Split (2)

train · 145k rows

title stringlengths 6 301	keywords listlengths 0 23	messages listlengths 2 2
Exploration of the successful glocalization of ethnic food: a case of Korean food	[ "Korean", "Glocalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Only a relatively small number of studies have explored ethnic foods from the perspective of acculturation and glocalization (Hall and Mitchell, 2002; Mak et al., 2012a). Most previous studies have focused on examining patrons' perceptions of service quality/dining experience and identifying their preferences/requirements with regard to local ethnic restaurants. They are not substantially relevant to an investigation of food globalization or localization. Furthermore, very few studies have investigated the role of demographic variables in the ethnic restaurant industry, even though socio-demographic characteristics are important determinants of food preferences (Hwang et al., 2012) and investigating the role of these variables would help in developing effective and efficient marketing strategies.\nLiterature review: Ethnic food acculturation model\nConceptualization: First, as gastronomic globalization and localization go hand in hand, there is a need to understand local diners' preferences and experiences in the context of ethnic restaurants (Hall and Mitchell, 2002). Ethnic restaurant food consumption is determined by various aspects of the consumers, the food and the restaurant environment (Mak et al., 2012a, 2012b; Okumus et al., 2007); identifying the characteristics of local diners is important in understanding the reasons for liking, or a preference for, ethnic food consumption (Mak et al., 2012a, 2012b). Therefore, this study attempts to identify the reasons for preferring Korean food, initially in terms of socio-demographic characteristics (including gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, education and occupation).\nMethodology: Survey site\nResults: Demographic and travel-related profile of the sample\nConclusion: To conclude, this research enhances knowledge of how a national cuisine can be successfully globalized and localized successfully in another country. During the process of food acculturation, the host and ethnic food cultures may influence each other. To achieve successful glocalization, ethnic restaurants should aim to generate positive outcomes for both host and ethnic communities. The successful glocalization of a national food benefits a variety of stakeholders, including the producers and distributors of special ingredients, kitchenware makers, kitchen utensils, magazine companies and restaurateurs. Ethnic food can even be a way of attracting tourists to the place where various food options originated (Mak et al., 2012a, 2012b). Therefore, successful glocalization of a national cuisine may mean more than the success of restaurants serving an ethnic cuisine: it may contribute to the economy of the nation in which the ethnic cuisine has its origins. Although this study is limited to the glocalization of Korean food, other countries may also have an interest in the glocalization strategy.\nImplications: This study investigated US customers' responses regarding Korean food and examined the possibility of successful glocalization of Korean food in the USA. The results of the data analyses have key theoretical and managerial implications.\nLimitations and future research: There are several limitations involved in this study. First, data were only collected in Chicago. Second, the findings may not apply to other types of ethnic restaurants because this study ascertained only the possibility of glocalization in Korean restaurants. Third, the respondents were local residents who had US citizenship without considering their ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, future research is needed to assess the preferences of customers in other metropolitan cities and in other ethnic restaurants. Now that food preferences are likely to vary by ethnicity/cultural community and national/regional locations (Camillo et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2014), future research is required to determine whether there are differences among respondents' diverse ethnic background when they experience different types of ethnic foods. Further, future research is required to develop both practical strategies and theories to facilitate penetration of markets in other countries. Finally, although this study used a single-item to measure the three dependent variables of customer satisfaction, revisit intentions and image change, it is recommended that future research use multi-item measures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate the potential for successful glocalization of ethnic Korean food through the exploration of the reasons for preferring Korean food, the success factors for a Korean restaurant and the factors affecting the outcome variables of customer satisfaction, revisit intentions and changing the image of Korea.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 265 Korean restaurant customers in the USA were collected.\nFindings: Among the respondents' reasons for their food preferences, the novel and diverse factor was found to significantly influence customer satisfaction, revisit intentions and Korea's image. The \"sociocultural\" factor was found to positively influence customer satisfaction and Korea's image.\nOriginality/value: This study delved into an example of glocalization of a national food. The findings provide conceptual and practical implications that the extant ethnic restaurant literature has not elucidated.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mergers 101 (part one): training managers for communications and leadership challenges	[ "Acquisitions and mergers", "Organizations", "Communication", "Leadership", "Culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction to mergers and implications for training managers: Today's increasing globalization and competition force firms to identify new and creative ways to perpetuate their businesses and possibly make a profit. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are one of those ways.Mergers and acquisitions are among the most important phenomena of modern economies (Kwoka, 2002). Global M&A activity in 2005 was back at the significant levels of year 2000, when almost 4,000 deals were struck worldwide (Gardiner, 2006).Considering the popularity of M&A has been validated, several key questions appear to be considered:* What is the impact of mergers on organizations and their management?* How does management communicate with employees during an M&A?* How do leaders guide their followers through an M&A?* Why do organizational culture changes affect the M&A outcome?* Why are M&A a source of stress for employees and leaders?* How do employees and leaders deal with change during an M&A?In this two part article, relevant research literature will be critically examined to respond to these questions. However one of the major problems with these contemporary phenomena is the manager and leader of the organization involved in the merger and acquisition often knows the least about the issues listed above and the probability of failure increases significantly. One of the objectives of this part of the article is to present the data via a literature review of the critical elements in the form of a business course 101 on managing the merger in general and the need to understand and control communications and leadership, in particular. That is the challenge of this undertaking.\nMergers, organizations and management: a literature review: Research literature has deeply investigated M&A in the last two decades. Studies have been carried out concerning several aspects of M&A, including remarkable efforts describing the direct relationship between productivity and ownership change (Lichtenberg and Siegel, 1987), organizational changes and employee turnover (Morrell et al., 2004) and employees' openness and commitment to large-scale change (Chawla and Kelloway, 2004) among others. But do M&A research findings provide firms with the solutions needed to successfully compete in today's evolving market?Most of the studies on M&A have shown that the distribution of M&A outcomes is extremely wide and includes a great deal of failures (Kwoka, 2002). Why? What are the pitfalls of M&A? Why does it take longer than expected to achieve, when ever, the expected post-mergers gains and opportunities (Feldman and Murata, 1991)?The lack of post-merger success is increasingly being attributed to human factors (Covin et al., 1997). Human capital will always be one of the most important resources firms rely on to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace and therefore management must be prepared to design sound behavioral approach to M&A if they want to achieve this competitive advantage (Appelbaum et al., 2000a). How can we better control and predict organizational variables such as productivity, absenteeism, turnover, citizenship and satisfaction?This article attempts to explore some of the organizational aspects that are influenced by M&A by presenting strategies and findings from the empirical literature. This article will examine the M&A process with regard to some individual, group and organizational behavioral variables of the firm, such as communication, leadership and trust and perception. These are the critical issues managers have problems understanding both empirically and actually as the M&A process is enigmatic and forces organizations to identify and manage those variables identified in this challenge. Research conclusions and suggestions for possible future research are presented at the conclusion of the analysis.\nThe importance of communication during M&A: \"When the news about an M&A appears, emotions range from fear and confusion to acceptance and excitement\" (Messmer, 2006). Research indicates that the importance of communication throughout the M&A process is crucial. Employees tend to resist some change and do not deal with stress in the same way. Effective and timely communication practices can help management dealing with these variables during an M&A process.Messmer (2006) identifies two different strategies management should use to deal with the anxiety that an M&A process is likely to create among employees: early communication and staff involvement.Early communication includes timely, honest and direct information, together with a realistic assessment of future opportunities and obstacles, such as careers diversification and downsizing plans. This type of communication early in the M&A process will reduce the risk of rumors, misunderstandings or wrong expectations among groups and individuals. This is a critical action and skill for the manager to execute.Staff involvement serves as a guarantee of cooperation and support for the immediate post-merger phase. Staff involvement includes exchanging ideas, concerns, proposals and feedbacks. Research suggests that participation in the decision-making process will improve employees' resistance to change and will better prepare them to a possible variation in the corporate culture and acceptance of those changes.The fact that communication is one of the most important components of the way M&A are executed can be explained by the relationship to poor outcomes. As shown in Figure 1, communication is indeed the number one reason for M&A's failures according to Kennedy's Global PMI Survey (Bert et al., 2003) findings presented below.Communication influences the employees' ability to adopt a new culture, sustain the change process and deal with stress (Appelbaum et al., 2000a).Failure to timely deal with M&A situations and maintain high levels of employees' motivation could lead to decreased loyalty, resentment and ultimately turnover (Messmer, 2006). \"Maintaining the wellspring of future company growth depends on attracting and retaining capable people (Bert et al., 2003). For every acquisition, there are hundreds or thousands of employees who will be concerned about the number of jobs being cut, which facilities might be closed, and wonder how - or if - they will fit in the organization. For most managers and companies, the biggest barrier to merger integration is failure to achieve employee commitment\" (Bert et al., 2003).Feldman and Murata (1991) insist on the importance of good communication and management strategies and practices during M&A processes. One of the reason why positive outcomes are not achieved in the expected timeframe is because of the executives' failure of recognizing that acquiring another firm \"involves more than simply taking control of assets, and more than consolidating space, capital and equipment\" (Feldman and Murata, 1991). Acquiring another firm involves corporate structure, management styles, employees' expectations and human resources policies and practices (Appelbaum et al., 2000a).Lazaridis (2003) empirical study on the overall perception by employees of the M&A process from a communication stand-point is important with particular reference to timely and adequate information. Lazaridis' results (2003) presented in Table I indicate that sometimes management forgets to keep employees informed about negotiations and changes that could affect their jobs.As a consequence, employees' full satisfaction with regards to the M&A process did not reach 50 percent in Lazaridis' studies as further evidenced by Table II below.True communication is difficult to achieve, since the communication process faces numerous potential obstacles (Appelbaum et al., 2000a). The difficult task to overcome these obstacles is assigned to organizations' leaders. The next topic will examine the role of leaders during M&A in the next section of this article.