area of interest. The process starts by identifying several groups for the search followed by identification of number of keywords to be used in the search within each group. When used within broader research, the blogs posts data could help to support or otherwise data collection and analysis performed using other methodologies within the research, such as online survey and literature review.* Perform keywords search using BlogPulse search engine on blogs data. BlogPulse represents search results in a graphical form similar to the one illustrated in Appendix 1.* Identify number of points from resulted graph that represent higher values in the distribution and obtain details of blogs mentioned for each of the points selected. This is obtained within BlogPulse search by mouse click on each point identified, which results in a list of blogs topics that represent each point.* Drill-down blogs for the selected points by clicking on each entry in the list and obtaining details of the discussion. Data cleansing is also performed at this stage to identify if the contents of blogs are relevant to the subject titles. Collected data is organized according to predefined groups.* Data analysis to identify commonalities among blogs data selected, followed by interpretation of the summarized data.\n5 Data analysis: 5.1 Data analysis for integration solutions group\n6 Conclusion: The proposed methodology is intended to reveal interesting and hidden relationships between different areas, and it does not demand intensive resources. The methodology should be best used in conjunction with other research methodologies such as surveys. This would help validation of the outcome from the methodology and serves as further evidence for the analysis results. The methodology could also be further enriched by incorporating some of the validity evidence techniques as suggested by link analysis methodology (Thelwall, 2004, pp. 41-3).The process of drilling down blogs posts could take longer if it is required to go into each of the posts and obtain details of the discussion. This is why a sampling process was used instead.This should not however have a serious impact on the results, as the technique is understood to follow a sampling process rather than the full data population. For example, sample of the blogs data taken during this exercise is for a specific period of December 2005-June 2006. Whilst authors performed their own analysis for the blogs posts collected throughout this process, data collected might be useful to other researchers investigating blogs in similar topics.This exercise has been specific to two domains of bloggers, the methodology and templates used could be generalized for use with any bloggers domain.Graphical representation of collected data could be used to discover new relationships, trends and commonalities among selected search groups (Figures 1 and 2).Volume of data collected for any given blogs topic would be affected by how accurate are the blogs contents. Spelling mistakes, for example, could lead to casting off for some relevant data.Abbreviations and casual use of terminology could also lead to reduction in size of collected data (e.g. SDP rather than software design patterns).Another example is that people in software industry might use the phrase \"design patterns\" to refer to \"software design patterns\" as they tend to implicitly refer to software as their domain. This is clearly shown in Figure 2 where the number of blogs for \"software design patterns\" is smaller than those of \"design patterns +.NET\".\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Blogs (a term that is short for weblogs) are one mean of getting public opinions about important topics. Several techniques could be used to reveal important views and directions from the analysis of blogs posted on the internet. The paper investigates issues concerning blogs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper applies a methodology to investigate blogs on domains of software design patterns and integration solutions within information technology community.\nFindings: - The methodology developed and implemented is an end-to-end approach to the collection, cleansing and analysis of bloggers posts.\nOriginality/value: - While the paper addresses a specific sector of bloggers, the methodology and templates used could be implemented and further improved for use with any other bloggers segment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Identifying crucial sustainability assessment criteria for container seaports
|
[
"Sustainability",
"Confirmatory factor analysis",
"Port"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the rapid development of economic activities and unlimited waste of natural resources, the environment where we dwelled is facing serious deterioration. Over the past decades, consciousness of environmental protection has dramatically risen in the fields of governments and enterprises. World Commission on Environment and Development addressed growing concerns about the deterioration of human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development in the Brundtland Commission in 1987 (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). In addition, an important decision of the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009 required developed countries to comply with regulations or laws for decreasing the total amount of emission of carbon dioxide (The UN Global Compact, 2010). Also, the issues of labor safety and community development had drawn much attention and been discussed in the conference. In 2009, 106 UN members have been recognized to establish their national sustainable development policies (The UN Global Compact, 2010). Therefore, business organizations play an\nLiterature review: Definition of sustainability\nMethodology: Questionnaire design and determination of measures\nResearch methods: Several research methods were used in this study. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify and summarize a large number of sustainability criteria into a smaller, manageable set of underlying factors or dimensions (Hair et al., 2010). Further, a reliability test was conducted to assess whether these safety dimensions were adequate. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then conducted to verify measurement models. This involved the use of structural equation modelling software AMOS 18.0 to analyze measurement models, assess psychometric properties and specify the relationships among the latent variables and the proposed measures. Finally, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine whether difference existed between the three designated container ports in the level of importance of the sustainability assessment dimensions.\nResults of analyses: Profile of respondents\nConclusion and implications: The objective of this research is to identify crucial sustainability criteria and examine sustainability assessment dimensions in the context of container port. Data collection was based on a questionnaire survey from 135 managers or supervisors at major container port corporations, Keelung, Taichung and Kaohsiung, in Taiwan. A total of 31 important sustainable assessment criteria were adapted from previous studies which were related to environmental, economic and social dimensions. Results revealed that social issues with respect to employee job security and safety ranked the most important sustainable assessment criterion, followed by considering environmental protection when handling cargo, facilitating to economic activities, port traffic accidents prevention and ensuring cargo handled safely and effectively. Nevertheless, respondents showed that the following sustainability items are less important: mitigating light influence on neighboring residents, considering the arrangement of vehicles when constructing port transportation system, avoiding using unpolluted land in port area, hiring minority groups and consulting interests groups when making port projects. Four sustainability assessment factors were identified as environmental material, economic issue, environmental practices and social concerns. The research findings indicated that economic issue was deemed as the most important dimension in the container port sustainability assessment context in Taiwan, followed by environmental practices, social concern and environmental material.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify crucial sustainability assessment criteria in the context of international port sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data collection was based on a questionnaire survey from 135 managers and supervisors at major international ports in Taiwan, including Keelung, Taichung and Kaohsiung. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to identify crucial sustainability assessment criteria at ports.\nFindings: A total of 31 important sustainable assessment criteria were adapted from previous studies in terms of environmental, economic and social issues. Results revealed that social issues with respect to staff job security and safety were ranked as the most important sustainability assessment criteria, followed by environmental protection when handling cargo, facilitation of economic activities, port traffic accidents prevention and cargo handled safely and effectively. In contrary, respondents revealed their less importance in the criteria, namely, mitigating light influence on neighboring residents, considering the arrangement of vehicles when constructing port transportation system, avoiding using unpolluted land in port area and hiring minority groups and consulting interests groups when making port projects. Four sustainability assessment dimensions were identified, namely, environmental material, economic issue, environmental practices and social concerns.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research findings indicated that economic issue was deemed as the most important dimension of sustainability assessment criteria from a port operator's perspective, followed by environmental practices, social concerns and environmental material. Practical implications for port sustainability assessment were discussed in this research.\nOriginality/value: Although a majority of previous studies on sustainability assessment have been discussed, there is still a lack of investigation of sustainability assessment in the context of port sector. This study not only develops sustainability assessment attributes but also highlights the important criteria of sustainability assessment. Further, this study identified four crucial sustainability assessment factors, which provide helpful information for port corporations to identify important criteria and policy of sustainability assessment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Ease of doing business and FDI inflow to Sub-Saharan Africa and Asian countries
|
[
"Sub Saharan Africa",
"Asia",
"International investments",
"International business",
"Business climate",
"Determinants of FDI"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Globalization has fueled an explosion of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging and developing economies. This is evident from the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the developing economies of Asia. FDI is not only a major source of external capital, but also a contributor to the economic growth and development (De Gregorio, 1992; Guasch, 2002; Harris, 2003; Lensink and Morrissey, 2000; Olivia and Rivera-Batiz, 2002). The inflow of FDI to Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries lags behind other regions of the world. This is despite the fact that African countries have made significant efforts to attract FDI. Lai (2001) noted that since the mid-1980s most African countries have taken steps to liberalize their economies that include foreign investment promotions; improvements in the legal and regulatory framework for FDI, removal of entry and foreign-owned restrictions, establishment of investment promotion agencies to publicize business opportunities and international regulation of investments through bilateral investment treaties. Since the end of the 1990s, many African countries have introduced other reforms to improve governance, build institutional capacity and strengthen legal and judicial systems. They have also made efforts to increase investment opportunities in infrastructure development, natural resources, exploration in non-traditional minerals, technology, agriculture and trade. Poor countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger took measures to encourage a favorable domestic business climate and made significant reforms.Despite efforts to provide an environment to encourage FDI flows to SSA and the vast investment opportunities in these countries, there is a general marginalization of the region as shown by a slow growth of FDI inflows to this region. These countries are not getting their fair share of overall worldwide increase in FDI inflows. They lag behind in FDI participation compared with the developing economies in Asia. Previously, developing economies in Africa and Asia received almost similar amount of FDI in 1980, which was 0.73 and 0.80 per cent of world total, respectively (Table I). However, by 1990, developing economies in Asia were receiving almost eight times as much as those in Africa. By 2004, developing economies in Asia were in receipt of 21.57 per cent of world total FDI compared to 2.64 per cent to developing economies in Africa. Apart from the lower levels of FDI in SSA, there are also noticeable changes in the sources of these investments. Traditionally, the bulk of FDI inflows to SSA originated from the USA, France, Japan and the UK (UNCTAD, 1999, p. 10). But, China is currently emerging to be one of the biggest FDI participants in SSA and its single largest trading partner. It is a major supplier to SSA. Exports to SSA in 2005 totaled US$13 billion compared to US$3.5 billion in 2002 (IMF, 2007).Attracting FDI to SSA countries is very critical to the future development and growth of this region. Asiedu (2006) suggested that inflow of FDI to this region will help United Nations (UN) achieve its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing poverty rates by half in 2015. The UN General Assembly adopted the MDG in September 2000 to reduce the number of people living on less than a dollar a day by 50 per cent. About 48 per cent of the people in this region live on less than a dollar a day compared to 4 per cent in Eastern and Central Europe, 15 per cent in East Asia, 12 per cent in Latin America, 2 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa, 40 per cent in South Asia, and 24 per cent in all developing countries. It is estimated that the region will need to bring in about US$64 billion in the form of FDI in order to eliminate poverty. Therefore, an understanding of the reasons and ways to attract FDI to African countries is essential. However, only a few studies have investigated the FDI inflow to SSA region.The determinants of FDI in this region seem to be characteristically different from those in other countries. Morisset (2000) suggested that few African countries were able to attract more FDI by improving their business environment. However, Asiedu (2002) showed that in non-SSA countries high return on investment and better infrastructure tended to increase FDI to these countries but improvement in these factors was not accompanied by increased FDI to SSA countries. In addition, increased openness in SSA countries was only marginally effective. The geography of these countries was in some way a major influence on the FDI inflow. Lemi and Asefa (2003) showed that political and economic uncertainties did not have a significant influence on overall FDI from all sources. However, political stability and government policy commitment had a significant impact on FDI from US manufacturing sector. Also, economic uncertainties had a negative impact on FDI from US non-manufacturing sector to African countries when combined with political instability and debt burden of the host countries. Other factors that had a negative influence on FDI flow to African countries included labor, trade connection, size of export sector, external debt, and market size. Yasin (2005) found that bilateral development assistance, openness, growth rate in labor force and exchange had significant positive influence on the FDI inflow to African countries. But interestingly multilateral development assistance, growth rate in GDP per capita, country's composite risk level and the index of freedom and civil liberties did not have a significant impact on FDI inflow. Asiedu (2006) concluded that large local markets, natural resource endowments, good infrastructure, low inflation, an efficient legal system and a good investment framework promote FDI, and corruption and political instability have the opposite effect.The above studies have advanced our understanding of the determinants of the inflow of FDI to African countries. However, most of the variables used in these studies are at the macro-level. The companies that invest in African countries may base their decisions on potential difficulties in operating their subsidiaries in the host countries. There are no empirical studies that have addressed issues that may facilitate or obstruct smooth functioning of a commercial or a business organization. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between factors that influence conducting business in African countries and the inflow of FDI. For this purpose, this study used a set of factors that were identified by the World Bank in a recent survey. The database compiled by The World Bank (2006) includes indicators that are called \"ease of doing business.\" The ease of doing business economy ranking was originally used to measure the extent to which the regulatory environment of an economy is conducive to the operation of business in 175 countries of the world. It is a composite index based on data on ten factors that include:1. starting a business;2. dealing with licenses;3. employing workers;4. registering property;5. getting credit;6. protecting investors;7. paying taxes;8. trading across borders;9. enforcing contracts; and10. closing a business.Ratings for each of these factors were based on several sub-factors which are provided in the Appendix. The present study explores the influence of these factors on FDI inflow to SSA countries and compares it with relationship between these two variables in Asian countries.Several factors, including starting a business, dealing with licenses, registering property and enforcing contracts are affected by the number of procedures, time and cost involved in these procedures. In addition, employing workers may present other problems that include difficulty of hiring and firing, freedom to make schedule of work, wages and other labor costs. The factors that relate to financial constraints include getting credit, protecting investors and paying taxes. Getting credit may vary from country to country depending on the legal rights and credit information. The procedures related to investor relations may also present significant challenges to a company investing in a given country. If a company would export to or import from a third country or to the home country, number of documents, the cost and the time needed may present unique obstacles. Finally, in case a company has to wind up its operations, the time it takes and the cost involved may be high and the recovery of the assets may not be easy.In short, the ease of doing business factors seem to address the concerns an MNE may have before making a decision to invest in a foreign country. These factors may determine the success or failure of an international venture. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that \"ease of doing business\" as an overall index and its factors would be positively related to the inflow of FDI to SSA and Asian countries. Furthermore, the present study also investigated possible reasons for higher inflow of FDI to Asian countries. It was hypothesised that Asian countries provide a better business climate and therefore will have more positive ratings as defined and measured by the World Bank's ease of doing business index and its factors.\nMethodology: Sample\nDiscussion: The findings of the study show a partial support for the hypothesised relationship between overall index of ease of doing business and its factors with FDI. A positive relationship between the overall index of ease of doing business and FDI was found for the combined sample during the years 2000 and 2001 and for SSA countries in the years 2001and 2005. However, ease of doing business and FDI were not significantly related in any of the years from 2000 to 2005 for Asian countries. Various factors were found to be related to FDI for various years for the combined sample as well as SSA and Asian countries as shown by Table VII. For SSA countries in addition to the overall index, two factors, getting credit and protecting investors, were related to FDI. For Asian countries, two other factors, trading across borders and enforcing contracts, were related to FDI. However, for the combined sample, several factors were related to FDI. These include: employing workers, registering property, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing business.It seems that MNEs are not always influenced by the ease of doing business factors in making investment decisions in African and Asian countries. A possible reason is that MNEs are making such decisions based on the vast markets Asian countries have to offer. China and India have millions of middle and upper middle class consumers who want a wide range of goods and services MNEs have to offer. Asian countries also have a large pool of well-trained personnel. Though employing workers was a factor included in the study and yielded a moderate relationship in the combined sample, but it does not seem to be a direct measure of the educated and trained pool of professionals and workers. Surprisingly, three factors that included starting business, dealing with licenses and paying taxes were not related to average FDI or FDI for any of the year from 2000 to 2005 in either SSA or Asian countries or the combined sample. It is interesting to note that Singapore, for example, that has the highest ranking for the ease of doing business among the Asian countries studied and second in the world, received only 12 per cent of the total FDI flows to the region in 2005. In contrast, China ranked 108 of the 175 countries rated but received 43.9 per cent of the total FDI inflows of $165 billion in the same year. Moreover, China consistently attracted the largest portion of FDI inflows to the region over the period 2000-2005. Indonesia and India also have low rankings but attract substantial portions of FDI inflows. The countries with larger populations seem to be more attractive to MNEs simply because of their market potential.Similarly, among SSA countries, Nigeria, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo that have low economic rankings for the ease of doing business are the largest beneficiaries of FDI in SSA. Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe, for example, have the same ranking of 115 but the former consistently received almost 20 per cent (second highest amount) of the total FDI inflow to the region while the latter received less than1 per cent. Mauritius, Malawi and Uganda have substantially higher rankings but receive less than 2 per cent of the total FDI inflow to SSA. The only exception among SSA countries is South Africa that has the best economic ranking and had the highest FDI in 2005, but not in the preceding five years.Another important finding of the study is significant differences between rankings of SSA countries and Asian countries in terms of overall index of ease of doing business and some factors that include starting a business, employing workers, registering property, paying taxes and trading across borders. In all cases, the SSA rankings are lower than the rankings of Asian countries. These differences may explain in part as to why Asian countries are receiving a larger proportion of FDI than SSA countries.The implications of these findings are that SSA countries should continue their efforts to improve the business climate in terms of the factors of ease of doing business as defined by The World Bank (2006) in order to attract more FDI than they have recently received. This study does not fully answer the question of why inflow to SSA countries has been so low as compared to Asian countries and other regions of the world. However, since SSA countries have less favorable ratings on some of the factors, it may be advisable to review their business climate relative to these factors and explore ways to improve it.This study also provides partial support to the hypothesis that FDI is related to the business climate as defined by the World Bank. It is possible that MNEs do not make foreign investment decisions based on business climate alone. They may be more attracted by the size of markets various countries have to offer. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should include the population of a country and the size of its middle class which can afford to buy products or services MNEs have to offer. Since foreign investments decisions are very complex, it is also suggested that future research may focus on directly surveying the MNEs in order to find out the determinants of FDI.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between factors that influence conducting business and the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Sub-Saharan African (SSA) and Asian countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The factors of business climate defined by the World Bank in 2006 as ease of doing business were correlated with FDI flows to SSA and Asian countries.\nFindings: - Two factors, \"registering property\" and \"trading across borders\", were found to be related to FDI over all six years of the study (2000-2005) for the combined sample. Also, several factors were found to be related to FDI received by SSA and Asian countries during various years.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A limitation of the study is that the sample included only SSA and Asian countries.\nPractical implications: - The findings may help SSA and other countries to improve the business climate in terms of the factors of ease of doing business, in order to attract more FDI.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides empirical support to the hypothesis that FDI is related to some of the factors of the business climate. It advances understanding of the determinants of the inflow of FDI to African and Asian countries and may be particularly useful to international organizations seeking to do business in SSA and Asian countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
An integrated model of corporate brand experience and customer value co-creation behaviour
|
[
"Service logic",
"Service-dominant logic",
"Retailing",
"Value co-creation",
"Customer behaviour",
"Brand experience",
"Customer attitude"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the last decade there has been a persistent debate on how value is created and who actually creates value in business. In the traditional view of business such as goods-dominant logic, it is perceived that value is created by firms during the production process and exchanges in the marketplace (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000). The customers, viewed as a passive audience and not involved in the design or production phase, experience value of the products, and services during the exchange (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000), that is, value-in-exchange (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Nonetheless, ever changing marketing trends make customers more knowledgeable. They want to see increased value in their consumption experiences, be part of the firm, and engage in the value creation process (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). Businesses are moving away from the traditional view to a new model where customers want to co-create unique experiences with the firms through interaction (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). In turn, interactions with a firm's brand make customers more loyal to the brand (Gentile et al., 2007). When interacting with firms, customers primarily engage in cognitive processes for making a decision based on their knowledge of the brand or other experiences (Payne et al., 2008). Cognitive thoughts and abilities enable their involvement in information search, knowledge sharing, and decision making (Payne et al., 2008). Consequently, customers start learning and co-creating value based on their experiences (Payne et al., 2008). Thus, experience becomes central to the value co-creation process (Ramaswamy, 2011).\nLiterature review: CBE\nMethods: Measurement instruments and pilot testing\nResults: Structural equation modelling (SEM) in AMOS 21.0 was used to analyse the data and test the hypotheses. Following the procedure suggested by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), the measurement model was first estimated (see Figure 1) followed by the structural model.\nDiscussion: This research provides a holistic view of customers' value co-creation behaviour from a brand experience perspective. Two extant theories are combined to develop an integrated model. The foundation of the model is based on congruity theory (Osgood and Tannenbaum, 1955) and theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1977). Congruity theory states that a person is more likely to have positive attitude towards an event, object, or a phenomenon if his beliefs are congruent with that specific event, object, or phenomenon (Lee and Jeong, 2014; Osgood and Tannenbaum, 1955). Literature using this theory in brand research posits that customers attitude and loyalty towards a specific brand is stronger if his beliefs are congruent with that brand (France et al., 2015; Kressmann et al., 2006). Aligned with these arguments, our findings show that customers whose beliefs are congruent with a hypermarket brand based on their experience are more likely to engage in value co-creation. Moreover, it is found that customers show positive attitude towards involvement in value co-creation if their family members, friends, or other social group members suggest them to do so. For instance, a customer is shopping in a hypermarket and is personally not interested in interacting with service employees for co-creation of value purposes, but may engage in interaction to co-create value based on the suggestions or pressure by his family who accompany him. The results support that the favourable attitude of a customer towards value co-creation can be either developed based on experience with the brand or based on the perceived pressure by social group members.\nConclusion and implications: This study investigates the impact of CBE on CVCCB through the mediation of CVCCA and SN. Results are unique and interesting. First, the study finds that CBE has significant impact on CVCCA and SN. Second, CVCCA partially mediates the relationship of CBE and CVCCB. Third, SN partially mediate the relationship of CBE with CVCCA as well as CVCCB. Finally, CVCCA and SN together fully mediate the relationship of CBE and CVCCB. This confirms that the CVCCA and SN together work better for mediating the relationship of CBE and CVCCB, hence the integration of the two theories.\nLimitations and future directions: Along with its interesting findings, the study has some limitations. First, the integrated model is tested in the retailing context only. For its generalizability to other industries, further validation is needed by incorporating customers of other service industries. Second, only customers' point of view is captured in this study. It is further recommended that data from management should be collected to see their branding strategies for developing a value co-creation environment. Third, the study is purely quantitative in nature therefore it is limited to identified constructs only. Another qualitative study can be beneficial in understanding true experiences of the customers and their attitude towards value co-creation. Future research also need to investigate the moderating role of cultural values in the integrated model to better reflect customers' attitude towards value co-creation from a cultural perspective. There is also a need for exploring other possible moderators such as social influence and customers' self-construals which may influence customers' attitude. Lastly, the research is carried out in one cultural context. Due to differences in cultural norms, cross-cultural extension of this work is highly recommended to validate the model in other Eastern as well as Western markets.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of corporate brand experience (CBE) on customer value co-creation attitude and behaviour (CVCCA and CVCCB). By integrating congruity theory with the theory of reasoned action, the study proposes an integrated model for developing CVCCB in a retailing context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structural Equation Modelling, using AMOS software was conducted using a sample of 711 respondents from four hypermarkets located in five Malaysian states.\nFindings: The research findings indicate that CBE plays a significant role for developing customer attitude and behaviour of value co-creation activities. Results show that CBE has a strong positive influence on CVCCA and subjective norms (SN) which further lead to CVCCB. SN were found to be a partial mediator between CBE and CVCCA. CVCCA was found to be a partial mediator between SN and CVCCB. Full mediation of CVCCA and SN between CBE and CVCCB is confirmed.\nOriginality/value: The research contributes to value co-creation literature by proposing an integrated model for developing CVCCB in retailing. This research opens avenues for future research to consider the importance of brand experiences in value co-creation practices.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
3 lessons for successful transformational change
|
[
"Change management",
"Change management institute",
"Change management office (CMO)",
"Transformational change"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The organisation is based in London and has offices across Europe. The transformational change was triggered by the arrival of a new Chief Executive, whose remit is to improve the relationship between the organisation and its customers, becoming more responsive to their needs and more aware of their commercial requirements.\nFirst steps in change: The Chief Executive began by outlining a new vision for the organisation, identifying a number of components that she believes are essential in increasing the value that the organisation provides to its users.\nLessons learned: I have been helping to implement this change, and whilst we are only one year into the journey, there are a number of recurring themes which are of interest, not only because they are raised so regularly as a part of this change, but because of how frequently they arise in other change initiatives in other types of organisation.\nConclusion: This has been a difficult paper to write, because it has brought to the surface my frustrations with this change initiative. None of the problems that I have outlined are insurmountable, but their impact has become significant as time has moved on. The loss of hope by staff that workloads will ever return to normal levels and the problems that customers have experienced as changes have been implemented piecemeal by different business units cannot be undone.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that defining how a change is to be planned and implemented is as important for its success as defining what the change is expected to achieve.\nDesign/methodology/approach: All information is drawn from the questions asked and the challenges raised by the senior managers responsible for the transformation of their organisation. For this reason, their names and the name of their organisation have been withheld and the description of what the organisation does contains insufficient information to enable it to be easily identified.\nFindings: Lack of central support for the change activities had led to duplication of effort, implementing the change via a \"silo\" based mentality has led to a lack of cooperation across business units, poor recognition of the time and effort needed to implement change has led to competition between change activities and business as usual activities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The information contained in this paper is from the perspective of an executive coach not working full time in the organisation, so who may be unaware of other initiatives in the organisation that may have contributed to the change effort.\nPractical implications: The conclusions drawn from this case study can be applied to any type of organisational change, in any industry and any size of organisation.\nOriginality/value: The practical activities and lessons learned shared in this paper are based on author's experiences with an ongoing transformational change initiative.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Health at work in small and medium sized enterprises: Issues of engagement
|
[
"Health and safety",
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises",
"Employee participation",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Context and aims of this paper\nMethods: This section will outline the rationale behind the choice of a case study approach that is qualitative and draws on an interpretative paradigm.Bowling (2002) argues that case studies are valuable for exploratory research where generating hypotheses is a key feature. The single case study contributes to the understanding of a wider situation, although the material is not necessarily generalisable. The FCAW project was thought to be especially relevant for a case study approach as the implementers had attempted to incorporate good practice from the literature available; however, the response rate was particularly low when compared to other studies. This offered an opportunity to learn from those aspects that appeared to have been unsuccessful and propose a framework that would assist in analysing the reasons for the low uptake. Therefore, FCAW was regarded as a bounded project and drawing on Stake (2000) is an instrumental case study because this approach provides insight into an issue and advances understanding.The researchers explored the problems and processes involved in engaging and maintaining active support from SMEs involved in the FCAW project. In order to achieve this, data was collected from the following sources: the project manager, documentation, and participating employers. The majority of data was collected during the evaluation of the project by the authors during 2001. This included: the background to the project, historical account of the recruitment/engagement onto the project (qualitative and quantitative), project documentation and correspondence to SMEs, statistics on participants including participation by district, business activity and size, stated health at work needs, telephone interview with participating and non-participating employers who agreed to take up services offered. The telephone interview included questions on the attraction of the project, benefits and barriers to participation and satisfaction with FCAW.Through the case study approach the particular and general features of the FCAW project are examined, many aspects of which are specific to FCAW and in particular to the Northeast region. Nevertheless, the authors believe that this case study also offers insight into future engagement of SMEs in workplace health promotion projects in other areas. Stake (2000 p. 437)) provides a taxonomy of issues that facilitate the undertaking of a particular case study. This taxonomy provides the structure for the study drawing on the following areas:* the nature of the case;* the case's historical background;* the physical setting;* the wider issues including the economic, political and legal contexts;* comparison with other case studies in order to recognise the case; and* informants about the case.\nResults: Aim of this section\nDiscussion: It is clear that FCAW failed to attract more than a handful of SMEs, despite endorsement from credible sources, the offer of free multidisciplinary services, including health and safety, and support tailored to individual needs. Given that the greatest problems encountered were both initial engagement and the retention of companies, we now want to consider these difficulties in the light of the current literature and then to propose an alternative model of engagement.Focus of project and perception of needs\nConclusion: The previous sections described FCAW using a case study approach in order to illustrate the main problems encountered when engaging SMEs and maintaining participation. Our conclusion is that the proposed model of engaging SMEs in health at work activities based on findings from the literature, the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, communication theory and aspects of social marketing could increase levels of engagement with SMEs. Nonetheless, making any conclusions from the existing SME literature is problematic for a number of reasons. For example, one cannot make assumptions about the nature of the SME, and business type and sector are not always taken into account (Marlow, 1998). Additionally, studies that have failed to recruit are rarely reported, whilst those who have are likely to have participants who are already committed or have prior awareness of the area.More in-depth knowledge about the attitudes, values and existing health at work activities in SMEs is needed. This could be achieved with schemes such as the TCS where we plan to test our model of engagement. Problems in operational stage definitions and measurement of change need to be overcome as with any research based on the transtheoretical model (Sutton, 2000).The benefits and cost effectiveness, financial and otherwise, of such initiatives need to be more formally assessed. More collaboration between the various agencies and the SMEs themselves may prove to be mutually beneficial in this area. Findings from FCAW suggest that SMEs identify a range of benefits and that these need to be included in developing and evaluating further health at work schemes targeting this area. It may be precisely the reasons why SMEs find engaging and participating in these initiatives difficult, which make it important that they receive the support to do so. Finally, raising awareness is likely to be an important outcome in its own right.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore a health at work initiative (\"Fair Chance at Work\") for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and identify opportunities for improving engagement of businesses in such activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case study approach is used\nFindings: - Two problems are identified - engagement and participation. A model of engagement incorporating aspects of Prochaska and DiClemente's transtheoretical model of behaviour change is proposed based on findings from the case study and existing literature. It is concluded that improving the engagement of SMEs requires a greater understanding of their current needs, perceptions and attitudes towards health at work. Schemes such as the Teaching Companies Scheme could be useful in testing the model.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The Teaching Companies Scheme could be useful in testing the model.\nPractical implications: - These findings may inform the development of health promotion projects to SMEs using an applied model behaviour change.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is useful to health promotion workers when developing projects in SMEs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Benchmarking of business incubators
|
[
"Strategy",
"Innovation",
"Spin-off",
"Benchmarking",
"Business incubator",
"Start-up",
"Science and technology park"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTheoretical framework: In some regions of the world it is possible to identify some areas of economic activity consisting of universities, research centres, industrial and territorial units that are engaged in research and technological development (Bozeman, 2000). Temporarily, incubators provide services to facilitate the development of new businesses such as spin-offs or start-ups (Caiazza and Audretsch, 2013). Specifically, these services include physical infrastructure, administrative support, technical support and access to financing, legal advice and networking (Freel, 2003). Thus, when they aim to promote innovation transfer, incubators help companies to prepare their business plans, provide funds and resources directly or indirectly, provide legal assistance and advice for drafting licensing agreements aimed at protecting intellectual property rights and facilitate the development of networks with other firms. Incubators are also committed to fostering relations between start-ups and incubators in other regions or countries to broaden the sources of their information and services (Phan et al., 2005).\nMethodology: The paper proposes a comparative analysis in order to evidence the main differences between varying systems of innovation. Based on these differences, it aims to explain the main factors affecting the Italian system of innovation.\nA comparative analysis: Incubators have become an important element for technological development and innovation policy, first in North America and more recently in Europe (Caiazza et al., 2014).\nConclusion and discussion: The development of some areas of innovation and technology diffusion depends on the presence of structures that are able to support them. The Italian system has suffered some weakness because of the absence of incubators that are able to transform the result of research into viable products through spin-off companies. Government support for incubators has to be justified by the desire to address the systemic failures of the market that impede the diffusion of technology and the marketing of new enterprises. Greater uncertainty associated with a technology increases the risks inherent in the development of spin-offs, therefore incubator services help to reduce this uncertainty, increasing the chances of the spin-offs' survival. Incubators generate different types of direct and indirect effects in the short and long term. In addition to creating jobs, they encourage the development of an entrepreneurial culture and of associated service industries. The main factors that Italian policy makers have to support more strongly in order to improve incubation activities concern the structure of capital, the ability of incubators to support innovation diffusion and the network of innovation between private and public organizations. Based on an analysis of different developed economies, it is inappropriate to set benchmarks for incubator capital investment and operating costs because these will vary widely depending on the type of incubator involved. Whilst the public funding requirements of incubators will inevitably vary depending on location-specific factors such as the dynamism of the regional economy and the extent of market failure, it is possible to assume that incubators should try and increase the proportion of operating costs (rent, advisory services, etc.) derived from their own activities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Despite of the relevance of incubators, science and technology parks on technology diffusion, few studies have compared different systems of innovation to identify the main factors affecting their capability to support spin-offs. Although research on incubators has received increased attention in recent years, few studies have been focused on the main factors affecting their underdevelopment in some developed economies. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in the literature by analysing the Italian system of innovation through a comparative analysis with other developed economies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper proposes a comparative analysis in order to evidence the main differences between systems of innovation. Based on these differences, it aims to analyse the main factors characterizing the Italian system of innovation.\nFindings: This paper identifies the main factors that explain diversity among systems of innovation. It then presents a deep analysis of the Italian system.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the theoretical and practical debate on entrepreneurship and innovation systems.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Perception variability for categorised risk factors
|
[
"Enterprise resource planning",
"Manufacturing resource planning",
"Project management",
"Project failure",
"Risk management",
"Thailand"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) remains a cornerstone of innovation success in today's global business environment (Hasan et al., 2011). The role of ERP is quite simple; it is to that different departmental systems in an organisation (enterprise) are closely connected to each other in order to increase their efficiency and competitiveness. The importance of ERP can perhaps be assessed from its overall market value which has continued to grow. Estimates (Jacobson et al., 2007) now suggest that by 2011 the ERP market is expected to command revenues of about US$48 billion, compared to about US$28 billion in 2006. In terms of on-going corporate investment in ERP, estimates also anticipate that this will continue to grow; for example, Shepherd (2009) suggests that in China, up to 40 per cent of companies surveyed indicated an intention to substantially increase their investment in ERP. The indication of such intention is particularly interesting in light of the recent crisis in the global market.\n2 Study context: 2.1 ERP project failures\n3 Review of literature: 3.1 Risk and perceptions\n4 Research methodology: 4.1 Methodology and sample selection\n5 Presentation of results: In this section, the results of the data analysis are presented based on earlier highlighted methods which were selected for data analysis.5.1 Use of descriptive statistics\n6 Discussion of findings: The factors that influence the behaviour of people when framing risk has remained of interest to many scholars over the years. This interest exists because, according to Vaughan and Seifert (1992), the way an individual frames risk determines how predisposed they are to emphasise specific dimensions of a situation. Overall, scholarship appears to suggest that various factors influence how individuals frame risk. For example, while studies by Slovic et al. (1978) suggested that experts frame risk from a substantially less broad set of dimensions than non-experts due to their ability to discern detailed information (Vaughan, 1990), scholars such as Malenka et al. (1993) had found that the framing of risk in relative versus absolute terms may have a major influence on an individual's decision choice preference.According to scholars such as Elliott and Archibal (1989) and Vaughan and Seifert (1992), one of the major parameters that impacts on how individuals frame risk is individual traits. Examined under the notion of \"risk propensity\" which is defined by Sitkin and Pablo (1992, p. 12) as the \"tendency of a decision maker either to take or to avoid risks\", differences among individuals may provide substantial explanations as to why variability exists in how people frame risk. The way individuals frame risk is therefore an innate behaviour dependent on not only individual traits (Vaughan and Seifert, 1992) such as age (MacCrimmon and Wehrung, 1990) and gender (Byrnes et al., 1999), but also on social factors such as culture (Vaughan, 1993; Weber and Hsee, 1998, 1999, 2000; Weber et al., 1998). In terms of social factors, earlier studies by Weber and Hsee (1998), for example, confirmed the existence of cultural differences in risk-framing among Chinese and American students. Overall, scholars (Hsee and Weber, 1999; Weber and Hsee, 1999, 2000) suggest that observed national differences in how risk is framed may be attributed to differences in beliefs and differences in terms of how different cultures perceive the phenomenon. According to numerous works of scholarship conducted in the area of cross-cultural research (Hofstede, 1983a, b, 1984), Thailand (Figure 2) is categorised as typical of a \"collectivist\" society which exhibits strong cohesive bonds among various groups.Utilising earlier categorisation of national culture proposed by Hofstede (1983b, 1984), Weber et al. (1998) and Vaughan and Seifert (1992) suggested that collectivist cultures, such as those found in the Far East, served as a \"cushion\" against possible losses that could occur as a result of incorrect framing of risk. This \"cushion\" was observed to be practically non-existent in individualist cultures where the individual will be expected to be personally responsible for bearing any consequences of dependent decisions.Challenges faced by project managers working on the implementation of ERP projects in Thailand encouraged our examination of critical risk factors related to ERP projects. The risk factors identified from earlier work by Ngai et al. (2008) facilitated the categorisation of risks into \"internal\" risk factors and \"external\" risk factors. The study, based on a review of existing literature, led to the formation of two research questions specific to ERP projects in Thailand.Results from our study show that for the first research question we found no specific peculiarities among Thai respondents from earlier studies such as that of Al-Mashari et al. (2003) and Umble et al. (2003) that had examined perceived critical risk factors associated with ERP projects. In line with these earlier studies, we found Thai project managers identified \"top_management_support\" as a critical risk factor for ERP project implementation success. This finding has been corroborated by recent work by Ojiako et al. (n.d.), who found that although national culture significantly impacted on how project success and failure factors were assessed, it did not appear to significantly influence the importance assigned to individual factors. On the other hand, although earlier studies by Weber and Hsee (1998, 1999, 2000) and Weber et al. (1998) had shown the existence of cross-national and cultural differences in the framing of risk, we found no evidence of this in our current study. We however found from this study that both \"internal\" and \"external\" risk factors did have a strong impact on the way Thai project managers framed ERP project success, with \"internal\" risk factors however showing a higher impact. In terms of the second research question, with a positive value of association and inter-relationship between \"internal\" and \"external\" risk factors, we can conclude that the findings appear to be consistent with earlier studies by Akkermans and Helden (2002) who highlighted the impact of the degree to which inter-relationships between critical risk and success factors may influence the success of a ERP project implementation exercise.\n7 Conclusion: The implementation of ERP projects became one of the most significant areas in IT/IS project management from the 1990s. Although ERP projects are designed to attract substantial benefits to organisations, they are known to be highly susceptible to a high implementation failure rate. It is for this reason that the management of risk (specifically, risk categorisation) remains critical in ERP project implementation.In terms of managerial implications, we argue that based on earlier research, it would appear that the tendency of blaming ERP project failure on poor or inadequate risk management practices can no longer be justified. Clearly challenges faced by project managers implementing ERP projects have been long documented; however after numerous studies over at least 25 years, we are yet to witness major reductions in ERP failure rate. Neither have we been able in most cases to justify significant investment in IT/IS. In our opinion, it is time to revisit the entire ERP \"question\". While it might appear to some that a more obvious topic to revisit may be risk management processes, we argue - based on the growing availability of recent studies/scholarship - that examination of project failure may need to go back to the \"classroom\". In effect, we may need to revisit how project managers are being trained and educated. The wider debate raised recently by scholars such as Ojiako et al. (2011) on teaching and learning in project management raises serious questions of not only what the required skill base for project managers should be, but also questions of whether project managers are being \"let loose\" with the right competency skills. Our argument in this paper is that identification of ERP risk factors has been well and truly undertaken and certainly a review of literature shows the availability of substantial research on this. However, noting the reality that ERP projects continue to fail at an alarming rate and noting that there was a strong correlation between internal and internal risk factors, we could argue that training of project managers needs to be broader than its current scope which in some cases appears to focus on factors which may be categorised, for the sake of argument, as \"internal\". Basically the education and training of project managers needs to begin to focus on the external environment as much as the internal environment. This calls for a broader range of transferable skills development than is currently being emphasised in the existing project management curriculum.The paper is not without limitations. In the first place, because the sample was largely drawn from project managers affiliated with SAP and Oracle consultancy vendors, information gleaned from the results may not be necessarily generalised to ERP users. Perhaps most critical is the second limitation which relates to the data analysis. Although statistical packages such as SPSS statistics 17.0 software are recognised as valid instruments of use in information systems research (Straub et al., 2004), its utilisation in this study may have been regarded as simplistic, with model testing perhaps having been better undertaken utilising structural equation modelling (covariance using AMOS or LISREL, rather than PLS). It is anticipated that CFA would have provided a more rigorous test of the measurement model and validity (discriminant, convergent, nomological validity, etc.) and of the research model, using goodness of fit indices while common method bias is tested using Harman's test.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine how project managers frame variability for categorised risk factors on enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Weighting and selection of the risk factors was undertaken based on an analysis of data (using PASW17), obtained from a random sample of 307 ERP project managers working in Thailand.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that: framing of variability for categorised risk factors in ERP projects is not necessarily culturally bound; both \"internal\" and \"external\" risk factors did have a strong impact on ERP project success; and the impact of the degree of inter-relationships between critical risk and success factors may influence the success of a ERP project.\nPractical implications: - The authors anticipate that the results will stimulate future research in this area as well as raise the profile of critical success factors for ERP implementation, particularly in developing countries.\nOriginality/value: - The study contributes to a better understanding of the viewpoint of consultants on critical success factors for ERP implementation in the context of a developing country.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of digital library resources usage on engineering research productivity: an empirical evidences from Pakistan
|
[
"Pakistan",
"Universities",
"Research productivity",
"Digital library resources usage",
"Engineering students",
"Users’ satisfaction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Digital library resources (DLRs) play a key role in education, research and learning environment and they also serve as an important gateway to huge collections of scientific knowledge (Feng et al., 2005). Historically, the medium of recording and accessing information has evolved from stone, papyrus, parchment, clay tablets and paper to digital libraries. Since the past 30 years, the existing printed library materials are almost changed into electronic format. DLRs have become an important source for researchers, academicians and students to retrieve material in electronic format for their various information tasks, as they rate these resources to be conveniently accessible from remote areas (Samadi et al., 2014). The role of researchers in promoting research culture has been recognized worldwide. Researchers require fast access to authentic and intellectual information resources (Khan and Ahmed, 2013). In this connection, the DLRs can assist them in creating and expanding the horizon of knowledge, because authentic and intellectual information in original formats are available there (Downs and Friedman, 1999). DLRs offer easy access to and retrieval of information resources and easier acquisition of full-text information than the conventional library services (Samadi et al., 2014). Other features of DLRs include allowing rapid and fair access to DL materials and providing various search techniques that offer end-users increased power and flexibility (Wiederhold, 1995). Because of these intensive advantages, in 2004, the Pakistani Higher Education Commission (HEC) initiated access to international DLRs of all universities, higher learning institutions and R&D bodies. Currently, these DLRs include near about 30 renowned electronic databases (e.g. ScienceDirect, Emerald, Sage Publications, Taylor & Francis, JSTOR, EBSCOhost, etc.) on major disciplines of human knowledge, more than 20,000 scientific journals and 45,000 e-book collections (Warraich and Kanwal, 2010; Khan and Ahmed, 2013). The HEC DLRs not only fulfill the information needs of faculty members and researchers but also assist them in sustaining and recognizing local research efforts. According to Tahir et al. (2008), the use of HEC DLRs may have effects on users' academic performance in Pakistan. In addition, DLRs are also important because they provide needed information resources to the end-users (Jan and Sheikh, 2011). Vaidyanathan et al. (2005) also asserted that as DLRs are gradually gaining popularity, there is a need to examine the factors that may augment the significant impact of DLRs on research and innovation. Past literature suggested the need to identify the factors that may intensify the impact of DLRs usage on users' academic performances. Therefore, the evaluation of DLRs and information system is a vital factor for developing a standard system and verifying system performance (Baroudi et al., 1986). Numerous studies were carried out on importance, use and satisfaction with HEC DLRs and services in the context of Pakistan (Ameen and Rafiq, 2009; Arif and Kanwal, 2009; Hussain and Mahmood, 2012; Khan and Ahmed, 2013); Tahir et al., 2008; Warraich and Kanwal, 2010; Warraich and Tahira, 2009). However, these studies were limited to the social science, management, humanities and medical science disciplines only.\nReview of the literature: The literature review of this study proposed two main types of DLRs usage success factors in the electronic environment, which are behavioral and attitudinal factors. Jung (1997) stated that measuring users' success in the DL environment, behavioral factors included DLRs use and function, while attitudinal factor involved respondents' satisfaction. Users' satisfaction is mainly a tested and accepted assessment of respondents' success in DL environment (Delone and McLean, 1992; Delone and McLean, 2003) and is recognized as a determinant of system efficiency. Earlier studies assessed users' satisfaction and were mainly related to users' familiarity and need attainments with DLRs. In addition, respondents' role was also tested at an individual level rather than institutional level. According to Delone and McLean (2003), prominent models in information system effectiveness, information authenticity and system attribute impact respondents' satisfaction. Hence, empirically studying respondents' satisfaction and research productivity as dependent variables required to be conducted within the perspective of the DL and electronic setting. The frequency of DLRs usage and the purpose of use are significant constructs that positively predict satisfaction and research productivity. It is important to have a holistic assessment of these constructs. The present study strived to investigate the usage of DLRs by the engineering students in the context of academic institutes in Pakistan. An extensive review of relevant and accessible literature was carried out on the frequency of use, purpose of use, users' satisfaction and impact of DLRs on research productivity, and then, a modified conceptual framework was designed to conduct this study. The research model predicts a relationship between the frequency and purpose of DLRs usage with satisfaction and research productivity of engineering students.\nResearch framework: Research studies on evaluating DLRs from users' perspectives have used various models and approaches (Samadi and Masrek, 2013). However, the most commonly used and popular approach is user evaluation containing interaction between the users and DLRs. Some evaluative studies were mainly concentrating on respondents' characteristics, information-seeking strategies and their experience with the usage of DLRs (Monopoli et al., 2002; Atilgan and Bayram, 2006; Khan et al., 2014). Thong et al. (2002) examined:\nResearch methodology: Population and sample\nResults: Regression analysis\nDiscussions: The findings of this study indicate that some key factors, namely, the frequency of DLRs usage behavior and purpose of DLRs, are found to be important in establishing users' satisfaction with DLRs. The contents of the DLRs are considered to be the most important ones than other sources of information for research activities. Because when the DLRs are frequently updated, relevant and wide-ranging in terms of scope and coverage, users will definitely be satisfied with the DLRs (Samadi et al., 2014). The results of this study confirm the findings of the study by Khan et al. (2014), where they observed that a majority of the research scholars frequently used DLRs for research tasks and were mostly satisfied with the authenticity and scope of DLRs and services. Tenopir et al. (2004) also reported that most of the students of engineering disciplines used DLR for various academic and research purposes. In addition, the results of this study also verify Zhang et al.'s (2011) statements, where they found a strong relationship between the usage patterns of DLRs and users' satisfaction. In a research environment, users' satisfaction is also related to the accuracy of DLRs and other electronic information, because researchers would always want to get the updated development on their research domain (Samadi and Masrek, 2013). In contrast, outdated contents may transform into users' failing trust and interest in consulting DLRs. Furthermore, the findings of this empirical research also reveal that the usage frequency and purpose of DLRs has a positive impact on engineering knowledge and research productivity. These findings also support previous research studies (Dorner, 2004; Khan and Ahmed, 2013); Nasser Al-Saleh, 2004; Rapp et al., 2003; Voorbij and Ongering, 2006). Hence, in an academic environment, the DLRs are expected to be able to provide rich collections of all information sources that are able to meet the diversified information needs (academic courses, research endeavor and self-interest) and promised services to end-users effectively. When users' various information needs are being fulfilled via the use of DLRs, the users would definitely give high rating in terms of their satisfaction and research efficiency (Samadi et al., 2014).\nConclusion and recommendations: The results of this study have clearly revealed that DLRs usage is important in shaping users' satisfaction and effectiveness on their research endeavor. Furthermore, the findings have shown a positive attitude toward DLRs usage among engineering researchers. The outcomes of this empirical research should make competent authorities aware who are concerned with the provision of DLRs and services, so that they are continuously affiliated with users' information needs. The study results are also helpful for LIS professionals and other information providers to formulate effective policies for the provision of DLRs. Once the users discover that the DLRs features fulfill their requirements, they will always consult DLRs to its maximum level. As indicated earlier, the usage of DLRs would also increase the researchers' satisfaction and research productivity. The findings of this study further establish the importance of the DLRs from the perspectives of engineering students. The results of this study could lead to further change in the provision of information resources by university libraries to support research efforts and to make a scientific knowledge-based society in the country. In addition, the findings could help different stakeholders in higher education sectors and library administrations in developing valuable collections, improving resources and services to meet the researchers' demand more efficiently and effectively. The results of this research would also attain the attention of scholars to explore this topic more rigorously. The research framework which was created in this research could be checked in other DLRs context with different culture. Furthermore, the impact of DLRs can also be extended to measure students' academic performance and personal achievements. The research framework can also be used as a conceptual framework for a study that uses mixed method or qualitative research approach, such as a focus group, interview, observation and document analysis, as a data gathering procedure. Such methods will endow insight and richer outcome that can best explore the phenomenon of DLRs usage and its impact on research endeavor (Figure 2).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The role of digital library resources (DLRs) in accelerating academic and research productivity has been acknowledged worldwide. The purpose of this study is to empirically explore the use of DLRs as a predictor of satisfaction and research productivity in the context of Pakistan to examine its impact on engineering research productivity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Given the research objectives, the most suitable methodology for this study is survey. The tool used for gathering the research data on the frequency of usage, purpose, satisfaction level and impact of DLRs usage on research productivity was questionnaires.\nFindings: The findings of this study showed that the frequency of use of DLRs and purposes of DLRs significantly contributed to the research students' satisfaction and research productivity. In addition, a significant relationship was found between the predictors (DLRs purposes, DLRs frequency) and outcome variables (users' satisfaction and research productivity). Thus, all five hypotheses are supported. The findings of this study further suggested the provision of information sources by university libraries to support research efforts and make a scientific knowledge-based society in the country. The findings are also significant for Higher Education Commission (HEC) authorities, university library administrators, Library and Information Science professionals/information providers to develop e-resources and formulate effective usage policies through which they could make effective use of DLRs.\nOriginality/value: The rationale of the present study is to fill the gap by empirically investigating the association of users' satisfaction and research productivity with two dimensions of DLRs, namely, DLRs usage frequency and purposes of DLRs usage.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
ERP as an organizational innovation: key users and cross-boundary knowledge management
|
[
"Information systems",
"Knowledge management",
"Boundary spanning",
"ERP systems",
"ERP usage",
"Key users"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The objective of the article is to provide more insight in how key users can act as knowledge managers and boundary spanners in organizations that have implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The role of key users offers organizations an opportunity to organize their information technology (IT)-induced innovations. In IT innovation projects, this role complements the roles of managers (initiating and enthusing project efforts), project teams (focused on technology and implementation), external consultants, and \"common users\" (Yin et al., 2011). In an ERP system, all necessary business functions such as financial, manufacturing, human resources, distribution and order management are tightly integrated into a single system with a shared database (Karimi et al., 2007). Unlike simpler systems that may only affect an individual or a small work group, an ERP system has organization-wide effects (Volkoff et al., 2007). Therefore, such a system is a critical infrastructure in organizations. It potentially allows firms to manage their integrated business processes and associated knowledge and have more control of information and data in the organization. However, even if an ERP system is implemented successfully, this does not automatically mean that the organization will reap the full benefits. The use of such systems is knowledge-intense and requires high levels of knowledge absorption and knowledge sharing among organizational members (Vandaie, 2008). Therefore, the focus in this article is on the phase that follows after implementation: the ERP usage phase.\nTheoretical framework: Previous studies on the enterprise resource planning implementation and usage\nMethodology: Case background\nResults: A wide range of mechanisms was used by the key users to overcome knowledge barriers that users, managers and the key users themselves encountered. The mechanisms have been classified in three types of boundaries, crossed by the key users. In Figure 1, an overview of the different knowledge barriers (first-order concepts) that led to the boundary-crossing mechanisms (second-order concepts) has been provided. The barriers and the accompanying mechanisms have been classified within the time frames in which they occurred.\nDiscussion: The objective of the study was to provide more insight in the ways key users act as knowledge managers and boundary spanners during the ERP usage phase. More specifically, we were interested in the role key users play in making organizational IT innovations a reality. Despite the recognized importance of key users during the implementation phase, little is known about their role in the ERP usage phase, let alone how they overcome knowledge barriers during this phase (Santhanam et al., 2007). Our study makes a number of contributions and has implications for research and practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide more insight in the ways key users act as knowledge managers and boundary spanners during the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system usage phase. Despite the recognized importance of key users during the implementation phase of an ERP system, little is known about their role in the ERP usage phase.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To provide rich insight in the boundary-spanning mechanisms utilized by key users to share knowledge, a qualitative approach was applied. In this study, \"abductive\" theme coding for 58 interviews with key users, end-users and managers has been used. This paper found six mechanisms and characterized them as \"crossing\" structural, social or cognitive boundaries.\nFindings: Six boundary-spanning mechanisms have been distinguished which have been applied by key users to overcome several knowledge management issues. Subsequently, these mechanisms lead to a model which describes three different roles that key users may fulfill to efficiently share and transfer knowledge during the ERP usage phase.\nResearch limitations/implications: Knowledge barriers during an ERP implementation and their accompanying six boundary-crossing mechanisms have been distinguished.\nPractical implications: The recognition of the essential role that key users can fulfill during the usage phase of an ERP system is an important implication. Management has to take into account that tasks and responsibilities of key users have to be clear from the start and they may cautiously select employees who are suited to become key users.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution is the importance of the impact of key users on the effectivity of knowledge management during the ERP usage phase.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Market analysis of fit preferences of female boomers
|
[
"Baby boomer generation",
"Market segmentation",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Clothing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The massive postwar baby boom generation that has driven every significant cultural and marketing trends for the past 50 years - from Howdy Doody to the Beatles and the Ford Explorer - is defying marketers' expectations about how it wants to live and shop (Business Week, 2005). A total of 77 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 comprise the baby boom generation. Their sheer numbers and economic potential, necessitate that marketers produce products that meet and exceed these customers' expectations. Characterized by a spending power that exceeds $1 trillion, this generation enjoys purchasing power unknown to previous generations (Met Life Mature Market Institute, 2003).In recent years, several clothing manufacturers and retailers have begun marketing to female baby boomers in an effort to capture this $43 billion apparel market (Barbaro, 2007). The more successful ones have included Chico's, Coldwater Creek, J. Jill, Talbots, Lands' End, Eileen Fisher, and Ann Taylor. Their success has been a direct result of combining good fit with an understanding of the tastes of this particular market segment. Now defunct retailers such as Forth & Towne and Gymboree's Janesville painfully realized the need to effectively understand boomer needs and wants (Moroz, 2007).While studies (Salusso et al., 2006; LaBat and DeLong, 1990) readily acknowledge female baby boomers' frustration with a lack of well-fitted, desirably styled apparel, few have extensively researched their actual garment preferences and shopping concerns. As more and more designers, manufacturers and retailers set their sights on this market, clothing characteristics and fit issues associated with the aging body must be effectively investigated.\nConceptual development: Female baby boomer psychographics\nPurpose: The study investigated shopping behaviors and attitudes of female baby boomers relative to their actual clothing design preferences and the factors motivating their garment purchases. It also investigated the importance of apparel fit relative to their knowledge of fit, its impact on purchase decisions, their ability to judge proper garment fit, and their inclination to request alterations.\nMethodology: A questionnaire consisting of four sections and seventy-five questions was drafted, twice-piloted on female baby boomers and modified to ensure clarity, relevance, and to estimate length of time required to complete it. The final questionnaire took approximately 15 minutes to finish. As a result of the pilot testing and review by university faculty and a research statistician, the survey was determined to be valid because each question related to the topic under investigation, there was adequate coverage of the research topic and directions were clear, unambiguous and appropriate for the sample surveyed.The final questionnaire was mailed to all female employees of a midwestern university in February 2005. The total sample size was 547 female employees; 305 (55.8 percent) surveys were returned. Of those employees who fell within the desired sample parameters - females born between 1946 and 1964 - 229 (75.1 percent) submitted questionnaires. Each respondent was asked to record her year of birth on the survey. For the purpose of this article, only questionnaire results pertaining to female baby boomers are discussed.The first section of the survey consisted of questions regarding age, height, clothing size, marital status, employment, retirement plans and income, while the second part explored attitudes toward the apparel industry and how well it catered to the participants' specific tastes and needs. This section consisted of fourteen statements and using a five-point Likert scale where 5=strongly agree and 1=strongly disagree, respondents were asked to circle the letter(s) that indicated their level of agreement. The third section also consisted of fourteen statements regarding the participants' apparel purchasing behavior including frequency of finding appropriate apparel, purchasing behaviors, spending on apparel, brand loyalty, and alterations. Each respondent's self-reported behavior was measured on a five-point Likert scale, with \"almost always\" (5) and \"never\" (1) as the end points. Finally, the fourth section consisted of 24 questions descriptive of factors impacting participants' apparel purchases. Respondents were asked to mark all answers that applied to each statement.\nResults and discussion: Demographic information\nDiscussion: The results of this study reiterate what baby boomers and researchers alike have been saying for several years. While in the past a woman approaching 60 might have gently resigned herself to the idea that her fashionable days were behind her (Kelley, 2004), these respondents clearly indicated that even though they had noticed signs of aging, they still cared about their bodies and always wanted to look their best. However, they questioned whether or not the apparel and retail industries understood them and were really trying to cater to their clothing preferences. Survey results indicated that they rarely found what they wanted when they went shopping and that often the garments were either too trendy or too dowdy, reiterating Gardyn's (2003) point that the sale of women's apparel has decreased because boomers are not finding apparel that appeals to them. This also reinforced Rozhon's (2004) observation of industry's ineffective efforts to target middle-age consumers by offering generation-inappropriate designs.This study provides designers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers beneficial, applicable data. Identification of specific garment preferences: knee-length or longer skirts, pants rather than dresses or skirts, specific types of necklines, certain sleeve lengths versus sleeve-less styles, solid over patterned fabrics, and natural fibers over synthetics directly benefits designers and manufacturers. Converting these survey findings into specific garment designs could result in boomer apparel that is better fitting and more stylish.Retailers can use the survey findings to better understand boomers' preferences for comfort, fit, clothing styles that flatter their figure types, garments that can hide figure flaws, as well as versatility and timelessness of apparel designs. Interestingly, results indicated that designer preference and brand significance were less desired by respondents. These findings are important because retailers often believe that boomers are extremely brand loyal and slow to try new products. This myth has been difficult to eradicate and has sometimes dissuaded retailers from actively marketing to this generation of shoppers.From a consumer perspective, respondents indicated that garment fit was an important determinant in making personal apparel purchases. They felt that they knew how to judge proper fit and that store personnel should be knowledgeable about products in general and clothing fit in particular. Possessing middle-class incomes, they believed that they should be able to find garments that appropriately fit and flattered their aging bodies, especially since they were willing to spend more on apparel than other consumer groups. The study also revealed that if a garment did not fit in the store, respondents were not likely to request alterations, but would continue looking for better fitting garments elsewhere. These results have significant implications for retailers and manufacturers, reinforcing a critical need for them to learn more about female boomers' clothing preferences and to transform their active lifestyles and product desires into age-appropriate, well-fitted garments. Since baby boomers are completely changing the American mindset of aging and are actively rejecting the past fears, stereotypes and caricatures of middle-age and advanced age, it is imperative that garments and our market environment be a more accurate reflection of boomer needs and wants.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to disseminate research findings that compared attitudes regarding apparel and fit preferences as well as actual buying behaviors for 229 female baby boomers employed at a midwestern university.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Researchers created a questionnaire that examined purchasing attitudes, behaviors and identified valued apparel characteristics and garment fit expectations/frustrations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.\nFindings: - Results indicated that respondents were frustrated that the apparel industry did not cater to their apparel and fit needs more effectively. While they felt that they knew how to judge proper fit, they indicated that store personnel should be knowledgeable about products in general and clothing fit in particular. They also had distinct clothing design preferences and chose fit, product quality and price considerations over designer and brand names.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The population was limited by midwestern demographic and economic factors descriptive of employees working in a rural community. This may limit the application of results to more diverse baby boomer populations located throughout the USA.\nPractical implications: - Survey results provide the apparel and retail industry with data that can be used to design and market clothing that is a more accurate reflection of boomer needs and wants, thus producing more satisfied consumers and maximizing industry profits.\nOriginality/value: - This unique study is helpful in expanding an understanding of the apparel and fit preferences of the lucrative baby boomer generation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Linking relationship quality and resourcefulness to group performance
|
[
"Relationship quality",
"External resources",
"Group performance",
"Internal resources"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Mirroring each other, both business schools and business organizations pursue innovative efforts that could lead them to business excellence (Dahlgaard, 2014). A roller-coaster relationship exists between business schools and business organizations. There are some practices which the former learns from the latter and vice versa. However, both undertake some practices simultaneously, and group work is one of them. Observing how business organizations impart training to their managers and employees, business schools try to develop the future managers (students) for using group resources efficiently, maintaining good relationship quality among group members and thus, attaining high group performance.\nGroup resources and group performance: Being mindful of sustainability, contemporary educational institutions realize that they must be competitive. Toward this end, these institutions are restructuring their systems and policies. Likewise, business schools are preparing themselves for facing up to more challenges as globalization and change in business trends are on the rise. For instance, in order to prepare future managers who could truly fulfill the requirements of contemporary business organizations, business schools are employing advanced instructional designs. These instructional designs focus more on practicums, wherein students are put in situations that resemble an actual business environment. Specifically, students are trained to become capable of working in groups. Therefore, the extant literature has witnessed a shift in the focus of business schools, that is, from individuals to teams (Yong et al., 2014; Akbari et al., 2016).\nRelationship quality and group performance: The literature suggests a positive relationship between relationship quality and group performance (see e.g. Curkovic et al., 2000; Rickards and Moger, 2000). However, the development of effective in-group relations depends on the psychological traits of team members (Randeree and Ninan, 2011). These traits help them share their knowledge, skills and cognitive ideas to enhance group performance (Dong et al., 2008). Effective flow of information, for learning purposes, can be attained through high-quality relationships among group members (Akgun et al., 2006).\nModerating effect of external resources on relationship quality-group performance: External resources can interplay with the relationship quality, amplifying its effect on group performance. That is, support from instructors to complete assigned tasks, when combined with relationship quality, produces more effective group performance (Black and Deci, 2000). Instructor's support has a strong relationship with both relationship quality (Mullen and Tallent-Runnels, 2006) and external communication. When information is gathered and shared outside a group, it has a multiplying effect on relationship quality, thereby increasing group performance (Chermak and Weiss, 2005). Therefore, external communication is also considered to strengthen the relationship between relationship quality and group performance. Hence, it is hypothesized that:\nMethod: Sample and procedures\nResults: Table I presents means, standard deviations and correlations.\nDiscussion: There are certain factors that contribute to group performance. Theory of resource-based view suggests the use of group resources (internal) in such a combination that these could create a synergy effect in order to increase workgroup performance. However, according to resource dependence theory, while utilizing group resources group leaders and members should bear in mind that certain external resources of the group can influence group internal environment both positively and negatively.\nConclusions: This research has been conducted to study the role of group resources and relationship quality toward group performance. Resources at both levels (i.e. internal and external) have been studied. The study is original in the sense that it has considered resources with respect to group performance and relationship quality for the first time under the tenants of resource dependence theory. Components of resources are already available in literature, but they have not been studied from the given perspective. The study presented interesting findings indicating that most of the variables under study lead to the enhancement of group performance. This insight can be helpful for instructors when they develop groups of students by taking into consideration the factors that have studied to enhance the group performance. Likewise, in organizations these findings can also be useful for managers, especially for developing teams.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to know that how group resources (internal and external) and the relationship quality among group members relate to group performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Given the normative nature of group performance, the study is carried out in a contrived environment. Participants were 204 master of business administration students who were allocated to 51 study groups. Data were collected in three waves and from two different sources, i.e., students and instructors. Data analysis was carried out by employing regression analysis and the bootstrapping procedure, i.e., PROCESS.\nFindings: The results of this paper reveal that an individual-level internal resource, i.e. time, positively predicts group performance, while group-level internal resources, i.e., group composition and group members' experience, negatively predict group performance. Both external resources (external communication and instructor's support) are found to have a positive effect on group performance. The relationship quality among group members partially relates to group performance. Instructor's support as an external resource is found to moderate the relationship between only two aspects of relationship quality and group performance.\nPractical implications: This study provides guidance to group members as to how they can utilize internal and external group resources and their relationship quality for enhancing their group performance. Managers in varied organizations can also utilize the findings of this study.\nOriginality/value: This study is unique in that it offers a new insight into internal and external resources and relationship quality, that is, from the perspective of group performance. The group resources included in the study are rarely found in the existing literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Identifying critical HR practices impacting employee perception and commitment during organizational change
|
[
"Change management",
"Organizational change",
"Change-related HR practices",
"HR practices during organizational change",
"Role of human resources during organizational change",
"Strategic HR"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the advent of globalization the business environment has undergone drastic changes both in terms of complexity and dynamism. Organizations are grappling with changes in market conditions, workforce demographics and diversity, technological innovations, increased focus on customer and quality, shortage of talent and economical changes (Noe, 2002). Thus it is essential for organizations to continuously modify their business strategy, policies and practices and align with the changing demands of business environment, achieve long-term sustainability and overall organizational effectiveness. In other words organizations are forced to make and manage change effectively on a continuous basis (Bridges and Mitchell, 2000; Kanter, 1985). Despite the growing need of organizations to manage change effectively 70 percent of the change efforts fail (Beer and Nohria, 2000) and this rate has been consistent over the years. One of the most commonly cited reasons of failure of change implementation is inadequately addressing people-related issues (Spiker and Lesser, 1995; Kotter, 1995). The importance of employees, their psychological responses and their behavior during organizational change has been acknowledged widely post 1990s (Tetenbaum, 1998), however, practicing managers fail to pay enough emphasis on these issues (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). This view is also echoed by others who have carried out empirical research in this area. For example Shum et al. (2008) did a study on implementation of a project on customer relationship management (CRM) in three banks in New Zealand and found that organizations focus on technological issues and neglect people-related issues.\nMethodology: The purpose of this paper is to review literature in the field of HR practices impacting employee perception and commitment during organizational change. The sample of journals was drawn from the ABDC List which comprises 2,767 different journal titles, divided into four categories of quality, A*: 6.9 percent; A: 20.8 percent; B: 28.4 percent; and C: 43.9 percent journals such that it could be regarded as \"certified knowledge.\" Certified knowledge describes knowledge that has been submitted to the critical review of fellow researchers and has succeeded in gaining their approval (Ramos-Rodriguez and Ruiz-Navarro, 2004). Keywords such as \"Organizational Change,\" \"Change Management,\" \"Role of Human Resources during organizational change,\" \"HR practices during organizational change,\" \"change related HR practices,\" \"HR as change agent,\" \"perception and commitment,\" \"employee perception about HR practices,\" \"HR practices and organizational performance\" were used. The studies conducted were identified through online database of ProQuest published in English language. Papers published from 1998 to 2013 were considered for this review. At the same time to avoid the risk of excluding important and meaningful contributions in the field of HR practices during organizational change and employee perception and commitment, we analyzed and included frequently cited work (journals, books, magazines) found in the above selected papers. These did not appear in our search using above mentioned keywords yet were found meaningful and therefore included in this study. Papers, which did not include the terms \"organizational change\" or \"human resources\" in their text, were automatically excluded from this review as they were considered irrelevant for this review. Book reviews, interviews and article summaries were excluded in the review. We also did not include smaller, less cited, less known or very new journals in this study. A total of 133 journals were considered for this review.\n2. Employee perceptions about HR practices during organizational change: 2.1. Perception as a concept\n3. Identifying HR practices critical during organizational change: Studies on HR practices during organizational change are more generic. There is a dearth of literature available on which specific HR practices were implemented during change and what was the result? Therefore, for the purpose of identifying HR practices critical during organizational change, the macro change management literature was examined.\n4. Perception and commitment: Interestingly, perception is also found to have significant relationship with commitment. The association between perceptions and commitment is multifaceted. Researchers have explored the impact of perception of various job-related factors on commitment (Loi et al., 2006) as well as the impact of perception of commitment on other dependent variables (Shore et al., 1995). Benson and Lawler (2003) suggested that employees have stronger commitment to their organizations when they perceive that their organizations are genuinely committed toward their welfare.\nResearch model: The eight propositions led to a research model to study role of HR function as change enabler (see Figure 2).\n5. Conclusion: Barney's (1991) resource based view emphasizing HRs when applied to the field of organizational change, stresses the unique contribution the employees can make to organizational change processes. In light of this theory, HRM should implement practices that will enable such a contribution. Wright et al. (2003) state that measuring HR practices is crucial to know about employee perception. For HR to fulfill its role of a change agent, it is thus important to understand employee perceptions about HR practices undertaken to support change and its effect on employee commitment toward change. Although there have been previous researches on best practices in HRM leading to organizational commitment, overall perception of HR practices and role of HR during change; specific attention needs to be paid to the role of HR practices during organizational change. More importantly, the role of employees' perception of these change related HR practices and its further impact on commitment to change needs to be investigated.\n6. Implications, future research and limitations: This paper makes a useful contribution by first, highlighting specific change related HR practices which HR professionals can look at while designing and implementing change. Second, it tries to showcase the importance of positive employee perceptions about HR practices implemented during change which in turn increases employee commitment to change. An attempt was made to identify six organizational elements where HR practices can make a useful contribution during times of change. To the researchers knowledge there have been studies on organizational change and its influence on employee perceptions and commitment to change but studies on specific change related HR practices and its effect on employee perception and commitment to change has not been studied.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Prior research in the area of organizational change highlights the critical role played by HR practices during organizational change as it may require altering employee behavior to support the change direction. human resource (HR) function is considered to be well positioned to influence employee behavior by institutionalizing HR practices that support change. Further there is a significant body of literature that suggests that employee behavior is significantly influenced by the perceptions of HR practices during change. HR practices which create positive employee perceptions increase employee commitment to change. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that identifies critical HR practices that support organizational change and examines their impact on employee perception and commitment to change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, an extensive literature review on organizational change at macro level has been done to identify critical practices desired from key organizational members during organizational change. Second, a case for importance of HR function as a key organizational member during change is presented. Further literature on effectiveness of HR practices adopted by HR professionals during organizational change is examined to find out the gap areas. Third, literature on employee perception and commitment to change is examined to find out possible linkages to HR practices during organizational change. Finally, eight propositions are presented to build an integrated conceptual framework identifying critical HR practices during organizational change and their impact on employee perception and commitment to change.\nFindings: The study suggests that HR practices undertaken in the area of culture, leadership, cross functional integration, training, communication and technology if introduced and implemented will positively influence employee perception reducing resistance and increasing commitment to change. Therefore assessing employee perception about critical HR practices at different stages of change initiation, implementation and consolidation can enable understanding about employee commitment to change. This would also help HR professionals understand how effective the HR practices implemented during change have been.\nOriginality/value: This framework can be used by the researchers and practitioners to study, guide, frame and model empirical research into the area of studying critical HR practices during organizational change. So far literature provides a generic view of desired organizational practices during change. Moreover there are few studies available on employee perception about HR practices implemented during organizational change and its impact on employee commitment to change. The framework presented in this paper would help explore the effectiveness of specific HR practices implemented during change by evaluating its impact on employee perception and commitment to change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Big data systems: knowledge transfer or intelligence insights?