\nManagement leadership during M&A: Many management authors have insisted on the importance of how leaders can effectively manage and motivate employees during M&A (Thach and Nyman, 2001). Therefore what is the role of the leader when it has just been announced that their organization has been acquired or merged? (Thach and Nyman, 2001).Thach and Nyman (2001) introduced a model based on their hands-on experience. Their model focuses on the phase of M&A that they define as the most challenging one for leaders: the so-called \"limbo\". The limbo phase is the first one in an M&A process and it is characterized by lack of information, partially due to the need for regulatory approvals, uncertainty and ambiguity (Thach and Nyman, 2001). The limbo phase affects both employees and leaders. Executives of the acquired firm are treated as if they had been conquered, causing them to feel inferior and experience a loss of social standing (Nord, 1994). Thach and Nyman's model (2001) is presented in Figure 2 below and it's based on six main skill categories:Thach and Nyman's (2001) model has six main skill categories described:1. Emotional acknowledgment refers to the leaders' ability to handle the employees' reactions to the announcement of the M&A. It is important for leaders to take some time to talk with their employees about their emotions. Leaders have to deal with their own emotions as well.2. Work and customer focus includes the renegotiation of priorities and performance objectives. A decrease in productivity cannot be avoided but customers' needs must be met on a regular basis, as it was business as usual.3. Communication cubed involves the increase in communication up to a magnitude of three times the usual rate of meetings. Open-door policies and feedbacks mechanism are good tools also to keep in touch with upper management.4. Motivation and incentives are an important skill to set the climate in the group and reflects upon the leader's ability for teaching, mentoring and directing people to the work they are passionate about.5. Creativity and involvement includes the review of general business processes that are not usually easy to change. M&A are full of opportunities to change things.6. M&A savvy is the practical knowledge and ability to deal with something that is not \"business as usual\". The day-to-day operations can not be jeopardized by the new event even though, once started, the M&A process will require a great deal of additional effort from all people involved (Messmer, 2006).Covin et al. (1997) researched the relationship between leadership styles and employees' post-merger satisfaction. Based upon the two most popular approaches to the study of leadership, namely the power-influence approach and the behavior approach, the authors tested the following five hypotheses on a sample of 2,845 employees from a Fortune 100 Company with operations in 25 different states:H1: Referent and expert power will be positively associated with employee post-merger satisfaction.H2: Legitimate and reward power will show no association with post-merger satisfaction.H3: Coercive power will be negatively associated with employee post-merger satisfaction.H4: Consideration and initiating structure will be positively associated with employee post-merger satisfaction.H5: Transformational leadership will be positively associated with employee post-merger satisfaction.The results of their research are presented in Table III.Consistently with hypotheses H1, H4 and H5 referent and expert power, consideration and initiating structure and transformational leadership are positively associated with employee post-merger satisfaction.In contrast with H2, legitimate and reward power showed significant positive correlation with post-merger satisfaction as well.Finally, the empirical results of the research supported H3 as well: coercive power is negatively associated with employee post-merger satisfaction.Although Covin et al.'s(1997) results are limited (i.e. they refer to only one sample of employees and do not analyze any other phase other than post-merger one), they provide a valid tool to predict post-merger attitudes and they strongly confirm that \"leadership style should be a key consideration in planning for a merger\" (Covin et al., 1997).The way people behave within their organization is highly related to their organizational culture. The ability to bond two different organizational cultures during a merger greatly impacts the mergers outcome. This is the challenge for management. The next section takes a closer look at organizational culture.\nConclusions and recommendations and some future research: In conclusion, the literature review presented helps understanding why M&A often fail to meet expectations. Researchers agree that human capital is the key to effective mergers management. Among all factors of influence, communication is of paramount importance. It can be concluded that honest and frequent communication with employees, as well as staff involvement, are capital to M&A success. Failure to achieve employees' commitment will have serious consequences for the future of the firm.Organizational cultures and the way they are combined throughout the merger are also crucial to its outcome. It is suggested that more attention and efforts be spent to properly evaluate the organizational culture fit before going ahead with the merger in order to increase its rate of success.Leadership style throughout the merger process can significantly affect its outcome. It is proven that leadership style influences employees' post-merger satisfaction. Furthermore, employees need clear direction so to avoid misunderstanding.Finally, managers can affect the merger's final result of success or failure through the selection of change management strategies. People are at times resistant to change and they do not deal with stress and anxiety in the same way. However, if properly designed and managed, the stress originated by mergers can be transformed in a positive experience for all the employees.This article has examined how mergers affect some of the individual, group and organizational behavioral variables of a firm. While literature on mergers covers most of the subjects of practical interest, some OB areas could still benefit from further investigation.In this article, relevant research literature was critically examined to respond to these conclusions and challenges. However one of the major problems is the manager and leader of the organization involved in the merger and acquisition often knows the least about the issues listed above and the probability of failure increases significantly. One of the objectives of this article was to present the data via a literature review of the critical elements in the form of a business course 101 on managing the merger in general and the need to understand and control communications and leadership in particular. That was the challenge of this undertakingFor the foreseeable future organizational structure and design during M&A is one of those areas. It would be important to better understand the approaches available to management to practically redefine the firm's structure and eventually make adjustments during the M&A process. Particular attention could be given to mergers specifically implemented to expand a firm's market in a new geographical area (i.e. Europe, North and South America, Far East).Also, research focuses mostly on the analysis of one specific industry at a time (i.e. telecommunication, health-care, manufacturing, construction, etc.). Studies across industries could be considered as a potential field of research to identify the existence of specific trends.Finally, it can be concluded that other forms of modern business relationships could be worth investigation and comparison with M&A from an organizational behavior standpoint: networks, strategic alliances and the relationships between parent companies and their subsidiaries. Finally managers and leaders need to understand the enigmatic and complex variables presented in the article for implementation and execution to maximize this now common practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To establish what managers need in terms of being acculturated and trained to manage the implications of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on their organizations considering the variables: change, communications, leadership, culture and stress.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The article compiles strategies gleaned from academic research literature with particular reference to the most common problems management encounters during M&A implementation and execution.\nFindings: - The independent variables that are key for successful M&A implementation and execution are identified: communication, leadership and trust, organizational culture, change and stress. The literature review demonstrates the important roles played by each variable throughout the M&A process.\nOriginality/value: - The article provides management with insights on how to prepare for M&A and design a sound behavioral approach in order to achieve the expected post M&A gains and opportunities in a timely manner. This is significant in training managers dealing with the M&A.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of human-game interaction, network externalities, and motivations on players' use of mobile casual games	[ "Motivations", "Technology adoption", "Casual game", "Human–game interaction", "Mobile game", "Network externalities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Mobile app services have proliferated over the last few years, especially in the hedonic segment. It is known that the mobile game app industry is experiencing rapid growth (Park and Kim, 2013). Mobile gaming will reach 42 percent of the global gaming market ($46.1bn) in 2017, with smartphone and tablet gaming having grown 19 percent in the last year; in contrast, the personal computer and console markets have decreased since 2015 and in 2017 will generate 27 and 31 percent of all global game revenues, respectively (McDonald, 2017). Among the different categories of mobile games, some of the industry's biggest hits are casual games, like Candy Crush Saga(r). Casual games are characterized by simple rules and uncomplicated game controls; they normally have short playing sessions and they do not require a high degree of player involvement (Kuittinen et al., 2007).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Theoretical background\n3. Research method: The empirical data used to test the research model were collected through an online survey of mobile casual game players in Spain. A convenience sampling procedure was used. An announcement on the survey and its goals (including a hyperlink to the survey form) was posted on heavily trafficked websites. Several steps were taken during the sampling process to minimize the problem of bias: the announcement was published on social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and Tuenti) and e-mail lists; participation was voluntary with no reward system that might encourage certain profiles to participate; the purpose of the questionnaire was explained; screening questions were designed to filter out people who did not belong to the target audience; responses showing signs of falsification, such as repetition or very short response intervals, and those with identical IP addresses, were discarded; and, lastly, all incomplete questionnaires were eliminated. Of the 300 gamers who expressed an interest in the survey, 150 completed valid questionnaires. All participants play mobile casual games. Table I shows the sample's characteristics. Female and male subjects were nearly equal in number. The largest age group was 18-24 (72 percent), which is quite common in studies of this type of game (e.g. Chang, 2013; Park et al., 2014). The largest proportion of educational background was university degree (40.7 percent). Some 61 percent of the respondents were university students. On a seven-point Likert scale ranging from \"hardly ever play,\" to \"play more than once daily,\" the average game playing frequency on smartphones was 3.65, and on tablets 2.10. In total, 33.4 percent of the participants spend more than half an hour daily playing on mobile devices.\n4. Results: The results are displayed in two stages: first, in the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and second, in the assessment of the research hypotheses and the structural model with the partial least squares (PLS-SEM) approach. The PLS-SEM technique is appropriate when the normality of the data cannot be guaranteed, allowing one to work with formative constructs and small samples (Hair et al., 2013). For this research model, data analysis was conducted through PLS for two reasons: first, because both reflective and formative constructs were included in the model and, second, because it was not guaranteed that most of the data would follow a normal distribution (the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test only accepts H0 in one of the 40 items). Note that the sample size clearly exceeds the minimum value of ten times the largest number of inner model paths directed at a particular construct in the inner model (Barclay et al., 1995).\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Discussion and theoretical contributions\n6. Limitations and future research: Due to certain limitations, the results of this study must be interpreted with caution; but this could lead to some interesting lines of future research. First of all, the convenience sample consists of players from only one country and has a very high proportion of players aged under 25. It is, therefore, necessary to conduct further research in other countries and cultures, with a probabilistic sample. A second limitation is that the transversal nature gives us only a snapshot of the current position and does not allow for a dynamic analysis, for example, of how the penetration of mobile phones in daily life influences the technology adoption of casual games.