|
[
"Big data",
"Knowledge management",
"Intellectual capital",
"Competitive intelligence",
"Business analytics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge management (KM) has many positive aspects that have allowed organizations to achieve better performance but has always been a relatively parochial discipline. The focus is knowledge, with little concern for other intangible assets such as data or information. KM and sister discipline intellectual capital (IC) both emphasize on the valuable contributions that can be made from better exploitation of knowledge assets but tend not to pay as much attention to other fields such as competitive intelligence (CI), similarly focused on intangible assets, but including a wider range of inputs subjected to more purposeful analysis and contributing actionable insights to decision makers. Current interest in big data and business analytics has gotten some attention in KM circles, but given a history of questioning the value of data and information (vs more fully developed knowledge), there is some doubt as to whether the KM and big data fields have much opportunity for cross-fertilization. KM theory and practice can certainly help in some areas, including knowledge transfer and human/system interaction concerns (e.g. motivation, trust). But in terms of inputs, cross-functional application and purposeful analysis, KM scholars may have as much to learn from other disciplines as those disciplines do from KM.\nBackground: KM has been with us for over two decades now, promising potential competitive advantage from better managing intangible assets, specifically knowledge. The concept had its roots in a broader view of intangibles before focusing more specifically on what we call \"knowledge\". But recent applications of various types of \"intelligence\" (particularly, in our view, CI) and even more recent interest in big data and business analytics have brought attention back to a wider view of intangibles. If intangibles, as a whole are of interest, what is the contribution of KM going forward? What is the contribution of other fields? Does a one-size-fits-all approach work when it comes to developing intangible assets for competitive advantage? To answer that, let us look first at what we know from the literature.\nConceptualization: Knowledge management systems\nResults and discussion: What do these ideas mean for decision making? One piece of insight we do have from KM/IC research are industry metrics and some understanding of their meaning. As a consequence, if we can put together some interesting metrics, understand what they mean in terms of the contribution of different intangibles (big data/information, knowledge, intelligence) to competitiveness and then allow specific firms in specific industries to evaluate their own circumstances, we can better advise practitioners on what intangibles to apply in what manner to what situation. Indeed, another core contribution from KM/IC is matching the right tools (e.g. communities of practice for tacit-to-tacit exchange) to the right circumstance, and this approach expands that capability.\nConclusions: In scholarship trying to establish a conceptual foundation for a fairly new field like big data and business analytics, it is natural to look at what we already know about theory and practice in related disciplines. Given the range of intangibles (data, information, knowledge and intelligence) that we have been working with for years, it makes sense to look at KM and intelligence structures such as CI for some guidance. Such an approach can yield useful connections.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to bring together the existing theory from knowledge management (KM), competitive intelligence (CI) and big data analytics to develop a more comprehensive view of the full range of intangible assets (data, information, knowledge and intelligence). By doing so, the interactions of the intangibles are better understood and recommendations can be made for the appropriate structure of big data systems in different circumstances. Metrics are also applied to illustrate how one can identify and understand what these different circumstances might look like.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach is chiefly conceptual, combining theory from multiple disciplines enhanced with practical applications. Illustrative data drawn from other empirical work are applied to illustrate some concepts.\nFindings: Theory suggests that the KM theory is particularly useful in guiding big data system installations that focus primarily on the transfer of data/information. For big data systems focused on analytical insights, the CI theory might be a better match, as the system structures are actually quite similar.\nPractical implications: Though the guidelines are general, practitioners should be able to evaluate their own situations and perhaps make better decisions about the direction of their big data systems. One can make the case that all the disciplines have something to add to improving how intangibles are deployed and applied and that improving coordination between KM and analytics/intelligence functions will help all intangibles systems to work more effectively.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, very few scholars work in this area, at the intersection of multiple types of intangible assets. The metrics are unique, especially in their scale and attachment to theory, allowing insights that provide more clarity to scholars and practical direction to industry.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Trends and developments within corporate communication: an analysis of ten years of CCIJ
|
[
"Corporate communications",
"Publications",
"Serials"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This editorial is the first of a new decade and a new era, and offers a good opportunity to look back over the past ten years. The decade behind us was characterised by enormous turmoil within society. We commenced by wondering whether our computers would survive Y2K. There were the incidents of big corporate fraud at Enron, Ahold and Parmalet. And we are currently in the middle of a global economic financial crisis. All these events have a clear relevance to corporate communication. In particular, the global financial crisis will encourage organisations to increase their efforts to create a more effective implementation of corporate communications, as it is obvious that many of the problems organisations are facing involve gaining legitimacy from stakeholders and acting from a genuine corporate identity, and these are the basic fundamentals of corporate communication.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to analyse the trends in the papers which have been published in Corporate Communications: An International Journal (CCIJ) over the past ten years. The analysis will focus on the region of the world the (first) authors come from and on the topics of the paper.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - All papers published in Volumes 5 to 14 of CCIJ have been listed and analysed on the country where the first author comes from and the subjects of the paper.\nFindings: - In the first part of the last ten years, authors predominantly come from the Anglo-Saxon world (UK, USA and Australia); whereas, in the last period 45 per cent of the papers come from authors from continental Europe. The subjects of the papers show a bigger interest in corporate identity, reputations and corporate social responsibility in the last period, whereas internal communication and change communication remain important over the whole last ten years.\nOriginality/value: - This overview is the first of its kind to be published in CCIJ. It shows the growing importance of the journal in the last ten years and the development of the journal into an important journal in the study of corporate communications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Novel approaches to vaccine development in lower-middle income countries
|
[
"Public health",
"Health policy",
"Health law or regulation",
"Public health regulations",
"Vaccines or vaccination",
"Political strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Without a doubt, vaccination is the most effective method for preventing diseases and protecting public health. Immunization achievements after the introduction of the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) have been impressive, in particular, its role in global efforts for the eradication of polio and the control of measles. In general, there are six traditional EPI vaccines against six diseases, which include the BCG (tuberculosis), DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), measles and polio (poliomyelitis), which are then expanded to Hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) vaccines as basic EPI vaccines building on traditional schedules (www.who.int/immunization/research/implementation/optimize_schedules/en/). They are used routinely all over the world, particularly in least-developed countries, where disease burden is high. In the 2000s, new vaccines such as the human papilloma virus and rotavirus vaccines were introduced. These new vaccines have been a part of the EPI vaccines in high-income countries (HICs), but not in lower-middle income countries (LMICs) due to the high price of vaccines and lack of research and development (R&D) of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce the vaccines (Greenwood, 2014). In addition, there are burden of infectious diseases in LMICs for which vaccines do not exist, and recently a threat of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) to health security that primarily affect LMICs needs the availability of vaccines (Almond and Medaglini, 2017; Plotkin et al., 2017).\nMethods: A review of published literature was done to identify, analyze and describe novel approaches that affect vaccine development in LMICs. A fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram was used as the analytic framework and assessment tool for listing probable facilitators and barriers to the development of new vaccines with four aspects: public-private partnership (PPP), manufacturing capability, market-related factors and policy approach (Figure 1).\nResults: Is PPP the best way to provide access to new vaccines?\nConcluding perspectives: Making vaccines widely available on an equitable basis for health interventions is clearly a complex issue. A major goal of global partnerships is to ensure access and uptake of vaccines in LMIC; however, there are significant challenges to maintain sustainability and to reverse the vaccine availability gap. This review suggests potential options for domestic vaccine development in LMICs to ensure sustainable access as well as economic competitiveness. To achieve this, it may require establishing adequate policy strategies to explore and strengthen local capabilities. Hybrid partnership between government and vaccine manufacturers can obtain regulatory approval and establish market opportunities which can be a major breakthrough for vaccine development. Notably, the scope of collaboration should be increased, together with mobilized political will, providing hope for the domestic production of vaccines in LMICs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and describe the novel approaches that affect vaccine development in lower-middle income countries (LMICs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The vaccine market in LMICs currently focuses on traditional Expanded Program for Immunization vaccines instead of new ones. Unlike the successful introduction of those traditional vaccines, the introduction of new vaccines appears to be very slow, mainly due to financial issues. This paper systematically reviews a set of published papers on vaccine development and analyzes them against a specific region-setting framework.\nFindings: Public-private partnership alone could not ensure long-term vaccine sustainability. Several factors that encourage domestic vaccine development were identified. The findings demonstrate that the regulatory approach of hybrid collaboration and market opportunity strategies can be a major breakthrough for domestic vaccine development in LMICs.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research is required to include qualitative and quantitative methods for policy analysis, as all of the discussion in this research focused on literature reviews. The authors did not discuss how strategic decisions are affected from a political perspective and this needs to be specified in future research. Think tanks, considerably and fundamentally, affect policy ideas and decisions. However, important breakthroughs continue to be made at the same time.\nSocial implications: The development of vaccines in LMICs is expected to be a mechanism to overcome the inadequate access to vaccines in those countries, as solving this problem requires tackling issues from both the supply and demand sides.\nOriginality/value: This is a literature review that creates recommendation and approaches for domestic vaccine development in LMICs. This review aims to encourage LMICs to produce their own vaccines for sustainability of the vaccine access through vaccine development lifecycle, instead of expecting donor that provides funding and vaccines (vaccine access) in certain period of time. Donor is not always the solution for the problem, since vaccine development requires finance to function infrastructure. There are many efforts in revoking this, including World Health Organization through several reports; however, this effort still has many doubts. Therefore, the article would like to try to see this as a viable solution from the policy perspectives, with several examples to make recommendations more practical.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The extent and determinants of precarious employment in Europe
|
[
"Industrial relations",
"Modelling",
"Hours of work",
"Part-time workers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction[1]: Since the mid-1970s, the discourse around precarious employment has expanded considerably and has nowadays emerged as one of the most crucial and challenging themes in employment policy and labour-related studies (Kalleberg, 2009; ILO, 2011). The term precarious employment is commonly associated with lack of \"good work\" while is often related to negative concepts such as \"insecure work\" (Heery and Salmon, 2000), \"vulnerability at work\" (Pollert and Charlwood, 2009) and more recently \"under-employment\" (Bell and Blanchflower, 2013). Such types of employment are often related to particular groups of workers, endangering their career development, possibly giving rise to a \"second-class\" workforce (Connell and Burgess, 2006). Further to that, precarious employment may have adverse effects to someone's health and well-being.\n2. Origins, determinants and measures of precarious employment: 2.1. Origins\n3. Data, construction of the dependent variable and descriptive statistics: 3.1. Data\n4. Econometric methodology and results: 4.1. Econometric methodology\n5. Conclusions: This paper has used EU-LFS micro-data on over two and a half million workers across EU-15 in order to investigate the incidence of precarious employment and identify its main determinants and examine the extent of its variance across countries with similar labour market institutions. For that purpose, a unique measure of precarious employment, based on individuals' perception of the employment relationship they are in, has been constructed taking into account different aspects of the employment relationship. These include; involuntary part time and temporary work as well as job insecurity. Various socio-economic attributes and work-related characteristics have been scrutinised along with indicators of labour market tightness. At a first glance, our study has found that about 9 per cent of the total European (EU-15) workforce is in employment relationships that could be related to precariousness and indicate lack of choice. The sources of precariousness are mainly involuntary part time (about 7 per cent of total employment) and temporary work (about 4.5 per cent of total employment). This serves to suggest, that even though flexible forms of work may serve as a \"stepping-stone\" or an opportunity for flexibility, in practice the involuntary element of such practices is non-trivial. Less prominent (less than 1 per cent of total employment) as a source of precariousness is job insecurity related to fear of job loss which is also not found to be substantially related to demographic background or work context. This may point towards personal or physiological characteristics which are not directly measured by the EU-LFS and are any case of the scope of our study. On the other hand, it is found to be triggered by labour market pressures as measured by long-term unemployment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and determinants of the so-called precarious employment across Europe and using different measures and based on individual's self-assessment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data on over two million workers across Europe (EU-15) from the European Union Labour Force Survey are utilised and a Heckman selection approach is adopted.\nFindings: About one tenth of the total European workforce is in employment relationships that could be related to precariousness. The sources of precariousness are mainly involuntary part-time and temporary work. Less prominent as a source of precariousness is job insecurity related to fear of job loss. Vulnerable groups are found to have a higher risk of precariousness while significant country variations indicate that precariousness cannot be examined in isolation of the national context. Finally, signals of previous employment inability, such as lack of past working experience, as well as the state of labour market significantly increase the risk of precarious work.\nOriginality/value: The present study utilises a large-scale survey in order to investigate the incidence of precarious employment in a harmonised way and produce results that are comparable across EU-15 countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effect of service quality, innovation towards competitive advantages and sustainable economic growth: Marketing mix strategy as mediating variable
|
[
"Service quality",
"Product innovation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last decades, few studies focusing on micro-, small and medium enterprises (MMSME) have attarcated attention because this business sector has a fundamental contribution to the economy. In total, 90.0 -99.0 percent companies throughout the world are small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including majorly small or micro-business. Current business trends, such as flexible production, downsizing, outsorcing and franchise, are in favor of MSME, and, as the result, MMSME plays a more important role in stability, creating labor and economic development of a country (Gutierrez et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Service quality\n3. Research methodology: This research is an explanatory study because it aims to explain the causal relationship between variables by testing the hypothesis. The research instrument used to collect data in this study is a questionnaire, which is filled in by respondents according to the characteristics of the population. Population is divided into two, sampling population and target population (Singarimbun, 1999). The target population in this study is all customers or service users who use MSME products. The sample was taken in accordance with the provisions set for the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis tools. In determining the sample size for SEM, several guidelines must be met, one of which is depending on the method of estimating the size of the sample used (Hair et al., 2010). By using the estimated Maximum Likelihood (MLE) parameter method, the recommended sample size is between 100-200 samples.\n4. Result: 4.1 Validity and reliability of instrument\n5. Discussion: From the results of the analysis, it has been confirmed that service quality and product innovation in MSMEs has a positive relationship and a significant effect on the marketing mix strategy. This happens because the quality of service and product innovation provided by the MSME sector to its customers has provided significant satisfaction. All dimensions of service quality and product innovation, which consist of responses (quick responses), reality (physical appearance), empathy (personal and sincere attention), reliability (service, timeliness, and accuracy), and guarantee (guaranteed ability from MSMEs) significantly meet the expectations, achievements, compatibility, and satisfaction requested by the customers. Service quality and product innovation in this study are defined as perceptions of customers on the quality of services and product innovations provided by MSMEs.\n6. Conclusion and recommendation: Based on the results and discussion, the following conclusions can be presented. First, service quality has an influence on marketing mix strategies, meaning the application of service quality according to customer needs will create satisfaction. In other words, the better the quality of service provided, the higher the customer satisfaction will be. Second, quality of service provides a direct influence in creating a sustainable local economy, meaning that improving service quality to understand customer needs can enhance sustainable economic growth and competitive advantage through marketing mix strategies. This means that improving service quality in accordance with customer needs will improve the marketing mix strategy leading to a sustainable local economy. Third, the marketing mix strategy has a positive influence on the sustainable local economy, meaning that the higher the marketing mix strategy, the better the strategy for sustainable economic growth and competitive advantage will be.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of service quality and innovation on competitive advantage and sustainable local economy, with marketing mix strategy as the mediating variable (Study in small and medium enterprise (MSME) in Java and Sumatera).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study population of this paper is the MSME in Sumatera and Java Islands in Indonesia, as the highest population in Indonesia in 2010-2016 (portion of MSME in Indonesia: Java 58.29 percent and Sumatera 22.22 percent, or total 80.51 percent), and total 16 province in Indonesia: Aceh, Sumatera Utara, Riau, Sumatera Barat, Jambi, Sumatera Selatan, Bengkulu, Lampung, Kep Riau, Kep Bangka Belitung (Sumatera Island), and Banten, DKI Jakarta, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, Jawa Timur, DI Yogyakarta (Java Island). The analysis used in this study is a quantitative approach, namely, structural equation modeling based on variance, also known as the WarpPLS method.\nFindings: The findings of this study are as follows: first, service quality has an influence on marketing mix strategies, meaning the application of service quality according to customer needs will create satisfaction. In other words, the better the quality of service provided, the higher the customer satisfaction will be. Second, the quality of service has a direct influence on creating a sustainable local economy, meaning that improving service quality to understand customer needs can enhance sustainable economic growth and competitive advantage through marketing mix strategies. This means that improving service quality in accordance with customer needs will improve the marketing mix strategy leading to a sustainable local economy. Third, the marketing mix strategy has a positive influence on the sustainable local economy, meaning that the higher the marketing mix strategy, the better the strategy for sustainable economic growth and competitive advantage will be.\nOriginality/value: The effect of marketing mix strategy as mediation (using the Sobel test) on the influence of service quality and product innovation on sustainable local economy and competitive advantage is shown in this study. No previous research studies this relationship at the research location: MSME in Indonesia, especially in Java and Sumatra Islands. Hence, this is one of few studies comprehensively evaluating the effect of service quality and innovation, toward competitive advantages and local sustainable economic: marketing mix strategy as mediating variable (study in MSME in Java and Sumatera).\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The power of appreciation: promoting schoolchildren's health literacy
|
[
"Health promotion",
"Health education",
"Child and adolescent health",
"School health promotion",
"Qualitative research methodology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Health and well-being\nMethod: Paakkari and Paakkari (2012) emphasize the importance of schoolchildren formulating their own views on health matters, meaning that they should be able to reflect on health matters from their own perspective, while also understanding the perspectives of others. Further, they argue that this requires that schoolchildren validate themselves as knowers with regard to their own lives; they become able to reflect on the importance of knowledge in their own lives and to create their personal meanings through such reflections. Schoolchildren need descriptive reflection in starting to develop their own personal meanings concerning their health, and critical reflection in the process of changing their ways of thinking (Paakkari and Paakkari, 2012). According to Cook-Sather (2002) it is not enough to just listen to schoolchildren; participation is needed to achieve school improvements. With this in mind, the schoolchildren in our study were invited to, in writing, reflect on their own health and well-being experiences as well as offer their thoughts on how health literacy can be promoted to make contributions to health education.\nFindings: The analysis of the schoolchildren's experiences of health and well-being and their thoughts on how health literacy can be promoted resulted in one theme: appreciation as fuel for health and well-being made up of four sub-themes: feeling a sense of belonging; being cared for by others; being respected and listened to; and feeling valued and confirmed (Table I).\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to explore Swedish children's positive experiences of health and well-being, and their thoughts on how health literacy can be promoted. The analysis resulted in one main theme: appreciation as fuel for health and well-being with four themes: feeling a sense of belonging; being cared for by others; being respected and listened to; and feeling valued and confirmed. These are discussed below.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Swedish children's positive experiences of health and well-being, and their thoughts on how health literacy can be promoted.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Totally, 121 schoolchildren between the ages of 10 and 14 from three schools in two municipalities in the northern part of Sweden shared their lived experiences through individual written reflections.\nFindings: The phenomenological analysis resulted in one theme, appreciation as fuel for health and well-being, and four sub-themes: feeling a sense of belonging; being cared for by others; being respected and listened to; and feeling valued and confirmed. The understanding of the schoolchildren's experiences of health and well-being and their thoughts on how health literacy can be promoted revealed that appreciation in different forms is the key dimension of their experiences of health and well-being.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study point to the necessity of promoting health education that includes reflection and action-awareness of one's own and others' health as well as the competence to know how and when to improve their health. Such health education can contribute to the development of health literacy in young people, an essential skill for the twenty-first century.\nOriginality/value: This study's originality is that the authors added the concepts of appreciative inquiry and student voice to the study of health literacy with children.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Visual narratives on organizational space
|
[
"Organisational space",
"Narratives",
"Drawings",
"Visual"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The recent years have witnessed a growth of visual perspectives within organization and management studies (e.g. Davison et al., 2012; Meyer et al., 2013; Mitchell, 2011; Vince and Warren, 2012). Visual materials like images, photos, drawings, and artifacts have been used to flesh out the rich, emotional and aesthetic side of organizational life. However, although narrative approaches have been increasingly applied in organization and management research, the written and told texts have dominated over other forms of narrating (e.g. Boje, 2001; Czarniawska, 2004; Strangleman, 2004). This study develops a visual perspective and contributes to the development of visual methodology in narrative management research. We provide informants' own drawings and complementing written narratives to construct visual narratives on organizational space.\nOrganizational space and visuality as the context for visual narratives: Research on organizational space: a brief outline\nVisual narrative as a research method: This study introduces and illustrates a method to gather and analyze visual narrative data. Visual narrative as a concept is known in literature but it is so far little used in management and organization studies. To introduce the method - visual narrative - the notion of visuality is further discussed. In this context we wish to point out that visual methods (e.g. Mitchell, 2011) are different from visual narratives. Visual data are not always narrative, story-lined data.\nIllustration of visual narratives on the university campus: Our exploratory empirical study focusses on students' first time encounters with the university campus. Visual narratives, i.e. drawings and stories, are used to describe and analyze students' personal/subjective experiences of how they related to the campus space. First-time encounters are believed to be memorable and meaningful. Hence, they are stored in the memory and can be recalled. The students that participated in the study were master-level students who had been studying in the university for three or four years. During a lecture they were given a task that had three phases:\nConcluding thoughts: Our interest in exploring the notion of visual narratives on organizational space joins the recently grown orientation in organization and management studies that have turned away from the objective, positivist ways of conceiving organizational life: first, this orientation puts due emphasis on the subjective experiences and perceptions that people have in organizational settings. Second, the narrating nature of the human being has been rightfully put on the spotlight. Third, our study furthers the narrative approach from linguistic toward visual. Visual narratives have the potential to enrich the told/written narratives by revealing hidden or unspoken emotions and feelings. Fourth, visual aspects of organizational spaces are vital in understanding managing and organizing. We are in some kind of spaces all the time after all. Fifth, sensuous perceptions and memories construct the very core of our being beyond the intellectual mind. To conclude, a visual narrative approach to organizational space captures all these emerging aspects in the recent organization and management research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a visual perspective to the narrative management research by exploring the potential of drawings to construct organizational space. This study is explorative in nature and aims to open up a discussion on the importance of visuality within the narrative research. Visual narratives combined with written ones are constructed and analyzed in the paper.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical illustrations of visual narratives outline students' first-time encounters of the university campus. Their drawings and stories are used to describe and analyze their personal and subjective experiences of how they relate to the campus space. The students were asked to recall the moment they encountered the university campus for the first time and to draw their memories on a paper. Furthermore, they were asked to describe the drawings in a written narrative. Following that, the storyline was identified through a content analysis of both the drawings and the written narratives. This participatory research approach considers informants as co-researchers in producing data and emphasizes the inter-subjective nature of the study.\nFindings: The study points out valuable aspects in visual narrative organization research. The drawings and written narratives were found to complement each other revealing different things of the experiences. The drawings were very rich and detailed. They captured and revealed emotions, symbolic meanings and interpretations that were not explicated in the written stories. Finally, categories of visual narratives on organizational space were developed.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the development of visual methodology in narrative management research. Moreover, this paper provides a methodological contribution to study organizational space. It sheds light on the potential of using visual narrative materials, especially self-produced drawings to construct organizational space. The study develops and illustrates a visual research method that combines written narratives with drawings. The study points out the importance to involve the informants as co-creators of a narrative study to capture the emotional richness of visual narratives. The authors envision that visual aspects of narratives will be a future direction in the narrative research, because visuality may capture hidden emotional aspects, symbols and artifacts that are not easily revealed in the told or written stories.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Extra-role behaviors challenging the status-quo: Validity and antecedents of taking charge behaviors
|
[
"Trust",
"Leadership",
"Control"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As today's business environment increases in complexity, organizations respond by becoming less centralized (Kanter et al., 1992), redefining aspects of the employees' work roles (Van Maanen and Schein, 1979), and relying on behaviors that are not clearly prescribed in workforce performance or role requirements (Arthur, 1992; Daft and Lewin, 1993). Organ (1988, 1990) provided one of the early conceptualizations of extra-role behaviors (ERB) - organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). OCBs are defined as \"those organizationally beneficial behaviors and gestures that can neither be enforced on the basis of formal role obligations nor elicited by contractual guarantees or recompense\" (Organ, 1990, p. 46). While important for some aspects of organizational functioning, behaviors such as helping colleagues with their workloads, attending functions that are not required, and obeying informal organizational norms might be construed as supporting the status-quo and perpetuating organizational procedures and routines that are less-than-perfect for enhanced performance. Indeed, such compliance and uncritical support might be sometimes at odds with the more recent business imperatives of \"getting off the treadmill\" (Prahalad and Hamel, 1996, p. 1) or with the need to encourage ERBs that are challenging-promotive rather than simply affiliative-promotive (Van Dyne et al., 1995).\nTheoretical outline and hypotheses development: Taking charge: distinctiveness\nMethods: Sample and procedure\nResults: Confirmatory factor analysis\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was twofold:* to examine the distinctiveness of taking charge behaviors from IRB and OCBs directed at the individual and organizational levels; and* to test hypotheses related to important but previously untested predictors.Our four-factor model received support indicating that the four constructs are distinct and offer a different perspective to employee behaviors in the workplace. This research extends the previous work of Morrison and Phelps (1999) by comparing taking charge behaviors against a different conceptualization of OCBs and a complete IRB scale. We tested our model on a sample of line and administrative employees, which extends prior research on managers. This finding is particularly important, because it provides support for the idea that employees in different non-managerial positions differentiate between citizenship, in-role, and taking charge behaviors.In addition, this study sought to confirm individual- and supervisor-related predictors of taking charge behaviors. From the individual-related factors, both propensity to trust and employee exchange ideology influence taking charge behaviors. We extend prior research which linked propensity to trust and affiliative-promotive ERBs (OCBs, Van Dyne et al., 2000), by showing that propensity to trust also predicts challenging-promotive behaviors, such as taking charge. As expected, employee exchange ideology predicted taking charge behavior. Specifically, employees with strong exchange ideologies are less likely to engage in taking charge behaviors. One possible explanation is that employees with strong exchange ideologies perceive their exchanges with the employing organizations as transactional. Since, a transactional relationship consists of quid-pro-quo and short-term exchanges, these employees might not have sufficient incentives to take charge and engage in challenging-promotive behaviors directed at increased organization functioning. Conversely, employees with weak exchange ideologies appear to be more likely to engage in taking charge behaviors. This is a result of the employees' relational, open exchanges with the organization.We found that employees' exchange ideology moderates the relationship between propensity to trust and taking charge. In addition to the direct effects of employees' ideological construal of their relationship with their employing organization, this factor can also operate as a boundary condition. Thus, employees with a weak exchange ideology and high propensity to trust will engage more in taking charge behaviors. Conversely, employees with a stronger quid-pro-quo conceptualization of exchanges will be less proactive in taking charge, despite their high propensity to trust. As predicted, a strong exchange ideology attenuates the relationship between propensity to trust and taking charge. In addition to the specific prediction pattern, our results also show the importance of employees' perceived exchanges with their work organization for their subsequent engagement in or disengagement from behaviors such as taking charge.From the supervisory-related factors, we examined the importance of output control (positively related to taking charge) and process control (no relationship with our outcome of interest). Our results indicate that employees are more likely to engage in taking charge behaviors if their supervisors use monitoring systems that focus on outputs, as opposed to a normative monitoring of behaviors or compliance with organizational processes and procedures. This might be due to the lack of constraints associated with output controls, versus the rigor of a process control evaluation by the supervisor. While we provide evidence for the existence of these direct effects in our study, future research should explore the mechanisms by which perceived controls influence taking charge behaviors in more detail. For example, output control might influence employees' taking charge behaviors because of employees' perception of a more flexible work situation or higher job control (Ohly et al., 2006). Studies exploring these relationships could provide a clearer specification of the intervening factors.Limitations\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to investigate the antecedents of taking charge, an extra-role behavior (ERB) directed at challenging the status-quo.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The hypotheses were tested using regression analysis on data obtained by surveying 211 employees in one work organization.\nFindings: - Support was found for the distinctiveness of taking charge, a type of ERB that challenges the status-quo, from traditional ERB, such as organization-directed and individual-directed organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBO, OCBI, respectively), and from in-role behaviors (IRB). In addition, individual-related factors, such as propensity to trust, employee exchange ideology, and their interaction, predict taking charge. Supervisor-related factors, such as output control by the direct manager, are also significant predictors.\nPractical implications: - Practitioners interested in interventions to enhance taking charge behaviors can rely on these findings by either selecting employees (based on the employees' propensity to trust and exchange ideologies) or by providing appropriate organizational controls.\nOriginality/value: - The findings are valuable for those engaged in theory building and testing and for practitioners. From a theoretical perspective, the paper proposes and tests novel predictors of taking charge on a sample of administrative and line employees. In addition, if the results are properly validated in other organizational contexts, practitioners can use these ideas to design specific interventions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Public acceptance of different approaches to determine drug reimbursement prices and whether it is influenced by framing : An empirical evaluation in Germany
|
[
"Resources",
"Germany",
"Surveys",
"Cost/Benefit analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Given the high costs of innovative new drugs, most European countries have introduced policies for price control. Two policies have become popular: value-based pricing (VBP) and international reference pricing. These policies are usually preceded by an assessment of medical benefits against existing treatments (e.g. in France: Chicoye and Chhabra, 2009 and Germany: German social security code) and thus are only applied in case evidence for added medical benefits exists.\nMethods: Questionnaire\nResults: A total of 108 persons filled out a questionnaire. In total, 64 participants (59 per cent) accepted the 5 remuneration. Characteristics of study participants are provided in Table I. One questionnaire had to be excluded because of no response. Four respondents (4 per cent) only evaluated the first and second decision rule (AR and PR, Version 1). In all, 86 respondents (80 per cent) explained the rationale behind their answers; 11 respondents (10 per cent) stated that they had difficulties understanding the decision rules. Ten respondents (9 per cent) misunderstood the decision rules or showed an inconsistency between their preference for or against a certain decision rule and their written comment on the questionnaire (e.g. one respondent agreed to all three rules while stating that provision of health care should not depend on available resources). The analysis of qualitative responses also revealed that a few respondents supported the consideration of ethical values as well as research and development costs in determining reimbursement prices (six and nine respondents, respectively). Finally, none of the respondents expressed difficulties understanding the meaning of \"acceptable\".\nDiscussion: This \"citizen survey\" did not find a significant difference in acceptance between the two versions of the IQWIG's decision rule. Still, there was a clear trend towards accepting IQWiG's official version. Relatively little research has been conducted on the impact of framing on allocation preferences (Ubel et al., 2001; Gamliel and Peer, 2010; Turpcu et al., 2012). Gamliel and Peer (2010) analysed the impact of positive vs negative framing on allocation preferences. They found that participants usually perceived positive framing of allocation principles as more acceptable than negative framing.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In Germany, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (Institut fur Qualitat und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen (IQWiG)) makes recommendations for reimbursement prices of drugs based on an evaluation of the relationship between incremental costs and effects. In 2009, the German government (\"Koalitionsvertrag\") announced its intention to evaluate the transparency and acceptability of IQWiG's work. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a survey of a sample of the German population: to check the acceptance of the IQWiG's decision rule compared to a decision rule used in countries such as England and Wales; and to test if the way the IQWiG's decision rule is presented affects its acceptance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed eliciting acceptability of IQWiG's decision rule and a single cost-effectiveness threshold applying to all diseases (i.e. absolute rule (AR)). To check for a framing effect IQWiG's decision rule was presented in two ways. One version presented it, based on IQWiG's official publication, as a constant ratio between incremental costs and effects within a therapeutic area (proportional rule (PR), Version 1). The other version presented it in terms of a proportional relationship between costs and effects within a therapeutic area (PR, Version 2). kh\nFindings: A sample of 108 persons from the general public (average age: 41 years, 48 per cent male) filled out the questionnaire. Acceptance rates for AR, PR Version 1, and PR Version 2 were 33, 48, and 39 per cent, respectively. Direct comparisons show that acceptance of PR Version 1 was significantly higher than acceptance of AR (p=0.026) and that there was a clear trend towards higher acceptance of PR Version 1 compared to Version 2 (p=0.22). The difference between PR Version 2 and AR was not significant (p=0.32).\nResearch limitations/implications: In our study, different presentations of the IQWiG decision rule did not significantly alter its acceptance, although there was a clear trend towards accepting IQWiG's official version. Furthermore, the acceptance of the IQWiG's official version was significantly higher than AR. Because of the relevance of the research question we recommend additional research for confirmation and explanation of the choices made.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the few studies on the impact of framing on allocation preferences in health care.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Mediators of ethical leadership and group performance outcomes
|
[
"Ethical leadership",
"Group trust",
"Group helping behaviour",
"Group in-role performance",
"Group value congruence"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In leadership research and theory, scholars focus predominantly on enhancing the management abilities of leaders, but rarely address the relevance of leaders' moral qualities and positive psychology with regard to leadership outcomes. With the development of positive psychology, scholars have also been devoting greater attention to positive organizational behaviors. This stream of scholars suggest that leaders can adopt either a transactional leadership style (i.e. using the instrumental value of leadership) or a transformational leadership style (i.e. using the inspirational value of leadership) to guide or direct the behavior of subordinates. The former style is characterized by a leader who clarifies the duties of and the requirements for each role (Bass et al., 2003). The latter is characterized by a leader who inspires and empathizes with followers to motivate their self-growth and devotion to organizational interests (Braun et al., 2013). However, these management scholars do not significantly address the effects that the moral aspects of leadership - such as leaders' ethical beliefs, values, integrity, and personal visions - can have on both followers' behaviors and group performance outcomes.\nTheoretical frameworks and hypotheses: In this study, ethical leadership, trust, value congruence, performance, and helping behavior are conceptualized as group-level constructs. Performance outcomes (i.e. in-role performance and helping behavior) are conceptualized as group-level constructs mainly because of the shared unit property concept proposed by Kozlowski and Klein (2000), who explained that group-level constructs can start from a \"bottom-up\" process. In some conditions, emergent properties can start at higher levels when group members interact. Although in-role performance and helping behavior exist at the individual level, they emerge through interactions between members in a social context. Therefore, in-role performance and helping behavior are conceptualized as two group-level constructs (Mayer et al., 2009; Walumbwa et al., 2012). Second, the present study posits that ethical leadership is related to the entire group, and its influence is not limited to a specific individual member (i.e. it is not limited to the individual level). The concept is based on a direct consensus model, \"which employs consensus among lower level units to specify another form of a construct at a higher level\" (Braun et al., 2013, p. 273). In particular, ethical leadership is assumed to be formed by individual-focused and group-focused behaviors, and it is viewed as a shared and participative leadership style that contributes to mental model convergence in groups (Dionne et al., 2010). Third, the present study also adopts the referent-shift approach proposed by Chan (1998), treating the mediators, namely, individual-level interpersonal trust and value congruence, at the group level. According to the referent-shift model, the lower level attributes can be assessed by within-group agreement, and these attributes can be aggregated to the higher-level construct based on within-group agreement. Other relevant studies have also posited interpersonal trust (Drescher et al., 2014) and value congruence (Brown and Trevino, 2006) as group-level constructs.\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: Measurement model and validity issues\nDiscussion and implications: Before discussing the contributions of the study, it is worth identifying its limitations. First, although the supervisors evaluated the dependent variables of in-role performance and helping behaviors, employees evaluated the dependent variable of ethical leadership and the mediator variables of value congruence and trust. The confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed that the fit of the six-measure dimension is higher than that of the single-measure dimension (Dkh2 (15)=902.59, p<0.01). Hence, the inferences were not considerably affected by the potential overestimation of correlation coefficients caused by common method variance. Second, the generalizability of the findings may be limited because the sample used in this study was obtained from employees in Taiwan where traditional values are based on Confucian ethics. The findings of this study, therefore, may differ from similar studies conducted in western countries.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and group-level performance outcomes and show that group value congruence and group trust play pivotal mediating roles in the relationship between ethical leadership and work group performance outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine the proposed model, survey data from 116 branches of a baked goods and beverages chain located in Northern Taiwan were analyzed.\nFindings: The results revealed that ethical leadership was positively and significantly related to group in-role performance and group helping behavior; the relationship was fully mediated by group value congruence and group trust after controlling for idealized influence leadership.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study features a cross-sectional study design, thus limiting the accuracy of inferences about causality.\nPractical implications: The results of the current study revealed that ethical leadership behaviors enhance group trust. Hence, these leadership behaviors could be among the best and most appropriate practices to be implemented in China and Taiwan.\nOriginality/value: The data suggested that ethical leadership was associated with not only individual-level behavior but also group-level performance. Furthermore, this paper also uncovered the mediation mechanism through which ethical leadership enhances group performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Reward and threat in the adolescent brain: implications for leadership development
|
[
"Leadership development",
"Adolescence",
"Decision making"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReward and threat in the developing brain: implications for leadership development: As adults, our decision-making process involves a balance between taking and avoiding risk and thus involves assessments of both the rewards that might come from making the right choice and the threats to us if our choice is wrong. This involves a system of areas in the brain that includes (but is not limited to) the amygdala (threat detection and response), the ventral striatum (reward detection and response) and the prefrontal cortex (integration and regulation of emotions, planning and decision making). While the balance between these areas will differ between individuals, in general, adults are well equipped to integrate information about threat and reward, assess risks, and to use this to make decisions that fit the context - whether this is at home, at work or at play.\nReward and threat in the adolescent brain: implications for leadership development: Each decade, a new generation of workers enters the workplace with a label to define them. Generation X are now between 40 and 50 years old, Generation Y (or the Millenials) are between 22 and 39 years old, while Generation Z are now 8-21 years old. Each time a new generation reaches the workplace, characteristics that define that generation are proposed, and then used to explain why this group might have different attitudes to work than previous groups before them. While historical changes in access to technology, internet use, the availability of free sources of, for instance, information and entertainment, and other similar factors are likely to change attitudes to work, it is possible that there are additional reasons for differences in attitude between older and younger workers. In this respect, we seem to have overlooked the commonalities in behaviour of younger people (of any generation) entering the workplace for the first time. The brain continues to develop into early adulthood and it is therefore important to consider the role that this might play in shaping differences in attitudes to work between younger and older employees. Developmental differences in the way that the brain processes information and makes decisions have important consequences for leaders managing each new generation of workers and also for the development of the leaders of the future. By addressing these differences, we can both motivate young people in the workplace better and enhance leadership skills within young adults. This is important since the Baby Boomer generation are coming close to retirement resulting in a shortage of skilled workers in western economies. In order to fill this imminent gap in leadership, we will need to develop more leaders. However, Generation X is smaller in size than the Baby Boomer generation that it succeeds (Changing Global Demographics, 2011), and companies are implementing flatter organisational structures which require leadership skills at all levels (Schneider, 2002) and so younger employees will be required to fill this gap. For this to be successful, we need to be able to take account of immaturity in the brains of young people when implementing leadership development training.\nLeadership development during adolescence: In a recent review of leader and leadership development, Day et al. (2014) discriminate between leader development with a focus on the development of individuals as leaders and leadership development which is a broader process involving multiple individuals (e.g. leader, role models, followers, etc.). They note that the development of leaders takes place within the broader context of the biological and social development of the individual during emerging adulthood. For this reason, the developmental aspect is as important as the leadership aspect when considering how we create individual leaders. Adolescence and early adulthood is a period during which individual personality characteristics suitable for a leadership identity can be developed through experience. Hence, organisations have the opportunity to develop their future leaders by providing suitable experiences during this developmental period.\nConclusions: Organisations need to be able to train younger people to be good leaders whether they are introducing the concept of agile leadership, have an aging population of leaders who will need to be replaced in the near future, or are keen to capture the entrepreneurial talents of their younger employees. An understanding of the general challenges involved in training adolescents therefore has general applicability. This paper has outlined a number of strategies that could be used when developing the next generation of leaders, on the basis of an exploration of the difference in connectivity between adolescent and adult brains.\nFuture directions: In this paper, I have outlined a number of implications for leadership development that arise directly from an understanding of development of decision making in adolescents and young adults. This research was conducted both in the USA (e.g. the research conducted by B.J. Casey and her team, and V.F. Reyna and her team both at Cornell University), in the UK (e.g. the research by S.-J. Blakemore and her team at University College, London, K. Rubia and her team at King's College London and A. Christakou and her team at University of Reading) and in Europe (L. van Leijenhorst and her team at Leiden University). The similarity of results across international laboratories suggests that these findings are appropriate for western cultures. To date, however, there has been no similar research in eastern cultures. This would provide a useful addition to this research area. Another useful addition to this field would be practitioner research that directly tested the predictions arising from this analysis by comparing leadership development in teams that implement these suggestions in comparison to those that do not.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In the last 10 to 15 years, research studies have focused on the effects of differences across generations that result in differences in cultural expectations within the workplace (e.g. Arsenault, 2004). Different generations create shared attitudes to work and preferences for types of work which result in differences in their perception of, for instance, what makes a good leader or even the value of leadership within an organisation. While these generational differences are real, these analyses do not take into account differences that might result from the age, and therefore developmental stage, of the populations being assessed. The neuroscience literature clearly shows that there are maturational differences in the brain which are not complete until late teens to early 20s. It is therefore possible that some of the generational differences result from differences in processing ability resulting from structural immaturities in the brain. In particular, there are differences in the rate of maturation of areas of the brain related to reward sensitivity, threat sensitivity and regulation of behaviour which result in substantial differences in behaviour from adolescence through into adulthood. The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of maturational changes in the brain on behaviours related to leadership and to outline ways in which these changes can be addressed in order to encourage young people to develop as leaders. This will include providing suitable experiences of leadership to encourage the faster development of the neural structures which underlie these capabilities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Recent advances in neural imaging have resulted in a substantial increase in research investigating the development of the brain during adolescence. A literature review was conducted to find adolescent research that investigated decision making and risk taking. The data obtained were integrated and implications for leadership were drawn from an analysis of the resulting theoretical framework.\nFindings: The research into decision-making processes in adolescents and younger adults points to a number of ways in which these differ from mature decision making. Younger people: (find it harder to inhibit behaviours) are more responsive to immediate reward; are more optimistic about the outcome of risky decisions; and are more responsive to social rewards (Jones et al., 2014). They also lack the experiences that adults use to distil the gist of a situation and therefore are more dependent on conscious, cost-benefit analysis of the outcome of decisions.\nPractical implications: An understanding of the differences between adult and adolescent decision making points to the role of experience as a key factor in mature decision making. If adolescents are to make mature decisions, they have to be offered suitable challenges in safe environments from which they can gain expertise in leadership decision making. These can be designed to account for differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment in this group. In addition, young adults would benefit from learning the gist interpretations that have been extracted from situations by experienced leaders. This suggests that adolescents and adults would benefit from simulated leadership experiences and leadership mentoring.\nSocial implications: The Baby Boomer generation who currently hold many of the leadership positions in organisations are coming close to requirement. They will have to be replaced by members of Generation X and the Millennial Generation resulting in potentially younger leaders. In addition, flatter organisational structures that are currently being implemented in many organisations will require leadership at many more levels. Thus, we need to be able to develop leadership skills in a more diverse and younger section of society. Understanding how the brain develops can help us to design appropriate leadership experiences and training for this upcoming generation of young leaders.\nOriginality/value: Recent advances in neuroscience of adolescence provide a unique opportunity to bring new evidence to bear on our understanding of decision making in young adults. This provides practical implications for how to develop leadership within this group and to support them as they gain experience in this domain. The evidence also points to a benefit for the increased risk taking seen in adolescence since this leads to greater motivation to try new, and potentially risky, ventures. Through a better understanding of the differences in decision making, we can both help adolescents to develop more mature decision making faster while benefitting from the optimism of youth.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How online search behavior is influenced by user-generated content on review websites and hotel interactive websites
|
[
"Value",
"Credibility",
"E-WOM",
"Similarity",
"Web 2.0",
"Behavior"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper is focused on the consumer psychology of tourism and hospitality, a field of knowledge that receives growing attention from different disciplines (Crouch et al., 2004; MacKay and Vogt, 2012). In particular, the present study examines the decision-making process of users, where the intentions and behaviors of individuals are influenced by different internal mechanisms (e.g. beliefs, motivations and emotions) which are the result of the stimulus situation and the socio-cultural context (Mullen and Johnson, 1990). With this in mind, this paper is a further step in current research on consumer psychology of tourism and hospitality, as it investigates how user behavior (particularly, information search and choice) is influenced by the opinions and experiences of other people in a new context characterized by the generalized use of Internet and, more concretely, of Web 2.0 applications (MacKay and Vogt, 2012).\nBackground: WOM is defined as a consumer-dominated channel of marketing communication in which the sender is independent of the market (Brown et al., 2007). WOM allows the production of and/or access to consumption-related information that holds greater \"informational value\" than formal advertising messages provided by the company and, therefore, that has a strong influence on individual decision-making (Brown et al., 2007). Consumers, therefore, perceive WOM to be more reliable, credible and trustworthy than firm-initiated communications (Arndt, 1967; Silverman, 1997; Allsop et al., 2007). Accordingly, past research supports that WOM is one of the more influential forms of communication. In particular, in traditional communications theory, WOM exerts a powerful influence on consumers' information search, evaluation and subsequent decision-making processes (Cox, 1963; Brown and Reingen, 1987; Money et al., 1998; Allsop et al., 2007; Silverman, 2011).\nMethodology: Empirical research was carried out in the hotel sector in Iberian Peninsula. In particular, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used to data collection. The qualitative research consisted of six in-depth interviews with hotel managers, who have to face the e-WOM about their establishments generated on review Web sites or in their own corporate Web site. The in-depth interviews were conducted with managers of hotels with different sizes and categories to ensure the typological representativeness of the qualitative sample. For data collection, the moderator used the semi-structured interview as research instrument. In particular, the topics debated included the main characteristics and motivations of individuals who use Web 2.0 applications (in particular, the review Web sites and the hotel interactive Web sites) in their decision-making process, the interactions between the supplier and the users and strategies used by the hotels to manage e-WOM. After an inductive analysis and a subjective interpretation of the contents which were collected through the in-depth interviews, the qualitative results were used to build the measurement scales; more concretely, the expertise of the participants helped to refine the descriptors of the questionnaire taking into account, thus, not only the literature review but also the managerial perspective. In addition, as will be shown later, the qualitative results helped to better interpret the quantitative results.\nResults: To test the research model, a structural equation model (SEM) approach is used. This statistical method allows the estimation of causal interrelations between latent factors measured with multi-item scales. Therefore, it is especially appropriate to study psychological variables that are not directly observable, as is the case in this research. In particular, SEM approach requires the development of two levels of analysis: First, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is carried out to confirm the psychometric properties (reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity) of the measurement scales (measurement model), and then, structural model is estimated to test the causal interrelations established in the theoretical model. In this research, the measurement model and the structural model for the two e-WOM sources considered (review Web sites and hotel interactive Web sites) are estimated through the maximum likelihood robust method, using EQS 6.1 computer program.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance in research on consumer psychology of hospitality, since it investigates how online search behavior of users (particularly, information search and choice) is influenced by the opinions of other people in a new context characterized by the generalized use of Web 2.0 applications.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical research was carried out in the hotel sector in Iberian Peninsula, where two Web 2.0 applications are especially relevant for users: the review Web sites and the hotel interactive Web sites. A qualitative method (in-depth interviews with hotel managers) and a quantitative technique (personal surveys to a sample of 830 users) were used to conduct this research.\nFindings: The results indicates that the perceived influence on behavior of the user-generated content on these Web 2.0 applications is determined, in both cases, by the value of the information, the credibility of the sources and the degree of similarity between the user and the creators of content.\nPractical implications: Firms should have an active presence in the review Web sites and the hotel interactive Web sites, and use these platforms for market research and communication. Firms should engage users to post content, support their credibility and facilitate the evaluation of the content generators' similarity.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first study in the hospitality literature that develops and empirically tests an integrative model explaining the perceived influence on behavior of user-generated content on Web 2.0 applications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Promoting the intention of students to continue their participation in e-learning systems : The role of the communication environment
|
[
"E‐learning",
"Continuance",
"Behaviour",
"Partial least squares",
"Online learning",
"Learning",
"Students",
"Hong Kong"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Information technology (IT) has been increasingly leveraged to support teaching and learning in classrooms (Martins and Kellermanns, 2004; Voogt et al., 2005; Selwyn, 2007; Wan et al., 2007; Chang et al., 2008; Ozdemir et al., 2008). In the traditional classroom context, time and space restrict the interaction between students and teachers. In contrast, IT creates a platform (e.g. online discussion forum) where students can interact with each other and the teacher without being saddled by these constraints (Garrison and Kanuka, 2004; Hwang and Arbaugh, 2009). Teachers can capitalize on IT to extend the classroom learning experience, such as delivering part of the course content online (Martins and Kellermanns, 2004). Recognizing IT's importance, a number of researchers have studied e-learning systems that are embedded in traditional face-to-face learning (Bonk and Graham, 2006; Davis and Fill, 2007; Hwang and Arbaugh, 2009). Researchers believe that the use of IT in such an e-learning environment is valuable, and may even enhance learning outcomes (Alavi et al., 1997; Yoo et al., 2002).Building e-learning systems, however, does not guarantee acceptance and usage among students (Martins and Kellermanns, 2004). Researchers observed that the formal usage of those systems by students is unsatisfactory, and students experience difficulty in depending on these systems (Selwyn, 2007). The e-learning systems cannot achieve their goal of supporting learning without student participation. Participation is prerequisite to the successful implementation of e-learning systems (Martins and Kellermanns, 2004). Thus, it is important to study the ways to facilitate student participation in e-learning systems (Wu et al., 2010).Prior studies have identified a number of factors that influence participation in e-learning systems (Ong et al., 2004; Ong and Lai, 2006; Roca et al., 2006; Chen, 2007; Lee et al., 2009, 2011; Liu et al., 2009; Cheng et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2011). Despite this progress, a careful review of these studies uncovers that they have missed an important aspect - communication environment (e.g. the role of psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness). To explore the effect of the communication environment in influencing participation in e-learning systems, we draw on social cognitive theory to build a theoretical model.Social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001) is widely employed in previous research to explore human behavior (Wagner et al., 2010). The theory involves a triadic and dynamic interaction among personal, environmental, and behavioral factors (Bandura, 1986). In this paper, two types of environmental factors, psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness, are introduced. The psychological safety communication climate is an important communication environmental factor \"characterized by support, openness, trust, mutual respect, and risk taking\" (Gibson and Gibbs, 2006, p. 462). Perceived responsiveness refers to perceived ability to successfully elicit engagement from other participants. In addition, the way these factors influence the self-efficacy of students, which is a key personal factor influencing individual behavior, and their participation in e-learning systems (online discussion forum in this context) are theorized. The model was tested using data collected from a survey administered in a Hong Kong university. Results revealed that both environmental and personal factors (self-efficacy) significantly influence the intention of students to continue their participation in the e-learning systems. Both psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness promote the self-efficacy of students positively. Similarly, the two environmental factors are related positively.\n2. Literature review: The introduction of IT is helpful in the traditional classroom and in forming an e-learning environment. IT overcomes the time and space restriction in face-to-face classroom learning. By leveraging IT, the teacher can choose to deliver part of the course content online, and students can communicate with peers and the teacher online at any time outside the classroom.An e-learning system embedded in classrooms can help overcome certain barriers to pure online learning (Wu et al., 2010). In the pure online learning context, peer interaction is often absent (Xu and Wang, 2006; Wu et al., 2010), and learners may experience isolation and confusion (Hara and Kling, 2000). By integrating online and traditional learning, this form of e-learning can overcome the shortcomings of pure online learning and leverage its benefits[1] (Martins and Kellermanns, 2004; Wu et al., 2010).A number of studies have investigated factors influencing e-learning participation. Many of them are the extensions of technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989). For example, Ong and Lai (2006) studied the gender difference of employees' e-learning acceptance base on TAM. Ong et al. (2004) added perceived credibility into TAM to study engineers' acceptance of asynchronous e-learning systems. Lee et al. (2011) extended TAM by including four determinants (individual, organizational, task characteristics, and subjective norm) of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Similarly, Martins and Kellermanns (2004) identified motivators (perceived incentives of use, perceived faculty encouragement, peer encouragement, and awareness of the capabilities of WebCT) and enablers (access to the system, availability of technical support, prior experience with computer and web use, and self-efficacy in using the web) as antecedents of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of web-based course management system. Roca et al. (2006) extended the TAM by integrating expectancy disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1980) and information systems (IS) success model (Seddon, 1997). Lee et al. (2009) studied learners' acceptance of e-learning in South Korea based on TAM, flow theory, and service quality. Liu et al. (2009) included e-learning presentation types and learner concentration in TAM, by integrating media richness theory and flow theory.Another kind of research works studied e-learning acceptance from other theory perspectives. For example, Cheng et al. (2011) built an acceptance model of competency-based workplace e-learning systems based on United Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003), including perceived individual learning support, social ties, and norm of cooperation as antecedents of intention to use the system. Chen (2011) studied effects of education compatibility and technological expectancy on e-learning by extending UTAUT. Zvanut et al. (2011) studied the effect of voluntariness on the acceptance of e-learning by extending Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theory (Rogers, 2003). Specifically, they argued that voluntariness moderates the effect of innovation attributes (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability) on e-learning acceptance. Huang et al. (2011) studied how learning style influence online learning participation.These prior studies enhanced the understanding of student participation in e-learning systems. However, the communication environment is also an important factor that influences student participation (Zhang et al., 2011). Unfortunately, this aspect is largely understudied. The present paper uses the concept of psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness to capture the communication aspect. Specifically, social cognitive theory is used as a theoretical framework to build the model.This paper focusses on an e-learning environment anchored on an online discussion forum. The forum was affiliated with the course to support the interaction between teacher and students. Those enrolled in the course participated in the forum to interact with their classmates and teacher. As mentioned earlier, a significant number of e-learning systems have been created, but the actual use of students has remained limited (Selwyn, 2007). In this light, the present study examines the factors that influence student participation in discussion forum systems.\n3. Theoretical background: The social cognitive theory is based on the \"triadic reciprocality\" premise, which states that personal, environmental, and behavioral factors interact with and influence each other (Bandura, 1986). Specifically, human behavior is affected by environmental and personal factors, which, in turn, are also affected by human behavior (Bandura, 1986).The goal of the present research is to investigate individual participation behavior. Therefore, the focus is on the ways by which environmental and personal factors influence individual behavior. The study builds on previous research that employed the social cognitive theory to analyze human behavior (Hsu et al., 2007).Self-efficacy is an important personal cognitive factor that influences and guides human behavior. It is susceptible to the environment. The environment of an individual provides four sources of information, which self-efficacy is based upon. These are performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological state (Bandura, 1997). Performance accomplishments are a highly influential source of self-efficacy information based on personal mastery experiences. Successful mastery experience raises one's self-efficacy, whereas repeated failures reduce it. Vicarious experience is another source of self-efficacy. Witnessing comparable success behaviors in others also improves one's self-efficacy. Verbal persuasion from others that one has the related capabilities can help develop one's self-efficacy as well. In addition, the physiological state experience of an individual when performing a behavior influences his or her self-efficacy.Participation behavior in discussion forums is a communication process with other participants. Thus, the communication environment should have important influences. Education literature also shows that communication and interaction are important factor influencing students learning (Noroozi et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2011). However, as far as we know, the e-learning literature largely ignores to study how communication environment influence students participation in e-learning systems. To fill this gap, two factors (i.e. psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness) reflecting the communication environment are studied. These are important yet ignored communication environment factors that provide information on the self-efficacy of the students and influence their behavior.Previous research revealed that some students are generally reserved and are often inhibited by fear of expressing themselves and raising questions (den Brok et al., 2002; Paulhus et al., 2002). There are also students who may lack experience of the learning topic. On most occasions, they opt to remain silent as expressing themselves may cause personal embarrassment and insecurity in front of their teachers and peers (Hwang et al., 2002). In this situation, a psychological safety communication climate is crucial because it can alleviate the negative feeling (e.g. embarrassment) and allow the students to feel safe in voicing out their opinions. It draws upon the concept of psychological safety, which is defined as \"feeling able to show and employ one's self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career\" (Kahn, 1990, p. 708). The concept of psychological safety communication climate focusses on the communication and interaction aspect of the environment. In this type of environment, people usually engage in open discussion, speak up, and listen actively (Gibson and Gibbs, 2006). Previous literature has underscored the importance of psychological safety in influencing learning (Edmondson, 1999; Tucker et al., 2007). However, the effect of psychological safety communication climate on students' participation in e-learning systems has not been studied. Thus, the psychological safety communication climate is included as a communication environmental factor.Research on collaborative learning highlights the importance of interaction among learners in student learning (Leidner and Fuller, 1997; Swan, 2002; Arbaugh, 2005; Noroozi et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2011). When one learner attempts to interact with another, the other party may or may not respond. In other words, the learner can perceive a different level of responsiveness. Perceived responsiveness captures the communication frequency state of the communication environment, and has important implications for student learning (So and Brush, 2008). However, its effect on students' participation in e-learning systems has not been studied. Thus, the perceived responsiveness is included as another communication environmental factor.\n4. Research model: Focus was placed on understanding the important issue of the continued participation of students in e-learning systems. Figure 1 presents the research model.4.1. Self-efficacy\n5. Research methodology: The survey methodology was used to collect data and test the research model. This methodology is most ideal for obtaining personal beliefs and enhancing the generalizability of results (Kerlinger, 1973).5.1. Measurement development\n6. Results: 6.1. Measurement model\n7. Discussion, implications, and limitations: The present research helps to understand student participation in an e-learning environment supported by online discussion forums. In summary, the results reveal that psychological safety communication climate, perceived responsiveness, and self-efficacy positively influence the intention of students to continue their participation in discussion forums. Two communication environmental factors, namely, psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness, impact self-efficacy. Psychological safety communication climate positively influences perceived responsiveness. Based on these findings, when students perceive a psychological safety communication climate and a high level of responsiveness, they are more likely to feel high self-efficacy and continue participating in the discussion forum.Similarly, a control variable satisfaction has a positive impact on the intention of students to continue participation. This indicates that students are more likely to continue participating in view of their satisfaction in the experience. Membership has a negative impact on the intention to continue participation. The students who belonged to the discussion forum in 2008 were more likely to participate compared with students in the 2009 forum.7.1. Theoretical implications\n8. Conclusion: Based on the social cognitive theory, the present study developed and empirically tested a model that explains student participation in an e-learning environment supported by online discussion forum. The psychological safety communication climate, perceived responsiveness, and self-efficacy produced a significant impact on students, urging them to continue participating in the e-learning environment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Online forums are increasingly deployed as important e-learning tools for facilitating student learning in classrooms. However, building an online forum does not guarantee participation by students. The purpose of this paper is to advance our knowledge of facilitating student participation in this context by studying the role of communication environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The model was tested using data collected from a survey administered in a university in Hong Kong.\nFindings: - Results revealed that psychological safety communication climate influenced the intention of students to continue their participation both directly and indirectly through perceived responsiveness and self-efficacy.\nOriginality/value: - This study builds on social cognitive theory and extends the existing understanding of participation in e-learning by highlighting the roles of psychological safety communication climate and perceived responsiveness, two communication environment factors critical to student learning but not yet addressed seriously in the e-learning context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Exploring AEC education through collaborative learning
|
[
"Education",
"Construction industry",
"Collaboration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Being one of the economic pillars, the Hong Kong (HK) construction industry contributed an annual output of HK$3.66 billion, employing a workforce of 404,000 (amounting to 11.2 per cent of the total working population) in 2012 (Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2012). In recent years, the demand for residential, commercial and institutional developments has been growing steadily. Many HK construction firms and consultants have experienced difficulty in recruiting competent construction professionals despite the steady supply of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) graduates from universities. Similar recruitment problems occur in the UK, Europe (Edwards, 2012), Australia (Aibinu and Francis, 2010) and the USA (Schexnayder and Anderson, 2011). Although an abundant supply of young graduates may help to relieve this shortage, the skills levels of these young graduates are much below market expectations. There is a pressing need to improve the \"quality\" of AEC graduates to make sure that they possess the skills that industry requires. This leads to the focus of this paper - to explore the development of employability skills of AEC students.\nChanges in the construction industry's requirements: The construction industry is characterized as having many employers and workers with different specialties who collaborate with each other on a single site for the success of a project. AEC professionals are expected to pool their expertise effectively so that facilities are designed and constructed satisfactorily. Many theorists and practitioners believe that the highly fragmented nature of the construction industry today has created multiple coordination and interfacing problems (Russell et al., 2007). Edwards (2012) portrayed clearly how the fragmentation of industry has changed over the years. In the past, major large construction companies dominated the market and provided a degree of coherence to skills identification. Today, privatization, and the influx of international firms and professionals brings different practices from other countries. As a result, construction companies have more interfaces to manage. As noted by some theorists, the increased complexity of modern construction designs requires the pooling of diversified expertise and is another cause of coordination and interfacing problem (Edwards, 2012; Noor, 2010; Wan and Kumaraswamy, 2012). As suggested by Edwards (2012), \"managing organizational interfaces becomes the biggest single issue in engineering construction projects\" (Edwards, 2012, p. 699).\nInstructional methods currently used in AEC programmes: Traditional teaching and learning approach\nObjectives of study: To address the call to strengthen AEC students' learning of generic employability skills, this study investigates the perceptions of AEC students about the benefits and problems associated with collaborative learning. In addition, it explores their experiences of collaborative learning in their university. Our contention is that an improved understanding of collaborative learning may be harnessed to improve AEC students' technical and generic employability skills and academic skills.\nMethod: Data collection\nData analysis: The survey data were analysed using SPSS 20.0. A reliability test of the data was first conducted followed by descriptive analysis.\nResults: The number of students enroled in the four AEC programmes during 2012-2013 was 864. In total, 621 valid responses were received, excluding 12 which were incomplete. The response rate was 71.9 per cent. The respondents' profile is shown in Table I.\nDiscussion: Agreed views on collaborative learning across programmes\nLimitations: First, the analysis of the benefits of collaborative learning is based on students' perceptions rather than objective measures like standardized tests of learning gains. Although research suggests that self-reported measures of learning are valid indicators of educational and skill gains (Anaya, 1999; Pike, 1995), the possibility of individual's bias or peer influence in the responses cannot be discounted. Second, the study does not take into account the teachers' instructional skills that may affect the effectiveness of collaborative learning. Asking the students to respond according to their learning experiences of the same course has arguably minimized this. However, due to the large number of students involved, more than one teacher taught the common courses and the final year project. Regardless of having the course materials, course structure and delivery mode almost standardized, the actual \"course delivery\" by individual teachers was not be fully controlled.\nConclusions: This study has examined the collaborative learning experiences of AEC students to identify whether collaborative learning is an effective method of enhancing their academic and generic employability skills. Perceptions about the barriers as well as the academic and generic benefits of collaborative learning and general feelings towards collaborative learning were collected through a survey of 621 Associate Degree students studying AEC programmes at a university in Hong Kong. The results were analysed by descriptive statistics and tested for significant agreement or disagreement among different programme respondents. They confirm support for collaborative learning from these students. Generally, all students agreed that collaborative learning enhanced their academic knowledge, especially in terms of their understanding and sharing of knowledge. However, they also identified barriers to collaborative learning, including the difficulty of motivating some students to engage and contribute to group efforts; concern that their marks relied on group members; and the difficulty of managing group members who did not participate in tasks. Besides agreement about the academic benefits and barriers of collaborative learning, all students recognized the potential for their generic skills to be enhanced by this approach. However, there were differences in the extent to which students from different programmes agreed. Most students including AS, BSE and CEM agreed that collaborative learning could help to improve their sense of responsibility, whereas SU students commented that their interpersonal skills and teamwork skills were improved the most.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: There is concern that traditional teaching methods (including lectures and tutorials) do not prepare graduates with the generic employability skills required by the construction industry. This has motivated architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) academics to consider the use of student-centred approaches like collaborative learning. However, the effectiveness of collaborative learning approaches has not been widely examined in AEC education. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical results on the benefits and barriers of collaborative learning from AEC students' perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: From a questionnaire survey conducted with Associate Degree students who studied in four AEC programmes at a university in Hong Kong, 621 valid responses were received. Descriptive statistics were used to test these data for any significant agreement or disagreement between respondents.\nFindings: All AEC students agreed that collaborative learning benefited them in building their academic knowledge and generic skills. However, the degree of agreement about their generic skills development differed between programmes. The findings of this study highlight the effectiveness of collaborative learning as a means of developing students' employability skills.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the analysis of the benefits of collaborative learning is based on students' perceptions rather than objective measures of learning gains. Although research suggests that self-reported measures of learning are valid indicators of educational and skill gains, the possibility of individual's bias or peer influence in the responses cannot be discounted. Second, the study does not take into account the teachers' instructional skills that may affect the effectiveness of collaborative learning. To minimize the impact of different tutors on students' learning experiences, standardized delivery mode and course materials were adopted in the surveyed courses.\nPractical implications: From the findings presented, collaborative learning is a viable tool which assists in improving both the technical and generic employability skills of students. To allow students to appreciate collaboration in a practical context, multi-disciplinary collaborative assignments can be integrated in AEC curricula. Through collaboration with other disciplines, students can understand the ways of working with other professionals. At the same time, AEC educators can apply collaborative learning to strengthen specific collaborative skills. To maximize the benefits of collaborative learning, teachers should arrange regular meetings and counseling sessions with students to ensure participation from each individual.\nSocial implications: The findings contribute practical insights about collaborative learning and, in particular, the learning attitudes and perceptions of Chinese students and engineering students. Whilst the findings are different to some studies which describe Chinese students as being influenced by the Confucian Heritage culture, and preferring competitive rather than collaborative learning, more detailed studies about collaborative learning dynamics among students from different ethnic backgrounds should improve the design of collaborative learning environments for the students.\nOriginality/value: The findings provide confidence to AEC academics to incorporate collaborative learning activities in their courses. Mapping students' generic skills development between programme of study provides indicators that highlight the use of collaborative learning for different generic skills development in different AEC programmes. The results of this study provide useful information for AEC teachers, assisting them to design multi-disciplinary collaborative learning curricula.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consumer preferences for three dimensions of country of origin of a processed food product
|
[
"Country of origin",
"Best worst scaling",
"Consumer valuation",
"Country of growing",
"Country of processing",
"Country of the company"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Processed food products help reduce the time spent preparing meals and enable proper and long-term food storage. International trade in processed food products has progressed, and the share of processed food exports in total world food exports has increased (Jongwanich, 2009). One characteristic of processed food products is that the production process may involve several countries; the raw materials, such as crops, vegetables, fruits and livestock, may be grown/reared in one country, and then exported to and processed in another country. Furthermore, the nationality of the company that produces the processed food products may be different from the countries in which the raw materials are grown and/or processed. Thus, the country of origin (COO) of a processed food product is not necessarily one-dimensional, and this multi-dimensionality of the COO of processed food products may affect consumer preferences thereof. Consumer valuation studies on the COO of processed food products should therefore carefully consider the dimensionality of the COO that is targeted.The multi-dimensionality of the COO has mainly been investigated for manufactured products. The multi-dimensionality comprises the country where the headquarters of the company producing the product is located, the country where the product is assembled or manufactured, the country of origin of parts used for manufacturing or assembling the products, and the country where the product is designed (e.g. Johansson et al., 1985; Chao, 1993, 2001; Samiee, 1994; Aichner, 2014). Recent studies have focused on brand origin, referring to where the headquarters of the company owning a brand is perceived to be located or the country perceived to be associated with a brand (e.g. Thakor, 1996; Samiee; et al., 2005; Samiee, 2011; Usunier, 2011). As a representative example, a Japanese company's branded product that is made in China is perceived as a Japanese product. Various studies have examined the effect of these COO-related concepts on consumer valuations of products (the COO effect), while sales strategies for products have also been considered from the perspective of the COO effect (e.g. Aichner, 2014 and the references therein). Sales strategies include foreign branding in a language that is different from the one used in the actual COO of the products used to express the products' brand name (e.g. Leclerc et al., 1994; Aichner et al., 2017).Although many studies have measured consumer value of the COO of food products, almost no study has examined the multi-dimensionality of the COO for food products. Recent stated preference studies measuring consumer preferences for the COO of food products have focused on consumer preferences for local food products compared with preferences for non-local products (e.g. Mugera et al., 2017; Escobar et al., 2018; Meyerding et al., 2019), or those for domestic food products compared with those for imported ones (e.g. Yin et al., 2017; Grunert et al., 2018; Meyerding et al., 2019). Although individual countries (e.g. the US, Canada and Mexico) are generally used as the levels of the COO attribute, a combination of two countries (e.g. \"Canada and the US\"), a combination of three countries (e.g. \"Canada, Mexico and the US\"), or a zone that includes two or more countries (e.g. North America) can also be used (e.g. Tonsor et al., 2013; Klain et al., 2014; Lusk et al., 2014). Some studies define the COO in detail. For example, Lagerkvist et al. (2014) defines the COO of beef as the country where the cattle was born, fattened, slaughtered and packaged, whereas Balcombe et al. (2016) define the COO of meat as the country where the livestock was reared and slaughtered. A detailed definition of the COO is vital for some categories of food products, such as processed food products, because consumers have concerns about various aspects of the production processes of food products (e.g. Jin and Zhou, 2014; Miller et al., 2017; de-Magistris et al., 2017; Bazzani et al., 2018). However, to the best of our knowledge, Bienenfeld et al. (2016) focused on the multi-dimensionality of the COO for processed food products. Bienenfeld et al. (2016) conduct a discrete choice experiment (DCE) study to measure consumer preferences for two dimensions of the COO of a packaged cereal product in the US. The two dimensions correspond to the locations of the two stages of the product's production process: the country where the grain in the product was grown (the country of growing or COG) and the country where the grain was processed and packaged (the country of processing or COP) [1].Although Bienenfeld et al. (2016) provide significant findings and implications regarding consumer preferences for the COO of processed food products, their study has two limitations. First, their findings are derived from a consumer survey conducted in the US, and the countries used as the levels of the COO-related attributes are the US, England and China. The general applicability of their results should be examined by conducting additional surveys in other countries and by using other countries as the levels of the COO-related attributes. Our study conducts a consumer survey in Japan and uses Japan, Australia, Thailand and China as the levels of the COO-related attributes. The other limitation is that they exclude the country where the company producing the processed food product is headquartered (the country of the company or COC) from their COO-related attributes. For some industrial products, the COC is important information for consumers [2]. From the viewpoint of consumers' perceptions, the phrase \"Made in country X\" may mean both \"the product is made in country X\" and \"the product is made by a company founded in country X.\" Although processed food products are a type of agricultural and/or livestock product, they are also partly similar to industrial products because the processing stage of processed food products is similar to the manufacturing stage of industrial products. The processing of raw materials of processed food products may occur in a factory and may be entirely mechanized. Therefore, consumers may consider the COC of processed food products when purchasing the products. Our study uses the COC as a COO-related attribute as well as the two dimensions of the COO in Bienenfeld et al. (2016), and then examines whether consumers evaluate the COC of processed food products or not.To accomplish our objective considering the two improvements mentioned above, we use profile case (Case 2) best-worst scaling (BWS). Case 2 BWS uses profiles in the questions, similar to the DCE approach. A profile is expressed as a combination of attribute-levels: the profile has two or more attributes and each attribute has two or more levels. The DCE approach requires respondents to select the best profile (alternative) out of two or more profiles in each choice task, whereas the Case 2 BWS approach requires respondents to select the best and worst levels from a profile in each choice task. Case 2 BWS has both advantages and disadvantages over the DCE approach (Flynn et al., 2007, 2008; Louviere et al., 2015). Case 2 BWS enables us to estimate the utilities of levels in each attribute and the average utility of each attribute across the levels, whereas the DCE approach can estimate only the utilities of levels. However, the DCE approach can estimate the unconditional demand for profiles (i.e. respondents can select none of profiles in each choice task), whereas Case 2 BWS cannot. Fortunately, this disadvantage is not problematic for our study, because our objective is to measure consumer preferences for the COO-related attribute-levels and not to estimate the demand for food products. Although consumer food valuation studies often use Case 1 BWS (e.g. Lusk and Briggeman, 2009; de-Magistris et al., 2017; Bazzani et al., 2018), few such studies employ Case 2 BWS.The processed food product we focus on is a vegetable (vegetable-fruit mix) juice package (hereafter, vegetable juice package). To measure consumer preferences for COO-related attributes and their levels clearly, we assume that the target product was made from raw materials that can be grown in a single country. Vegetable juice packages meet this condition because the number of raw materials (i.e. vegetables, such as tomato and spinach) is limited and the vegetables can be grown in a single country.\n2. Material and methods: 2.1 Web survey\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Results\n4. Conclusion: This study revealed consumer preferences for three dimensions of the COO of a vegetable juice package using a Case 2 BWS approach. The three dimensions consist of the country where the raw materials of the product were grown, the country where the raw materials were processed, and the country where the food company producing the product is headquartered. We found that all consumers, with the exception of men in their 20s and women in their 40s, obtain the first, second, and third highest average utility from the COG, COC and COP and that consumers evaluate Japan, Australia, Thailand and China as the first, second, third, and fourth most preferred countries for each of the three COO-related attributes, respectively. The results suggest that an important selling strategy for vegetable juice packages in Japan is making sure that the COG appeals to consumers. The strategy could be more effective when the COG of the juice product is Japan. Although we need additional information on the production costs of raw materials in each country to obtain an exact and comprehensive implication, Thailand and Australia might have an advantage in growing raw materials over China from the viewpoint of Japanese consumer preferences. Simulated ranks of 64 juice products reveals that the pure Japanese juice product receives consumers' first highest rank, whereas pure Australian, Thai, and Chinese ones are at lower places. However, juice products produced by Australian, Thai, and Chinese companies using raw materials grown in and processed in Japan increase their ranks compared with ranks of their pure ones. Accordingly, this suggests that a strategy suitable for Australian, Thai, and Chinese juice companies that hope to enter newly into Japanese vegetable juice market may be not to sell their \"pure\" juice products, but to sell juice products made from raw materials grown in and processed in Japan.Our study has some limitations. First, the survey area is limited to Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures and the sample size is relatively small. The population of our survey area is about 30% of the total population of Japan, so we should conduct an additional survey targeting the whole of Japan to obtain more general results that can apply to Japanese consumers. Second, the consumer preference measures used in our study are not monetary-based such as consumers' WTP. For example, consumers' WTP is vital to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine the appropriate investment strategy for food product companies to develop new food process chains. Third, our design approach assumes that there are no interaction effects among the three COO-related attributes. We should thus examine whether interaction effects exist using a less-restrictive design approach. Fourth, consumers' socio-economic characteristics are limited to their genders and ages. We should thus consider other characteristics that may affect preferences for COO-related attributes and their levels. In addition to conducting further studies considering these limitations, we should conduct an international study aiming to compare the average utilities of COO-related attributes using Case 2 BWS. Such a study would progress our understanding of the consumer valuation of detailed COO-related attributes and would also be valuable for food companies and/or governments to construct strategies for investing in food chains and/or food labeling policies. Nevertheless, our results are meaningful because this is the first Case 2 BWS study to measure consumer preferences for the COG, COP and COC of processed food products, and it reveals new findings and suggests marketing implications for domestic and international juice companies through this application.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The production process of processed food products may involve several countries. This multi-dimensionality of the country of origin (COO) may affect consumer preferences for the products. We apply Case 2 best-worst scaling to measure Japanese consumers' preferences for three dimensions of the COO of a vegetable juice product.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The three dimensions of the COO include these: the country where the raw materials of the product were grown (the country of growing), the country where the raw materials were processed (the country of processing) and the country where the food company producing the product is headquartered (the country of the company). Japan, Australia, Thailand and China are the countries considered for the three COO-related attributes. Sixteen juice products (profiles) were created from the three four-level attributes. A survey queried 416 consumers to select the best and worst ones from among the three attribute levels shown in each profile.\nFindings: The average utility of the country of growing is the highest among those of the three COO-related attributes. However, consumers evaluate the country of growing as the least preferred among the three attributes with respect to a country with a negative food quality reputation.\nOriginality/value: This is the first Case 2 best-worst scaling study to measure consumer preferences for the three dimensions of the COO of processed food products. It suggests marketing strategies for domestic and international juice companies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Hoshin planning: strategy of a different kind
|
[
"Strategic planning",
"Performance management",
"Quality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Hoshin kanri was developed in Japan to communicate company policy to everyone in the organization. Hoshin's primary benefit is to focus activity on the key things necessary for success. Japanese Deming Prize winners credit Hoshin as being a key contributor to their business success. Progressive US companies, like Hewlett-Packard and Xerox, have also adopted Hoshin as their strategic planning process. Hoshin meets the intent of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria for Planning. Simply put, Hoshin is a system of forms and rules that encourage employees to analyze situations, create plans for improvement, conduct performance checks, and take appropriate action.\nHoshin in the context of strategic management and TQM: Hoshin, as a tool for setting direction, aligning the organization and moving it towards the chosen direction, could be seen as a modern derivative of strategic planning. since strategic planning has been practised by \"Western\" organizations since the 1960s (Ansoff, 1968), a comparison between Hoshin and what has come before provides a useful starting point.However, Hoshin is also a quality management tool and has its roots in holistic quality thinking. To understand the power of Hoshin one must also understand the fundamentals and limitations of TQM. A comparison is therefore also essential.Igor Ansoff, in his 1988 revision of the seminal work Corporate Strategy describes three broad \"Modes of strategic behavior\" and attaches some time lines to them.Reactive mode\nThe link between Hoshin planning and performance measurement: Hoshin planning is the necessary trigger for processes to perform well and for goals to be achieved. It is the mechanism by which the quality effort is cascaded down throughout the organization. Hoshin is a top-down approach and as such tends to be the responsibility of senior managers. Process improvement and measurement is a horizontal effort and quality deployment is a vertical (top-down) approach. As Figure 3 illustrates, quality improvement is a continuous effort and as such is not finite. However, quality effects have to be measured and quantified against set targets (Yoji, 1990).Hoshin planning is not merely a good communication process, it is a dynamic process where performance measurement is an integral part and where goals are translated into actions throughout the various activities. Quality function deployment is the horizontal process which ensures that performance will ensue from the goal communication effort.The Deming cycle of plan-do-check-act (PDCA) can be applied in the context of Hoshin (i.e. strategical continuous improvement). As Figure 4 illustrates (American Supplier Institute, 1989) the PDCA can drive the strategy and ensure that goals are achieved, that adjustments are made as and when necessary and that learning takes place continuously.The conventional methods of strategic planning and strategic implementation tend to be marred with problems. Many strategies fail to deliver for a variety of reasons including, among others:*Poor communication of goals - people working in total darkness.*Moving the goal posts - too many disruptions and changes in direction.*Pursuit of pet projects - short-term goals to the detriment of long-term competitiveness.*Cost is the key driver for results at the expense of real improvement opportunities.*Goals developed in remoteness from the process.*Voice of customer not really captured.*Achievements are not sustainable.On the other hand, Hoshin is focusing on sustainability and building strengths for increased competitiveness. While this process focuses on results, it only does so by continuously improving the processes concerned so that repeatability of performance and consistency can be ensured.The relationship between Hoshin and performance management is better illustrated in Figure 5. Perhaps the best description of Hoshin planning is the process by which congruence can be achieved and the \"what to do\" and \"how to perform\" questions can be answered. Performance measurement on the other hand measures motion, action and value added contributions. The business delivery process (BDP) reflects all the recommended effects which add value to the end customer, driven by a thorough understanding of customer requirements and process capability.Figure 5 on the other hand describes the two activities of Hoshin and performance measurement in terms of:1. 1 Process management. This is a senior management responsibility, deciding on the right things to do, developing the right objectives and communicating them at all levels in the right way.2. 2 Performance measurement. Quality improvements take place through team efforts and a multi-functional approach. Performance measurement, therefore, becomes the responsibility of process workers who have the ultimate task of carrying out the necessary improvements.Figure 6 also highlights the fact that Hoshin planning and performance measurement have to focus not just on deficiency areas and negative gaps but also on pro-active quality and the protection of competitive advantages. Benchmarking therefore, becomes very relevant at two levels:1. 1 Strategic benchmarking. To develop goals and critical success factors (CSFs) through a thorough understanding of customer requirements and process capability.2. 2 Operational benchmarking. To optimize process capability at all levels through the introduction of new practices, methods learned from leading organizations.\nExamples of Hoshin planning models: Procter & Gamble (P&G)\nRank Xerox Ltd: Hoshin kanri is a key process at Rank Xerox Ltd. It is used for creating synergy among the various functional areas and, hence, optimize capability to deliver, but also to convert all customer needs (explicit and non-expressed) into value added contributions.Rank Xerox deploys quality policy at all levels of the organization and integrates Hoshin with employee appraisal.Although the process is deployed in a top-down fashion, there is active participation at all levels, to ensure that goals are delivered. In order to gain company wide commitment, Rank Xerox relies on a process called \"catchball\", which essentially means that there is negotiation using facts and hard data to resolve differences and disagreements during the deployment of company goals.Figure 11 illustrates Hoshin planning at Rank Xerox Ltd. Similarly to previously discussed processes, Rank Xerox used the PDCA cycle for planning, implementing and taking necessary actions.\nA common roadmap for implementing Hoshin: The following section is based on a benchmarking analysis of several applications of Hoshin planning in the UK and Europe. The analysis has helped distil out distinctive features and common generic practices which have formed the basis of identifying what the critical factors of implementation are in so far as Hoshin planning is concerned. These factors are therefore important rules that need to be adhered so that the benefits promised by Hoshin can be achieved.Step 1: Starting with a vision of the future\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: - One of the key miracles of Japan's success in dominating international markets for such a long period of time is their approach to strategic planning. This article talks about their success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - It first presents the origins, definition and methodology involved in Hoshin, contrasts it with other approaches to strategic planning and argues the case by demonstrating how Hoshin can be integrated with total quality management and performance measurement, two essential requirements for modern business practice. The paper covers various best practice case studies and concludes with a roadmap for the effective implementation of Hoshin.\nFindings: - The spread of Hosin planning from Japan to the USA has been well documented. The uptake of Hoshin in the West seems on the whole to be associated with organizations that are advocating the use of total quality management. This is an \"implicit\" consideration that Japanese corporations make, having always based their approach to doing business on the use of quality methods and techniques.\nOriginality/value: - Several case studies of the successful implementation of this pioneering concept are illustrated and a proposed roadmap of Implementing Hoshin Planning is discussed. The roadmap is meant to assist organizations of different sizes and from different sectors, manage their strategic thinking more effectively.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Causal linkages among relationship quality perception, attitude, and behavior intention in a membership organization
|
[
"Public relations",
"Communication management",
"Perception",
"Behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Although it took more than ten years, Ferguson's (1984) landmark study has generated research in the topic of relationship management[1]. Her study shifted the paradigm of public relations from its traditional functions (e.g. disseminating information and attaining publicity) to the more meaningful purpose of cultivating stable, long-term, and quality relationships between organizations and their publics. Increasing evidence points to the positive effects of promoting quality relationships through public relations, including improvement of organizational effectiveness (e.g. Hon, 1997; Huang, 1999), rapid recovery from crisis (e.g. Wilson, 2000), positive impact on publics' attitudes, evaluations, and behaviors (e.g. Ki and Hon, 2007a), and enhancement of an organization's reputation (e.g. Yang, 2007).\nLiterature review: Relationships as perceptions\nMethodology: This study was designed to test causal linkages among relationship perceptions, attitude, and behaviors in a membership organization and the effect of involvement on the model proposed. The membership organization in this study is the Florida Farm Bureau (referred to as FFB hereafter), the largest agricultural organization in the state. The organization is an independent, non-governmental, and voluntary organization which represents its members, who are primarily farmers and ranch families. The FFB represents 64 county farm bureaus in Florida (Florida Farm Bureau Federation, 2010). Cultivating positive and long-term relationships with members is vital to membership organizations like FFB, because the life and power of these organizations are rooted in their membership. The population of this study is the FFB's current membership, consisting of about 140,000 members who constitute a key public for all of the organization's public relations programs.Pilot test\nResults: This study used composite variables that were produced from principal component analysis for the latent variables with multiple items for making the proposed causal model more parsimonious and easier for convergence. Principal component scores were used for the six factors - four indicators for relationship quality outcomes, one for attitude, and one for behavioral intentions - meaning that the six constructs were treated as six observed variables.Table I demonstrates the correlation matrix and descriptive statistics for all six variables. The composite scores were used to calculate the correlations. The descriptive statistics indicated that the average for items measuring members' attitude toward the organization is higher than the average scores for the majority of the relationship measurement items. The mean score for the attitude measure was 8.00 (SD=1.36), whereas the average for the relationship measures range between 7.10 (SD=1.61 for control mutuality) and 7.47 (SD=1.38 for commitment). The average for the behavioral intentions items (M=7.76, SD=1.55) is lower than the average for those measuring members' attitude toward the organization. Overall, members of the organization evaluated their relationship with the organization positively, and these relationship perceptions are consistent with their attitude and behavioral intentions.Testing proposed models\nDiscussion and conclusion: Theoretical and managerial implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study was designed to test two models linking relationship perception, attitude, and behavior-based involvement in a membership organization. This study helps fill a gap in the relationship management literature by exploring the hierarchy of effects among a strategic public some of whom could be characterized as having low involvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After a couple of pilot tests, a state-wide mail survey was conducted. As recommended by several studies, the mail survey for this study was included in a packet with a cover letter and a pre-addressed, pre-stamped return envelope mailed to 2,100 randomly selected current members of the organization. Of the 2,100 members who received questionnaires, 493 usable responses were collected, resulting in a 23.4 per cent response rate.\nFindings: - For the four relationship quality dimensions used in this study - i.e. control mutuality, satisfaction, trust, and commitment - current members' perceptions of relationship trust and commitment positively influenced their attitudes toward the organization. More importantly, this study demonstrates that the public's perception of commitment can also directly engender supportive behavior toward the organization among members of a key public.\nOriginality/value: - This study was designed to empirically test two models that link relationship quality perceptions, attitude, and behavioral intentions with members in a membership organization based on their levels of involvement. By testing a model of standard sequential order (relationship perceptions - attitude - behavioral intentions), this study found that the originally tested model met the criteria. However, the model was revised based on the modification index and theoretical justification. A new path directly connecting commitment of the relationship quality outcomes to behavioral intentions was added.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Fuel to the fire? The sensemaking of volunteer firefighters and public managers in the context of public reform
|
[
"Sensemaking",
"Organizational change",
"Volunteers",
"Public reform"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: On May 12, 2000, in the city of Enschede, the Netherlands, a firework storehouse exploded wounding 950 and killing 23 people and destroying over 200 homes. This catastrophe, termed \"the Enschede firework disaster,\" was the biggest explosion in the nation since the Second World War. Not much later during the 2000-2001 New Year transition, the interior of a cafe caught fire in Volendam, wounding 241 and killing 14 people, due to inadequate safety measures. These incidents, among others, prompted the Dutch government to take serious action to advance its emergency preparedness, and crisis management and prevention. The Dutch fire service was seen as too fragmented as most fire stations operated independently and were managed by municipal authorities due to their strong local basis (Scholtens, 2008). Therefore, a governmental inquiry resulted in the realization that the local-oriented management structure of local fire stations was insufficiently capable and equipped to counter crises for which multidisciplinary operation, coordination, response and learning are needed.\nTheoretical framework: Public reform and new public management\nMethodology: Case selection and methods\nThe context of regionalization: the Dutch fire service under pressure: The Netherlands has around 28,000 firefighters; an estimated 19,000 of whom work on a voluntary basis. That is about 70 percent of the entire workforce. The fire brigade is ready to work 24/7 out of passion for the profession and sometimes at the risk of their own lives to help people and animals in need. After the Second World War, the Dutch fire brigade was organized at the municipal level. From that time on, cities and larger towns worked with a professional fire brigade of around 8,000 forces (with the exception of Amsterdam, where a private corps was established on August 15, 1874). In urban areas it was simply too busy to put all the burden on volunteers. The vast majority of medium-sized and smaller municipalities, however, remained dependent on volunteers who should be present in their barracks within a few minutes of being alerted. That is why fire brigades traditionally have a strong local embedding. Some large private institutions, including airports, chemical companies and universities also have an internal fire brigade (Justice, 2013).\nHow volunteer firefighters make sense of regionalization: The noticeable aspects and translations of the regionalization of the fire service differ per local fire station. Overall, while respondents indicate little has changed concerning their daily work practices and activities since the reorganization, our data shows that other factors have resulted in consequences and changes that emerged in their sensemaking of public reform, particularly in relation to: the mergers or the closing of stations, the \"coverage plan\" and allocation of territories, the redistribution of specialisms and materials and the bureaucratization of the Dutch fire service. This section will delve deeper into each of these themes to shed light on the process and consequences of regionalization and how volunteers make sense of this.\nHow regional public managers make sense of regionalization: This section contains the results of interviews with four regional public managers. Unlike the common assumption of volunteers that regional managers are not \"one of us,\" two of the manager respondents started as volunteer firefighters themselves and climbed the ladder up toward management. The other two do not have a firefighting background but became responsible for the fire service as a result of the regionalization. We structure this section according to the themes that emerged as significant in terms of how managers made sense of public reform, being: managing change; the coverage plan and material redistribution plan; motivating and retaining volunteers; and plurality vs uniformity.\nPutting organizational change into perspective: To fully understand the impact of public reform on local fire stations and volunteers' experience and sensemaking of organizational change, there are three main themes that should be considered: the local embeddedness of fire stations; the relationship between volunteers and regional managers; and the relationship between volunteers and station commanders. These themes demonstrate how volunteers relate to their local stations and their managers, and - more importantly - how these relations have taken shape in the context of public reform and the ensuing organizational change.\nDiscussion: fuel to the fire?: This paper focused on the regionalization of the fire department in the Netherlands, from the perspective of volunteer firefighters and public managers. Specifically, we asked:\nContributions and implications: The originality of this research paper is found in the insight it provides in the sensemaking of volunteer firefighters and public management of diverse safety regions and fire stations in the Netherlands concerning the public reform of regionalization. The paper exhibits a critical and emergent perspective of organizational change to both challenge and supplement the dominant top-down and managerial approach to the implementation of public reform. Moreover, our research concerns public reform at a societal level while simultaneously emphasizing the implementation and management of organizational change and its social and cultural implications at the local level of organizations and their staff; especially volunteers. Therefore, our research is societally relevant for public service organizations and policy makers more generally.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance ongoing debates on the organizational impact of wider public sector reform in the field of organizational change management by presenting an analysis the regionalization of the fire service in the Netherlands. How regionalization has impacted the work floor of local fire stations, where the workplace majority comprises volunteers, requires further empirical investigation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors apply an interpretive approach and qualitative methodology to study how volunteer firefighters and public management make sense of public reform and the ensuing organizational change.\nFindings: Findings indicate that while the fire service has professionalized, notable tensions have emerged between public management and volunteers, the regional and local level of fire service and between professionalism and volunteerism which are problematised in the paper.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the paper is found in the insight it provides in the sensemaking of volunteer firefighters and public managers of diverse of change regions and fire stations during the regionalization process by applying an emergent perspective to change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Methodology for the preparation of rescue plans - a Polish case study
|
[
"Crisis management",
"Machine learning",
"Rescue operations",
"Response schedules"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and outline of the problem: A transformation of military character of crisis management into civil protection common in western countries (Alexander, 2002) took place also in Poland (Golebiewski, 2015, p. 10; Kunikowski and Rostek, 2019). Nowadays professional rescue and order institutions (Fire Service, Emergency Medical Service, Police and Armed Forces) are supported by public administration (Drennan et al., 2014), society and non-governmental organisations.\n2. Proposed approach to a rescue planning: The proposed process approach is a systematic method of preparing rescue plans, it consists of the five stages, corresponding to the required substantive structure of the plans, i.e.:\n3. Proposed approach to the development of recommended response schedule: The basis and justification for the proposal of supporting the organisation and management of rescue operations is an extended scope of collected data from such operations (Annex 6 to the Regulation of the Minister of the Interior on the Decision Support System of the State Fire Service, 2013). The legislator provides for the collection of information about the rescue operations carried out in the national register. Input data comes from unified reports, taking into account the time frame of activities from the moment of registering and qualifying the event as far as to the detailed registration of activities carried out and the impact assessment.\n4. Proposed research programme: Future research on the presented concepts require initial empirical and pilot implementations. The scope of research concerns the development of the concept of an advanced machine learning model, or the use of other analytical techniques, for strictly defined information resources, collected in databases (e.g. maintained by PSP) and verification of formulated assumptions regarding data usage. The first part is theoretical and conceptual, and it ends with the development of a prototype of the machine learning tool. The study (Noizet and Weber, 2018, p. 45) confirms both positive opinions about the potential in using AI in crisis management and limited so far.\n5. Summary: Emergency plans that are an operational part of crisis management must take into account the threats, available resources of forces and means and the rescue services operating possibilities in a given area.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for the methodology of developing rescue plans and the concepts of applying recommended response schedules in the context of the State Fire Service's planning responsibilities (preparation) and public administration (reconciliation and approval), according to the legal order in force in Poland. In the proposed concept, recommended schedules are built on the basis of the matches and successes identified according to the criteria, i.e. the best carried out rescue actions from the register of reports.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the analysis of existing legal status and policy in Poland as well as the selected relevant academic literature.\nFindings: The result is the formulation of a methodology for drawing up the rescue plans to the extent required by law and proposing a concept for the method of developing and applying recommended response schedules, supporting operational planning and conducting rescue operations.\nPractical implications: The proposed methodology is to support the procedure of drawing up rescue plans by implying and implementing them into IT solutions. The suggested recommended response schedules, based on observations and conclusions from the analysis of the past rescue operations, may present circumstances and sequences of the use of forces and measures that have had beneficial effects in the past. An in-depth analysis of historical data from the conducted rescue operations may also be used to determine time indicators for the response phase.\nOriginality/value: The proposed solutions complement the methods currently used by public administration in Poland. The concept can also be inspiring for the State Fire Service (PSP) which has its own analytical tools in the form of a decision support system and registers of rescue operations carried out. The PSP may undertake the practical verification of the presented methodology for preparing rescue plans and recommended response schedules.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Is anti-consumption driving meat consumption changes in Australia?