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the factors that influence the acceptance and use of mobile casual games.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A theoretical model is proposed based on the theory of reasonable action, the uses and gratifications theory, the network externalities (NEs) paradigm and the human-computer interaction literature. An empirical study was conducted through an online survey of mobile casual gamers in Spain, using a convenience sample. The proposed model was tested by an analysis of the collected data through a structural equation model using the partial least squares method.\nFindings: The results indicate that human-mobile game interaction and NEs have a significant indirect impact on intention to play (IP), through utilitarian, hedonic and relational motivations. In addition, the full mediation effect of attitude was found between these constructs and IP, which is a very important determinant of actual use.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the few that focuses on users' acceptance of mobile games apps, the features of which differ significantly from personal computer and console games. It highlights the effects of human-game interaction and NEs on the adoption of mobile casual games. Hence, the study contributes to the theoretical and practical understanding of the factors that lead users to adopt an entertainment mobile application.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Bias, history, and the Protestant Work Ethic	[ "Management theory", "Work ethic", "Religion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In any discipline, widely accepted assumptions about key constructs unconsciously drive how scholars think and do research (Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Lawrence et al., 2001). These assumptions can unite a discipline. Alternatively however, distortion can creep into the discipline when widely held assumptions are not accurate. This paper argues that an example of such a distortion is the way some management disciplines deal with the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE), an important work value. Historical evidence is presented for that argument.\nExample of a single paradigm: the histories of work: To make this point more clearly, we will use the history of work values to demonstrate one way that a dominant paradigm can focus scholarship. Economic activity is vital in every society, however different societies think of work in different ways. In order to examine the history of work values more fully, we undertook an examination of work histories as outlined by eight authors: Aldag and Brief (1979), Braude (1975), Erikson (1990), Muller (2006), Nord et al. (1990), Parker and Smith (1976), Tilgher (1958), and Weber (1958 [1920]).What we found was a remarkable similarity in emphasis and even in wording. Except for minor details, the histories were virtually identical. To an extraordinary degree, the authors agreed on which cultures and time periods were significant - and, by exclusion, which were not. They were also in close agreement about the moral value of work in the chosen cultures.The consensus history is as follows: the ancient Greeks despised work because it coarsened the mind for the acquiring of virtue. The ancient Hebrews considered work to be a result of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Biblical book of Genesis, and thus thought work was necessary to expiate them before God. The early Christians saw work both as a result of the fall (negative), and as a means of making money to provide charity to others (somewhat redeemed).The consensus history then leaps approximately 1,500 years to the Protestant Reformation. The histories agree that Luther gave secular value to work by his teachings about \"calling.\" Calvin then enlarged the idea of \"calling\" into what eventually became the PWE by convincing his followers that hard work was a means of gaining wealth for God's glory as well as a means of salvation. This ennobled work and made it necessary for human development (Aldag and Brief, 1979; Braude, 1975; Erikson, 1990; Muller, 2006; Nord et al., 1990; Parker and Smith, 1976; Tilgher, 1958; Weber, 1958 [1920]).Since these eight histories were so similar, it seemed possible that they come from similar sources. It is clear that the histories owe much to Weber. In \"The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism\", Weber (1920) discusses nearly all of the elements contained in the contemporary histories of work, though his comments on Greek and Hebrew work-values are cursory. However, he extensively discusses Luther's view of calling and Calvin's influence on the making of wealth and asceticism in using wealth.However, the histories apparently had other influences as well. We suggest that a possible influence is the writings of Marx and Engels. Both discussed the work values of the Greeks and Hebrews (i.e. the \"Sociology of the Bible\" letter from Engels to Marx, approx. 1853) and the conclusions they reached are remarkably similar to those now reified in the organizational work histories. For example, the moral values the consensus history says the Hebrews and early Christians placed on work is strikingly similar to those in Engels' (1895) essay, \"On the History of Early Christianity[4]\".The point is that the \"historical facts\" asserted in the organizational literature appear to have emerged from a complex interaction of facts, values and interests as interpreted through a specific ideology. For example, many work histories echo Engels' (1895) argument that the early Hebrews thought mankind was doomed to work as a penalty for the fall of Adam and Eve. That rationale is found in Genesis 3:17 \"Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it\" (Erikson, 1990; Nord et al., 1990). However, earlier in Genesis, the Hebrew writers discuss God working in the act of creation, and say that He \"placed the man into the garden of Eden to cultivate it\" (Genesis 2:15). The divine instruction to do the work of cultivation took place before the fall of mankind. The indication is that the Hebrew writers did not see work itself as the consequence of the fall, but rather wearisome toil as the consequence, which is a very different thing (Attas and De-Shalit, 2004).Nor can evidence be found in the other Hebrew writings that work is necessary to expiate humans before God. On the contrary, Hebrew poetry and wisdom literature discuss work as a natural part of life, one that a wise man will do well as he does other things well. For example, Proverbs 12:14 says, \"From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.\" Likewise, Proverbs 27: 18-27 says:He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who looks after his master will be honored [...] Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations.The intent in this section is to demonstrate that a philosophical preconception can distort the development of a foundational construct, lead to bias, or create limitation in thought. If the PWE is dominant in various management literatures, as is argued earlier, then its development from a fixed philosophical perspective could distort the outcomes. The wise scholar will realize this and take potential bias into account when conducting research.We have argued that bias might occur if the researchers focus on one work ethic to the exclusion of others. We then narrowed our discussion to the PWE and argued that more bias might arise if those developing the construct largely used one or two philosophical perspectives and those perspectives became institutionalized in the literature.In the third section, we will discuss possible bias in construct creation. We will explore in detail what \"everyone knows\" about the origin of the PWE - namely that it arose from the Lutheran view of calling and that the early Protestants, particularly Calvinists, were instrumental in its development:Argument III. An examination of the founding documents of the Protestant reformation shows the views of the founders regarding work are different than the PWE. This suggests the possibility of bias in historic construct origination.We have suggested that though there are numerous work-values, many management researchers focus on the PWE. We also suggested that the PWE literature comes from limited philosophical perspectives. In this section, we will suggest that there are inaccuracies in the origination of the PWE. In short, we argue that, like the Holy Roman Empire which is famously said to be neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire, the historic PWE is neither historic, nor Protestant.This section will be presented in three parts. First we will examine the work of Martin Luther and John Calvin and place their views of work into an historic context. Next we will consider the historic context surrounding Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Last we will look at the key issue of work as a way to salvation, and use this as an example of the philosophical differences between the early Protestants and Weber.\nThe Protestant founders and the Protestant work ethic: According to Weber, the PWE was a construct of Luther, Calvin, and the Protestant Reformation. As Weber frames it, part of Luther and Calvin's theology was that hard work for its own sake was the core of moral life, a measure of worth and virtue, and a way to give glory to God. Labor was a means of salvation and wealth was a sign of God's favor. This encouraged the notion that it was permissible to gain wealth by any means (Weber, 1920, pp. 51-3).However, an examination of Luther and Calvin's written work and recorded sermons suggest otherwise.Martin Luther and \"calling\"\nImplications and conclusions: Regardless of the original philosophy behind the PWE, this paper suggests several implications for management research. If there is a major distortion and bias surrounding a fundamental concept in organizational studies, this discussion represents a cautionary tale for organizational researchers.We suggest there are at least two major implications that arise from this paper. The first is that researchers must constantly be aware of bias both in themselves and in others. This seems obvious, but it bears repeating. For example, the discussion in this paper should be checked by other scholars. The second cautionary implication of this paper is that scholars should carefully examine other construct assumptions that \"we all know are true.\"Cautionary implication: organizational researchers must always be aware of bias\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) is an important construct for management theorists. However, there appear to be biases and distortions in the way it is used in research. This paper aims to discuss the issues of assumptions involving the PWE, thus addressing this gap in the management literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The management literature distorts the PWE in three ways. First, though there are multiple work ethics, researchers largely focus on this one. This paper examines work-ethics research and language in various management fields. Second, the construct has been developed within limited philosophical perspectives. This is tested by comparing work histories. Third, the historic documents are investigated and it is argued that the PWE is not Protestant.\nFindings: - There is evidence of bias in the management literature concerning the PWE. Though there are many work values, management research is dominated by the PWE. Luther's and Calvin's writings indicate that their essential views on work are the opposite of Webers' formulation of the PWE. However, the views of Marx and Engels on work echo the PWE.\nResearch limitations/implications: - If a basic assumption is distorted, research utilizing this assumption is suspect. The PWE is an important construct in several management disciplines. Bias in construct assumptions can result in inaccurate measurements and results.\nPractical implications: - Researchers must constantly be aware of possible personal bias, particularly regarding key constructs. Scholars should regularly examine assumptions in their discipline. The history of a discipline can greatly assist this examination.\nOriginality/value: - This is one of the few examinations of the assumptions behind a key construct in the management literature, the PWE. There are strong indications that distortions about the PWE have been reified.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The power of positivity appreciative inquiry to aid public speaking effectiveness	[ "India", "Engineers", "Public speaking", "Appreciative inquiry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In many professions, public speaking often plays an important role in helping to achieve business objectives. This becomes significantly likelier when speakers manage to effectively inform, influence, or persuade their audience.\nFactors that enhance public speaking: Various qualities are essential if individuals are to successfully communicate with those gathered before them. For example, speakers must possess sound knowledge of the topic and solid verbal and non-verbal skills. Self-confidence is clearly a must, as engaging with the audience and establishing a rapport will not happen without it. Thorough preparation similarly boosts the prospects of success.\nA new direction: Approaches of this nature will not get the thumbs-up from too many folk. Most will be much likelier to embrace training designed to exploit the strengths of participants.\nStages of appreciative inquiry: Change emerges as a result of ongoing chronological processes. Each step in the cycle serves as the foundation for the next. The stages are respectively labeled:\nThe example of Indian engineers: Engineers in India aptly illustrate the potency of appreciative inquiry. Research into public speaking effectiveness had indicated that engineers have considerable difficulty with the task.