|
[
"Animal welfare",
"Anti-consumption",
"Reduction",
"Vegetarians",
"Meat consumption",
"Food choice motivations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Protein is an essential macronutrient needed to sustain human life. Meat products are the dominant source of protein in Western diets and are often consumed in amounts that are in excess of nutritional requirements (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Global health and environmental authorities recognise that current levels of meat production and consumption are socially and environmentally unsustainable. Further, a growing body of evidence suggests that a shift towards more plant-based protein sources can provide benefits at both an individual and societal level (Steinfeld et al., 2006; McEvoy et al., 2012; Gerber et al., 2013; Orlich et al., 2013; Tantamango-Bartley et al., 2013; Bouvard et al., 2015; World Health Organization, 2015; Springmann et al., 2016; Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2017).\nMaterials and methods: Study design and recruitment\nResults: Participants\nDiscussion: This timely nationwide study provides new and valuable insight into how and why meat consumption patterns are changing in Australia. An anti-consumption approach is used, whereby we investigate reasons for avoiding meat consumption (vegetarianism), in addition to reasons for recent reductions and increases to consumption of four difference meat types- beef, chicken, pork and lamb.\nConclusions: This study shows that the majority of recent reductions in beef, lamb and pork consumption in Australia were driven by price/financial restraints, and were, therefore, not true acts of anti-consumption. In contrast, chicken meat reductions were motivated by a wider range of reasons and less frequently by price concerns, and thus are more consistent with anti-consumption behaviour. Likewise, most cases of vegetarianism/complete meat-avoidance were likely cases of anti-consumption, with ethical concerns behind almost two-thirds of meat-avoidance decisions. Interventions aimed at encouraging a societal shift towards more sustainable protein sources might, therefore, consider information-based framing strategies emphasising food choice factors that are more easily perceived, immediately relevant and familiar to consumers. Finally, our data suggest that we could continue to see an increasing trend of meat anti-consumption (specifically chicken reduction and/or meat-avoidance) in Australia if consumers continue to associate health and ethical (animal welfare and environmental protection) concerns with consumption of chicken and meat in general.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate recent changes made by Australian consumers in their consumption of beef, chicken, pork and lamb, as well as the factors motivating both decreased and increased consumption of each type of meat. Reasons for meat-avoidance are also examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was completed in July 2016 by two Australian samples comprising: adults from the general population; and vegetarians. Data were analysed for 287 meat consumers and 82 meat avoiders. Descriptive statistics and results of multinomial logistic regression models are presented.\nFindings: Meat consumers most commonly reported reducing consumption of beef in the last 12 months (30 per cent); followed by lamb (22 per cent), pork (14 per cent) and chicken (8 per cent). The following factors were associated with reductions in meat consumption: concerns regarding price and personal health; age and household income; and food choice motivations related to personal benefits, social factors and food production and origin. Main reasons motivating meat-avoidance were concerns regarding animal welfare, health and environmental protection.\nOriginality/value: This is the first Australian study providing national-level insight on how and why meat consumption patterns are changing. Reasons for changes are examined through an anti-consumption lens, investigating rationale for avoiding, reducing and increasing consumption. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of meat consumption and anti-consumption decisions, which are becoming increasingly complex. Insights on the psychologically distinct motivations underpinning avoidance, reductions and increases in meat consumption can inform the development of strategies aimed at promoting a societal-shift towards consumption of more sustainable dietary protein sources.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Acquiring competitive advantage in industry through supply chain integration: a case study of Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd
|
[
"Supply chain management",
"Lean production",
"China",
"Competitive strategy",
"Communications technologies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, SCM (supply chain management) has become a hot topic in economics and business throughout the world. There has been much interest among managers and academics in research on SCM and SCI (supply chain integration). The term \"supply chain management\" is used frequently in today's materials management environment and is generally associated with advanced information technologies, rapid and responsive logistics service, effective supplier management, and increasingly with customer relationship management. Most materials managers are familiar with the supply chain mantra of \"suppliers' supplier to customers' customer\".A traditional group usually uses the \"vertical solution\" as a production organization model - that is, the core group integrates its raw material suppliers into a uniform group through acquisitions, shared control takeovers, or mergers. Under this organization model, on the one hand, large groups cannot respond rapidly to complex market needs; on the other hand, limited resources are expended on multiple operation fields. Such companies find it difficult to establish a competitive core advantage. Therefore, companies must invest significant funds on integrating core suppliers, while more and more frequent economic fluctuations make it difficult for companies to support the heavy investment and avoid the risks brought about by the long-term growth cycle. As a result, the production organization model of many companies has begun a transition from the \"vertical solution\" to the \"horizontal solution\", a new kind of model for organization and management of production. Under this new management model, connections among companies are no longer a simple \"chain\", but a complicated \"supply network (virtual group)\". The companies in a \"supply network\" are combined into interest communities or dynamic alliances, and they concentrate on the strategic part in which they have some competitive advantage in this value-added chain. This new management model can not only improve the core competence of a group to a large extent, but also help a group to avoid the heavy investment and high risk, as its \"network\" uses the organization form of dynamic alliances.Business management based on supply chain management is a new management pattern, when information technology changes almost daily, along with intranet/extranet/internet innovations in particular. The supply chain is a continuing process that begins with a customer's order form, following through raw material supply, storage, production, and delivery to the customer. A pinch point in the supply chain is often an enterprise or a place, and each part of the pinch point is usually an exterior enterprise, enterprise branch office, customer, etc.According to American experience with advanced manufacturing, the implementation of advanced supply chain management practices may help the enterprise to both improve the quality of service and reduce production costs. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) reduced its total costs by US$1 billion from 1991-1995 through strategic supply chain management (Arntzen et al., 1995); Hewlett Packard (HP) has implemented many supply chain projects, with each project saving US$1-40 million per year (Lee and Billington, 1995).Along with the arrival of economic globalization, the wide use of information networks, and the appearance of global manufacturing, supply chain management is gaining universal application in the management processes of the manufacturing industry. In a world where politics and the economy continue to change, the market environment which corporations must contend with grows intensively competitive. Uncertainty and individuality of user demand increases, high-tech innovations are introduced rapidly, product life cycles become shorter, and product structure becomes more and more complex. How can business management adapt to the new competition environment? This has become the focal point for attention from high level management and technical personnel in manufacturing industries.The research object of this case study is Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited. There are two reasons for choosing the Yue Yuen Group as the object of this case study. First, Yue Yuen is the largest branded athletic and casual footwear manufacturer in the world, taking 17 percent of the global market in these products. With most of its production facilities in China, Vietnam and Indonesia, the Group is an original equipment manufacturer/original design manufacturer (OEM/ODM) for major international brand name companies such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, New Balance, Asics, Timberland and Rockport. For Mainland China, the Group also has the authorization of the four international brands: Asics, Converse, Coleman and Hush Puppies. The well-known brands that the Group produces are sold in America, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Second, the Group has established a high-level and efficient supply chain management model, with an emphasis on supply chain integration to reducing costs and maximizing profit. For these reasons, its supply chain management model can be of great value to other companies, especially in China, as well as a very good case study for academic research and instruction.This paper is presented in five sections. The first section gives a brief description of Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited. The next section focuses on Yue Yuen's improvement in production management and overall productivity, by analyzing its current supply chain management approach and its implementation of lean production. The third section explores Yue Yuen's operation of its SCM and SCI Model. The fourth section provides some operational suggestion for the development of supply chain management in China's companies. The final section summarizes a related discussion on the establishment of a global supply chain after China's entry into the World Trade Organization.\nThe Yue Yuen Group: Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited was founded in 1988, and is a sub-group affiliated with Taiwan's Pou Chen International Group. It mainly produces world-branded sport and casual shoes, but its products also include electronics, real estate, sport appliances and so on. Its business ranges from Asia to Europe and America. The Group has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1992. It accommodated to the changes that happened in the global economic environment in the 1990s, by adopting a production organization and management patterned after a \"horizontal solution\". This included establishing a value-added chain consisting of raw material suppliers, parts suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and logistics companies. The Group worked towards an optimal allocation of resources throughout this supply chain. By establishing strategic and cooperative relationships, the Group reduced the total cost of supply chain operations and inventory levels, enhanced information sharing, improved communication between companies in order to keep consistency of operations between strategic partners. They also improved the financial status, production quality, output levels, lead times, customer satisfaction, and operating level of the companies within the supply chains.On November 7, 2002, the Group acquired Pou Chen Corporation's interest in 67 companies for US$3.3 billion according to an agreement reached in September 2002. This allowed the Group to engage in upstream footwear material production, ranging from raw materials to production tools and shoe components. The acquisition was a strategic step in its vertical integration of business and the expansion of its core footwear production business. It also was a strategy to accelerate its profit base and expand its asset base through multiple developments and expansion of its customer base. It was helpful to consolidate the Group's status as the largest manufacturer of international name brands of athletic and casual shoes. In addition, the transparency of the Group was improved by reducing transaction costs with its parent group, Pou Chen Corporation.On June 20, 2004, the two industry giants, Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited and Luen Thai Holdings Limited (abbreviated \"Luen Thai\"), announced that they had formed a strategic alliance with the objective of exploring the promising sports apparel market. The joint venture, Yuen Thai Industrial Co. Ltd (\"The Company\"), is 50 percent owned by Yue Yuen and Luen Thai respectively, and would focus on the development of sports apparel markets globally. Yue Yuen, leverages its close contacts with international sports brands to extend its brand presence to the apparel regimes. Luen Thai, leverages its manufacturing and supply chain platform to the sports apparel market.The Group achieved encouraging results in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005 despite a challenging and increasingly demanding operating environment. Group sales rose 16 percent year-on-year to US$3.155 billion, making it the 13th consecutive year in which it achieved an increase in sales since listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Underpinning the rise was a sustained increase in orders from existing customers and the addition of new accounts. However, the surge in the contribution from Chinese retail operations was the driver behind its phenomenal growth.The Group maintained its dominant position in the branded footwear manufacturing sector, and it now accounts for approximately 17 percent of the combined wholesale value of the world's athletic and casual shoes market. The Group's net profit has increased to US$310.1 million.Nonetheless, the operating environment during the year 2005 remained uniquely challenging, due to the surge in oil and petrochemical prices, increases in labor costs, higher utility costs, and the appreciation in the Chinese yuan. Production costs could not have been contained without the dedication and hard work of its staff as well as much closer working relationships with its customers. The Group focused not only on the manufacturing end of the supply-chain, but also on the retail end. The move into China retail sales resulted in a 128 percent jump in turnover for that business during the year. The horizontal expansion into sports apparel and accessories manufacturing remained on track.The Group's 50 percent-owned joint venture, Hua Jian Industrial Holding Co., Ltd., an OEM/ODM of ladies' shoes, reported double-digit growth in annual sales of about 10 million pairs of shoes. Hua Jian will diversify its production base into Macao while maintaining its existing facilities in Dongguan, in China's Guangdong province, and in the province of Jiangxi. The new production base in Jiangxi has proved to be very cost efficient and plans are already in hand for the next phase of expansion there. In 2005 Hua Jian added several new customers, broadening its client base and facilitating future growth.At the end of fiscal 2005, the Group operated about 342 production lines, 33 more than in the previous year. Of these lines 182 were in China, 104 in Vietnam, and 56 in Indonesia (Yue Yuen, 2005).\nImprovement in production management and overall productivity: Current status of Yue Yuen supply chain management\nYue Yuen's supply chain management and supply chain integration models: Since the Group established a long-term stable strategic partner relationship with Adidas, it has used Adidas' successful operations as a reference for its SCM processes, and has realized supply chain integration while establishing their high efficiency SCM model.Features of Yue Yuen's supply chain management\nPolicy implications: Since the 1990s, supply chain management has become one of the most important methods for enhancing competitive ability. Modern supply chain management involves a management philosophy that is different and better than traditional approaches, so it has an evident competitive advantage. Advanced management is of important inspiration and significance to the current reform of Chinese state-owned enterprises.Status quo of SCM in China's footwear industry\nConclusions: The new features of supply chains determine that supply chain management should occupy an important position in the development of Chinese enterprises after China's entry into the World Trade Organization. The national material inventory and transportation network that served for planning and cannibalizing material, developed under the centralized planned economy system in China, is the physical base upon which SCM in China can develop and participate in international competitions. More importance should be attached to the position and function of this network in the development of the SCM in China and its participation in international cooperation. However, there are some drawbacks when transforming the national material inventory and transportation network in China into supply chain management. From our survey, we have come to the following conclusions:First, although the operations system of this network has mostly completed its transformation to an enterprise operations system, it still has various inherent disadvantages that are inherent to the operations system of large state-owned enterprises. It still lacks the dynamic enterprise system that adapts to market competition and transformation of supply chain systems.Second, in a firm's allocation of resources, the current technological equipment, human resources and management capabilities of this network still cannot meet the demand for development of supply chain systems. In particular, it cannot compete with large multinational operations that arrived after China's entry into the WTO, since it lacks the resources needed to transform it into a modern supply chain.Third, in this firm's management system, the network is now basically separately managed by different parts of government departments. As a result, it has the undesirable features of state-owned enterprises under this separate management system, such as duplicate investments, duplicate establishments, and excessive inter-departmental competition. As an industrial enterprise, the internal efficiency is low, and the capital resources needed to transform it into a modern supply chain are not available.We forecast that, after China's entry into the WTO, the multinational logistic enterprise which is a characteristic of e-business, supply chain software integration and third party logistics would first choose this national material inventory and transportation network as an object of acquisition, purchase, or joint venture, and as a base to occupy China's huge market. Thus the most urgent task of supply chain management in Chinese enterprises is to utilize the limited transition period after entry into the WTO, and take some important steps to solve the problems mentioned above. That is, solve problems due to the lack of a dynamic network system that would be possible by establishing a modern enterprise system based on a suitable management structure; the problem of increased investment in technological and human resources; and the problem of lacking operation resources of the network through an alliance of enterprises that would link its separate parts.Finally, work must be done to finish the transformation of the national material inventory and transportation network across Chinese industry in order to participate effectively in international competition.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of a successful corporate group, Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Limited (abbreviated \"Yue Yuen\" below), which acquired its competitive advantage through supply chain management (SCM) and supply chain integration (SCI). Focusing on this as a representative example, the paper discusses the features, operations model and performance of SCM and SCI as a useful reference for business, enterprise and academia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on classical works on supply chain management, a detailed eight part questionnaire, on supplier and customer relationship management, was designed. This was completed by Yue Yuen managers.\nFindings: - Through nearly two years of research work, it was found that Yue Yuen's success in supply chain management lies in its large investment in information technology. It was found that a global supply chain strategy should target timeline improvements in product development and procurement to produce optimal effects in terms of cost and quality. Rather than optimizing a single process or segment of the supply chain, a firm should target improvements throughout the entire supply chain.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The framework in the case discussed in this paper provides guidance for future research in the field of supply chain management and supply chain integration by focusing on the case of a specific company and industry.\nPractical Implications: - This paper provides some theoretical support and policy implications for the reform and development of China's manufacturing, especially in the footwear industry.\nOriginality/value: - This paper highlights the importance of shifting from a \"vertical solution\" model to a \"horizontal solution\" model, and stresses that under this new management model, companies can use cooperation to provide customers with a full service supply chain model.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Testing dominant theories and assumptions in behavioral finance
|
[
"Behavioural economics",
"Investors",
"Expectation",
"Financial forecasting",
"Risk aversion",
"Dominant theory",
"Prospect theory",
"S&P500"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: It is widely accepted and empirically demonstrated that the rational expectations theory and the efficient markets hypothesis do not generally hold for various suggested reasons. Thus, there is a growing acceptance of alternative behavioral finance theories (Ritter, 2003). If investors and traders were all rational beings whose investing decisions were logically based on the information available, then a particular event would precipitate predictable and unanimous reactions every time. But trading is not a precise science. Each event causes varied reactions and predictions, which effectively amount to sheer speculation, or forecast error, where \"permanent and widespread psychological biases affect both the subjective probability of future economic events and their retrospective interpretation\" (Bovi, 2009). Emotional and psychological factors often override the rational expectations theory in financial decision making, affecting trading performance (Lo et al., 2005), and only if risk aversion is pegged at unrealistically high levels, does the efficient market hypothesis and rational expectations theory explain the volatility of the market overall (Shiller, 2003).The psychological factors that interfere with rational thinking include cognitive biases such as heuristics, overconfidence, mental accounting, framing, representativeness, the conservatism and disposition effect (Ritter, 2003), and the overall emotional reactivity (Lo et al., 2005). There are also other factors that skew decisions, such as misevaluations of financial assets (Ritter, 2003), lack of understanding and miscalculation of basic financial measures, such as volatility (Goldstein and Taleb, 2007), and finally, the effect of word of mouth and media driven feedback (Shiller, 2003).Unfortunately, \"psychology is silent on the magnitude of the biases and on whether the effects of the biases are constant over time and/or are homogeneous across individuals\" (Bovi, 2009), so that this inability to generalize hampers the opportunities for a meaningful hypothesis testing in this regard.In addition, the theoretical and empirical models based on the efficient market hypothesis usually adopt the a priori assumption of risk aversion. Examples include the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the mean variance model.Prospect theory was introduced as an alternative to expected utility theory, rational expectations theory and the efficient market hypothesis. Prospect theory postulates that decision makers prefer certain outcomes over probable outcomes, called the certainty effect, which gives rise to risk aversion when faced with sure gains and risk seeking when faced with sure losses (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). Indeed, the original prospect theory and its later versions demonstrate that framing effects, nonlinear preferences, source dependence, risk seeking and loss aversion, for example, repeatedly override any rational choices (Tversky and Kahneman, 1992).However, prospect theory does not suggest what the market's reaction to (or interpretation of) a specific economic event would be, since it argues that a person's risk attitude in any given situation depends on that individual's specific economic situation (or his interpretation of it) such that if the event is viewed positively, then the individual tends to be risk averse, and vice versa (Bovi, 2009).Moreover, prospect theory still adopts the expected utility theory's definition of risk aversion/seeking[1]. According to expected utility theory, risk aversion (seeking) is synonymous with a diminishing (increasing) marginal utility. This is a major limitation of expected utility theory and also prospect theory. Other limitations of prospect theory are discussed by Alghalith (2010).The contribution of this paper is that it successfully tests fundamental theories and assumptions in behavioral finance. In particular, using a standard portfolio model and data pertaining to the Standard and Poor's 500 (S&P500) index, we first test the assumption of risk aversion.Second, we test the dominant theory that the optimal portfolio depends on risk preferences. Third, we test prospect theory. Furthermore, we introduce a more flexible and general alternative to prospect theory. The contribution of this paper is that it offers a better alternative to prospect theory in several ways. First, the proposed model is more flexible than prospect theory since it does not a priori assume what value of the portfolio induces risk aversion/seeking. Second, unlike prospect theory, our model does not a priori preclude linear preferences.The structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 provides theoretical information, while Section 3 shows estimating equations which we use to test theories and assumptions. Section 4 describes the data, and finally, Section 5 summarizes and concludes the paper.\n2 Theory: We consider a standard investment model, which includes a risky asset or portfolio, and a risk-free asset. We use a standard Brownian Motion {W1 s, W2 s, Fs} t <= s <= T on the probability space (O, Fs, P), where {Fs} t <= s <= T is the augmentation of filtration. The risky free asset price process is given by S0=e[?] tTrsds where rs[?]Cb2(R) is the rate of return.The risky asset/portfolio price is given by: Equation 1 where m is the average rate of return on the risky asset/portfolio, and s is the volatility of such return.The wealth process is given by: Equation 2 where x is the initial wealth, {pt,Fs}t<=s<=T is the risky portfolio process with [?]tTps 2ds<[?].The trading strategy (ps)[?]A(x) is admissible (that is, Xsp>=0).The investor's objective is to maximize the expected utility of the terminal wealth: Equation 3 where V(.) s the value function, and u(.) is a continuous bounded utility function.Under regular conditions, the value function satisfies the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman partial differential equation: Equation 4 where the subscripts x and xx denote the first and second partial derivative, respectively.Hence the optimal portfolio is given by: Equation 5 Therefore, the optimal portfolio depends on the parameters (mt,rt,st 2) and preferences (Vx/Vxx). According to the traditional expected utility theory and prostpect theory, the agent is risk averse (seeking) if Vxx is negative (positive). Thus, a diminishing (increasing) marginal utility is synonymous with risk aversion (risk seeking).\n3 Estimating equations: We use the theoretical foundations in the previous section to derive estimating equations which we use to test some finance and behavioral finance theories and assumptions. Using equation (5) and letting P[?]Vx/Vxx be the measure of risk preferences, we obtain the following estimating equations: Equation 6 Equation 7 Equation 8 where ci is the parameter that will be estimated, while pt*,P,mt,rt and st2 are observed data, and [?]i is the estimation error. These equations can be estimated using a nonlinear regression. Equations (6) and (7) attempt to measure the relationship between the value of the portfolio and preferences, and hence the direction of influence is not known a priori.It is worth emphasizing that much of the theoretical and empirical literature assumes that preferences determine the value of the portfolio (a fundamental postulate of expected utility theory) and thus they preclude the possibility that the portfolio can determine preferences. Consequently, we can test this dominant theory by independently estimating equations (6) and (7). The third estimating equation (8) provides an estimate for the average value of c3. A negative (positive) value for c3 implies risk aversion (seeking), since Vx>0 by the assumption of a positive marginal utility of wealth.\n4 Data description and methodology: We used the daily levels of the S&P500 500 index from January 2000 to March 2010. This data series were used to compute the daily rates of return on S&P500, using a simple percentage change in the index value from time t-1 to time t. The variance of the daily rates of return (which is calculated on a daily basis) is used as the measure of volatility. The US Treasury bill rates are used as the risk free rates.We segmented the data according to the market trends of bull market, bear market, market top and market bottom. Bull markets occurred between April 2003 to September 2007, and March 2009 to March 2010. Bear markets occurred between October 2000 to July 2002, and January to November 2008. Market tops occurred between January to October 2000, and September 2007 to January 2008. Market bottoms occurred between July 2002 to April 2003, and November 2008 to March 2009. The original data were also segmented according to days of positive returns and those of negative returns.We used equation (5) and direct calculations to generate data series for ci. Then, for each segment of the data as well as the unsegmented data, we estimated equations (6)-(8) independently using nonlinear least squares regressions as follows: Equation 9 Equation 10 Equation 11 where S&P500 is the value of the stock index. We obtained estimates for c1, c2, and c3 for each segment of the data and the unsegmented data and reported the results in Table I; further, the Appendix discusses the behaviour of S&P500 (levels) in comparison with c3 estimates and daily returns of S&P500 index.\n5 Final results and conclusions: We found that c3>0, which implies that, on average, investors are risk seeking. This result holds for the whole data set as well as the segmented data such as the bull, bear, peaking and bottoming market. This result questions the a priori assumption of risk aversion, adopted by much of the theoretical (such as the mean-variance and the CAPMs) and empirical literature in finance and economics.When we separated the data into periods with negative returns (losses) and those with positive returns (gains), investors are still risk seeking in the face of both losses and gains. Clearly, these results contradict prospect theory, which states that when faced with gains, agents display a risk averse behaviour.We found c1 to be highly insignificant, but c2 is highly significant. This result has a very important implication. It states that, contrary to the mainstream theory, the value of the optimal portfolio determines preferences but the converse is not true. This result is consistent with a recent theoretical contribution (Alghalith, 2010) that shows that, under the correct assumptions, the optimal portfolio does not depend on preferences.It is worth emphasizing that equation (10) offers a better alternative to prospect theory in several ways. First, it is more flexible than prospect theory since it does not a priori assume what value of the portfolio induces risk aversion/seeking. Second, according to prospect theory, a change in the sign of the returns/wealth changes preferences, but a (very large) change in the magnitude of gains/losses does not change the sign of preferences. Clearly, this is unrealistic. Therefore, according to our model, a change in the sign of preferences does not necessarily imply a change in the sign of wealth/return and vice versa. Moreover, unlike prospect theory, our model does not a priori preclude linear preferences.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to empirically test dominant theories and assumptions in behavioral finance, using data from the Standard & Poor's 500 index.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The empirical analysis has three parts: to test the assumption of risk aversion; to examine the dominant theory that the optimal portfolio depends on risk preferences; and to test prospect theory that decision makers prefer certain outcomes over probable outcomes. Finally, an alternative model to test prospect theory is introduced.\nFindings: - The proposed model is more flexible than prospect theory since it does not a priori assume what value of the portfolio induces risk aversion/seeking, while it does not a priori preclude linear preferences. Empirical results show that: investors are risk seeking; a change in the sign of preferences does not necessarily imply a change in the sign of wealth/return and vice versa; and the optimal portfolio does not depend on preferences.\nPractical implications: - These findings are helpful to risk managers dealing with models of behavioural finance.\nOriginality/value: - The contribution of this paper is that it successfully tests fundamental theories and assumptions in behavioral finance by providing a better alternative to prospect theory in several ways.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Overcoming the barriers to the implementation of more efficient productive strategies in small enterprises
|
[
"Small firms",
"Employment relations",
"Human resources",
"Lean production",
"Interdisciplinary studies",
"Operations and management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Small manufacturing firms play an important role in European national economies. They employ a significant number of workers and produce a substantial proportion of national turnover (Djassemi, 2014). In the case of Italy, the country of focus for this study, official business statistics for manufacturing attest to the country's weighing towards smaller firms (Eurostat, 2013). This paper concentrates on small manufacturing firms that are family owned, which constitute the vast majority of small enterprises (Klein, 2000; OECD, 2014). In these small firms, the proprietor usually acts as an owner-manager. They are also independent in their ownership, which means that these enterprises do not receive additional resources from larger parent companies, which would invalidate the characteristics associated with their smallness (Minbaeva et al., 2003). Henceforth, the expression \"small firm\" refers to manufacturing enterprises of this size that are independent and family owned.\n2. The different barriers to lean production implementation in small firms: While there has been a relative lack of research attention paid to the relationship between small firms and lean production, it is possible to draw out the main obstacles to the implementation of lean production among these firms from the management, operations, human resources and employment relations literature. Moreover, these studies can be reinforced by other contributions focusing on small enterprises in general. From this interdisciplinary analysis, the barriers to lean production implementation can be grouped into four main areas - two mainly drawn from the management and operations literature, and two particularly pertinent in the human resources and employment relations fields. These barriers are interrelated, but they can also be kept analytically separate. This study concentrates on a single sector (metal), wherein these barriers are quite consistent in their content and strength, although inter-firm differentiation is still possible as will be noted.\n3. Research design and method: The research was conducted in three phases in 2012 and 2013. First, a multiple case study was performed to investigate how small firms overcome barriers to lean production adoption. Case-oriented research is appropriate when exploration is required to develop an understanding of the processes and mechanisms in an organisation (Haddock-Millar et al., 2016). In total, five small firms were involved. All were operating in the provinces of Turin and Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, which was selected due to the developed characteristics of its small manufacturing firms (Cerved, 2016). Initially, data were collected from a single small firm successfully implementing lean production. Interviews took place with four key managers, comprising the owner-manager, the manager in charge of operations, the manager in charge of the health, safety and quality system and the manager responsible for one specific productive area. A union delegate was also interviewed. The data gathered from the interviews were integrated with a visit to the firm, lasting approximately 1 h. Subsequently, in order to increase the validity of the results, a further four small businesses successful in lean production implementation were studied. In such a way, it was possible to follow a logic of replication, which serves to strengthen confidence in the validity of empirical findings when multiple cases confirm emergent data (Eisenhardt, 1989). For each of these four firms, the owner-manager along with the key managerial figure for lean implementation (if present, which occurred in two cases) were interviewed and the plants were visited.\n4. Empirical findings: 4.1 Commitment and leadership\n5. Discussion and conclusions: This study makes a novel contribution to the literature by using exploratory data to elaborate an empirical model of how small firms can overcome the four main barriers to the successful implementation of lean production identified by the existing literature. This subject has received little attention, in spite of its socioeconomic relevance and the particular structural and market issues faced by small enterprises, partly because studies have focused on large firms (Shah and Ward, 2003; Sim and Rogers, 2008). The uniqueness of the contribution is reinforced by an analysis of different bodies of literature, including management, operations, human resources and employment relations. All of these disciplines have examined the functioning of lean production from different angles, and lean production is most often defined as a system comprising hard and soft practices falling within the purview of a range of disciplines. Thus, by combining their insights, this study has simultaneously considered different barriers and solutions to lean implementation and adopted an interdisciplinary analytical perspective of the system in line with its definition. The resulting empirical model is thus useful both to advancing academic knowledge and for social actors, both inside and outside of firms, who are involved in applying lean production or who intend to implement it. Since the study has concentrated on a single sector, strong similarities arose; nevertheless, some important differences between firms can be derived from the analysis (as synthesised in Table III).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to elaborate an empirical model of how small, family-owned companies can overcome the barriers that have been shown in different disciplines to hinder the implementation of lean production in this category of enterprises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multiple case study involving five carefully selected small manufacturing firms operating in Northern Italy was conducted through interviews with key managers and visits inside plants. This data was integrated by a specific seminar and by interviews with unions and training specialists.\nFindings: The resulting empirical model highlights the significance of social relations among small entrepreneurs in overcoming any lack of commitment towards lean changes, the role of consultants and practical training in breaking the barrier of resource constraints and the channelling and control of employee involvement to encourage their participation in lean activities. Unions, when present, also play a role in preventing situations of excessive work intensity. Important variants within this common model also emerged among small firms on the grounds of their structure (e.g. size), product market conditions and managerial choices.\nPractical implications: Knowledge on how to overcome the barriers to lean production implementation can help social actors both inside and outside of differently characterised small firms which are implementing, or intending to implement, the lean approach.\nOriginality/value: There is no existing literature on the subject of successful application of lean methods in small enterprises. The uniqueness of this paper's contribution is reinforced by its broad analytical perspective on the lean system, stemming from an interdisciplinary analysis of different bodies of literature, including management, operations, human resources and employment relations in line with the definition of the lean system.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Talent show: Training workers for a high-tech world
|
[
"Talent management",
"Education and training",
"Human resources",
"Human resource management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Heightened competition is one of the more notable consequences of globalization. Powerhouse nations and emerging economies alike are thus urgently seeking to find new avenues for growth. Not surprisingly, next-generation industries are placed under the microscope. Countries believe that taking the high-tech route offers a genuine opportunity to secure or sustain a competitive edge.\nGood Korea move: This perception of technology as a key growth driver has also inspired a philosophy change in certain economies. Korea, for instance. Instead of following in the wake of technology leaders, it is adopting a more proactive strategy as a means to be at the forefront of development and ahead of China and other rival emerging economies.Work conducted by Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) suggests that Korea should focus on various next-generation industries like green energy, environmental technology and ICT among others. However, this research paints a worrying picture of its ability to compete effectively. The reason for this is straightforward enough. Compared to advanced nations, evidence shows that Korea is significantly weaker in both human resources (HR) and technology.Since poor workforce and technological competitiveness is evident within the vast majorities of these industries, there is clearly cause for concern. Perhaps the main worry is the HR weakness as this indicates a talent deficit. According to the SERI report, the shortage of skilled personnel in these industries will accelerate and reach 10,000 each year by the current decade's end. Environmental technology, ICT and high-tech cities are expected to suffer the most. A shortfall of this magnitude is hardly a catalyst for robust growth.What is the reason for this problem? The limitations of Korea's higher-education system, it would seem. Post-graduate qualifications in science and engineering disciplines are a must for key workers in high-tech industries of the future. Yet graduation levels in these areas fall short of demand, and the problem is set to worsen. The impact could be greatest in ICT, biomedicine and new nanomaterials, sectors where substantial growth is forecast.In the past, huge investment in its physical infrastructure has helped Korea make significant economic progress. The country is now crying out for similar action to boost its intellectual capacity. Given the crisis nature of the situation, a national plan is called for. Over the next decade, the core aim should be to increase the number of post-graduates in relevant disciplines by 10,000 each year.Basing the strategy on four key principles should improve the likelihood of success:1. Government support to improve the education system. Place the responsibility for key post-graduate qualifications on the best institutions renowned for research and development capabilities. Update the curriculum and introduce interdisciplinary programs to encourage diversity.2. Invest in relevant technologies and provide quality resources and other incentives needed to attract talented individuals into research. Fast-tracking gifted students on to PhD courses is also recommended.3. New government policies aimed at better management of investment and budgets to improve development in science and technology, and fund research in burgeoning industries.4. Create programs to recruit Korean expatriates and talent from overseas. Leading domestic research establishments could adopt a facilitating role, while a favorable immigration policy would further help.\nCollaborative states: All the signs reveal that a similar skills shortage is blighting the United States. In its case, firms are struggling to find an adequate supply of workers to fill posts in nursing, computer technology, high-tech manufacturing and other areas requiring mid-range skills. Impending retirements will leave utilities and aerospace industries especially vulnerable.Since almost half the new jobs created during the decade ending 2020 are expected to be categorized as middle-skills, the potential impact of this deficit is all too apparent. Indeed, competitiveness is already being blunted and many US companies are responding by transferring operations overseas.This differs from the Korean situation in that responsibility to address the issue falls mainly on businesses. Investment in job-training is low and all the signs are that Congress will make further cuts. Individual companies can only do so much to reverse the trend though. In truth, collaboration is essential if there is any hope of a real solution. Consequently, leading business figures need to work closely with each other and with unions and education bodies on a regional and national basis. Making a $30 million grant available to regional consortia shows the US Commerce Department favors this approach.Widespread availability of apprenticeships for previous generations ensured that workers were able to learn requisite skills on the job. The types of abilities now in demand mean that this option is much less feasible. Besides, the demise of union power has severely reduced the number of apprenticeships and other workplace training initiatives. Education offered another proven way of obtaining skills. The problem there today is the lack of scholars graduating in science, technology and engineering-related disciplines.Training budgets are often an early casualty when times get tough. Firms willing to offer apprenticeships are therefore in the minority. There's the fear factor too. Given that rivals aren't making similar investments, the worry is that they'll come along and entice workers away. Then all the hard work goes to waste. However, such concerns can be alleviated by working closely with unions and other firms in the sector. Poaching is also perceived to be less likely when organizations are industry or region leaders.But does collaborative training deliver? In certain cases, yes. Established in 2006, the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) is a shining example. Various gas, electricity and nuclear energy firms and their trade bodies are active in this consortium that provides cost-effective training and a supply of workers for skilled roles. Success has also been achieved through the creation of local and regional sector-based initiatives involving cooperation between non-union companies.Important factors that facilitate successful collaborations include:* persuading all local firms to participate;* finding key individuals who can unify different network stakeholders; and* guaranteed funding for up to five years.Firms and industries can also build ties with different providers of post-compulsory training and education. Community colleges are regarded as ideal institutions, not least due to their scale. Among the programs created is Project Quest, famed for providing strong personal support and its close ties with important community stakeholders. Organizations in the network participate in curriculum development so training meets both employer and employee needs. Eminent bodies like Harvard and the Aspen Institute highly regard this initiative.Cooperative education and internships are likewise heralded. The advantage of these approaches is to grant real-world work experience to new graduates, whose capabilities can be simultaneously assessed by firms considering hiring them. Certain universities have become renowned for the quality of such programs.\nEastern promise: In China, specific factors dictate the need for talent development. One is that access to unlimited cheap labor will decrease as population demographics change. That the country is planning to become more creative and less dependent on manufacturing is another. However, any move towards a more diversified economy demands considerable investment in human resources as Chinese workers presently lacks the skills needed in many sectors.This nation means business. Investment in research and development has gradually increased and represents a continually growing percentage of GDP. That strategic goals for talent development are in place illustrates that the same sentiments apply to improving human resource capabilities. A key objective is the development of gifted young individuals for the science and technology sectors. Investment is not confined to high-tech industries, as the strategy includes plans to raise standards in the public sector. Greater support for study within \"soft\" categories like arts, culture and social sciences is also on the agenda.Government initiatives guide the strategy and address both immediate and longer-term needs. The focus on talent is partly driven by the belief that over five million highly skilled individuals will be needed in various high-tech industries by 2020. Actions planned or already carried out include:* Improvements to university education. Industry needs can be better served by increasing the number of Professional Masters Degrees in relation to Masters solely concerned with academic research. The ratio between the two is closing and is set to be almost equal by 2015. New undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications for strategic emerging industries (SEIs) have also been introduced.* Training of top-level industry technicians.* Training workshops where senior skilled workers and technicians impart their knowledge and experience to help train newcomers.Making China more entrepreneurial is another aim. To this end, government projects are planning different training courses for all management levels in companies of all sizes, both private and state-owned. State sponsorship will cover part of the costs.Exiles and high-performing foreigners are also included in the drive to nurture talent. China suffered for years as many individuals who studied overseas failed to return home. This trend has now been reversed thanks to incentives pertaining to such as residence, health, education, family planning and project funding. Opening more doors to foreign talent has included more favorable entry conditions, offer of senior positions in key sectors, competitive salaries and higher subsidies and increases to research funds. As a result, the number of foreign nationals staying in the country for six months or more is greatly increasing.While much progress has been made, closer collaboration between industry and higher education establishments is necessary. Talent development can also accelerate further if company involvement rises. Increasing the number of scholars and business personnel to gain experience abroad offers further support to China's nurturing mission.\nComment: The review is based upon: \"Korea's needs to groom more top scientist and engineers\" by Seong-O Bae, \"Who can fix the 'middle-skills' gap?\" by Thomas Kochan, David Finegold and Paul Osterman, and \"China's strategy for nurturing core workers as a global talent power\" by Jing Qui and Liyan Xu. Bae discusses how Korea could develop talent in order to become competitive in a range of emerging high-tech industries. This detailed article points out how a four-point plan can help the country boost its pool of skilled science and technology personnel. In the second piece, Kochan et al. warn how the current deficit of \"middle-skills\" in the United States will escalate if not addressed. In the wake of funding cuts, the authors assert that firms have a greater responsibility. Collaboration between various bodies is forwarded as an essential part of the proposed strategy and significant examples are included to illustrate the suggestions made. Qui and Ju offer comprehensive insight into China's array of initiatives aimed at improving the country's creative capacity and shifting its economy away from its traditional manufacturing base. In-depth discussion of various reforms also includes some analysis of the impact these changes have made.\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: - Heightened competition is one of the more notable consequences of globalization. Powerhouse nations and emerging economies alike are thus urgently seeking to find new avenues for growth. Not surprisingly, next-generation industries are placed under the microscope. Countries believe that taking the high-tech route offers a genuine opportunity to secure or sustain a competitive edge. It is critically important to have a highly skilled workforce in place if such goals are to be realized. Certain nations invest to develop talent at home, whereas others look overseas for the right personnel. Some put their eggs in both of these baskets. This perception of technology as a key growth driver has also inspired a philosophy change in certain economies. Korea, for instance. Instead of following in the wake of technology leaders, it is adopting a more proactive strategy as a means to be at the forefront of development and ahead of China and other rival emerging economies.\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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] |
Support vector machine and K-nearest neighbour for unbalanced fault detection
|
[
"Vibration analysis",
"Condition monitoring",
"K-nearest neighbour",
"Support vector machine",
"Unbalanced fault"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since condition monitoring has substantial impacts in industry, it has received an enormous attention from the expert and practical maintenance. According to study, maintenance costs are a major part of the total operating costs of all manufacturing, which can make or break a business (Widodo and Yang, 2007).\nExperimental system: Figure 2 shows the schematic of the system under investigation. The test setup consisted of a 190 W, DC electromotor and a shaft with 30 mm diameter which was supported on a deep groove ball bearing (SKF 6006-2Z/C3). The system ran on the speed of 1,100 RPM under different load conditions, as shown in Plate 1. The weight of each load was 4.5 g.\nSignal processing: One of the common techniques to create proper features is signal transition from time-domain into frequency-domain (Ebrahimi and Mollazade, 2010). The frequency-domain refers to analysis of the vibration signal as a function of frequency. A Fourier transform, typically in the form of a FFT algorithm, is usually applied to transform the time-domain vibration data into the frequency-domain. The main advantage of this format is that the repetitive nature of the vibration signal is obviously displayed as peaks in the frequency spectrum at the frequencies where the repetition takes place (Bagheri et al. 2010; Mechefske, 2005).\nFeature extraction: Processed signals comprises a large set of data for each sample, therefore some statistical functions should be used to reduce feature vectors. In the present work, 29 features were extracted from FFT amplitude of the vibration signals. Some of the used features are maximum, range, average, root mean square, standard deviation, variance, fifth central moment, sixth central moment, skewness, kurtosis, etc.\nSVM: SVM has been developed by Vapnik, and is gaining popularity due to many appealing features, and promising empirical performance. SVM, based on statistical learning theory, is a proper technique for solving a variety of learning and function assessment problems. SVM has fairly abundant applications such as pattern classification, image identification, text detection, bioinformatics, etc. Since SVM has been originally designed for binary (two-class) classification (Cortes and Vapnik, 1995), it could be applied to solve multi-class problems. Many studies have been done on developing two-class SVM into multi-class SVM.\nKNN: Some training samples are used for train the KNN rule. KNN rule holds position of training samples and their class. When decision about new incoming data is needed, distance between query data and training samples is being calculated. Based on the defined threshold for the rule (it is the K number), K samples with least distances is selected and the class with more samples inbound is the result. In the other word, for example, if there is two or three features for a classification situation, position of training samples and input sample can be visualized on 2D and 3D Cartesian coordinates. Process to find result is like to draw a circle (sphere) centred on input location and increase radius until K samples are embed inside the circle (sphere) and then a class with more samples inbound is the result. Figure 3 shows this method. For K=3, inside small circle there are two triangles and one square, the result is triangle class. For K=5, inside large circle there are three squares and two triangles so the result is square class.\nFault diagnosis: Figures 4 and 5 show an example of the time-domain signal and computed FFT amplitude, respectively, for different load conditions of the designed test rig. It can be seen that the overall vibration for unbalanced fault is higher than the normal condition.\nConclusions: An approach was presented for unbalanced fault detection using two classifiers, namely, SVM and KNN. FFT technique was employed in signal processing stage. In total, 29 features were extracted from the vibration signals in frequency-domain. These features were used to feed the classifiers. The performances of the classifiers were obtained under variable parameters of s and K for SVM and KNN, respectively. The best classification accuracy of SVM and KNN was 95.87 and 77.51 per cent, respectively. Moreover, KNN was actually a much faster on training and testing time. The results showed that the performance of SVM was substantially better than KNN in fault detection and classification. This is due to its unique ability in classification problems. In this research, by comparing the performance of the two classifiers, we achieved to a successful diagnostic model for unbalanced fault of any shaft.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an appropriate approach for detecting unbalanced fault in rotating machines using KNN and SVM classifiers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To fulfil this goal, a fault diagnosis approach based on signal processing, feature extraction and fault classification, was used. Vibration signals were acquired from a designed experimental system with three conditions, namely, no load, balanced load and unbalanced load. FFT technique was applied to transform the vibration signals from time-domain into frequency-domain. In total, 29 feature parameters were extracted from FFT amplitude of the signals. SVM and KNN were employed to classify the three different conditions. The performances of the two classifiers were obtained under different values of their parameter.\nFindings: The experimental results show the potential application of SVM for machine fault diagnosis.\nPractical implications: The results demonstrate that the proposed approach can be used effectively for detecting unbalanced condition in rotating machines.\nOriginality/value: In this paper, an intelligent approach for unbalanced fault detection was proposed based on supervised learning method. Also, a performance comparison was made between KNN and SVM in fault classification. In addition, this approach gave a high level of classification accuracy. The proposed intelligent approach can be used for other mechanical faults.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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A reviewer's guide to the grounded theory methodology in logistics and supply chain management research
|
[
"Grounded theory research",
"Qualitative research",
"Guide for reviewers",
"Distribution management",
"Supply chain management",
"Research",
"Periodicals",
"Literature"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Grounded theory (GT) has become increasingly accepted by logistics and supply chain management researchers as a valid research methodology (Davis-Sramek and Fugate, 2007). Although logistics and supply chain management have gained recognition as academic disciplines, the supporting theory has largely been borrowed from other disciplines. Some of these theories, because of their lack of grounding in logistics and supply chain management, may not fit or sufficiently explain logistics and supply chain phenomena. The attraction of GT stems from the need for theory to develop creative perspectives, generate powerful insights into human interaction and business practices, and explain new and even well-researched complex social phenomena (Mello and Flint, 2009; Glaser and Strauss, 1967).GT presents several challenges to reviewers tasked with assessing the rigor and credibility of research. Reviewers have to rely on the authors' accounts of the research process and explanations of how key evaluation criteria were satisfied. Reviewers must often sift through lengthy descriptions of the research process and determine the appropriate balance to be struck between a parsimonious description of the research and sufficient detail to demonstrate rigor and credibility. Furthermore, there is no comprehensive reference for the GT method. To obtain a thorough understanding of GT, reviewers must rely on several texts or articles focusing on specific aspects of the GT method. Many of these methodological developments have taken place outside the management literature (Jones and Noble, 2007).Researchers frequently confuse GT with qualitative approaches such as case studies or content analysis and apply GT as a generic term to any qualitative approach that employs inductive analysis (Jones and Noble, 2007). Qualitative approaches frequently employ techniques such as coding and verification. This common terminology has produced situations of methodological slurring (Suddaby, 2006; Goulding, 2002) where researchers use interpretative methods to analyze realistic assumptions. Jones and Noble (2007) argue that GT is at risk of losing its integrity as many researchers have adopted only snippets of the methodology. As a result, GT research has often been perceived as lacking a consistent methodology, depth, and rigor (Mello and Flint, 2009).The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to assist reviewers in assessing the rigor and credibility of manuscripts employing a GT methodology. The supporting objectives include: analyzing articles appearing in the leading journals which employ GT methodology; identifying shortcomings in these articles regarding the application of the methodology; providing references to high quality GT studies to serve as a guide; distilling knowledge from multiple sources on GT research; and combining this knowledge with the best practices obtained from high quality articles. Four sections comprise the remainder of this paper. The next section identifies the need for a reviewer's framework. Section 3 provides a reviewer's perspective on GT development and the implications associated with aligning the method with a consistent paradigm of inquiry. The Section 4 summarizes the steps in GT analysis and identifies the major actions required to rigorously emerge a GT. The final section presents a framework of questions the reviewer should consider when evaluating GT research.\n2 The need for a reviewer's framework: To understand the rigor of GT studies in the logistics and supply chain management, a review was conducted of articles published during the past 12 years appearing in the journals ranked among the top five in the discipline (Carter et al., 2009; Gibson and Hanna, 2003; Menachof et al., 2009): Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal, Journal of Supply Chain Management, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, and The International Journal of Logistics Management. The review had two objectives. First, the articles were analyzed for a rigorous application of the GT method to identify methodological issues, advances, and techniques for inclusion in the reviewer's framework. Second, articles with rigorous execution were identified as examples to guide reviewers.The review produced an initial sample of 33 articles with \"grounded theory\" appearing in the title or abstract. Articles combining GT with other qualitative methods were included in the analysis but excluded from being identified as examples. 22 articles employed only GT. Of these, five were selected as examples based on a justification and comprehensive description of the methodology and rigorous analysis. Table I provides a summary of the five articles. The following paragraphs summarize the key issues identified during the review.Introduction and literature review\n3 A reviewer's perspective on theory development and adoption of a consistent paradigm of inquiry: An initial task for reviewers is to determine whether: GT is appropriate, the authors have adopted an approach consistent with their paradigm of inquiry, and the selected approach has been consistently applied throughout the research.Appropriateness of GT\n4 Major steps in a GT development: This section describes the major steps within a GT analysis and actions for each step that should be considered when evaluating a manuscript. The eight steps (Figure 1) are presented in a linear fashion; however, GT proceeds in a non-linear, iterative manner.Step 1: explaining a phenomenon\n5 Conclusions: GT can play an important role in the development of theory grounded in logistics and supply chain management, but the methodology continues to confront several hurdles which must be overcome. A review of 33 articles in the leading journals detected problems similar to those experienced in other disciplines: the lack of a clear distinction between GT and qualitative analyses, methodological slurring, unclear or missing descriptions of key methodological steps, a missing focus on theory development, and resulting perceptions of a lack of credibility and rigor. However, several articles demonstrated effective execution of the methodology and can guide reviewers in their assessment of manuscripts.Reviewers can play a critical role in ensuring the rigor and credibility of published articles. However, reviewers confront several challenges, including making inferences in light of incomplete details on execution of research, deciding what to include while trying to meet the journal space constraints, and keeping pace with the evolution of the methodology. The framework put forth can serve as a guidepost to assist reviewers in two ways. First, the framework provides the two key characteristics of GT methodology which reviewers can use for assessing whether congruency exists between the research objectives, theory development approach, and the paradigm of inquiry adopted in the research. This discussion sensitizes the reviewers to the iterative, unstructured and fluid nature of the research methodology, such as evolving (rather than fixed) research questions, continually changing (rather than preset) interview protocol, and theoretical sampling (instead of a pre-determined sample). Second, the framework provides an eight step checklist for reviewers to use for assessing the execution and rigor of the GT methodology. Each step of the framework is elaborated in terms of what the reviewers should consider when evaluating the quality of a GT submission. Reviewers should avoid imposing or advocating an approach when reviewing a manuscript. Instead, they should ensure the authors have clearly identified the approach adopted for research, recognize the implications in their analysis and theory development, and remain consistent with the version of GT methodology employed.Authors may err on the side of providing too many details than risk rejection if the manuscript is perceived as not being rigorous. Or, authors may not include adequate details because of space constraints. Reviewers should be prepared for either approach, to establish a dialog with authors, and to make recommendations on striking a balance between parsimony and credibility in the final version of the manuscript approved for publication.Limitations\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze previous grounded theory articles and, based on this analysis, to provide a framework to assist reviewers in evaluating grounded theory research and increasing the rigor and credibility of this methodology in logistics and supply chain journals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An analysis of existing articles appearing in the leading logistics and supply chain journals combined with an extensive review of the grounded theory method literature were used to develop a comprehensive framework for evaluating grounded theory research.\nFindings: - The paper finds that no standard criteria for publication of grounded theory research exists in logistics and supply chain journals. Grounded theory is routinely confused with other qualitative methodologies. Overall, this situation leads to publications that do not adequately address or report on the process for developing a grounded theory.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Reviewers can use this paper to establish the quality of grounded theory research. Reviewers who are unfamiliar with or skeptical of the grounded theory method can use the framework to evaluate the rigor and credibility of a grounded theory study rather than rejecting such research. The checklist can be used to provide thorough and constructive reviews to authors.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents a framework that provides a ready reference for reviewers to assess whether the authors have taken appropriate action in selecting a grounded theory methodology, collecting and analyzing data, developing a theory grounded in the data, and for evaluating their research. Existing research is compared with the framework to identify potential shortcomings in the review process. The application of the framework to the review of future articles provides an opportunity to increase the credibility and rigor of grounded theory research in logistics and supply chain management journals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Using a synchronous online learning environment to promote and enhance transactional engagement beyond the classroom
|
[
"Blackboard Collaborate!",
"Online learning community",
"Synchronous e-learning",
"Transactional engagement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Academics and institutions are today face with the challenge of implementing and making use of the most suitable technologies. Such decisions help promote meaningful interactions between teachers and students to further improve the student experience (Little et al., 2009). More specifically, the importance of student-teacher interactions outside the classroom is well documented in student experience literature (Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005). There are numerous factors that add value to the student's educational experience; however, there is general agreement that engaging students in and out of class is a crucial component (James et al., 2010).\nSelective literature review: The following provides a literature review of the previous research conducted in the relevant and related areas.\nMethodology: The next section provides a brief description of the methodology employed to conduct this study.\nResults: The following section reports the results that are summarised in the Tables I-III. The tables report the students rating for each statement based on a continuous scale ranging from 0 to 100 which has been averaged to derive mean response rates.\nDiscussion: This section provides a discussion of the results, in relation to the role the teacher plays in creating and promoting transactional engagement outside the classroom through the use of a synchronous learning environment.\nLimitations: This study was not without its limitations. The small sample size of this study may lead to sample bias. Further, this study was conducted at only one university so it may not be feasible to form generalisations resulting from the findings.\nConclusions/implications and future research: The implementation of an online learning community using interactive technology has unequivocally shown to have a positive impact on transactional engagement outside the classroom. The findings suggest that when teachers use appropriate online technologies (student centred) coupled with providing a supportive, productive, challenging and safe environment promotes rich and meaningful interactions active and higher order thinking skills. In turn, students become more engaged in their learning process leading to a greater student experience at university.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create a synchronous online learning community through the use of Blackboard Collaborate! to promote and enhance transactional engagement outside the classroom.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper employs a quantitative and qualitative approach where data were sourced from a third year finance unit across one semester using a survey instrument. SPSS v20 was used to perform basic descriptive analysis.\nFindings: The study revealed that by providing an online learning community through the use of Blackboard Collaborate! significantly enhances transactional engagement beyond the classroom. In particular the use of Blackboard Collaborate! allowed the teacher to be more accessible, supportive, expect and support high standards and provide challenging activities that generated rich and meaningful interactions and promoted higher order thinking skills.\nResearch limitations/implications: The positive results emanating from this study may encourage other educators and their institutions to adopt a synchronous online learning community to enhance student's engagement levels and increase the quality of student learning and their university experience. This study was conducted at only one university so it may not be feasible to form generalisations resulting from the findings.\nOriginality/value: This study adds new insights towards the scarce amount of literature on engagement in a blended learning environment. In particular the study adds a student perspective to the student engagement literature and to what constitutes quality in higher education and/or improved student experience.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Assessing operational effectiveness in healthcare organizations: a systematic approach
|
[
"Performance measures",
"Decision making",
"Health services",
"Cost effectiveness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The healthcare industry has been under strong pressures to reduce cost, and improve operational quality, including service quality and patient's satisfaction. In this context, the healthcare industry is not unique, as other service and manufacturing industries are encountering the same pressures. However, the healthcare industry has rather unique operational realities, which, at times, are used as excuses to justify the apparent reluctance to implement proven operational practices utilized in other industries. Healthcare was, until a few years ago, considered a social service exclusively provided by most of the western governments. Nowadays, the healthcare industry has been transformed into for-profit, non-profit and government-owned organizations, which, at times, compete for the same patients (Goldstein et al., 2002). These organizations usually compete in the secondary and tertiary healthcare services market. However, the primary healthcare services sector is still not totally free from political interference.In recent years, healthcare organizations have been facing increasing competitive pressures due to recent environmental changes. Due to these changes, healthcare delivery systems have been increasingly pressured into following corporate management practices (Alexander et al., 2006), and to change from a seller-oriented to a customer-oriented operating models (Eiriz and Figueiredo, 2005; Kunst and Lemmink, 2000). Changing disease patterns, which lead to advances in medical knowledge and technology, have resulted in a steady increase in the costs of providing healthcare services (Kumar et al., 2005). The ageing population and a greater awareness of new medical possibilities have increased the public's demand for advanced medical care (Myllykangas et al., 2003).Due to increasing level of competition in the healthcare industry, organizations in this industry are becoming more aware of the need to customize services and service performance to be consistent with the emerging requirements of the needs of the increasingly sophisticated patients, and competitive pressures (Raju and Lonial, 2002). Thus, monitoring, tracking and improving service quality, availability and efficiency are becoming more critical than ever before in healthcare operational settings.In this context, key performance facets focusing on improving the service encounter and the patient-orientation, through paying closer attention to service efficiency, quality, and availability, are increasingly becoming critical components of the overall organizational performance. Improvements aimed at these key performance dimensions are critical toward enhancing the service value offered to patients. This in turn, may translate into a competitive strategic advantage in the competitive healthcare marketplace.Motivated by above discussion, the objective of this research is to introduce a systematic approach to the measurement, tracking and improvement of key aspects of performance in healthcare operational settings. The proposed approach utilizes a measure designated as the healthcare operational effectiveness (HOE) to measure, track, and improve quality, availability and efficiency of the healthcare operational system. The development and components of this measure are presented and discussed from a practical perspective.\n2. Background: Since the 1980s, organizational changes aimed at improving performance in a changing environment have been a permanent management concern. Reflecting such concern, performance measurement and evaluation became the subject of practical research aimed at addressing the operational concerns of management. Some organizations have responded to these operational concerns through radical re-engineering efforts. Others, in more stable organizational environments, have either resisted to external pressures, or adopted a slower pace to change.Manufacturing organizations were the first to realize that focusing the performance measurement only on financial measures was not enough to maintain effective performance in global markets. This lead to an increasing emphasis on non-financial aspects of organizational performance (Gomes et al., 2004a; Abdel-Maksoud et al., 2005; Hoque, 2005). Some services organizations followed the lead of manufacturing organizations with regard to emphasizing the non-financial aspects of performance. Thus, they began to utilize performance measurement systems and approaches similar to that of their manufacturing counterparts (Brignall and Ballantine, 1996; Denton and White, 2000; Neely et al., 2002; Jones, 2004; Phillips and Louvieris, 2005). In the process, some service specific performance measurement approaches were offered (Kang and Bradley, 2002; Parasuraman, 2004; Chow and Luk, 2005; Carr, 2007). Public sector organizations, due to political pressures in the form of the New Public Management initiatives (Brignall and Modell, 2000), are beginning to slowly adopt the performance measurement approaches utilized in the private sector (Johnsen, 2001; Chan, 2004, Wisniewski and Olafsson, 2004).The healthcare industry has been slow in accepting the new performance measurement approaches (Butler et al., 1996). This is attributed to the characteristics of this industry, as it has different segments, such as the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services segments. Within the last two segments, one finds for-profit, non-for-profit and government-owned organizations competing with each others for the same patients (Goldstein et al., 2002). Despite these unique characteristics, some healthcare organizations are attempting to complement their traditional output related performance measures, such as mortality rates, capacity, and accounting ratios with new non-traditional performance dimensions. As such, some healthcare organizations are beginning to adopt innovative performance measures and measurement approaches similar to those found in other industries (Stewart and Bestor, 2000; Inamdar et al., 2002; Urrutia and Eriksen, 2005; Schmidt et al. 2006). Other organizations are attempting to adopt these measurement approaches to their specific organizational operational environments (Moullin, 2004, Yap et al., 2005). However, some of these efforts have been hindered by the inability of healthcare organizations to implement the necessary changes dictated by their unique operational characteristics. Some of these unique characteristics are highlighted below:* Differences between organizations due to their different roles in this industry. For example, this industry includes hospitals, with clear boundaries, where patients are admitted and discharged. It also includes primary healthcare organizations, which are open community-based systems with unclear boundaries (Amado and Dyson, 2006). This makes performance measures and measurement subject to the organizational public role, and the constraints imposed on its operations.* Differences between the services delivered (healthcare services) and patients' expectations (health) (Amado and Dyson, 2006). Thus, making it difficult to measure patient's satisfaction due to different service/patient contexts.* The existence of different stakeholders with, sometimes, conflicting interests and expectations. These stakeholders include those who consume healthcare services (patients), those who ultimately pay for the services (taxpayers, or insured individuals), those who purchase the services on the public's behalf (fund holdings), and those who provide such services (healthcare delivery operational systems) (Ballantine et al., 1998). This presents difficulties and challenges in establishing performance objectives, goals and guiding strategies.* The existence of different perspectives on performance between managers of the business side of operations (administrators) and the managers of the clinical side of operations (physicians) (Butler et al., 1996). This in turn makes it difficult to define acceptable performance measures and measurement approaches.* The primacy of legitimacy relative to profit in public healthcare organizations (Lemieux-Charles et al., 2003). This makes performance relative, rather than absolute in nature. Thus, the intangible aspects of performance are, sometimes, overemphasized and, in some case, not measured.* The complex, and multidimensional nature of healthcare service quality, combined with the fact that many patients lack the clinical expertise to judge some key aspects of the healthcare service delivery systems (Silvestro, 2005). This tends to complicate the process of measuring and improving performance.The healthcare industry has utilized specific performance measures, measurement models and approaches to evaluate certain aspects of operational performance. This includes, in the case of hospital services scheduling (Kim and Horowitz, 2002), hospital bed allocations (Kim et al., 2000), predicting waiting times for surgery services (Cipriano et al., 2007), and master surgical scheduling (Testi et al., 2007). However, the utilization of such models and tools represents a stand-alone effort, which lacks systematic integration. In most cases, there is no integrated performance measurement system, responsible for the organizational performance measurement effort. In this context the performance measurement system must be viewed as a complete organizational system (Lohman et al., 2004; Chenhall, 2005).As healthcare organizations attempt to utilize the innovative performance measurement approaches found in other industries, they will have to struggle with issues, which these industries dealt with. Among these issues is the increasing emphasis on non-financial measures (Amado and Dyson, 2006), and the temptation to resort only to the well-known traditional financial-measures.The future of performance measurement systems will not be judged only based on their aggregation or integration features, but also on their abilities to incorporate the dynamic relationships among efficiency-specific and effectiveness-oriented operational measures (Gomes et al., 2004b). Thus, to avoid emphasizing one a at the expense of the others, the performance measurement system needs to incorporate two types of organizational performance evaluation platforms. The first platform maintains a measure-specific perspective, defining the relationship between specific measures and the operational units responsible for them. Under this performance evaluation platform, individual performance measures can be used to evaluate the reliability, availability, efficiency, and quality aspects of the operational system. To accomplish this goal, diverse individual measures should be utilized individually, and/or in small groups.These measures are critical to the detection and correction of specific performance deviations. The key to improving performance, under this measure-specific platform, is training and development of employees to promote responsibility and accountability. Thus, investments, on the part of healthcare organizations, aimed at promoting operational efficiency and employees' productivity may lead to performance improvements. However, such investments and efforts must be integrated to improve the overall performance of the operational system.The second performance evaluation platform is motivated by an organizational-wide, or system-wide perspective. Thus, it has a strategic organizational focus. As such, this platform focuses on, mainly, a few performance measures, which have critical impact on organizational performance. The number of measures included in this platform should be consistent with the executives' individual cognitive capacities (Lipe and Salterio, 2000, Garg et al., 2003). This platform stresses an organizational effectiveness approach to organizational performance measures and measurement. Therefore, the measures of this platform should be consistent with strategic indicators designed to gage the competitiveness of the organization in the marketplace (Basu and Nevan Wright, 1997; Chenhall, 2005). The emphasis of this platform is on the effective flow, and delivery of services throughout the organization. Therefore, the involvement of the top management of healthcare organizations is considered critical to the success of the organizational performance measurement effort.While the above two platforms focus on different aspects of operational and organizational performance, nevertheless they should be integrated under one performance measurement system. In this study, the healthcare operational effectiveness (HOE) approach is introduced toward that end. This approach is consistent with the two platforms addressed above. As such, it can be utilized, in a way consistent with the organizational-wide (system-wide) platform, to measure and track overall organizational effectiveness. It also can be used, in a way consistent with the measures-specific platform, to measure key specific performance characteristics of the healthcare operational system.The HOE development is based on concepts related to machine effectiveness. Nakajima (1988) is accredited for the conceptualization of a machine overall effectiveness performance measure (Blanchard, 1997). Through the years, several authors (Raouf, 1994; De Groote, 1995; Al-Najjar, 1996; Dal et al., 2000; Eti et al., 2004; Kenyona et al., 2005) have provided insights into the operationalization of the machine effectiveness measure and measurement. The HOE measure proposed in this research transposes the performance concepts, from a narrowly defined system (the machine), with specific components and well-defined work procedures, to a more complex system (the healthcare organization and its service operational system). The HOE approach incorporates the values of three important healthcare operational performance dimensions, which include availability, quality, and efficiency. The proposed HOE approach can be utilized in support of the measure-specific platform, or the system-wide platform of the healthcare operational system. As such, the management of healthcare organizations has the flexibility to utilize the HOE approach as a part of an integrated performance system, or as a narrowly focused operational measurement process. The HOE proposed approach capitalizes on information, which should be readily available from the organizational information system to promote a performance awareness organizational culture.\n3. The HOE approach: The proposed HOE approach utilizes a measure, which consists of three indicators. These three indicators are availability (A), quality (Q) and efficiency (E). The HOE approach, as advocated in healthcare operational settings represents a modification of the machine overall effectiveness approach. This modification is required due to the unique, and open system nature of the healthcare operational system. In addition, such modification takes into consideration the intangible, yet important, people-orientation of this operational system. In such system, operational activities, tasks and resources (people, technology and know-how) are blended systematically and synergistically to ensure the effectiveness of the service encounter from the unique perspective of each patient (see Figure 1). Thus, the patient is an integral part of the healthcare service operational system.Since the performance of a healthcare operational system is multi-faceted in nature, availability, quality, and efficiency constitute important facets of such performance. These indicators have operational, organizational, and, above all, patient's implications.The HOE measure is defined below:HOE=A x Q x E.WhereA - Availability: the ability of the operational system to provide the required healthcare services.Q - Quality: the ability of the operational healthcare system to provide services consistent with quality expectations of patients.E - Efficiency: the ability of the operational healthcare system to deliver services, as measured by the planned versus actually provided healthcare services.The reader is referred to Table I for definitions of the indicators and examples relevant to healthcare services\n4. The implementation and utilization of HOE in healthcare operational settings: If implemented systematically, the HOE has the potential to be very useful to healthcare administrators and operating managers of specific units of the healthcare organization. In this context, not only that the HOE can be used to monitor the performance of the different aspects of the healthcare operational system, but it also can provide a performance-oriented context for continuous improvement initiatives and efforts. As such, the proposed HOE approach can be used in association with broader organizational performance improvement frameworks such as TQM among others. In this context, the HOE as proposed in this article can be used to track and improve the operational aspects of organizational performance. This operational focus can complement the broader focus of performance enhancing frameworks.The conceptual framework in Figure 2 is designed to offer a road map toward the effective implementation and utilization of the HOE in healthcare operational settings. The phases advocated in the conceptual framework are highlighted below.PHASE I - Start\n5. Conclusion and implications: Despite their unique challenges, characteristics and constraints, healthcare organizations are increasingly been pressured to improve the different aspects of their performance. Today's increasingly sophisticated patients are paying close attention to availability, efficiency and quality of healthcare services. As such, healthcare organizations must monitor, track and improve these important aspects of their service operational system. The healthcare operational effectiveness (HOE) approach presented in this research provides healthcare organizations with a practical and systematic approach toward performance monitoring and improvement. This approach has operational utilities, as it can be used to improve specific aspects of the operational performance. Also, it can be used to gage and improve the overall organizational performance. As such, it has strategic utilities in terms of promoting the strategic competitiveness of the healthcare organization.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a systematic approach to measuring, tracking, monitoring and continuously improving efficiency, availability and quality in healthcare operational settings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The proposed measure of healthcare operational effectiveness (HOE) consists of three indicators. They include an availability indicator, an quality indicator, and an efficiency indicator. The proposed approach tends to facilitate the systematic improvement at the different facets of operational effectiveness.\nFindings: - The proposed operational performance approach based on the HOE is consistent with the themes of performance measures and measurement reported in the literature.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The proposed healthcare operational effectiveness approach represents a serious attempt at quantifying the key facets of service effectiveness in healthcare operational settings. The validation of this performance assessment and measurement approach is worthy of future research.\nPractical implications: - The approach advocated by the HOE has operational and strategic relevance to decision makers of healthcare organizations.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents a practical, systematic approach toward enhancing operational effectiveness in healthcare organizations. Relevant implementation issues associated with the proposed approach are also addressed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Qualitative comparative analysis in corporate governance research: a systematic literature review of applications
|
[
"Corporate governance",
"Qualitative comparative analysis",
"Configurational approach",
"Bundle of mechanism",
"Review paper"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and research objective: One of the prevailing weaknesses in governance studies is that \"monitoring, incentives, and other types of governance mechanisms are conceptualized and operationalized as independent, each having its own, unique ability to influence the firm's strategies and performance\" (Filatotchev and Wright, 2017, p. 4). In addition, research on corporate governance has typically assumed linear relationships and clear, one-way directions of causality (Goergen et al., 2010). However, in recent years, the field of corporate governance studies has moved on from the point of view that corporate governance mechanisms should not be seen or studied in isolation (Ward et al., 2009). These developments have culminated in bundles of corporate governance approaches that explicitly focus on how practices at the company and national levels are influenced by contextual contingencies. Based on these assumptions, some researchers have suggested moving from a closed-system to an open-system approach, considering the influence of organization-environment interdependencies on the effectiveness of corporate governance (Tosi, 2008). This has led to greater attention being paid to firms' contingencies and the complementarities between governance practices and the potential costs of corporate governance (Aguilera et al., 2008; Filatotchev et al., 2006). As stated by Boyd et al. (2017), addressing new questions may require the development of new methods and measures. Therefore, to create a match between these issues and the research methods, scholars are currently developing empirical papers using set-theoretic methods to uncover different configurations of corporate governance practices.\nPrinciples of qualitative comparative analysis: QCA is a methodology that was developed in the late 1980s following the publication of a seminal volume by Ragin (1987) that has been used increasingly in social science research in the past decade. Thiem and Dusa (2013) showed that QCA was initially only used by a small number of sociologists (Amenta et al., 1992). However, over time, the technique has been applied in various fields, from political science and international relations (Thiem, 2011; Vis, 2009) and law firms and criminology (Arvind and Stirton, 2010) to management and organizations (Greckhamer et al., 2018).\nResearch method: A systematic literature review methodology is applied (Tranfield et al., 2003), consisting of a comprehensive search for relevant studies on a specific topic. The basic guidelines proposed by Tranfield et al. (2003) for conducting systematic reviews in management were adapted and customized into a five-step process. The steps are the following:\nResults: Despite more than 10 years of interest in the application of QCA in business and management research (Kraus et al., 2018; Wagemann et al., 2016), a strong upturn can be observed only since 2013, the year that can be considered as the \"first stone\" for the corporate governance field, as stated by Garcia-Castro et al. (2013, p. 404).\nDiscussion: Similar to other literature reviews (Pisani et al., 2017), this review can defined as comprehensive and actionable. It is comprehensive because the results identify the basic characteristics of the application of QCA in corporate governance research, presenting a map of the literature based on the main topics and summarizing key methodological and empirical features. Furthermore, the review is actionable because it proposes a new direction for future research. In detail, after inconclusive and contradictory results, scholars emphasized the need to go further to consider each variable/mechanism of governance individually. Results demonstrate that, in the past years, literature on corporate governance has recorded papers using QCA, and, not surprisingly, these have been a sharp increase since 2013. This illustrates that QCA has recently gained much more relevance and importance within the field of corporate governance research, and in response to insufficient attention to the configurations of corporate governance (Filatotchev and Wright, 2017). The high relevance of the QCA method within the corporate governance literature could be due to the high-quality journals considered in the review. More than 60 per cent (exactly 64 per cent) are high-ranked journals (4 and 3) according to the Academic Journal Guide 2018 rankings.\nConclusion: The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive mapping of QCA applications in business and management research and to examine the sub-fields of corporate governance research in this context. Accordingly, it extends the previous works on QCA's benefits to management researchers (Roig-Tierno et al., 2016) and other critical reviews of QCA applications (Mello, 2012). To the best of the author' knowledge, it provides the first complete overview of the existing literature in the domain of QCA applications in corporate governance research and reveals implications for future uses. In this way, the paper responds to the call from Filatotchev and Wright (2017) to start using a configuration approach that allows a better explanation of firms' strategies and performance to unfold the interaction of corporate governance mechanisms.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide comprehensive mapping of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) applications in business and management research and to examine the sub-fields of corporate governance research in this context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through a systematic literature review of 22 articles, the paper describes and analyses how QCA is used in the corporate governance field, what can be learned from the methodology's implementation in corporate governance studies and why authors justify its use.\nFindings: The findings highlight that QCA in corporate governance is still at an early stage of development. The paper encourages governance scholars to use this method to transform QCA from a niche into a mainstream method because it is appropriate for understanding both complex phenomena of social reality and issues of corporate governance that require an approach able to capture configurations of conditions, asymmetric patterns and equifinal explanations.\nOriginality/value: This is the first complete overview of the existing literature concerning QCA's application in corporate governance research and reveals implications for its future use. In this way, it extends the previous work on QCA's benefits to management researchers and other critical reviews of applications in QCA. This study encourages scholars to renew their understanding of corporate governance issues through a new analysis method that can help to discover conceptual and empirical relations among case-oriented and variable-oriented analyses in terms of interrelations to examine corporate governance practices holistically.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The impact of board gender diversity on corporate social responsibility in the Arab Gulf states
|
[
"CSR",
"Board gender diversity",
"Female directors"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past decade, the high-profile failures of companies such as Enron and WorldCom, as well as the failure of financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, have drawn attention to the importance of corporate governance, especially on the board gender diversity (Terjesen et al., 2009; Campbell and Minguez-Vera, 2008). Given the importance of board gender diversity, female representation on corporate board has attracted increased attention from policymakers. For example, in Norway, since 2006, all listed firms must abide by a 40 per cent gender quota for female directors; otherwise, the stock exchange will delist them (Adams and Ferreira, 2009), and the Spanish government committed to 40 per cent in 2015 (Reguera-Alvarado et al., 2017), and therefore, there is a growing area of research, particularly in developed countries, indicates the potential benefits of women at the board level (Ali et al., 2017). However, most studies on board gender diversity have been conducted in developed countries. There is a dearth of research efforts on exploring the impact of board gender diversity on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in emerging countries, especially in the Arab Gulf states (Al-Yahyaee et al., 2017; Abdullah et al., 2016). Because of different institutional context, the effects of corporate governance attributes, such as board gender diversity, on CSR can be expected to vary between developing and developed countries.\n2. Literature review and hypothesis: 2.1 CSR and board gender diversity\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Sample design\n4. Results: Table III contains descriptive means, standard deviations, minimum and maximum values for all the variables. The mean CSR reporting index is 0.1843 with a standard deviation of 0.1067 and a range of 0.0158-0.9268. The average number of women on boards is 0.2090 with a standard deviation of 0.1263 and a range of 0-3. The mean diversity indices, respectively, for the study' measurement (Shannon, Blau) take value of 0.0707 and 0.0436. Board gender diversity measured by Shannon index ranges from 0 to 0.6829, whereas the value takes by the second measurement range from 0 to 0.4897. Prior to the hypotheses tests, multicollinearity was checked through the use of variance inflation factors (VIFs), tolerance values and the correlation matrix (see, Appendix 2). Multicollinearity may be a problem when VIF values are over 10 (Wooldridge, 2012, p. 98), and tolerance levels are near 0 (Gujarati and Porter, 1999, p. 257). As can be seen from Table IV, the VIF values of variables used in the model fall between a maximum of 4.29 and a minimum of 1.09, which suggests that there is no serious problem with multicollinearity in the sample. In terms of the tolerance statistics test, most of the variables show tolerance values between 0.15 and 0.91. Therefore, both the VIF and tolerance values indicate that there is no serious problem of multicollinearity in interpreting the results of the OLS regressions.\n5. Discussion: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the board gender diversity of the 244 firms in the Arab Gulf states and CSR over three years (2012-2014). Despite strict traditional rules in the Arabian Gulf region, societies are shifting, and Arabian women's competencies are earning society's respect. Their gender characteristics and emotional skills are perceived as a positive strategic benefit in the top management and decision-making process. Interestingly, the results show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the level of CSR reporting and women's representation on the boards.\n6. Conclusion: Gender diversity in top management has attracted growing research and regulatory interests in recent years. It is one of the most important issues on the agenda of policymakers globally (Pucheta-Martinez et al., 2018). For example, in Norway, since 2006, all listed firms must abide by a 40 per cent gender quota for female directors; otherwise, the stock exchange will delist them (Adams and Ferreira, 2009), and the Spanish government committed to 40 per cent in 2015 (Reguera-Alvarado et al., 2017), and therefore, there is a growing area of research, particularly in developed countries, that indicates the potential benefits of women at the board level (Ali et al., 2017). However, most empirical research on board gender diversity has been restricted to developed countries. The generalizability of these findings to other developing countries generally and Arab countries, in particular, may impossible because of different sociocultural systems, regulatory, economic conditions and governance mechanisms affecting boardroom gender diversity in different countries, which should be considered.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity on the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in the Arab Gulf states. Also, this research further aims to explore whether the impact of board gender diversity varies across the Arab Gulf states.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Ordinary least squares regression is used in this study to test the impact of board gender diversity on the level of CSR disclosure. Manual content analysis is used to evaluate the extent of CSR disclosure in annual reports, stand-alone CSR reports, sustainability reports and website sections to examine the relationship between the extent of CSR reporting and board gender diversity. This study uses the global reporting initiative (GRI) fourth version reporting guidelines to design and define the classifications of CSR reporting checklist.\nFindings: The findings show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the number of female directors and the level of CSR disclosure. The results show that board gender diversity is positively associated with the level of CSR reporting in two countries, namely, Bahrain and Kuwait. Also, the findings reveal that there is a weak positive relationship between the presence of women on the boards and CSR reporting index in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.\nOriginality/value: This study attempts to fill the gap in the literature, in that no similar study covers the Arab Gulf countries as one economic unit. The study is unique in that it focuses on oil-rich countries. This study is, to the best of this researcher's knowledge, the first to explore the impact of women's boards on the extent of CSR reporting, as well as investigating the possible variation of board gender diversity impact on the extent of CSR reporting in the Arabian Gulf region.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
An assessment model of FM organisational performance
|
[
"Organizational performance",
"Knowledge management",
"Intellectual capital",
"Facility management",
"Learning culture",