\nComment: The review is based on: \"Enhancing engineers' public speaking efficacy using appreciative inquiry,\" by Mehta (2017), published in Industrial and Commercial Training. An emphasis on individual deficiencies is deemed to negatively impact on aptitude for effective public speaking. The authors instead advocate an approach whereby core strengths are identified and exploited as a means of enhancing self-confidence and performance.\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: Appreciative inquiry can help enhance public speaking performance by identifying and building on inner strengths of individuals involved. The process takes speakers through four distinct phases during which they are transformed by consideration of past, present and future states to improve various aspects of public speaking and become more self-assured.\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 by presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Accessible tourism futures: the world we dream to live in and the opportunities we hope to have	[ "Tourism", "Futures", "Disability", "Accessible tourism", "Tourism industry", "Organization practice", "Destination management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This special issue was designed to examine the future dimensions of the intersection of disability and tourism in the emerging field of accessible tourism. The special issue explores theoretical approaches, foundations and issues in the study of accessible tourism from a futures perspective. Accessible tourism, as with any area of academic study is an evolving field of academic research and industry practice, set within a dynamic social context. The field is interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary, and is influenced by geography, ageing and disability studies, economics, public policy, psychology, law, architecture, construction sciences, technology and marketing. Past research has attempted to view, explain and unpack the inherent complexities (Darcy, 2010) within accessible tourism through a variety of lenses, including human rights, critical tourism, embodiment, customer segmentation and universal design (UD), to name a few (see Buhalis and Darcy, 2011; Buhalis et al., 2012).\nDefining and conceptualising accessible tourism: Conceptualising accessible tourism to reflect all its dimensions and multidisciplinarity is critical for the future. The study of tourism and disability has been a reasonably recent phenomenon with the first detailed examination emerging from the leisure constraints literature (Smith, 1987). From this beginning, a great deal of individual studies are emerged that documented significant issues with demand, supply and coordination of travel for people with disability. More recently the field has started to mature with a conceptualisation that has sought to make sense out of the individual studies and provide an overall framework for understanding the phenomena. To assist with this conceptualisation, Buhalis and Darcy (2011) offer the following definition:\nDreams and aspirations of people with disability: The dreams and aspirations of individuals play a fundamental role in shaping the choices, which lead them to travel. Among people who live with a disability, the idea of leaving behind one's everyday surroundings and going on a journey can create significant anxiety (Darcy, 1998). People with disability often can design or influence their everyday environment whilst they have routines to negotiate any difficulties and thresholds that exist. This does not apply to new environments whilst travelling, where they do not have prior knowledge, networks or influence on the design nor the potential barriers that are to face and the way to overcome them. Indeed, a recent European survey (GfK, 2015) suggests that up to half of people with disability do not travel on holiday, due to a combination of lack of reliable information, lack of funds and previous bad experiences. Yet, the desire to travel remains with studies showing that it is not a person's impairment that impedes their travel but a series of interpersonal, attitudinal structural constraints (Daniels et al., 2005; Darcy, 2003). In recognising that a person's impairment does not constrain their travel motivations, the boundaries to what is regarded as accessible tourism destinations and experiences are continually pushed by the accessible explorers who forge new pathways for others to follow.\nHuman rights frameworks and social frameworks: The United Nations' (2006) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPWD) was introduced, recognizing that people with disability have a right to access services from all areas of citizenship including under Article 9 (related to transport and the built environment, and under Article 30 which relates to a \"cultural life\" including leisure, sport and tourism). The CRPWD was written from a social model approach to disability that recognises that it is not the person's impairment that \"disables\" someone from undertaking tourism experiences but the social, political and economic barriers that create the \"disabling\" tourism environment (see Barnes et al., 2010; United Nations, 2006). This is very similar to Packer et al. (2007) research that discussed the interaction between those with disability, the tourism barriers they encounter including service attitudes that affect tourism participation adversely to people without disability. These types of it constraints and barriers in tourism have been the focus of a great deal of disability and tourism research, with the more recent research on accessible tourism seeking to focus on the development of \"enabling\" practice.\nMillennium development goals (MDGs) and the UN global compact: At the Millennium Summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting a series of targets, with a deadline of 2015. These targets, known as the MDGs are a set of eight specific goals set by the 191 United Nations member countries that have the goal of halving world poverty by the year 2015:\nUD supports destination competitiveness: The tourism industry needs to design and deliver offerings and services that are suitable to all potential users and remove any physical or organisational barriers that can prevent visitation. UD incorporates the accessibility requirements of people with the widest possible range of abilities, so that the greatest number of people can use mainstream products and services without the need for adaptations or special interfaces. Additionally, mainstream products and services should use interface standards which match those of technical aids, so allowing disabled people to access and use mainstream equipment. UD has been defined as:\nPapers in this issue: To address these concepts and developments this special issue is bringing a range of papers together that discuss research on many accessibility tourism aspects.\nConclusion: When exploring the future of tourism in this area two opposing trends can be observed: future societies are predicted to become more similar, more homogenous as a consequence of consumerism, globalisation and converging urban lifestyles. However, the accessible tourism market is characteristically diverse, with complex needs and the range of dreams and ambitions is boundless. Will future global travellers be able to access more varied and personal services or will increasing numbers of travellers give rise to greater standardization of services?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Accessible tourism is evolving as a field of academic research and industry practice, set within a dynamic social context. The field is interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary. The purpose of this paper is to examine key concepts and global initiatives that will shape accessible tourism futures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three of the authors have extensive academic experience in the area and the fourth author is the Managing Director of the pre-eminent European Network for Accessible Tourism. In taking a limited Delphi approach to canvassing key areas likely to shape accessible tourism futures, the following concepts and policy initiatives were examined: motivations, dreams and aspirations of people with disability; demography; UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; destination competitiveness; universal design (UD); and the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.\nFindings: A discussion of each of the above areas was placed in context to accessible tourism futures and to contextualise the papers that were selected for the special issue. The latter part of the paper outlines the contribution of each empirical paper to the issue discussing the approach, findings and implications. Stakeholder collaboration was identified as the key common theme of the papers and the factor for developing accessible tourism solutions, recognising the value of the market and capitalising on it. A collaborative approach is required to recognise the complementary nature of the different paradigms; to re-shape and transform the future of the accessible tourism industry. To assist in the development of accessible tourism futures, UD principles should provide a foundation to enhance the future competitiveness of tourism destinations and organisations.\nOriginality/value: The paper's examination of the concepts and global policy considerations provides a strong academic and practitioner foundation for considering accessible tourism futures. In doing so, accessible tourism futures are shown to be affected by key concepts related to core tourism considerations and major policy initiatives on accessibility and sustainability. Yet, accessible tourism futures also have the potential to create their own momentum and contribute unique learnings on the diversity of tourism markets that will shape tourism concepts and global policy initiatives in their own right.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors affecting the online travel buying decision: a review	[ "Electronic commerce", "Worldwide web", "Internet", "Tourism", "Hospitality management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the last decade, the internet has radically changed many industries. Most studies have focused on the impact of the internet on business in general, including \"impoverished service relationships\" (Meyronin, 2002) and business impact (Koutsoutos and Westerholt, 2005). For the travel industry, the positive impacts of the internet include more effective distribution channels (Carroll and Siguaw, 2003; Dale, 2003; O'Connor and Frew, 2004) and disintermediation (Buick, 2003; Garces et al., 2004; Tse, 2003; Vich-i-Martorell, 2004). But the internet also has negative impacts on the industry, such as online pricing transparency (Enz, 2003; O'Connor and Frew, 2004), price competition (O'Connor, 2003), and reduced customer loyalty (O'Connor and Frew, 2004).To address these problems, scholars have suggested that an effective e-commerce strategy should revolve around a strong collaboration between the companies and their customers (Hax, 2005) because close relationships between customers and suppliers' web sites can reduce the danger of substitution and help to insure long-term profitability (O'Connor and Frew, 2004). In other words, the primary goal is to establish customer bonding leading to a constructive and enduring relationship based on mutual trust, collaboration, and joint benefits (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995). The enduring relationship can be an effective solution for travel companies in dealing with the challenges in e-commerce.The essence of creating a strong relationship bond with the customers is to consider how customers make online purchases and what factors influence their online purchase intentions. Therefore, it is necessary to identify possible antecedents of customer online buying decisions of travel products through a large scale database search. The target journals for this literature review include generic Management Information System journals, e-commerce journals, generic marketing journals, and hospitality and tourism related journals. The key words being used include e-consumer trust, impact of the Internet, quality of information system design, quality of web site design, customer satisfaction, e-consumer behavior, and consumer's online purchase intention, in order to identify the important factors which might influence customer's online buying decision of travel products.The goals of this research are to develop a conceptual framework of factors affecting customers' online purchase intentions so that future studies can use multivariate statistics to analyze empirical studies, and to identify possible research directions in the fields of tourism and hospitality. Based on the literature review, those antecedents include customer attitudes, consumer trust, quality of web site design, and customer satisfaction. The following theories, based on existing research, pertain to understanding the antecedents of consumer purchase intentions: the theory of planned behavior (TPB), consumer trust, quality measurement of a travel web site design (information, system, and service quality), and customer satisfaction.