"Mediating constructs"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Facility management (FM) includes various disciplines to ascertain workplace environment functionality by implementing an integration among people, place, process and technology (IFMA, 2009). FM is tested to realign or to distinguish its own insight base to improve FM field and relates with better execution of FM organisation in future (Nutt, 2000; Mustapa and Adnan, 2008). Also, the FM organisation in Malaysia is still in the development process to strengthen the FM field, which is related to the growth of knowledge and organisational practices as indicated by the FM industry needs in Malaysia (Firdauz et al., 2015). As Alexander and Nielsen (2012) contended that it is essential to work together between researchers, practitioners and educators to improve the quality of knowledge availability for the decision-making in FM organisation. This indicates the significance in overseeing the structure of knowledge, particularly on FM to ensure the efficacy in reducing the gaps between theory and practice. In addition, Pathirage et al. (2008) pointed out, the formation of strategic value in the FM organisation can be achieved by the application of perpetual improvement to FM knowledge. Along these lines, this paper describes and outlines the relationship between knowledge and organisational performance.\n2. The theoretical background: One of strategic management contribution to the theory of the organisation is the resource-based view (RBV) (Barney, 1991). The RBV consists of a set of specific resources and capabilities as the basis for creating and protecting the organisation competitive advantage (Amit and Schoemaker, 1993). Taher (2012) supported this notion by claiming that resources and capabilities empowering the organisation to improve its survival prospects.\n3. The importance and growth of knowledge: In previous sections, both RBV and KBV were discussed empirically. RBV highlighted the importance of resources and capabilities in an organisation. The elaboration of resources and capabilities create a strong relation with KBV, which focuses the importance of stocks and flows of knowledge. As a further extension, this section discussed the importance and growth of knowledge.\n4. Overviews of organisational performance: Siggelkow(2002) viewed an organisation as the centre frameworks (organisational culture, strategy, structure, power distributions and control system), elaborate, independent and the interconnections between all or part of the organisational elements such as resources, activities, processes and policies. The definition of performance can be related to the efficiency of input or output relationship, regardless of whether the organisation uses the least conceivable resources to meet its objectives. The performance also can be related with effectiveness in terms of dealing with issues like business growth and employee or customer satisfaction, whether the organisation meets its objectives (Abu-jarad et al., 2010; Katou and Budhwar, 2012). Shieh (2011) supports this notion by asserting that the organisational performance can be depicted as achievements obtained for each organisational function, and it demonstrates the degree of realisation of the organisational objective. A portion of cases for the organisational function can be portrayed in terms of the leadership, motivation factors for the employees pursuing their work, the organisational culture and environment, the work design and the human resource management policy.\n5. Proposition of relationships in the proposed model: A study of relationships between knowledge and organisational performance has been conducted by Hsu and Sabherwal (2012), but the study targeted for non-specific organisations and the model did not develop in a group of constructs. This research concentrates on FM organisations. Thus, this research's aim is to improve the existing model developed by Hsu and Sabherwal (2012) by developing a new dimension of the relationships between a group of constructs (knowledge elements, mediating constructs and FM organisational performance) in the model of FM organisational performance. The following discussion will lead to the justification of the proposed relationships in which suggested in a form of proposition (P).\n6. The proposed model and methodology: Based on the conceptual framework in Figure 1, this paper developed the proposed model by elaborating the potential relationships of each construct, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows the detailed proposed model of FM organisational performance.\n7. Implications and future research: This research extends the prior research work (Pathirage et al., 2008; Baharum and Pitt, 2009; Yiu, 2008; Gao and Cao, 2011) on finding the mediating constructs that mediate the relationships between knowledge and the organisational performance within the FM context. Moreover, an intensive review of literature did not reveal any study on the relationships of all the knowledge elements and mediating constructs tested simultaneously on the FM organisational performance. Therefore, it is possible to say that the previous findings may reflect non-specific organisations. Thus, this research is expected to bring a new dimension result from the perspective of the implication of a group of constructs (knowledge elements, mediating constructs and the FM organisational performance).\n8. Conclusion: The current situation obviously leverages the importance of using knowledge through the identification of the mediating constructs that have relationships with the FM organisational performance. This research proposed an area of research within epistemology that is related to FM. Also, there will be an empirical testing for a comprehensive model on the mutual relationship (Awang and Ariffin, 2012) between all constructs in the model of FM organisational performance. Thus, this research's aim is to improve the existing model developed by Hsu and Sabherwal (2012) by developing a new dimension of the relationships between a group of constructs (knowledge elements, mediating constructs and FM organisational performance) in the model of FM organisational performance. The results from the future analysis will be reviewed as to whether the model is consistent with the discussion in the prior literature. Thus, the findings from this research will provide insights on optimising the power of knowledge by bridging the gap towards the best performance in FM organisation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to improve the existing model developed by Hsu and Sabherwal (2012) by developing a new dimension of the relationships between a group of constructs (knowledge elements, mediating constructs and facility management [FM] organisational performance) in the model of FM organisational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper reviews the theoretical studies empirically to all of the knowledge elements (learning culture, intellectual capital and knowledge management) literature, mediating constructs (customer performance, efficiency, innovation and dynamic capabilities) and the organisational performance that relates to FM.\nFindings: The paper identifies the relationships between the knowledge elements, mediating constructs and the FM organisational performance. Subsequently, a proposal of relationships was made to develop the FM organisational performance model.\nResearch limitations/implications: The model provides a possible explanation of relationships between the knowledge elements, mediating constructs and the FM organisational performance. Thus, the understanding of the identified relationships will provide a new direction in improving the FM organisational performance.\nOriginality/value: Addressing lack of research in identifying the importance of relationships between knowledge and the FM organisational performance, the paper conceptualises the potential relationships into a proposed model. The proposed model integrates with a new mediating construct into the existing research model, which is customer performance. Moreover, knowing that the nature of FM organisation is more towards the non-financial aspects, the paper investigates the nature of the efficiency and organisational performance that is not based on the financial performance, but rather the ability to optimise organisational resources, to achieve organisational goals and customer needs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Practitioners' views on intellectual capital and sustainability: From a performance-based to a worth-based perspective
|
[
"Performance",
"Sustainable development",
"Practitioners",
"Intellectual capital",
"Worth",
"Fifth-stage intellectual capital"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Intellectual capital (IC) is evolving and growing in both the number of papers published and the number of scholars researching it (Guthrie et al., 2012). A keyword search of the word \"intellectual capital\" using the Scopus[1] database for the period 1995-2015 reveals a growing trend in IC research, with the total number of papers published per year increasing by 26 per cent over the last three years. While interest in IC is growing, critical IC research is also emerging that calls for a deeper understanding of how IC works (Dumay and Garanina, 2013, p. 11). These calls advocate a broader approach to creating value that includes social and environmental values (Dumay et al., 2017). This paper provides new insights and critiques by investigating the relationship between IC and sustainability in practice.\n2. Literature review: IC research has evolved over recent years, progressively changing its focus (Chiucchi and Dumay, 2015) as it moves through different stages (Guthrie et al., 2012). In the first stage of research, between the 1980s and 1990s, a commonly accepted set of IC terminology was developed. IC research concentrated on creating a common understanding of the potential of IC for making and managing a company's competitive advantage (Guthrie et al., 2012). The second stage of research arose in the new millennium when the problems of measuring, managing, and reporting IC were approached (Dumay and Garanina, 2013). These efforts were oriented towards gathering empirical evidence to deepen the potential role of IC in the value creation process (Guthrie et al., 2012). In short, the first two stages of research generally focussed on understanding the concept of IC and its implications for the value creation process. The third stage saw the development of studies that critically examine IC in practice; most focussed on managerial implications (Dumay and Garanina, 2013). According to Dumay and Garanina (2013), this stage expanded the construct of value by incorporating other dimensions, such as the worth and importance of products and services to customers. The fourth stage of IC research emerged with the aim of extending IC's boundaries into a wider ecosystem (Secundo et al., 2016), including nations (Kapyla et al., 2012), cities (Dameri and Ricciardi, 2015), and communities (Bounfour and Edvinsson, 2005). Therefore, while studies that critically examine IC in practice characterised the third stage of research, the fourth stage is extending the concept of value within and beyond the boundaries of the company.\n3. Methodology: This section describes the research methodology we follow to answer the research questions. The first sub-section describes the research context and data acquisition. The second sub-section presents the data analysis.\n4. Insights: The results depicted in Table V show that managers and practitioners focus on both IC and sustainability issues. For example, in a post published on 30 September 2013, Sarah Cahan states:\n5. Critique: Our analysis shows that practitioners discuss IC with a strong emphasis on human capital. Additionally, IC is strongly linked to sustainability in CSRwire posts, and several practical examples are provided. Therefore, this study confirms that, from a practitioner's perspective, IC is something more than a \"management fashion\" (Schaper, 2016, p. 52) and sustainability is more than a \"feel-good program\" (Foote et al., 2010, p. 799). However, despite these encouraging results, our findings show that there are elements to reconsider in IC research as discussed in the following subsections.\n6. Conclusion, further research, and limitations: In concluding this paper, we recall the motivation of the study. The starting point of this research was the evolution of IC through several stages and the burgeoning relationship between IC and sustainability. Our results provide evidence of the inter-connection between IC and sustainability and, in several cases, drawing boundaries was difficult. For example, by supporting the education of employees, especially in developing countries, companies not only increase their human capital but also contribute to the development of a better, more politically stable society. This approach links internal and external human capital with other dimensions of sustainability. Additionally, as evidenced in the posts, companies are providing local support to create shared values and a more inclusive work environment that encourages employees to improve their lifestyles. Such efforts demonstrate a better understanding of a local community's problems and use collective intelligence to involve stakeholder knowledge in the product design process. Finally, some practitioners explain how IC can support business model changes to redefine traditional needs and concepts. Introducing new approaches in selling programmes to facilitate recycling is just one of many examples that demonstrate an awareness by practitioners of the need to extend the concept of IC outside the boundaries of their company using an ecosystem approach (Secundo et al., 2016).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and sustainability using practitioners' perspectives and by developing an analysis of comments and practices published in 1,651 blog posts in one of the leading sources of sustainability research: CSRwire.com.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 1,651 posts, containing more than 1.5 million words, published by experts in the field of sustainability are analysed using Leximancer and content analysis.\nFindings: The results reveal IC and sustainability to be complex topics under active discussion by practitioners, and several links to the IC literature are identified and compared. The findings focus on the managerial practices applied by leading companies, as discussed by practitioners, that show IC and sustainability influence each other in answering a plurality of demands or logics.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the authors identify the need to study the managerial practices proposed by practitioners, rather than their company reports. Second, the authors propose developing a trading zone for IC researchers and practitioners. Third, the authors reflect on the role of new communication tools, such as integrated reporting, to connect IC and sustainability. Finally, the authors conclude that the relationship between IC and sustainability could benefit from a fifth stage of IC research that considers justifications of the worth of IC and sustainability practices.\nOriginality/value: The paper is novel because it addresses concerns about the relationship between IC and sustainability by examining messages posted by practitioners, rather than examining company disclosures. This leads to an understanding of the impact of practices rather than the desires motivating practice. The results support the view that it is time to remove the boundaries of IC research and work towards reconciling the worth of IC to different people in different contexts. The authors argue that practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between IC and its expected results. This would open the door to a potentially productive way of understanding IC and the complexity of economic, social, and environmental value. In short, researchers should change their research questions from, \"What is IC worth to investors, customers, society, and the environment?\" to \"Is managing IC a worthwhile endeavour?\"\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The power of signaling: presidential leadership and rhetoric over 20 years
|
[
"Leadership",
"Rhetoric",
"Stock market",
"President"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recent research on the use of imagery in the campaign speeches of President Barrack Obama and contender John McCain suggest how influential rhetoric can be over stakeholders (McGuire et al., 2016). Although presidential leadership research continues (Williams et al., 2012) very little leadership literature has focused on how leaders react to, and communicate about, economic and marketplace events (Bligh and Hess, 2007). Also, past research indicates that most approaches to leadership focus almost extensively on followers and not upon other stakeholders (Ammeter et al., 2002) while adequate consideration to the context as well as the consequences of leaders' behaviors should be explored (House and Aditya, 1997). Our research attempts to address all 3 of these contentions (i.e. other stakeholders than a follower which in our research is the investment community, consequences of behaviors, and communication about economic/marketplace events).\nLeadership and leader rhetoric: Leadership research continues to be very active, and over the years has given birth to numerous theoretical foundations in attempting to understand the phenomena. There is much research that has performed comprehensive reviews and as such will not replicate their work (e.g., Bligh et al., 2011; Mumford, 2011; Gardner et al., 2010; Bass, 1990; House and Aditya, 1997; Yukl and Van Fleet, 1992) but will focus on the research gap that we are exploring. Rhetorical leadership can be either formal and/or informal communication used by leaders to convey their message to stakeholders (Naidoo and Lord, 2008).\nLeadership and signaling theory: We use signaling theory as our theoretical foundation as presidential proclamations are often symbolic in nature and as such carry important substantive policy influence affecting the marketplace, but may offer no concrete policy change at that time (Rottinghaus and Maier, 2007). The unexpected timing of statements of economy, inflation, interest rates and the deficit will cause signals to be observed by the market place affecting investor decisions. Signaling theory is in regard to information asymmetry, as some individuals/organizations will have more information than another. Information asymmetries occur when different people know different things, hence signaling theory focuses on information asymmetry reduction. Public information is freely available, yet is only a portion of information that is available, as much information is private and only certain people may have access to it.\nEfficient market hypothesis (EMH): Hypothesis development\nControlling for macroeconomic announcements: Presidential signals are categorized as new if the president is talking about them for the first time. However, investors are also following official macroeconomic announcements and these announcement releases may coincide with the presidential signals that we are analyzing. In this regard, we need to control for a significant number of announcements in our study including consumer price index (CPI), producer price index (PPI), industrial production and capacity utilization (IPCU), new residential construction, productivity and costs, gross domestic product (GDP), employment situation (Unemp), personal income and outlays (PI) and federal open market committee (FOMC) meeting dates. These are the major announcements that are employed in the literature investigating effects of macroeconomic news on the financial markets. The data for macroeconomic announcements is collected from the website of Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. FOMC meeting dates are kindly provided by Gurkaynak et al. (2005). Table V reports release timing, the institution that makes the release and the frequency for the macroeconomic announcements that we include as controls. We control for the announcement effects by employing a dummy variable which takes one on the day of an announcement and zero otherwise.\nEmpirical tests: This study explores how the president's rhetorical signals influence the stock market volatility of S&P 500 Composite Index. In order to capture the time varying nature of the conditional variance of returns of the indices, we use generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) modeling. Widely used GARCH processes use past unpredictable parts of returns, generally referred to as shocks, to predict the future volatility. A univariate GARCH (p, q) model can be written as:(1)\nConclusions and future research: Overall, we have presented four major findings for leadership theory. First, we have identified several gaps in the leadership field that we have attempted to address. Our review of the leadership literature suggested that the past research focused mainly upon the direct followers of leaders. Although the president has direct followers, we focused more upon the role of president and how his rhetoric affects other stakeholders, in this research, investors. We also noted that the leadership research suggested that the consequences of leaders' behaviors should be explored. Our research illustrated a relationship with the leaders' behavior (commenting on the economy through his rhetoric) and how the market reacted. Finally, there has been little attention to how leaders communicate about economic and marketplace events. Our research directly tested this past concern and found presidents are continuously communicating about these events with both new information and repeating of their earlier comments.\nImplications for managers and organizations: There are many implications for managers and organizations. Managers are always attempting to develop future strategy through external environmental analysis. Their future tactics depend upon an accurate assessment of how to utilize their current internal core competencies in regard to the changing global facets of the marketplace. If managers can include one more variable, that of presidential rhetoric, this will assist them in determining the future of the marketplace. Items of critical importance could be issuance of stock, sales figures, borrowing, bonds, inventory management, etc. that could be directly influenced by presidential rhetoric due to stock market volatility. Also most top managers' compensation is tied to their firms' stock price (stock, stock options, etc.) and presidential rhetoric could influence their compensation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the power of leadership rhetoric with a theoretical foundation of signaling theory. Past research mostly focus on followers and not other stakeholders and the authors attempt to fill that research gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research explored nearly 20 years and 51,500 pages of information from US presidents and explored the impact on stock market volatility using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity.\nFindings: The research findings suggest that leaders can/do have a powerful impact on stakeholders. In particular negative statements will cause the greatest reaction due to risk adverse stockholders, neutral rhetoric will calm the market and decrease volatility and positive rhetoric was not significant.\nResearch limitations/implications: Past research suggests that a focus on the consequences of leadership rhetoric be explored and the research suggests that people do respond to powerful leaders, even if they are not followers. Also the authors filled a gap in regard to the impact of leader communication about economic and marketplace events.\nPractical implications: Practitioners benefit from the research as they can focus upon the US presidents' rhetoric and strategically apply the research as they can predict the movement of the stock market immediately thereafter.\nOriginality/value: Very little research has ever explored the impact of a leader's rhetoric and the subsequent economic impact, and no one has explored in particular the president's rhetorical impact (who is considered by many the top leader in the USA).\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
What drives behavioral intention of mobile money adoption? The case of ancient susu saving operations in Ghana
|
[
"Adoption",
"Mobile money",
"Behavioural intention",
"Susu savings",
"Technology uptake"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Globally, particularly in Sub-Saharan African, mobile phones are already being used by many to make payments, send money to family members and store monetary value safely (ITU-T Technology Watch, 2013). According to this report, mobile money (MM) has achieved the broadest success in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 16 per cent of adults, compared with less than 5 per cent in all other regions, report having used a mobile phone in the past 12 months to pay bills or send or receive money. However, in Ghana while mobile phone penetration was more than 25 million as at December 2012, only 4.1 million actually subscribed to MM. Beyond the fact that MM uptake and usage remain low, active users remain even lower of less than 10 per cent of subscribers. The majority of the people continue to use informal financial services such as susu (Osei-Assibey et al., 2012).\nOverview of susu operation and MM penetration in Ghana: The term susu is one of Africa's most ancient forms of informal banking. Much like many places in the world, the concept of traditional or informal finance is not new in Africa. Savings and credit groups have operated for centuries as the \"Susu\" of Ghana, \"chit funds\" in India, \"tandas\" in Mexico, \"arisan\" in Indonesia. Even though its true origin is unknown, susu is believed to have originated from Ghana in Akan[1] language which literally means \"small small\" and can be taken to represent the pooling of money resources from numerous sources to get a larger sum. Today in Ghana, the term susu is used in reference to individual savings collectors and ROSCA. The susu collectors provide informal means for many Ghanaians, particularly the urban poor, to save and access their own money and also gain limited access to credits needed to start up small venture projects that in many cases benefit the entire community. These susu operators help people within the lowest income brackets to save small amounts since the cost of putting limited amounts of savings in a faraway bank accounts on a daily or weekly basis is too high to make sense for poor people. Besides, it has been too expensive for formal savings banks to develop cost effective models to expand their physical reach into poor and rural areas or handle large volumes of low-value payment and savings transactions - hence susu operations in these areas.\nTheoretical framework of adoption and methodology: Although the theoretical and empirical literature on MM is growing in recent times, evidence of the social willingness to accept and use MM as a dematerialized store of value to replace pre-existing, long standing micro-saving systems remains scarce. However, various theories have been proposed in the last couple decades to examine factors underlying adoption or intention to use a new technology. Notable among such theories are Roger's (1962) innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and Davis (1989) technology acceptance model (TAM).\nModel specification and hypothesis: Although IDT and TAM are models formally designed to study adoption of mobile phones, studies on the adoption of MM, which can be seen as an extension of previous studies on mobile banking and payment systems, have also benefitted from an application of these models. Tobbin (2010) therefore argues that the determinants of adoption in mobile banking and the mobile payment environment should be applicable to MM. Following the previous literature review, the present study proposes an integrated conceptual model of a technology adoption process (in this case, an adoption of MM transfer technology by susu operators and users) based on the IDT and TAM theoretical frameworks. Figure 1 shows a conceptual framework of the adoption process suggested by Rogers (1995) and Davis (1989). I argue from the previous studies that IDT and TAM are extremely similar in some elements and supplement one another (Wu and Wang, 2005; Tobbin, 2010). In that regard, I argue further that the five innovative characteristics (compatibility, complexity, relative advantage, trialability and observability) and TAM constructs such as PU and PEOU can serve as important determinants of acceptance or rejection of MM in the susu operation. Other determinants considered are perceived trust, transactional cost and perceived risk.\nResearch methodology and data sampling procedure: For the purposes of taking a representative sample and ensuring reliable survey results, we sampled 16 local markets spread across the two most populous region in Ghana: the Greater Accra region and the Ashanti region. Accra, as the capital city of Ghana, was chosen to represent the Southern and coastal belts while Kumasi in the Ashanti region was selected to represent the middle and the Northern belt of the country. Besides Kumasi being the second largest city in Ghana and playing host to a market believed to be the biggest in West Africa with its attendant brisk business activities, the city's unique central location makes it a traverse point for migrants and traders from all parts of the country. The region also displays a mixed character of modern and traditional values, extreme poverty and wealth, highly educated and illiterate populations, as well as a significant representation of both informal and formal financial institutions.\nAnalysis of survey results: susu collectors: A total of 90 usable questionnaires administered to approximately 150 susu operators were obtained from the markets in Accra and Kumasi. This was made up of 41.1 per cent females and 58.9 per cent males. In this sample the susu operators are dominated by the age group of 18-25 year olds with 33.3 per cent and 27.6 per cent above 40 years. This is not surprising as susu operations involve a lot of physical activity - primarily walking - which require energetic and youthful collectors to be able to carry out the collection duties on a daily basis. However, we also found that most of these operators do not own the business themselves; there are more elderly owners behind the operations, who because of the physical nature of the job, hire these younger employees to do the collection. Besides, although 98.9 per cent of the operators have had some formal education, the great majority (about 70 per cent) have the highest educational attainment either at the secondary school level or below. The following are other major findings from the survey.\nAnalysis of survey results: susu users: The study administered a total of 200 questionnaires on susu users (i.e. traders on the various selected markets) but obtained 172 usable responses. Of these, 84 per cent are females and 16 per cent are males. This is reasonable because the majority of the people who sell in the markets in Ghana are women. In terms of age distribution, the majority (41.7 per cent) of the susu users are more than 40 years old. About 17 per cent have had no formal education at all while close to 60 per cent highest level of education is at the primary or basic level. In regard to the average daily income of these susu users, 65.7 per cent of them make less than GHc50 (US$25) a day, followed by 25.9 per cent who makes between GHC50 and GHC200. This indicates that the susu users are largely small income earners. The following are other major findings from the survey.\nLogistic regression results: The estimates as presented in Table IV below show the results of logistic regression estimations of the determinants of willingness to accept or reject MM by susu collectors and susu users among market traders. The model fitting information such as goodness of fit, the overall percentage correct and kh2 test show that the two models are appropriately specified. The findings are generally consistent with the study hypotheses and the existing theoretical literature - IDT and the TAM - reviewed. Although the present study is of a different methodology and focus, several of the findings are consistent with the previous TAM and IDT research (Lee 2007; Gefen et al., 2003; Tobbin, 2011; Lee et al., 2011). Generally, in the first estimation, that is, the susu collectors' model, we found expected role, perceived risk, education and age of the collector to be statistically significant to influence the behavioural intention of the adoption of MM.\nConcluding remarks: The study provides some insights into the ancient susu saving operation in Ghana and the behavioural intention or the willingness of collectors and users to adopt MM platform in operations. More specifically, the study investigates factors that determine one's intention to adopt MM as a saving channel, particularly in place of a more traditional way of saving among many people in West Africa. Using field survey data from traders and susu collectors from various markets in Ghana, and applying IDT and TAM conceptual frameworks, the study reports a variety of interesting findings as follows.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the ancient susu savings operation in Ghana and the behavioural intention or willingness of susu collectors and users to adopt a mobile money (MM) platform as part of their savings practices. More specifically, this study investigates factors that determine one's intention to adopt the MM space as a savings channel, particularly in place of more traditional ways of saving among many people in West Africa.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using field survey data from market traders and susu collectors in several local markets in Ghana, and applying Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and Technological Adoption Model (TAM) conceptual frameworks, this study has produced some interesting findings. A logistic regression model was used for the empirical analysis.\nFindings: Generally, among the susu collectors, the author found perceived risk, education level, relative advantage and the age of the collector to be statistically significant in influencing the behavioural intention of MM adoption. With respect to susu users, the author found such factors as trialability, observability or awareness, compatibility or education attainment. The study also finds the influence of the physical presence of the susu collector to be statistically significant in influencing one's behavioural intention to accept MM. This was found to be the primary reason motivating susu users to honour their savings commitment.\nPractical implications: These findings have important implications for MM uptake and the modernization of the susu operations in Ghana. While MM uptake remains significantly low, these findings suggest that the way to increase uptake is to create more awareness, embark on financial literacy programmes, and reduce mistrust and perception of risk of the MM platform. There is also the need for a regulator as the MM operators and their activities are not regulated by rules such as the reserve requirement of banks, as in the case of commercial banks that guarantees the safety of the savings of clients.\nOriginality/value: Literature on MM is growing in recent times. However, evidence on adoption as a saving channel to replace the traditional saving system is scanty, particularly within the African context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Examining the effectiveness of using CSR communication in apology statements after bad publicity
|
[
"Social responsibility",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Public relations",
"Corporate communications"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One of the ways organizations respond to negative publicity is to apologize. Corporations should develop a strategy to apologize effectively. The audience's perception of the negative publicity can be influenced by the effectiveness of the apology. The effective management of negative publicity has become especially important for companies because of the growth of internet usage, through which consumers can easily share unfavorable thoughts and experiences (Verhagen et al., 2013), potentially causing public outrage within a brief period (Pfeffer et al., 2014).\nLiterature review: Framing apology statements with corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications\nMethod and analysis: It was necessary to conduct a pretest to determine the appropriate high and low fit CSR activities for the pharmaceutical company that would be used in the main experiment. Therefore, a pretest using Amazon's Mechanical Turk was conducted (n=119) prior to the main experiment. The respondents were adults living in the USA. Their ages ranged from 18 to 65 years with a mean age of 33 years (SD=10.6). In total, 40.3 percent were female and 57.7 percent were male. All participants agreed to the consent form at the beginning of the experiment and received $1 for participation. After reading a negative news article, the respondents were randomly assigned to read an apology statement with comments related to one of the four different types of CSR activities (i.e. health and well-being, environmental, human rights, education).\nResults: Incremental validity\nDiscussion: Regarding H1a and H2a, the findings demonstrated that a high CSR fit condition that can be easily integrated into consumers' cognitive thoughts would be effective in reducing consumer skepticism toward the apology statement, and it would lead to more positive attitudes toward the company than a no-CSR condition would. In contrast, the low CSR fit condition would induce more skepticism about the apology statement, and it would lead to a less positive attitude toward the company than a no-CSR condition would, which was supported by the findings of the H1b and H2b testing.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding the effects of framing apology statements with corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications after a company has suffered negative publicity. Specifically, this study examined the role of CSR fit on consumers' skepticism toward the apology statement and attitude toward the company compared to a no-CSR message condition. In addition, the study also analyzed the interaction effects between CSR fit and history on skepticism toward the apology statement and attitude toward the company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 2 (CSR fit: high or low) x 2 (CSR history: long or short) between-subject design was employed to examine the hypotheses. In addition, a no-CSR message group without any mention of CSR activities was included. To test the hypothesized constructs of main interest (i.e. CSR fit and CSR history) and incremental validity in the same set of model equations, this study used a hierarchical regression approach.\nFindings: The high CSR fit condition led to less skepticism toward the apology statement and a more positive attitude toward the company than the no-CSR message condition did. The low CSR fit condition, in contrast, led to more skepticism toward the apology statement and a less positive attitude toward the company than the no-CSR message condition did. In addition, the results showed that the interaction effects between CSR fit and history will predict skepticism toward the apology statement and attitude toward the company.\nOriginality/value: There is little research on the effectiveness of high (congruent) and low (incongruent) CSR fit compared to a no-CSR message condition. To address this gap, this paper compared the effectiveness of the two conditions to a no-CSR condition.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The island factor as a growth booster for nations: a mental advantage econometrically revealed
|
[
"Economic growth",
"Geography",
"Equal opportunities",
"Cultural synergy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: success stories: A number of the most successful countries in terms of economic growth over a long period, and which appear now on the top of competitiveness lists established by specialized institutions such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), present the character of geographical island, places environed by sea, such as Iceland and Singapore. Moreover the most striking cases of rapid successful industrialization in past centuries remain the United Kingdom and Japan, both being geographical islands.However, we note that there is another group of extremely competitive economies, such as Finland and Israel[1] that can be considered to be islands in a broader sense, as countries with a distinct culture or language from the environing countries, or what are baptized in this paper as cultural islands. Indeed, when looking at the two major success stories of the recent decades, China and India, they too can also be considered to be islands in a broad sense, with none of the neighboring countries having official languages to be Mandarin, or Tamil or Hindi, respectively.In light of the above accumulation of examples, one may suspect that there exists an island factor that contributes positively to long-term economic growth. We postulate that a possible reason for this island factor is that societies within islands tend to feel more cut-off and isolated, which leads to them to be more cohesive and possessing unique sense of identity and a spirit of self-reliance. This island mentality emphasizes economic survival, and along with this survival instinct, a pragmatic attitude of doing whatever it takes to stay economically competitive. Thus, the island mentality is conducive to active reform processes, optimal use of resources, and/or long-term strategic development planning, which, at the end of the day, translate into better growth performance.This paper aims to empirically test the hypothesis of the island factor to economic growth by applying econometric techniques to the historical macroeconomic data of relatively large group countries. We find that to the extent that economies are open to global linkages, and therefore possibly under pressure to adapt, modernize or innovate, geographical and cultural islands tend to experience a higher rate of economic growth.Section 2 of the paper explains in greater detail the hypothesis of the island mentality, the definitions of geographical and cultural islands and a brief overview of the related economic growth literature. Section 3 introduces two other important determinants of cross-country economic growth which will be included as control variables in the econometric regressions. Details with regard to the theoretical framework, estimation methodology and empirical results are laid out in Section 4. Section 5 concludes the paper with relevant policy implications based on our empirical findings.\n2. Islands and economic growth: The island factor\n3. Other factors of economic growth: We need to test the effective impact of the island status with appropriate control variables. As we did not want to see interferences of any form of investments, physical as well as intellectual, which would have been possibly correlated with the island mentality, we have selected a set of control variables likely to be affecting the growth process, but independent from the island situation. We have therefore selected data qualifying:* the country's level of development at the beginning of the period, since it is well known that economies which begin at a low level enjoy bigger growth rates in the long term;* its trade openness, as we have seen, that seems an essential factor to maintain competition and pressure while offering capacity of exports.Initial income\n4. Empirical methodology: In this section, we look investigating the effects of islands on economic growth using a regression specification that is grounded on a theoretical framework: the neoclassical growth model where we emphasize the possible sources of economic growth.Theoretical framework\nEstimation methodology: From the structural equation (3), assuming that the island mentality is an important factor that drives the growth of total factor productivity, we replace the growth rate of TFP with a variable that measures the island factor. We will include control variables for initial income[4] and trade openness, which results in the following semi-reduced form estimating equation: Equation 4 where:X =the value of merchandise exports;M =the variable that represents the island factor.Data sources for real GDP, initial per capita income, trade were as indicated above. Labor force data were taken from the World Bank World Development Indicators (www.worldbank.org/data). The capital stock was constructed using gross capital formation (in constant local currency units) obtained from the World Bank World Development Indicators. The perpetual inventory method was used with an assumed depreciation rate of 5 percent. To calculate the initial value of the capital stock, we used the average growth rate of gross capital formation for the first five years and applied the formula for the sum of an infinite geometric progressive series[5]. Simple averages over specific time periods were taken for both the dependent and independent variables, resulting in each country having at most one observation in the regression. The regressions were estimated with White robust standard errors to account for the possibility of heteroskedasticity.As noted above, by including the common controls for growth regressions, initial output per capita and trade openness, we have moved from the structural equation (3), which is fully grounded and consistent with a neoclassical growth model with a economy-wide Cobb-Douglas production function to the estimating equation (4) which semi-reduced form in nature. This practice of using a semi-reduced form estimating equation for economic growth is common practice in the literature[6].The logic of including the initial income term in the estimating equation is to control for the initial level of economic development. Even though the dependent variable of the estimating equation is the growth rate of output or GDP, the correct proxy for economic development, is still output or GDP per capita. For this reason, the inclusion of the initial income, the trade openness and island variables turns the estimating equation from being a structural equation (3) to a semi-reduced form equation (4).Empirical results\n5. Conclusions and policy implications: We have demonstrated econometric evidence of a significant impact of an island factor as booster of sustainable growth when this island is either \"geographical\" or \"cultural\" in nature. While these island effects can be found in both sets of regressions that span different regression sample time periods, namely 1995 to 2004 and 1990 to 2004, the hypothesized effects are unambiguously stronger for the more recent time period.One plausible reason for the statistical finding that the stronger island effect for the 1995-2004 time period is that globalization has accelerated in the more recent years. While the associated competitive forces in the global market place have increased, the stronger sense of identity brought up by the island situation provides a competitive advantage, and this advantage seems even greater when it is a cultural island. The greater pressures on open economies act as a catalyst for the island growth effects to occur.Our statistical results are thus in line with our hypothesis that there are mental forces operating into a given society, which makes it more efficient, when it has precisely this self perception of being an island - in a broad sense of the term. This relates to a clear sense of frontiers and of identity. These island objective conditions and the related mental forces contribute to make the society more cohesive and more prone to reforms, more able to use its resources, more efficient in its investments, etc.The \"plus\" brought by a clear sense of identity is a phenomenon that specialists of business management and consultants know well. Most performing firms are those who have a strong sense of their identity with the related culture, understood as a set of shared values, behaviors, etc. And the first therapy that management consultants propose to improve the functioning of an enterprise is precisely to work on its culture and identity.If the feeling of being an island in a socio-cultural sense is a key, if not the key, factor for a successful growth process, this would mean that the silver bullet of economic development policies is precisely to create such a feeling. The question is, of course, how to do this. How do you create a sense of frontiers, pressure, identity, etc? How do you build a cohesive society with this island feeling? What measures can you concretely put in place for creating such a mindset? For sure, creating a sense of pressure from around, accompanied by appropriate incentives such as trade liberalization measures, is key. In addition, making the population feeling some threats is also needed. At the same time the concerned population should feel that it does constitute something different from its neighbors, with its own culture and specificities.This is why it is crucial to give societies the feeling that they are unique with their strengths culturally-linked. In a similar vein, it is not appropriate to give the impression that there is just one single model for economic development, even if a few basic principles, such as a market based regime, need to be applied. More generally, it is an error to present the integration in globalization trends as the panacea, if one does not accompany this integration by actions to help countries to find their unique specificities and strengths in the overall trade and competition process. Even worse, a country may find it legitimate to build some temporary trade barriers to help the country acquiring its cohesiveness through some productions, leading to some form a self confidence.At the same time, closing a country on itself in glorifying excessively its specificities is the best way to lead it to gradual impoverishment and deterioration. Examples abound of this, to begin with North Korea.The above reasoning would apply, of course, to entities under the national level and to entities above the national level. For regions and cities, the feeling of being an island with its identity has been abundantly perceived, if not yet appropriately measured, as source of success. Sometimes the search for identity, as for the nation, leads to folding, inward looking attitudes, sticking for instance to past industrial experiences, which are no more competitive. This delay restructuring efforts and investments in new industries. In the same vein an excessive feeling of being an island, in cultivating outdated traditions, is strongly destructive. Think about those trends which destroyed the ex-Yugoslavia.For supra-national entities, the question of an identity with clearly perceived frontiers is key. In fact it is central to the debate of the European Union, its enlargement and its modalities. This does not mean that an enlargement, even to cultures markedly different from the European ones, should not be undertaken, but the way and rhythm you do it becomes crucial. And of course, it is not only a question of trade and enlarged markets which is at stake, but a question of shared values and behavioral patterns.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to postulate that countries which are either geographical or cultural islands, (defined as countries that are surrounded by neighboring countries that do not speak the same language), tend to experience higher rates of economic growth, all other things being equal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using historical macroeconomic data for a large number of countries and statistical growth regressions that include island dummy variables as explanatory variables, this paper shows that there is econometric evidence supporting the theory of the island factor.\nFindings: - The findings highlight the importance of a cohesive society with a strong sense of identity while being economically open to global competitive forces. This island mindset acts as a catalyst for enhanced economic growth.\nOriginality/value: - To the best of the authors' knowledge, the island factor is a new and untested hypothesis. Moreover, the paper contributes to the literature on cultural diversity and growth by showing that cultural diversity among neighboring countries is an important factor for economic development.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
SMEs and social capital: exploring the Brazilian context
|
[
"SMEs",
"Brazil",
"Internationalization",
"Social capital"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In this exploratory, empirical paper, we examine the linkages between the level of social capital exhibited by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and relate this to internationalization and performance, in the context of the emerging economy of Brazil. We do not investigate change over time but assess a broad-based concept of social capital at a single point in time to develop a baseline for future work. The study extends the discussion of the role of social capital for internationalizing SMEs to the understudied Latin American region. Scholarly work on the role of social capital for business development is fairly well established; however, the work on the impact of social capital among internationalizing firms in emerging markets is still a nascent area of study. Indeed, studies of emerging market SMEs in terms of country context are sparse, with the majority of work focusing on firms from Asia (Gedajlovic and Carney, 2010; Hitt et al., 2002; Lin and Chaney, 2007). In response to this paucity of research, we ask the research question:\nTheoretical background: Social capital\nMethodology: The methodology engaged in this exploratory study is the collection of primary data from single industry respondents in Brazil to test the research questions. Next, we present a discussion of the survey instrument, the data and sample and the results.\nDiscussion: Societal context creates the milieu in which SMEs operate. Embedded social norms and values are crucial to the ability of social actors to develop social capital (in all forms) and correspondingly for the same actors to concur or not with the strictures of the context. Importantly, entrepreneurial SMEs by definition force the boundaries of the possible, and we might expect to find that they will recognize the potential benefits of social capital. However, in a social context which strongly supports norms of limited engagement for business purposes and for pressure to conform, the use of benefits from social capital will be restrained. Essentially, then the underlying question related to the impact of country context on social capital is whether the benefits of social capital can be construed as universally implementable or whether a specific societal context for social capital retards usage.\nLimitations and contributions: The first limitation of this exploratory study relates to the small sample size. A second limitation is the homogenous nature of the sample which restricts generalizability from this specific industry. A third limitation relates to the considerable regional diversity of the sample which is obscured by aggregation of data for statistical purposes. A fourth limitation is the cross-sectional nature of the study which precludes the ability to track changes in social capital over time, as Brazil develops. In the case of the Stone industry, industry evidence of developments due to the recent economic crisis posits that individual firms have continued to increase their development of value-added products since this research was conducted. A fifth limitation relates to the nature of the data collection, which relied on face-to-face interaction and potentially affected concerns with respondent anonymity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to explore the extent to which social capital plays a role in firm development, internationalization and growth, in the context of an emerging market, Brazil. The study aims to provide a new context and perspective on the role social capital plays in fostering growth and internationalization among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is an exploratory study. First, empirical data are drawn from a commodity industry, the Brazilian Stone industry, which is a competitive, well-established sector in the country. Using a previously validated questionnaire from the World Bank, the extent of social capital possessed and used by the firms in this industry is correlated to their growth and performance. Based on the exploratory results, a set of research propositions are developed that point the way to questions that are important and interesting to further understand the role of social capital in this context.\nFindings: The results point to fairly low levels of social capital among Brazilian SMEs in this sector and relatively low levels of awareness of the potential opportunities to exploit social capital to further development and internationalization.\nResearch limitations/implications: Social capital matters for firm growth and performance, but the extent of development of social capital in this context is fairly low. The limitations include the sample size and the homogeneity of the sample, which restricts generalizability.\nPractical implications: Building and exploiting social capital is a void that currently exists in the commodity sector in Brazil. Developing this can lead to more positive firm performance and growth, especially as the institutional context in Brazil continues to develop.\nOriginality/value: The paper offers a unique context, as well as a new perspective on the role of firm social capital, by using an emerging market and a commodity industry that has been rarely studied in the literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The influence of audit committee's and company's characteristic on intellectual capital disclosure