\nConceptual framework of online travel buying decision: Theory of planned behavior\nConclusion: This paper proposed a conceptual framework building on the following theories and related literature review: theory of planned behavior (TPB), consumer trust literature, consumer satisfaction literature, and quality measurement of an e-commerce web site design. Factors influencing the consumer online buying decision include customer's attitude (perceived convenience, perceived merchandise options, and perceived transaction), quality of web site design, information, system and service quality, customer satisfaction, and consumer trust (see Figure 1).Attitude concept can be used to explain customers' actions since attitude is a behavioral disposition. The theory of planned behavior proposes three conceptually independent determinants of intention. Among those three determinants, attitude has being tested and confirmed as most significant determinant which exert significant influence on consumers' intention and behavior in various studies. Given limited surrogates of attitude being used in previous studies, evaluative dimension didn't catch the complexity of the attitude concept in e-commerce. In other words, the research findings are not clear about roles of three dimensions of attitude - perceived convenience, perceived travel product options, and perceived transaction service - on travelers' online purchase intentions. This study suggests that future research should incorporate three dimensions of attitude concept and to explore the influences of each sub-factors of attitude. For example, which dimension of consumers' attitudes will have most influence on their purchase intentions and on their behaviors? With understanding of those dimensions of attitude concept, the industry can develop strategy which can influence travelers' attitude, intentions, and behavior.In consumers' perception, a well design e-commerce web site should have high quality on three dimensions i.e. information quality, system quality, and service quality. Information quality is measurement of travelers' information satisfaction. System quality is measured in terms of desired technical characteristics such as usability, availability, reliability, adaptability, and response time. Service quality is a comparison between what customers feel should be offered and what is provided. A good e-commerce web site design will influence customer's attitude, strengthen customer's trust, increase customer satisfaction, attract consumers, and elicit purchases/repeat purchases from them. Despite many theories and studies on how to evaluate effectiveness of travel web site design, no single study measured three dimensions web site design concurrently; therefore, it is unknown about relative weight of each dimension in the measurement of web site design. It would be useful to have a standardized approach along with evaluation criteria for the tourism and hospitality industry so that the industry can benchmark and improve the effectiveness of web site design. Thus, the industry operators can attract new customers and retain current customers.Trust is the most effective uncertainty reduction method in e-commerce and plays a critical role in purchasing processes where consumers look for high quality goods or services. Trust serves to reduce perceptions of risk and is a vital antecedent for consumer online purchase intention and an important ingredient for building relationships with consumers. Unfortunately, there are significant discrepancies between vendors and customers on perceived criteria of trust. Future research needs to focus on finding effective ways to reconcile the discrepancies in perceived criteria of trust between customers and industry operators. Marketers can then capitalize on those factors to initiate, develop, and maintain consumer trust online in order to create a close relationship with customers, greater customer satisfaction, positive operational benefits, and stronger loyalty.In the e-commerce environment, e-satisfaction has been defined as \"the contentment of the customer with respect to his or her prior purchase experience with a given electronic commerce firm\". Despite the importance of customer satisfaction, there is no well-developed measurement for it and meditational influence of customer satisfaction is unknown in tourism and hospitality e-commerce. Future research should attempt to develop a standardized measurement of customer satisfaction. Once a sound measurement of customer satisfaction emerges, travel enterprises can properly design, administer, and analyze the process of monitoring customer satisfaction. Also, the researcher can study mediating and total effects of such factors as travelers' attitude, quality of web site design on both traveler satisfaction and travelers' online purchase intention.This paper provides a comprehensive review of research on travelers' behavior online. It also identifies research needs on each key theme. With appropriate empirical testing, results can be helpful for hospitality and tourism companies to develop a well-designed online transaction platform and effective marketing strategies as ways to bond with travelers. Knowledge of the factors affecting customer's online buying decision may not be sufficient for the industry to create strong relationship bond with travelers but those knowledge can be important foundations for tourism and hospitality operators to developing and implementing e-commerce strategies to achieve long term goals of strong relationship bonds and excellent customer loyalty.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on theories affecting consumers' online purchase intention of travel products. It seeks to explore the literature on the theoretical foundation of factors influencing customers' online purchase intentions in general and in the travel industry specifically. It also suggests areas for further research on online travel buying decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The conceptual framework of factors affecting customer online buying decisions - including customers' attitudes, quality of web site design, customer satisfaction, and customer trust - is developed by examining the theoretical foundation for each online purchase intention of travel product. The theoretical foundations and literature review include discussions of the theory of planned behavior, consumer trust literature, quality of travel web site design, and consumer satisfaction literature.\nFindings: - The paper identifies antecedents of consumers' online purchase intention, including three domains of measuring e-commerce web site design - consumer trust, consumers' attitude perception, and consumer satisfaction - and applies them to the travel and tourism field.\nOriginality/value: - The paper proposes a conceptual framework of factors affecting online consumer travel purchasing. Using actual data, researchers can empirically test relationships among the factors in this framework and identify possible future research areas for each factor.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Appreciating vs venerating cultural outgroups: The psychology of cosmopolitanism and xenocentrism	[ "Psychological needs", "Cosmopolitanism", "Mediation", "Neuroticism", "Behavioral outcomes", "Xenocentrism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Globalization refers to the state of interdependency and comingling amongst different nations and cultures, stemming from technological advances that enable transcending national frontiers (Kim and Bhawuk, 2008). In a globalizing world, characterized by increasing diversity and exposure to other societies, understanding individuals' orientations toward cultural outgroups has both theoretical and practical relevance. When global boundaries blur, individuals are afforded the opportunity to reshape their identity and affiliate themselves with multiple groups, however, globalization may also cause value conflict and moral confusion as people face ideas that challenge pre-existing notions (Marsella, 2012). Globalization is therefore intertwined with psychology. Chiu and Kwan (2016) describe two distinct responses that individuals may have to the cultural diversity afforded by a globalized world: exclusionary reactions, wherein that which seems alien is perceived in a threatening sense and rejected; and in contrast, integrative reactions, wherein that which is foreign is embraced and considered as a source of knowledge and creativity. People show exclusionary reactions when they feel strong ties with the local culture and consider foreign stimuli as being at odds with local cultural norms and beliefs, whereas integrative reactions can be found in individuals who are flexible problem solvers, who may not have strong local cultural ties, and who are comfortable with difference (Chiu and Kwan, 2016).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 Cosmopolitanism and xenocentrism\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4. Analyses and results: 4.1 Measurement models and correlations\n5. Discussion: Understanding various global orientations of individuals toward cultural outgroups is an area of emerging interest within the fields of social psychology, management and marketing. Incorporating basic psychological needs - intrinsic motives that individuals seek to fulfill (Deci and Ryan, 2000) - improves our understanding of the underlying determinants of COS and XEN. How different global orientations predict outcome variables such as health behaviors or cross-group friendships pinpoints lifestyle differences between those with xenocentric or cosmopolitan orientations. Knowing differences in lifestyle between those of cosmopolitan or xenocentric orientations is of particular relevance to marketers, since this knowledge can be channeled toward constructing targeted advertising for specific products (e.g. if a demographic has more cosmopolitans these individuals may respond better to environmentally friendly products). In contrast, ads which are meant to indicate products for social consumption such as food products (e.g. chips) that showcase diverse groups of friends socializing might be equally appealing to both cosmopolitans and those who are xenocentric, given that both these orientations were shown to positively predict cross-group friendships. Marketers can embed and manipulate promotional cues as a way of positioning their brands' perceived proximity to or detachment from specific cultures and countries.\n6. Limitations, research directions, and conclusions: Several study limitations and unexpected findings warrant attention. These findings may not be representative beyond North America, and the fact several results were not consistent across both countries implies that the specific societal ingroup (and perhaps outgroup[s]) under mental reference is pertinent. Our respondents hail from two wealthy countries with long histories of accepting immigrants, which has obvious implications for COS and XEN. Research on emerging market consumers is recommended, since the tendency to see the home culture as inferior, and to idealize other cultures is generally believed to be more prevalent among people living in developing countries (Cleveland and Laroche, 2012); and also, given the stronger pull of kinship, ingroup values and norms prevalent in collectivist societies (Bartikowski and Cleveland, 2017). The cross-sectional, survey approach means that causality can only be inferred, and future research should include the focal variables in experimental research. Moreover, we advocate considering how COS and XEN shift over the life course. Research has found that in old age, there is a decline in levels of the core personality variables of conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness (Lucas and Donnellan, 2011). Per this patterning of key traits, it is possible the ability of cosmopolitanism and xenocentrism to predict cross-group friendships (as seen in this research) may cease to remain significant or may change in direction amongst the elderly. Considering that COS and XEN are often theorized as components of personality, in that they represent individual difference variables (Cleveland and Laroche, 2012), and that personality demonstrates stability and change over the span of a lifetime (Caspi et al., 2005), tracking these key variables over time may yield valuable insights into how individuals orient themselves to cultural diversity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Cosmopolitanism and xenocentrism denote distinct individual orientations toward cultural outgroups. The former considers an individual's openness to cultural diversity and ability to navigate through intercultural environments, whereas the latter describes an individual's feelings of admiration or preference for specific cultural outgroup(s), over his/her ingroup. Few studies have simultaneously examined these constructs and fewer still have considered these within a nomological framework of key predictors (i.e. basic psychological needs) and practical outcomes (e.g. influentialness and friendships across different groups). The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors hypothesized a series of relationships of various antecedents and outcomes of cosmopolitanism and xenocentrism, and tested these conjectures using survey data from Canadians (n=238) and Americans (n=239).\nFindings: The findings support the psychometric robustness of our tripartite operationalization of xenocentrism, and clearly distinguish this construct from cosmopolitanism. Beyond confirming earlier findings, the authors illuminate several novel relationships (e.g. between basic psychological needs, cosmopolitanism and xenocentrism), and elucidate the role played by a key personality dimension, neuroticism, in mediating the relationships between basic psychological needs and the two outgroup orientations.\nResearch limitations/implications: Samples of this study are drawn from North America and a cross-sectional research design is used.