|
[
"Intellectual capital disclosure",
"Audit committee characteristic",
"Company characteristic",
"L2",
"M14",
"M42"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Competitive business environment demands a company to employ an innovative method to conduct business. Innovation is needed to guard the company against the demand of innovation and competitive business environment. To maintain the company, it needs to shift labor-based business model toward knowledge-based model with knowledge as its foundation. A company equipped with knowledge and technology can find a way to use other resources efficiently and economically and in turn, provide a competitive advantage for the company (Rupert, 1998). Based on knowledge-based economy, a company's economical value is no longer lies on the production of goods and material, but on the intellectual capital generation.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Agency theory\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Data type and sources\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Descriptions of research objectives\n5. Conclusion, research limitation and suggestion: The conclusion reached from this research are: the size of audit committee, profitability rate and type of industry do not influence ICD in LQ45-indexed companies; the frequency of audit committee meeting and company size positively influence ICD; leverage level negatively influences ICD; and only 47.1 percent LQ45-indexed companies averagely conduct ICD in their financial reports in 2013-2014. It shows that the level of ICD is still relatively low.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the influences of audit committee's and company's characteristic on intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) among the LQ45-listed companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) between 2013 and 2014.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper employed multiple linear regression and saturation sample as the analysis methods.\nFindings: The findings showed that size of audit committee does not significantly influence ICD; meeting frequency of audit committee positively influences ICD; and company size does not influence ICD positively. On the other hand, profitability does not significantly influence ICD; leverage has negative and significant influence on ICD; and the type of industry does not significantly influence intellectual capital disclosure.\nOriginality/value: As there are few ICD studies, this research will surely add ICD antecedents to literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Strategies to improve the quality and competitiveness of coastal tourism areas: Applying tourism standards
|
[
"Quality",
"Territorial impact",
"Tourist accommodation",
"Tourist ratio",
"Urban development standard"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The quality of tourist accommodation establishments is a recurring theme in public strategies for planning and managing tourist destinations. Rather than pursuing a goal of zero defects, the search for quality must start with the needs of customers (what they expect) and end with their satisfaction (perceived value) (Kotler et al., 2005). In other words, quality consists in the guest's level of satisfaction with the features and characteristics of an establishment in relation to their expectations; their satisfaction is derived from the comparison between what they perceive and what they expected, that is, by having their expectations about the establishment fulfilled. Therefore, quality and customer satisfaction constructs are usually considered to be synonymous (Liljander, 1994). This is because of the fact that the perceived quality of the accommodation increases the level of satisfaction of customers, which, in turn, affects their level of trust and, hence, loyalty, understood as a future decision on whether to repeat the tourism experience. In the same way, accommodation quality has a direct effect on how a visitor perceives a destination, which in turn will influence other aspects, such as the number of overnights, the possibility of a repeat visit or recommendation or the positive image of the establishment - or even of the destination (Bigne et al., 2000; Scheyvens and Russell, 2012). Therefore, quality has become a key variable of competitiveness, with the following impact on the main indicators of tourism and business profitability (number of overnight stays, average length of stay, occupancy rates, average daily room rates, average daily income per available and occupied room, etc.).\n2. The process of applying accommodation standards in coastal tourism areas in the Canary Islands: 2.1 First stage (1986-1994). Regulating minimum sizes of the structural elements of tourism accommodations\n3. Discussion and conclusions: Our analysis verified that the final objective of setting standards for tourist establishments was to improve their quality by defining the minimum physical dimensions of the establishment's structural elements (room size, percentage of green spaces and sports facilities, etc.). Because of that, they passed from regulating the minimum dimensions of structural elements of tourist accommodations to the regulation of density standards. This made it possible to improve the rating of tourism establishments.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The quality of tourist accommodation establishments is a recurring theme in public strategies for planning and managing tourist destinations. The applying standards as a way to achieve quality. This strategy consists of legally regulating a series of minimum physical standards by using measureable parameters, as well as the desired characteristics or levels of amenities, which vary according to the type of provision required. The purpose of this study is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of applying strategies that regulate standards for accommodations in coastal tourism areas in the Canary Islands (Spain).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used an explanatory case study methodology. An \"inter-case\" comparison has been chosen, because the object of analysis (public policy applying tourism standards) has changed over time; furthermore, a content analysis approach was selected so that the subject of this research is the process of implementing this kind tourism policy. The result is a systematization of the process in stages.\nFindings: Quantifiable criteria that exclusively consider the physical or operational parameters of a tourist establishment are no longer sufficient to provide quality service that meets the needs and expectations of customers. It is not enough to set standards for surface area parameters or essential amenities when organizing new tourist developments, but rather it is the qualitative aspect that must be addressed. At the same time, quality tourist accommodation establishment is not obtained merely by reducing density, which constitutes the significant standard.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper evidence is presented that may influence the quality of accommodation perceived by the client, which increases their level of satisfaction and, in turn, the degree of trust and, therefore, fidelity, understood as the future decision to repeat or not the tourist experience. There are also issues related to the approach that the quality of accommodation establishments has a direct effect on the visitor's perception of the destination, which cannot be merely physical, mensurable in square metres.\nPractical implications: The relationship between urban standards and quality is no longer linear. This determines that the regulated tourist accommodations (defined by sectoral regulations) it is common to set a required plot size in m2 based on the number of bed places offered by the establishment is no longer valid. Today, tourists rate accommodation establishments by the prestige of their brand or the diversity of services and experiences (entertainment, sensations, emotions, etc.) they provide. These experiences play such an important role in producing customer satisfaction and loyalty to a hotel that guests are willing to pay more for their stay, with the understanding that they will be able to experience certain emotions. It has been evidenced that the main reason for setting physical quality parameters that can be measured by a rating system for accommodation establishments, to provide a basic reference for customers, is no longer necessary, given the amount of easily accessible real-time information freely available through multiple independent channels based on the 2.0 paradigm, information technologies and communication, as well as applications and virtual platforms.\nSocial implications: Applying this public strategy of classifying or rating tourist accommodations on a territorial scale has some strengths and weaknesses. However, it is not easy to find a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of such strategies because, among other issues, the public administration seems disinterested in measuring the consequences of their decisions, instead focussing on whether the formal legal requirements are being complied with. Moreover, whenever such assessments have been carried out, the discussion has been limited to the effectiveness of the implementation. This is why, beyond such purely mechanical responses, there are currently no studies or technical reports that specifically examine the positive or negative effects of such approaches. Evidently, these circumstances make any work analyzing this material relevant and timely. Likewise, the main reason for setting physical quality parameters that can be measured by a rating system for accommodation establishments, to provide a basic reference for customers, is no longer necessary, given the amount of easily accessible, real-time information freely available through multiple independent channels based on the 2.0 paradigm, information technologies and communication, as well as applications and virtual platforms.\nOriginality/value: The paper determines that the impact of the strategies of set a required plot size in square metres based on the number of bed places offered by the establishment is limited. Applying this public strategy of classifying or rating tourist accommodations on a territorial scale has some strengths and weaknesses. However, it is not easy to find a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of such strategies because, among other issues, the public administration seems disinterested in measuring the consequences of their decisions, instead focussing on whether the formal legal requirements are being complied with. Moreover, whenever such assessments have been carried out, the discussion has been limited to the effectiveness of the implementation. This is why, beyond such purely mechanical responses, there are currently no studies or technical reports that specifically examine the positive or negative effects of such approaches. Evidently, these circumstances make any work analyzing this material relevant and timely.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effects of internet filtering on users' information-seeking behaviour and emotions
|
[
"Iran",
"Emotions",
"Information behaviour",
"Internet filtering",
"Internet censorship",
"Website blocking"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internet filtering (also sometimes called website blocking or internet censorship) is a mechanism designed to control online activity through filtering and blocking of particular parts or features of the internet such as websites, search words or online communities (Eriksson and Giacomello, 2009, p. 207). Although varying degrees of restrictions on internet access might be used even in democratic developed countries such as France and Germany (Mathrani and Alipour, 2010), internet content filtering is mostly used by ideological, religious or totalitarian states. In fact, research shows that restrictive states that want to maintain the status quo may benefit from using filtering practices (Wagner and Gainous, 2013). This explains why internet filtering has been mainly studied from a political perspective and as a result we know about some of its political and social effects. It negatively affects not only the expansion of ICTs but also civil liberties (Shirazi, 2010) and it also has the potential to impede active youth citizenship even in countries such as the UK (Trevorrow et al., 2005).\nLiterature review: In spite of the prevalence of various degrees of internet filtering in different countries, surprisingly there is little research about it especially from an information science perspective. One reason for the lack of research on filtering from an information viewpoint might be that researchers who live in countries with internet filtering might be afraid of the consequences of doing research on internet filtering. This is because they feel their research might imply that they are trying to criticise their government's policies and some governments do not tolerate criticism. A slightly related study is a survey of Chinese citizens (inside and outside China) for their motivations of using firewall bypassing to access filtered contents. The survey showed Chinese web users bypassed the firewall in China mainly for information and socializing, and bypassed firewalls outside China primarily for entertainment (Yang and Liu, 2014). Another study by computer experts on web censorship in Pakistan (Khattak et al., 2014) showed that blocking websites impacted on users' behaviour. For instance it caused a major shift towards increased encrypted traffic which means users used censorship-bypass mechanisms to directly access the content. The study also showed that 75 per cent of users performed a search engine query after encountering a blocked page for YouTube.\nMethods: This was a mixed-methods study. It included a questionnaire, search tasks with think aloud narratives and interviews. All of these techniques are among the common methods of studying emotions in information-seeking behaviour (Lopatovska and Arapakis, 2011). In total, 15 masters' students (eight males and seven females) from five different disciplines (all within the social sciences) from an Iranian university took part in the study. Volunteer participants were recruited on campus and they gave informed consent for their participation. The participation process included answering some background questions, doing some search tasks while thinking aloud, completing a questionnaire, and doing an interview.\nFindings: Use of internet\nDiscussion: This paper presents the results of a small study that used qualitative and quantitative data to investigate the affective aspects of the relationship between internet filtering and information-seeking behaviour. The study indicates that internet filtering has some affective aspects that interplay with information behaviour of users.\nConclusions: This is one of the few studies, if not the only, that has investigated internet filtering from the perspective of information-seeking behaviour and emotions. The study indicates that filtering results in some changes in the information-seeking behaviour of users. Users who face filtering use different methods to bypass filtering, mostly by using anti-filter software. Filtering encourages users to use channels such as SNS to share resources and it increases the use of library material by some of the users. Users who face filtering during their search are more likely to visit more pages of results and click on more items in the results list, unlike usual users who face no filtering who rarely go past the first page. Blocking users' access to content stimulates their curiosity and they become more determined to access the filtered content.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between internet filtering, emotions and information-seeking behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 15 postgraduate students at an Iranian university participated in the study which involved a questionnaire, search tasks with think aloud narratives, and interviews.\nFindings: Internet content filtering results in some changes in the information-seeking behaviour of users. Users who face website blocking use a variety of methods to bypass filtering, mostly by using anti-filter software. Filtering encourages users to use channels such as social networking services to share resources and it increases the use of library material by some of the users. Users who face filtering during their search are more likely to visit more pages of results and click on more hits in the results, unlike users who do not experience filtering who rarely go past the first page. Blocking users' access to content stimulates their curiosity and they become more determined to access the content. In terms of the affective aspect, filtering causes several negative emotions (e.g. anger, disgust, sadness and anxiety) and the main reason for these emotions is not the inability to access information but the feeling of being controlled and not having freedom.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was limited to a small number of postgraduate students in social sciences and not generalisable to all user groups. The implication is that in countries where filtering is used, libraries can play an important role in serving users and reducing users negative emotions, especially if libraries can take advantage of technologies such as social media for their services.\nOriginality/value: This is first study to address the effects of internet filtering on information-seeking behaviour and emotions. The study shows that internet filtering causes negative emotions and results in some changes in information-seeking behaviour.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Parental mediatory role in children's physical activity participation
|
[
"Exercise",
"Children (age groups)",
"Parents",
"China",
"Personal health"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Physical activity (PA) in children has been linked with numerous positive health benefits, such as decreased cardiovascular disease risk factors through changes in body mass index, blood lipid profiles, and blood pressure (Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 1997). The promotion of PA in the early years is important in bringing about active lifestyles in adulthood that help to lessen the risks of chronic diseases in later life (Biddle et al., 2001; Vanreusel et al., 1997). PA, however, is a complicated human behaviour that is influenced by a sequence of interrelated factors. An understanding of the relationship among those factors becomes primary and crucial to the PA promotion intervention.Empirical studies indicate that parental influence is a determinant of the PA participation of children (Sallis et al., 2000; Gustafson and Rhodes, 2006; Springer et al., 2006; Heitzler et al., 2006). Recent studies have switched focus to the mechanisms of how parents may influence their children's PA participation. For example, parental role model influence on children's PA has been reported to have positive (Tinsley et al., 1995) and negative (Welk et al., 2003) findings. Parental encouragement has been mostly accepted as a powerful mediating form of parental influence on children's PA participation (Anderssen and Wold, 1992; Welk et al., 2003; King et al., 2008). Direct facilitation, such as provision of transportation, has been consistently shown to be prominent in affecting children's PA (Beets et al., 2006; Wilson and Dollman, 2007; Robbins et al., 2008). Parental involvement has also been shown as an independent predictor of moderate vigorous PA among children (Ornelas et al., 2007).In addition to parental influence, other psychosocial variables are also reported frequently as mediators of children's PA participation. A previous study has indicated a strong link between parental support and children's perceptions of physical competence, enjoyment of PA, self-esteem, motivation, and their PA behaviours (Brustad, 1996). Another study also reported that children's perceptions of their own physical competence were significantly correlated with their parents' perception of their children's physical competence (Dempsey et al., 1993). Parents are able to influence their children by shaping their activity behaviours, when they share the same belief system (Kimiecik and Horn, 1998).The reported associations between psychosocial variables such as PA perception, physical self-perception and children's PA participation have been predominantly positive. Children are more likely to engage in PA when they are motivated to participate by having the support of significant others, such as their parents (Harter, 1999; Nicholls, 1990). Perceived competence is supported by theoretical perspectives that influence individual interest and enjoyment in PA participation (Brustad, 1993; Williams and Gill, 1995). Perceived competence is also reported as a significant predictor of children's PA participation (Crocker et al., 2000; Raustorp et al., 2005; Welk and Eklund, 2005) and could best distinguish between active and inactive children (Hagger et al., 1998) and sports participation (Welk et al., 1995).The Youth Physical Activity Promotion (YPAP) model (Welk, 1999) provides a theoretical basis for exploring the relationships among parental influence, children's perception of PA, and children's self-perception. The YPAP model presumes that children's involvement in PA behaviour is predominantly determined by a self-evaluative construct (i.e. a person's perceived degree of control over personal behavior) and cognitive assessment of perceived outcome (i.e. the belief about PA behaviour). In the YPAP model, parental influence is regarded as a component that is able to facilitate children's PA behaviour directly and promote children's PA participation indirectly by enhancing the two self-evaluative domains.Despite many research findings suggesting the benefits and importance of regular PA, one recent study indicated that one-quarter of the children in the USA did not meet the recommended level of PA participation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). Similarly, only 15.7 per cent of children in Hong Kong were reported to have adequate PA for an average of at least 60 minutes per day (Department of Health, 2009). Hong Kong is a country with a Westernized cultural influence; yet, Chinese-styled Confucianism and filial piety within the family are still prominent (Yee and Cheng, 1997). Researchers have found that Chinese parents are more authoritarian than Western parents in their parenting style (Leung et al., 1998). These cultural characteristics are assumed to strengthen parental influence on PA participation further. Gender differences exist in children's PA levels both in Hong Kong (Department of Health, 2009) and the USA (Schaben et al., 2006) with boys reported to have higher levels of PA than girls. Studies also reported that boys have higher perceived competence and enjoyment of PA (Carroll and Loumidis, 2001) and receive greater parental support for PA participation (Raudsepp, 2006).The purpose of the present study was to examine a model pertaining to the mediatory role of parental influence (PINF) on children's PA participation. It is hypothesized that parental influence directly and indirectly affects children's level of PA participation via its effect on psychosocial correlates, that is, children's PA perception (PAP) and physical self-perception (PSP) (see Figure 1). Moreover, the study also aims to examine whether there is a gender difference in parental influence on children's PA participation.\nMethod: The present study involved a cross-sectional, self-report survey design to test the mediatory role of parental influence on children's PA. Data were collected from students studying ten Hong Kong elementary schools.Participants and procedure\nResults: Participants\nDiscussion: The findings of the present study provided a conceptual model to explain how Chinese children in Hong Kong might be encouraged to participate in PA. Parental influence can directly impact on children's PA and also indirectly act as a mediator to promote children's PA through the enhancement of children's perception of the value of PA and children's perception of their own physical ability.Parents' direct and mediatory role on children's PA participation\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Parents are important agents in the physical activity socializing process in children. The present study aims to examine the parental mediatory role in children's physical activity participation via a youth physical activity promotion (YPAP) model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 872 Hong Kong Chinese children (aged ten to 13) in ten schools were invited to participate in the study. Their physical self-perception, physical activity perception, parental influence, and physical activity level were assessed. Structural equation modelling was employed to examine the relationship among the variables.\nFindings: - The final model accounted for 18 per cent of the variance in children's physical activity participation. Parental influence imposed a direct (b=0.19) and indirect effect on children's physical activity participation through the children's physical activity perception (b=0.33) and physical self-perceptions (b=0.19).\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study involved a cross-sectional design and data were collected over a single time frame; a cause-and-effect relationship among variables could not be drawn.\nOriginality/value: - The present study emphasizes how parental influence is related to children's physical participation. The information is useful for health professionals in the design of intervention programs to promote children's physical activity participation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Proactive environmental strategy development: from laggard to eco-innovative firms
|
[
"Cluster analysis",
"Eco-innovation",
"Environmental proactivity",
"Environmental strategies",
"Pro-environmental change",
"Strategic environmental behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is abundant literature regarding strategic diversity in the environmental protection field. In the 1990s some authors established the basis for classifying firm behaviour in different pro-environmental strategic categories (Hart, 1995; Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999; Hunt and Auster, 1990; Roome, 1992). Based on these seminal studies, the subsequent literature shows solid consensus about the idea that the integration of environmental issues in the firm's strategy can take place along a continuum of possibilities between a reactive approach to meet applicable legislation and a proactive approach based on voluntary actions (Albertini, 2013; Buysse and Verbeke, 2003; Hyatt and Berente, 2011; Murillo-Luna et al., 2008). This literature analyses both the background and implications of different environmental behaviour patterns but it generally provides few details of pro-environmental change processes.\nEnvironmental behaviour strategies: Several authors agree that there are two methods in the literature to classify environmental strategic behaviour, the progressive approach and the non-progressive approach (Ghobadian et al., 1998; Gonzalez-Benito and Gonzalez-Benito, 2005; Hass, 1996; Kolk and Mauser, 2002). The progressive approach provides a continuum of strategic possibilities, while the non-progressive approach classifies environmental strategies relative to other factors or characteristics related to the firm and its environment (see Tables I and II).\nResearch method: In this section the analysed sample is explained, together with the treatment of selection bias, the variables under study and the methodology used.\nResults: According to the descriptive mean values shown in Table V, several preliminary conclusions can be reached. First, the companies in the sample have a high scope in the adoption of pro-environmental change measures (average of 3.12 on a scale 0-4). This shows that, in general, the firms adopt pro-environmental change measures in at least three of the four aspects considered. If the partial scope variables for each type of measure are analysed, process (A.1-A.4) and management (A.8-A.11) measures present greater diversity than product (A.5-A.7) and supply chain (A.12-A.14) measures. Regarding degree of intensity, the mean value of the variable shows intensity in the adoption of measures on the lower half of the scale (average of 4.65 on a scale 0-10). The greatest pro-environmental change intensity is found in management.\nDiscussion: The results of this study are framed in abundant previous literature that empirically classifies strategic behaviour patterns according to progressive levels of environmental proactivity (e.g Aragon-Correa, 1998; Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999; Murillo-Luna et al., 2008; Post and Altman, 1994). This research contributes to knowledge on this topic, providing empirical evidence that firms follow a systematic process in their evolution to environmental proactivity. The results obtained confirm the idea that there are no different pathways to reaching advanced environmental proactivity conditions, as firms follow similar routes, along which they provide additional resources for environmental protection. Only a few authors, such as Post and Altman (1994), had previously acknowledged the existence of a process of evolution over which companies move similarly. These authors, based on analysis of case studies, establish a transformational change model with three phases of organisational change: adjustment (compliance-oriented stage), adaptation/anticipation (beyond compliance stage) and innovation. We go further, providing empirical evidence, from a sample of 303 firms, that the process of change is similar in firms of different sizes and sectors. This evidence is consistent with that established in previous studies that obtained no clear empirical evidence about the relationship between belonging to different environmental proactivity levels and firm size and/or sector (Aragon-Correa, 1998; Fernandez Gago and Nieto Antolin, 2004; Reichert et al., 2000).\nConclusions: This study considered the strategic pro-environmental change of firms to detect homogeneous patterns according to scope and intensity of adopted measures in a three-year period. The empirical evidence showed four well-differentiated patterns of change with significantly different characteristics. Companies evolve in a similar way along these patterns extending the range of pro-environmental measures taken and increasing the intensity of adoption.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The environmental management literature has focussed on the analysis of the variety of strategic options with regards to environment protection, without providing an interesting detail of the transformation and change process between the different alternatives. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study pro-environmental change processes in firms, focussing on the width and the intensity of environmental measures implemented in a three-year period in different areas (productive process, product, management and supply chains).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Performing a cluster analysis based on a sample of 303 Spanish firms, the study finds four categories of pro-environmental change.\nFindings: The comparative analysis of these categories leads the authors to describe the pro-environmental change process as one with four stages that firms can go through. The first pro-environmental stage focusses on process measures. The second stage focusses on the adoption of management measures together with process measures. In the third stage, the firm moves after including measures in the product and in the supply chains. Companies that wish to advance further in this process, reaching the fourth stage of pro-environmental change, do so by increasing the intensity of the different measures adopted in previous stages, and through eco-innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The main contribution of this paper relative to the previous literature is a more detailed vision of the strategic possibilities in environmental protection, providing information about the process of change and about how firms evolve to more advanced environmental strategy stages. Knowledge of this evolution process, little studied in the previous literature, helps us to understand the complexity and strategic significance of adopting environmental protection measures. This knowledge is useful for academics and for public and private managers responsible for designing and developing environmental strategy.\nOriginality/value: One of the most original findings of this paper points out that it is possible to identify a pattern of environmental change through which firms can evolve. In this change process, firms start by adopting process measures, while they adopt eco-innovation behaviour only in the most advanced stage of environmental proactivity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Retail supply chain responsiveness: Towards a retail-specific framework and a future research agenda
|
[
"Supply chain",
"Flexibility",
"Responsiveness",
"Agility",
"Retail"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today's competitive business landscape requires addressing changes in market and customer requirements promptly and properly. Much academic effort in supply chain management (SCM) has been devoted to addressing the challenges caused by competition, environmental uncertainty and dynamism, as well as meeting extremely demanding customer requirements (Gligor, 2016; Kozlenkova et al., 2015; Lau, 2012). To tackle these challenges, responsiveness has become a major research topic in logistics and SCM, and operations management literature, and considered as a key concept which significantly contributes to sustainable competitive advantage (Reichhart and Holweg, 2007; Singh, 2015; Hoyt et al., 2007). Responsiveness corresponds to \"the ability to respond and adapt time-effectively based on the ability to 'read' and understand actual market signals\" (Catalan and Kotzab, 2003, p. 677) from some sort of external stimuli - mainly customer and market demand (Reichhart and Holweg, 2007).\n2. Methodology: In order to avoid preconceptions and provide an independent, exhaustive review of existing research in the area of retail supply chain responsiveness, this study has adopted a systematic literature review approach. Given the confusion and relatively sparse existence of relevant research, in line with our exploratory purpose, the review can be described as inductive. The review process can be described in accordance with Denyer and Tranfield's (2009) approach, following the five steps of question formulation, locating studies, study selection and evaluation, analysis and synthesis and reporting and using the results.\n3. Findings: 3.1 Overview of the reviewed articles\n4. Future research areas: Addressing the second review question, this research has identified future research areas within the scope of retail supply chain responsiveness. Based on the directions provided by the reviewed articles, we categorise the potential areas for future research into methodological issues, theoretical underpinnings, inclusion of context variables and outcomes of retail supply chain responsiveness.\n5. Discussion: This paper explored the relatively sparse academic research done on retail supply chain responsiveness. Methodologically, our study has applied a systematic literature review approach, which not only systematically and validly categorised and organised the existing literature, but also identified the main potential areas for future research. A particular attention has been given to the creation of supply chain responsiveness.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review existing research on retail supply chain responsiveness, develop categories to be included in a retail-specific responsiveness framework, and identify future research areas within the scope of retail supply chain responsiveness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents an inductive systematic literature review of 46 academic, peer-reviewed articles. Based around the two major review questions on retailers' role in the creation of supply chain responsiveness and future research areas, an inductive, qualitative, content analysis was conducted. Further analysis was conducted by using the software NVivo 11.\nFindings: Existing research are grouped into a framework of four categories that together span the existing research. The categories are labelled supply chain orchestration, market orientation, supply chain operations and supply management. Two to three subthemes in each category are presented. Thereafter, promising future research areas are outlined, covering methodological issues, theoretical underpinnings, inclusion of context variables and outcomes of retail supply chain responsiveness.\nResearch limitations/implications: The conducted systematic literature review has been limited to academic, peer-reviewed articles.\nPractical implications: The findings of the paper constitute a promising initial step towards a retail-specific framework on retail supply chain responsiveness.\nOriginality/value: The paper questions the comprehensiveness of established models in responsiveness, and argues that existing \"general\" literature on supply chain responsiveness gives little guidance and structure to retailers' specific role and involvement in supply chain responsiveness. In particular, the paper focusses on the retailers' role for creation of supply chain responsiveness, which has not previously been addressed in research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The acceptance of newly introduced HR practices: Some evidence from Spain on the role of management behavior and organizational climate
|
[
"Acceptance",
"HR practices",
"Top management support",
"Innovation climate",
"Supervisor support"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Numerous studies show that HR practices enhance organizational performance by positively influencing employee attitudes and behaviors. However, research has begun to acknowledge that employee reaction to HR practices is an important antecedent of the effectiveness of such practices, for they cannot deliver the desired organizational outcomes without employee positive response (Nishii et al., 2008). Moreover, although there is no strong evidence showing the extent to which employees view HR practices favorably, some recent data suggest caution in that respect. For example, Cantrell and Smith (2010) found that barely one-third of the employees in a wide sample of American firms held a favorable opinion of HR practices in their respective workplaces.\nTheory and hypotheses: Firms have become considerably more interested in investing in HR practices in recent years. Investments in HR practices are supported by many studies showing a positive relationship between these practices and such organizational outcomes as increased efficiency, productivity, and profitability (Guest and Bos-Nehles, 2013). However, research has also begun to acknowledge that the mere use of HR practices may not be sufficient to enhance business success: they have to translate into productive employee behavior (Schuler and Jackson, 1987). For this to happen, employees must first respond positively to HR practices. Building on the recognition that HR practices and performance are very distal from one another, Wright and Nishii (2013) proposed a multi-level process model of SHRM that theoretically shows how employees' perceptions and interpretations of HR practices affect their work attitudes and behaviors, which in turn influence organizational outcomes. Purcell and Kinnie (2007) echoed such a model, arguing that employees' perceptions of HR practices is at the heart of any HR causal chain \"because [employees] are the focal point of HR practices and they deliver performance\" (p. 548). Consistent with this view, Nishii et al. (2008) found that positive employee perceptions of HR policies deliver desired behaviors, which in turn positively affect performance. In contrast, negative employee perceptions are inversely related to expected behaviors and performance. These findings suggest that even well-intended and strategically designed HR practices may not succeed in eliciting the desired behaviors unless workers hold positive views about them. Based on previous research on employee responses to organizational innovations and organizational change (e.g. Jones et al., 2005), in the present study, we use the term acceptance to refer to the extent to which employees feel positive about an HR practice.\nMethodology: Sample\nAnalysis and results: Descriptive statistics and correlations are reported in Table II.\nDiscussion: Over the past two decades, research has offered very encouraging findings about the effect of HR practices on firm performance. Yet, more recent studies show that for HR practices to produce expected results, they need to be accepted by employees (e.g. Nishii et al., 2008). Accordingly, it is important to investigate the circumstances under which new HR practices are most likely to be accepted.\nConclusion: Recent developments in SHRM research have distinctly indicated that the link between HR practices and performance cannot take place unless the practices are viewed positively by their recipients, that is, the employees. The present study makes a unique contribution to the literature by investigating some contextual factors influencing acceptance of NHRPs, and by doing so it also suggests possible ways to introduce them more effectively. The time is right to further develop this research field. We hope that this study will help pave the way.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: HR practices are only effective if they are well accepted by employees. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of two forms of support on the acceptance of newly introduced HR practices (NHRPs): that of top managers and of supervisors. In addition, the authors analyze how these two forms of support work in conjunction with one another. The authors argue that a lack of consistency between the two impairs NHRP acceptance. The authors also explore variations in acceptance under different organizational climates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on an original sample of 307 employees from nine multinational companies operating in Spain. Multilevel regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The authors found that top management support, supervisor support, and innovation climate are all predictors of NHRP acceptance. The authors also found that low supervisor support reduces the effect of top management support. Finally, the authors found that innovation climate is not a substitute for management and supervisor support.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that top management and supervisor behavior is critical to gaining employee acceptance of NHRPs, no matter how well designed such practices are or how well they address the needs of the organization and its employees. The findings also indicate that top managers and supervisors should coordinate the introduction of NHRPs, since employees perceive support signals from these two agents not only individually but also in conjunction.\nOriginality/value: Recognizing that employee acceptance is an important determinant of the effectiveness of HR practices, the authors make a unique contribution to the literature by investigating some critical contextual enablers of acceptance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Impacts of the US macroeconomic news on Asian stock markets
|
[
"US macroeconomic news",
"Asian stock markets",
"Spillover effects"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: It is well documented in the literature and also in practice that the stock market is sensitive to macroeconomic news. Market participants monitor closely government releases of macroeconomic data and revise trading strategies accordingly upon the arrival of new information. Therefore, if there is any surprise in the announcement versus market expectation, such surprise would move stock prices up or down depending on its potential effects on expected future cash flows and discount rate. However, as Bartolini et al. (2008) noted, it is hard to capture the impacts of economic news on stock prices as the news might affect the numerator and the denominator of the stock price formula in different directions with different magnitudes. For example, higher than expected inflation could also increase prospective nominal future earnings for firms and the nominal rate at which such earnings are discounted at the same time. Given such uncertain, it is not surprising that many studies cannot identify consistent effects of economic news on stock prices. It has been documented in the extant literature that unexpected inflation and monetary policy rate increases have a negative effect on stock returns, see inter alia\n2 Data and empirical modeling: 2.1 Data\n3 Empirical results: The estimation results for the spillover effect of the US macroeconomic news on the Asian stock markets are shown in Table II\n4 Joint impacts of all news: On any particular trading day, there is possibility that multiple US news is released to the market. Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate the spillover effects of the US news when they are announced on the same day to see if the pooling effect is different from the individual effect. Therefore, we re-estimate model (3) with all News\n5 Conclusion: This study analyzes the effects of 14 macroeconomic news announcements to 12 stock markets in Asia Pacific region over three time horizons (calendar, overnight and intraday). Applying EGARCH models, we investigate the reactions of the markets by studying the conditional means and conditional variance coefficients.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the spillover effect of 14 US key macroeconomic news on the first two moments of 12 Asian stock market returns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors collect market expectation and actual scheduled announcements data for 14 key US's macroeconomic announcements from January 2002 to April 2012 from Bloomberg. The dataset consists of six groups: monetary policy and general macroeconomic indicators: the Federal Reserve's target interest rates (FOMC), gross domestic product (GDP), and leading indicator (LI); price indicators: consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI); business indicator: housing starts (HS) and industrial production (IP); consumption indicators: retail sales (RS) and consumer confidence level (CONSUM); labor market indicators: non-farm payroll (NFP), unemployment level (UE), and jobless claim (JOB); and external sector indicators: current account (CA) and trade balance (TB). The authors also collect daily opening and closing data of 12 Asian stock markets. Following Dow Jones classification, the authors divide them into two groups: five developed markets (Japan, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan), and seven emerging markets (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand). The MA-EGARCH (1,1) model is used for the empirical test.\nFindings: First, the authors find that stronger than expected news from the USA is associated with higher conditional mean and lower conditional variance of the Asian stock market returns, in general. Second, the Asian stock markets tend to put more weight on information relating to the US labor market than the other news as this indicator reveals much information about the underlying health of the US economy since full employment is the most important mandate for the US administration and policy makers. Third, in responding to the US news, the Asian emerging markets seem to respond stronger to the US news than the Asian developed markets both in terms of the number of responses and the magnitude of the reaction. This suggests that this could be seen as evidence that emerging markets are more dependent on the information content of the US news than the developed markets. Fourth, the US news is absorbed gradually leading to persisting volatility responses in the Asian stock markets.\nOriginality/value: The authors fill a gap in the extant literature in investigating the speeds of the news absorption across the Asia region by examining the spillover effects across three time horizons, namely daily, overnight and intraday.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Big Data in fashion: transforming the retail sector
|
[
"Technology",
"Fashion",
"Big data",
"Consumer experience",
"Trend forecasting",
"Fashion retail"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The potential impact and usefulness of analysing different types of data is rather apparent and obvious in numerically driven fields such as finance or insurance where companies have been early and enthusiastic adopters of Big Data. Although the fashion industry traditionally has relied heavily on intuition and creativity for direction in designing, buying and merchandising, it has also been playing around with Big Data for a few years now, with New Gen Apps (2017) asserting that the fashion industry can use Big Data for a number of different purposes, including market identification, trend analysis, understanding the consumer, converting high ticket purchases, lifting new designers, measuring influencers' impact and improving cross-selling. While previous research has identified numerous beneficial opportunities related to the application of Big Data, this paper focusses specifically on how Big Data can be exploited by fashion retailers in practice. At a time when the highly volatile economic conditions are threatening the survival of fashion retailers, Big Data can potentially provide a much-needed competitive edge which can improve profitability and the chances of survival.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Big Data is disrupting the fashion retail industry and revolutionising the traditional fashion business models. Nowadays, leading fashion brands and new start-ups are actively engaging with Big Data analytics to enhance their operations and maximise on profitability. In hope of motivating and providing direction to fashion retail managers, industry experts, and academics alike, the purpose of this paper is to consider the most recent and trending applications of Big Data in fashion retailing with the aim of concisely summarising the industry's current position and status.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper provides a brief introduction to the emerging topic of Big Data in fashion retailing by briefly synthesising findings from industry, market and academic research.\nFindings: Most existing fashion brands are yet to fully engage with Big Data. The authors find that the main reasons underlying the application of Big Data analytics in fashion are trend prediction, waste reduction, consumer experience, consumer engagement and marketing, better quality control, less counterfeits and shortening of supply chains. The authors also identify key challenges which must be overcome for the most fashionable industry to be able to capitalize on Big Data to understand and predict fashion consumer behaviour.\nResearch limitations/implications: The brief synthesis provides a foundation for future investigations into the use of Big Data in fashion retailing.\nOriginality/value: This paper serves as an up-to-date introduction to how Big Data can transform fashion retailing and can act as a sound reference guide for fashion industry managers and professionals grappling with Big Data-related issues.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The implications of eWOM adoption on the customer journey
|
[
"Social media",
"Electronic word of mouth (eWOM)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The rapid growth of technological advancement has provided consumers with opportunities to interact with firms across multiple channels. The use of these advanced technologies, which is becoming widely accepted by consumers, can influence their experiences throughout the customer journey (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). The development of social media platforms allows consumers to create electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on online platforms in the form of blogs and vlogs, goods and services reviews and demonstrations (Liu et al., 2018; Peng et al., 2016). eWOM can be defined as \"any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or former customer which is available to a multitude of people via the internet\" (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004, p. 39). Consumers' desire to socialize, express themselves and contribute to society (Duan and Dholakia, 2017) encourages them to share their views, experiences and preferences with others in their network to get involved in marketing communications (Trusov et al., 2009). Such activities create user-generated eWOM that moderates the dynamics of traditional marketing communications between the company and its consumers.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Electronic word of mouth and the customer journey\n3. Method: 3.1 Research context\n4. Analysis and results: 4.1 Research model\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Limitations and future research recommendations: The findings of this study open scope for future research on the implications of eWOM on consumer behavior. While the study used qualitative research to gain insights into the research problem, the sample size and demographic of participants can be extended. Further quantitative research can investigate the relationships proposed in our model.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate customers' motives to engage with electronic word of mouth (eWOM), as well as the effect of eWOM on customer behavior, both at the purchase and post-purchase stages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was adopted, consisting of 30 semi-structured interviews with Thai consumers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.\nFindings: Information validation, product evaluation, purchase and post-purchase validation are key motives for consumers to search for eWOM. Furthermore, eWOM quantity, eWOM credibility and attitudes toward eWOM play a critical role in evaluation of information usefulness and adoption. Moreover, five different types of shoppers were identified according to their purchase behavior after adapting eWOM: prompt shoppers, in-store shoppers, promotion shoppers, conservative shoppers and remedy shoppers.\nOriginality/value: While the implications of the adoption of eWOM have been explored in previous research, there is limited understanding in terms of the impacts of eWOM on the customer journey. This study addresses this research gap by investigating not only customers' motives to engage with eWOM but also its effect on their behavior at the purchase and post-purchase stages.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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