\nOriginality/value: Whereas for xenocentric consumers admiration of one or more foreign culture(s) displaces customary preferences for one's own cultural group, cosmopolitan consumers are able to embrace outside cultures without disaffection from their sociocultural ingroup. Given the obvious repercussions of these differences for targeting international consumer segments and for positioning brands across borders, our research has numerous practical applications as well as theoretical implications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The reflexive case study method: a practice approach to SME globalization	[ "SME globalization", "Case-study method", "Contructionism", "Reflexivity", "Practice theory", "Connectivity", "Social landscape", "Sustainability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At present, we are witnessing a worldwide increase in the establishment of eco-businesses (Lockeretz, 2007; Halberg et al., 2008). Examples of eco-businesses include Aarstiderne A/S in Holbaek, Denmark; FoodConnect in Sydney, Australia; Oekoladen in Basel, Switzerland; Kostbar in Oldenburg, Germany; Sitio do Moinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Yokoto Towel in Tokushima, Japan. Though these organisations are located in different spots on the Earth's surface, across continents and industries, independently and unknown to each other they have two features in common: they are engaged in eco-business, and they are small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These features transcend the boundaries of nation-states, firms and owner-managers. They seem integral to eco-SME evolution in a transforming world.\nPurpose and structure: The paper argues the case for SME research to move beyond societist and individualist ontology (Schatzki, 2003, 2005) and to appreciate process geographies of managing and organising. It proposes to elucidate eco-businesses as formations of organising and managing practices that share a quality of connectivity that transcends both SME and location. It presents the theoretical and methodological quest for a case-study research design capable of analytically capturing the \"multiscalar\" (Sassen, 2003) quality of local business. The paper critically examines the literature on SME globalisation and the case-study method that is relevant to the question of how worldwide eco-business formations may meaningfully be studied and understood. It addresses the limitations and potential contributions of research in understanding the above-mentioned phenomena, and highlights the absence of concepts that capture the qualitative shift towards connectivity in managing and organising.\nWhat is the state of the art in existing research on globalisation and SMEs?: Studies of eco-business\nA research design for the study of transgressive SME formations: The paper makes the case for research to study eco-SMEs in ways that allow \"the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements [to] recede\" (Waters, 1996, p. 3), so as to capture the multifaceted and highly diverse qualities (Held and McGrew, 2003; Fairclough, 2006) of eco-SME evolution, and so that the study of emergent and evolving eco-SME formations will have to generate \"an altogether different landscape\" (Latour, 2005, p. 161).\nMethodological propositions: The study of eco-SME formations necessitates qualitative methods and the integration of multidisciplinary perspectives. The following methodological proposition supports recent calls for international business to reclaim a place for qualitative methods (Birkinshaw et al., 2011, p. 573).\nA reflexive case-study method for the research of transgressive SME landscapes at the nexus of globalisation and SMEs: Qualitative inquiry is particularly well suited to the study of eco-SME formations when multiple actors and environments are involved, and the case-study method is particularly appropriate for study of the SME globalisation nexus because it contributes to overcoming the problem of firms being over-researched (Chetty, 1996, p. 74) in relation to globalisation (Sassen, 2007). Case-study is, in general, an essential form of research in the social sciences and in management (Chetty, 1996; Flyvbjerg, 2006; Alvesson and Skoldberg, 2009). The case-study method allows us to study the how and the why of contemporary events, problems and situations. It can be adapted to fit different types of evidence (Yin, 2009) from both quantitative and qualitative sources (Chetty, 1996), and can also be combined with other methods (Yin, 2009).\nConclusion: the reflexive case-study method: The focus on \"managing eco-practices\", the localisation of those practices in cities, and the post-national quality of the composed case are elements of our multidisciplinary research design, which aims to extend SME studies in such a way as to be able to embrace contemporary transformations. The practice-based case-study method enables the researcher to study why and how firms - simultaneously, yet independently and unknown to each other - move towards sustainable and/or eco-business, and the heterogeneity of eco-businesses. The above examples illustrate, first, how the non-reductive analysis of contemporary SME globalisation may be analytically approached in ways that do not require distance, by focusing on practice patterns across interviews, independent of geographical location. Second, they illustrate the multidimensional quality of organising and managing; and third, they illustrate the transgressive, \"global\" quality of connectivity, which is neither a matter of internationalisation, nor of foreign commercial-market reach. The elements of connectivity and sharedness support the case made against reductive notions of SMEs as rooted in the traits of owner-managers and/or territorial geography, and for a qualitative research that appreciates the multidimensional quality of contemporary business practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper is positioned at the intersection of the spatial and the practice turn in management research. The purpose of this paper is to address the phenomenon of transgressive small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) formations and the limitations of SME globalisation research in capturing the connectivity of businesses in disjointed locations, and propose a qualitative case-study design to overcome these limitations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper critiques existing approaches to SME globalisation, which are informed by an interpretative community that conceives of territorial geography as the nodal point of SMEs and does not distinguish between internationalisation and globalisation. The paper thus addresses related methodological challenges. Based on a synthesis across disciplines and theoretical perspectives, the paper offers a reflexive method for case-study research, in the hope that such a method may increase the productiveness of analytical exploration of the multidimensional quality of SME organising and managing at the focal point of current transformations.\nFindings: The paper makes the case for SME globalisation research to move beyond societist and individualist ontologies to embrace social-constructionist thinking, to make practice the unit of case-studies, and to appreciate process geographies of managing and organising.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper contributes to business research on SMEs at the nexus of globalising flows. The theoretical, conceptual, and methodological implications are discussed and are substantiated by details and illustrative selected examples from an ongoing study.\nPractical implications: The study of social SME landscapes, including from the perspective of the reflexive case-study method, is open to multilingual and international research collaboration.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes a multidisciplinary research design that extends SME studies so as to embrace contemporary transformations, by offering a reflexive case-study method for the improvement of research practice. In the field of SMEs, the paper contributes a new concept social \"SME landscapes\" that could enrich and improve the understanding of contemporary business. In the fields of SME and entrepreneurship studies, the paper implements expressed demands for social constructionist, multidisciplinary approaches.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer awareness and acceptance of irradiated foods: the case of Italian consumers	[ "Risk perception", "Market research", "Probit model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last few years, several case of serious food scares, such as dioxins, BSE, blue mozzarella, avian flu, swine fever, have negatively influenced the consumers' behavior and resulted in a major loss of confidence in food products, resulting in a contraction of the demand (Giacomarra et al., 2016; Rosati and Saba, 2004). In order to cover the need of consumers in terms of food safety and food security, novel technologies in food production, processing and preservation have emerged. These novel technologies in addition to offer several safer and healthier benefits, contribute to enhance environmental sustainability using less energy and water and producing less waste (Giordano et al., 2018). Many processing methods have been developed to provide a better guarantee to the consumers, among these drying, smoking, salting, pasteurization, canning, freezing, refrigeration, chemical preservatives and several non-thermal processing methods (Agrios, 2005). With reference to the latter, Vanga et al. (2017) in your review shall present several novel food technologies, spread for calming people's anxieties, among which Pulsed Ultraviolet Light (recently used as a replacement of traditional thermal and chemical treatment for shelf life extension in foods), Ultrasound treatment (used in order to change the structure of the protein allergens), high hydrostatic pressure (used for inactivation of the micro-organism for preservation of fruit and vegetables) and Gamma Radiation, common called irradiation, just a few examples. Few novel technologies, among those cited, have provoked an intense debate as that surrounding the irradiation methods. Food irradiation is certainly not a novel technology taking into consideration that it's even been discovered about 100 years ago and was developed as safe food process during the second half of the twentieth century (Ehlermann, 2016; Farkas and Mohacsi-Farkas, 2011; Molins, 2001). This is a physical treatment of food with energy ionizing radiation, that produces the same benefits as when it is processed by heat, refrigeration, freezing, ore treatments with chemicals (Parlato et al., 2014). The process is useful to improve food safety, inactivating micro-organisms, virus, bacteria and insects, increase food security, reducing the speed of ripening, spouting and aging of fruits and vegetables, contributing to reduce food losses and wastage and offer an opportunity as phytosanitary treatment for food moving across international or national borders (Fiore, Pellegrini, Sala, Conte and Liu, 2017; Lima Filho et al., 2016; Maherani et al., 2016; Fiore et al., 2015; Parlato et al., 2014; Roberts, 2014; Fan and Sommers, 2013; Mostafavi et al., 2010).\nLiterature review: The consumer acceptance of novel food technologies or new products and the public perception of risk and trust in information associated to theme may be important discriminants of consumer reaction and are crucial for the assertion of these innovations. One prerequisite for the acceptance of a food exposed to new technologies is that consumers, through comparison and trade-offs when evaluating novel foods, can recognize the valued benefits and personal risks associated with their consumption. Analyzing a range of food technologies, emerging worldwide in food production, processing and preservation, several authors show that not all of these are equally accepted by consumers (Frewer et al., 2011; Siegrist, 2008). Among these technologies, food irradiation, although has been recognized as a \"safe\" technology by international Authorities, continues to face a marked reluctance among consumers. An empirical investigation carried out by Cardello et al. (2007), involving 70 soldiers and 155 civilians, shows great consumer concerns among USA respondents for genetic modification organisms and food irradiation, confirming previous obtained findings (Cardello, 2000, 2003). However, as some empirical evidence suggests, among the main issues perceived by consumers in relation to the food safety most of the consumers have some level of concerns for problems related to the pesticides, animal drugs, growth hormones, bacteria and food additives, then irradiation (Resurreccion et al., 1995; Bearth et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2014; Lima Filho et al., 2016).\nMethodological approach: Data collection and survey instrument\nResults and discussion: Results from the Probit model for consumers' willingness to accept irradiated foods and the marginal effects for each explanatory variables are reported in Table III. The chi-square statistic indicates that the null hypothesis that all parameters were jointly zero is rejected at 0.001 level. The value of pseudo R2, used to evaluate the fitness of the model, amount to 0.32.\nConclusions and implications: This study aims to investigate consumers' willingness to accept irradiated food and the major factors related both to socio-demographic characteristics and to the assumption of irradiated foods of consumers, affecting their behavior. In addition, the consumers' need for information about irradiation technology, as a novel food method, offering greater guarantees to the consumers in terms of food safety and food security, has been investigated. Compared to previous empirical studies, this work did not just to investigate the level of knowledge of irradiation and the effect of socio-demographic characteristics on the consumers' acceptance of irradiated foods but add to the analysis risk components perceived by consumers as explanatory variables. Furthermore, recognizing the lack of a proper knowledge and a limited acceptance of irradiated foods, this study analyses the need of information among consumers about the benefits and/or the negative effects of the treatment of foods with ionizing radiation. Results reveal that the consumers' acceptance of irradiated foods is mainly affected by the perceived risk of consumers related to the assumption of these products and the effects on health. In addition, younger consumers, living in the center and northern Italian regions, and with a high-income level are more available to accept the treated products. Finally, the limited knowledge of the benefits of the technology, both to improve the food safety, extending the shelf-life and to reduce foods' loss and waste, justify the low level of awareness and the acceptability of foods treated and the need of information of consumers in order to better understand the benefits produced by the irradiation method.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' willingness to accept irradiated food and the major factors related both to socio-demographic characteristics and to the perceived risk of consumers about the assumption of foods treated with novel technologies and irradiation, in particular, affecting their behavior. Consumers' need for information has been investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey, involving 392 consumers living in Italy, was carried out to respond to the aim of the study. A Probit model was performed in order to identify major factors affecting the probability to accept food treated with ionizing radiation.\nFindings: Findings show that the acceptability of irradiated foods is mainly affected by the consumers' perceived risk to health consequent to their consumption. Equally influent are the socio-economic characteristics such as age, monthly income and geographical area in which consumers live.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides some interesting suggestions both for policy makers and managers, primarily related to the need to start an effective promotion campaign aimed to familiarize the consumers about the principles, aims and benefits of irradiation technology.\nOriginality/value: Very few empirical studies have been carried out in order to evaluate the acceptability of foods products treated with ionizing radiation in Italy, where exist a growing problem related to the food loss and waste, and the need for information among consumers about the irradiated foods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors of dress affecting self-esteem in older females	[ "Fashion", "Self esteem", "Women", "Older consumers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Older adults (55+) represent the fastest growing population due to longer life expectancy and baby boomers entering into this age group. By 2030, more than 110 million people in the USA will be over age 55, which is about one-third of the projected total population (Brock, 2006). Of the older population, women account for a larger proportion of the population than men. In 2002, a gender ratio of adults over the age of 55 was 81 males per 100 females (Smith, 2003). Despite the size of this population, the older consumer market has been neglected. Marketers often think older consumers have low income and spend less money. Although income level tends to decrease after age 55, recent data indicate that people 55 years and older have lower poverty rates than the population under age 34 (EBRI, 2005) and older consumers account for almost half of the total consumer spending (Conroy, 2005).The older population has concerns about their physical appearance. As individuals get older, they experience physical changes such as body postures, wrinkles, and changes in hair color and skin tones. Despite the bodily changes associated with aging, previous studies reported that the importance of appearance did not decrease with age (Kozar, 2005) and appearance was more important for women than for men (Oberg and Tornstam, 1999). In our young and beauty-oriented society, people want to appear as young and beautiful as possible regardless of age (Hoffman, 1970). Because of the cultural value (or ideals of beauty), appearing old has been undesirable; thus, older individuals are often dissatisfied with their appearance. Past studies showed that women are more dissatisfied with their appearance than are men (e.g. Oberg and Tornstam, 1999). Appearance dissatisfaction is related to usage of grooming products (e.g. cosmetics, fashion clothing, accessories) and body modification activities (e.g. diet, cosmetic surgery, exercise). A recent report indicated that older consumers account for 42 percent of the amount spent on skincare, make-up, personal and oral hygiene, fragrances, and hair care in the USA (Research and Markets, 2005).In addition to the physical change, older individuals experience changes in social roles (e.g. retirement, loss of family members and friends) and develop new social relations. Studies have noted the importance of personal appearance and clothing in social interactions (e.g. Kaiser, 1997). Physical appearance conveys the most readily available information about personality, gender, age, race, and socioeconomic status of a person. Thus, appearance does influence the formation of first impression. Johnson et al. (1977) found that wearing fashionable clothing was associated with a positive impression of sociability. In a recent interview of women age 65 and older, Kozar (2005) found that the subject placed high value on having fashionable clothing, which was considered necessary for maintaining an active social life. Further, Hoffman (1970) argued that clothing for older women could be an important source of ego support and enhancement of the self-image as well as a basis for social acceptability and expression of personality. Thus, dress may enhance older women's tendency toward social interaction.Research suggests that aging is associated with changes in physical appearance and social roles. Personal appearance and dress seems important in the daily lives of older female adults; however, little is known about appearance management and fashion involvement regarding social participation and self-esteem in old age. The present study sought to examine the relationships among appearance management, fashion involvement, social participation, and self-esteem.\nRelevant literature and hypotheses: Physical appearance is part of the self and is related to self-esteem. Rosenberg (1979) defined self-esteem as people's feelings about their worth or value of themselves. Self-esteem is related to degree of positivity of the self-concept. Rosenberg (1979) and Cooley (1902) have suggested that self-esteem reflects a large part in people's perceptions of the way others feel about them. Feelings about one's personal appearance, along with other dimensions of the self, shape self-esteem. Previous studies have reported that self-esteem is related to physical attractiveness (Mathes and Kahn, 1975; O'Grady, 1989) and social participation (Herzog et al., 1998; Reitzes et al., 1995).Aging changes how others see us and how this affects our own sense of self-esteem due to changes in social roles/activities (e.g. retirement), social relations (e.g. the loss of spouse), and appearance. Older adults may feel less important as they feel more dependent on others. As mentioned earlier, because our society places value on youth and beauty and women are more dissatisfied with their appearance, women are more vulnerable than men as they age. However, Reitzes et al. (1995) found that for women 58 to 64 years of age, social activities with others such as relatives and work friends improved self-esteem. According to Lemon et al. (1972), social activities provide role supports, which are necessary for a positive self-concept, thus increasing psychological wellbeing. It appears that maintaining or increasing self-esteem via social activities in later life may be as an important activity pursued by older adults.Individuals manage their appearances in an effort to present the desired impression or \"personal front\" to others (Goffman, 1959). Obstacles impeding one's ability to achieve the desired personal front may inhibit one's ability or desire to interact with a certain \"audience\" (Goffman, 1959) or specified social group. Simply put, dissatisfaction with one's appearance or dress may hinder social interaction. In a study by Kelly et al. (1974), the majority of working and lower-class adolescents indicated that they occasionally decided against engaging in social activity due to their lack of appropriate attire; a small minority of subjects (24 percent or less, depending on gender, ethnicity, and social class) reported \"always\" or \"often\" choosing not to participate socially due to lack of appropriate dress. For the working class female subjects, black girls indicated \"always\" or \"often\" choosing not to participate due to lack of appropriate dress (24 percent) more often than white girls (2 percent). A more recent study of a predominantly female adolescent group found evidence that clothing deprivation was related to social participation (Francis, 1992). Stone and Form (1955) studied clothing ownership and social characteristics of rural and urban married couples. For certain types of dress, they found positive relationships between the number of garments owned and the number of associational memberships held among both women and men. These studies suggest that the perception that one has regarding clothing that is in some way deemed \"appropriate\" is related to social participation.The importance placed on dress and appearance for social activities or events varies to a certain extent among individuals according to their personal characteristics. Creekmore (1974) observed that clothing may serve as an adaptive function for individuals with lower self-esteem and as an expressive function for those with higher self-esteem. In the case of the former, dress enhances feelings about oneself and in the latter case it serves as a visual expression of a positive self-concept. Therefore, an interest in appearance management may originate from different motives. Individuals with both higher and lower self-esteem may actively engage in appearance management, but for different reasons. Tyrchniewicz and Gonzales (1978) found an inverse relationship between self-esteem and a need for social approval through dress, supporting Creekmore's notion of the adaptive role of dress for those with low self-esteem (Kaiser, 1997). Dressing and other forms of appearance management, then, can be important props for individuals in social situations.A review of the literature suggests that social participation is positively associated with self-esteem. Personal appearance and clothing play an importance role in social participation. Although women place more importance on appearance than do men, even as they continue to age (Oberg and Tornstam, 1999), little is known about their self-esteem regarding fashion involvement and appearance management in old age. Thus, a path model (Figure 1) was developed for examining the theorized direct effects of appearance management and fashion involvement on social participation; direct effects of social participation, appearance management, and fashion involvement on self-esteem; and indirect effects of social participation on the relationship between appearance management and self-esteem and on the relationship between fashion involvement and self-esteem. The following hypotheses were formulated as suggested in the figure for path analysis testing.For the older female studied:H1. Social participation will have a direct positive effect on self-esteem.\nMethod: The sample\nResults: Correlations among the variables\nDiscussion: The findings of this research confirmed earlier studies, indicating participation in social activities had a positive effect on higher self-esteem for older individuals (e.g. Reitzes et al., 1995). Older female adults' self-esteem was significantly associated with participation in social activities such as attending children's activities and participation in community meetings. Traditionally, at the age of 65, individuals frequently have a life transition from employment to unemployment, which leads to a lower social participation. However, this study suggested that after retirement, individuals may engage in similar levels of social activities, which may replace previous employment activities and help maintain self-esteem in later life.In addition to the effect of social participation on self-esteem, this study also found that appearance management directly influenced social participation. This finding was consistent with findings of previous studies that socially active elderly were interested in fashion and maintenance of their physical appearance (e.g. French and Fox, 1985; Lumpkin, 1985). Furthermore, appearance management had both a direct positive effect on self-esteem and an indirect positive effect on self-esteem through social participation. By enhancing or expressing feelings about the self, as Creekmore (1974) suggested, dress seems to function as a means of facilitating social interaction. The path model suggests that appearance management enhances self-esteem among older female adults not only in and of itself, but also leads to a higher level of social participation, which in turn increases self-esteem. Such a finding underscores the importance of appearance in everyday life in understanding older individuals' self-esteem. As noted earlier, aging is inevitable and evident in physical changes (e.g. wrinkles on the skin, spine curve and shrink, weight gain, skin tone, hair color). Because of these physical changes, the elderly may be less happy with their appearance and may cut themselves off from social activities, which may lead to lowering self-esteem. Old adults should be encouraged to dress carefully to continue social participation for successful aging.Regarding fashion involvement, although the result of the path analysis revealed that fashion involvement had a direct positive effect on social participation; it did not have a direct effect on self-esteem. However, fashion involvement did have an indirect effect on self-esteem through social participation. Recall that this study measured fashion involvement as an active concern for appearing fashionable. This finding underscores the difference between concern for one's appearance and concern for appearing to be in fashion. An older adult female may engage in appearance management to enhance her self-esteem, but this management of her appearance does not necessarily translate to a concern for being in fashion. Gurel and Gurel (1979) identified various dimensions of clothing interest suggesting that people may share an interest in dress, but that the nature of that interest may vary from person to person. The varying nature of interest in dress speaks to the different functions appearance management serves for different individuals, as suggested by Creekmore (1974). The relationship between fashion involvement and social participation is logical as fashion by nature is a social process. One who monitors fashion change is interested in the world around her and what others are doing. Furthermore, social interaction would validate that individual's fashionability. Through social participation, the older adult female with an interest in fashion has the additional \"pay off\" of enhanced self-esteem.\nImplications and limitations: The findings of this study have implications for gerontologists, educators, and the fashion and personal care industry. Aging is associated with lowering one's self-esteem (Schieman and Campbell, 2001) due to changes in physical appearance and social roles. However, the results of this study showed that social participation and appearance management directly influenced self-esteem. In addition, both appearance management and fashion involvement indirectly influenced self-esteem through social participation. An interest in fashion and appearance management in general may play a more important role in the lives of older adult women than typically thought.The findings suggested that pre-retirement education must better prepare individuals passing into retirement or advancing years by stressing the importance of social participation as well as appearance management to maintain self-esteem in old age. Gerontologists and other professionals who work with older adults should strive for promoting community and institutional recreational services as well as imparting knowledge and skills necessary for elderly to reach an optimal activity level. Further, the fashion and personal care industry should be aware of older consumers' needs and develop and provide age-related products and services. For example, senior apparel should be designed and manufactured to be fashionable as well as to enhance body types. Color must be carefully selected in consideration of changing hair colors and skin tones. Anti-aging products such as skin care and make-up should be available to them.This study was limited to female subjects in a single geographic area of a Midwest state. Subsequently, generalizability of the findings cannot be assumed. Future studies should include more diverse samples involving race, income levels, and regions of the USA. Studies of males are also warranted. Although interest in and sensitivity to appearance and dress are traditionally associated with the western feminine gender role, men today increasingly appear to be concerned about their appearances as well as have interest in fashion. Further, an additional study using the newest Census data may be warranted for comparison with this study's results. Because the sample population was selected using US Census Bureau 2000, it may already be dated and perhaps not represent today's older population. Individuals born in 1951, recently turning 55 years old, may not reflect the same attitudes as individuals born in the first half of the twentieth century due to changes in technology and historical circumstances.Despite the significance of the model at the 0.01 level, only 11 percent of older female adults' self-esteem was explained by appearance management, fashion involvement, and social participation. It appears that self-esteem can be explained by other factors, such as physical health, socioeconomic status, and interpersonal supports (e.g. spouse, family). Therefore, the model presented should be elaborated and tested further. It should be noted that this study measured appearance management in terms of frequency of participation in appearance management activities. An additional study may examine self-esteem with respect to appearance satisfaction as a result of management activities. However, the present study does provide insight into the role that dress plays in terms of the older female adult's level of social activity and self-esteem.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine: direct effects of appearance management and fashion involvement on social participation; direct effects of social participation, appearance management, and fashion involvement on self-esteem; and indirect effects of appearance management and fashion involvement on self-esteem through social participation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 389 females aged 55 and over completed a mail survey measuring appearance management, fashion involvement, social participation, and self-esteem. Principal component factor analysis was conducted to reduce multi-items measuring the variables. Path analysis was employed to test direct and indirect effects among the variables.\nFindings: - The results of path analysis showed that social participation and appearance management had direct effects on self-esteem, whereas fashion involvement had no direct effect on self-esteem. However, both appearance management and fashion involvement had positive indirect effects on self-esteem via social participation.\nPractical implications: - To maintain self-esteem in old age, individuals should be encouraged to participate in social activities and appearance management activities. The fashion and personal care industry should have an awareness of older female consumers' needs and develop and provide age-related products and services.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides important contributions to gerontology, retailing, marketing, and consumer behavior-related research. Although older adults (55+) are an important market segment, especially for the fashion and personal care industry, little research has included this group of consumers. This study showed that older adult females' self-esteem was influenced by social participation, appearance management, and fashion involvement. The finding of this study helps marketers developing products targeting seniors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge, documentation and a London location	[ "United Kingdom", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As documents, and the whole information and communication environment, become increasingly digital, it is natural to assume that physical location becomes of less importance. Two newly published books remind us that this idea should be examined with a critical eye.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - As documents, and the whole information and communication environment, become increasingly digital, it is natural to assume that physical location becomes of less importance. The aim of this paper is to highlight two newly published books, which remind us that this idea should be examined with a critical eye.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This editorial takes the form of a literature review and a viewpoint.\nFindings: - The paper finds books of this kind remind us that a physical place, a locality, has sometimes been a very powerful stimulus to the development of collections, of memory institutions, and of the advances in education and dissemination of knowledge which are associated with them. This is worth remembering as we move into a digital information world.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers the author's viewpoint as well as highlighting these two books which join a small number which have analysed and celebrated the history of intellectual advances in London.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing the real estate derivative market for Singapore: issues and challenges	[ "Property", "Sales", "Derivative markets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Real estate has traditionally been regarded as illiquid, cumbersome to trade and impossible to hedge. In recent years, derivative instruments on real estate have emerged in the US and Europe. The growth has been driven largely by institutional investors, such as pension funds, which are looking for more property exposure as they allocate more capital to real estate (Kilbinger, 2006). Other investors, including hedge funds, investment banks and property companies, also are buying property derivatives as the market becomes more transparent.Real estate derivatives have witnessed tremendously growth in the UK and Europe as well. Property derivatives were introduced since the early 1980s with the establishment of the Investment Property Databank (IPD) index. Property Index Certificates and Property Index Forwards were offered in the 1990s, but it was with the over-the-counter (OTC) derivative contracts in the UK that sparked the recent growth.Around PS1.25 billion ($2.38 billion) of real-estate derivatives have been traded in the UK in 2006, compared with PS700 million for 2005, according to IPD. According to ABN Amro in London, the market's cumulative value is expected to exceed PS2 billion by year's end (Kilbinger, 2006).The interest in real estate derivatives has spread internationally. In mid-2005, Credit Suisse First Boston LLC teamed up with NCREIF in an attempt to create the first US real estate investment derivatives market. $1 billion in real estate derivatives contracts were written, according to Pensions & Investments (NAREIT, 2006). The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Tradition Financial Services, together with Fiserv Case Shiller Weiss and Standard & Poor's, announced the launch of S&P CME Housing Futures and Options in May 2006 (CME, 2006).Other market participants are also taking an active interest. CBRE announced in November 2006 that CBRE\|Melody, the mortgage brokerage subsidiary of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., will partner with GFI Group Inc., a broker of derivatives and related securities, in a collaboration called CBRE\|Melody/GFI. More recently in December 2006, the MIT Center for Real Estate (MIT/CRE) developed the new suite of 29 indexes to support derivatives trading such as index return swaps. The indexes are based on comprehensive data on commercial property transactions prices from the New York-based RCA.Hong Kong is the first country in Asia to offer real estate indexes for derivative trading. Developed jointly by the University of Hong Kong and GFI Colliers HK in November 2006, the monthly indexes cover the residential markets in a number of regions in Hong Kong (GFIgroup.com).This paper reviews the real estate derivative phenomenon and examines how it transforms the traditional notions of real estate as an asset class. In particular, this paper examines the challenges and issues involved with the establishment of a real estate derivative market for Singapore.\nReal estate derivatives: Real estate derivatives (RED) are financial instruments whose value changes in response to the changes in underlying value of real estate. REDs allow investors to take a position on the direction of commercial properties or home prices either for the country as a whole or for selected cities or regions. Generally, customers whose profitability depends upon growth in real estate values - developers and builders, holders of mortgage portfolios, mortgage insurers, government-sponsored entities, mortgage issuers and agencies, and home supply or other housing-related businesses - would use real estate derivatives for hedging purposes, selling futures or buying options for protection against market decline. Mortgage bankers, for example, could hedge against falling real estate markets that would increase their exposure to delinquencies and foreclosures.A typical total return swap (TRS) based on an underlying real estate index would involve a property paper and a property receiver. The property receiver receives the rental income accruing to the property index. In addition, the property payer pays the property receiver any positive change in the capital value (and receives the capital fall should property values decline). In exchange for these cash flow obligations, the receiver pays a funding cost that can be based on a floating basis or fixed basis (see Figure 1).Real estate derivatives essentially allow transactions to take place much quicker than the conventional way. As such, RED allows investors to achieve strategic aims expediently, with the resulting savings in time and costs. The element of flexibility in real estate investment and financing introduced by RED cannot be over-emphasized.RED allows investors to gain synthetic exposure in real estate markets without the need to own physical real estate. Owners of physical real estate can use RED to hedge their risks or reduce exposure should they hold a negative view of the market and are unable to physically sell their assets, or unable to sell within the desired time frame. As such, RED potentially enhances the implementation and execution of asset allocation between asset classes or within real estate as an asset class but across different countries.In effect, RED enhances asset and country allocation strategies on the one hand, and yet negates the illiquidity as well as high transaction costs associated with real estate on the other.The growth in RED in the UK has been spectacular. Figure 2 shows that more than 700 transactions occurred between 2004 and 2007. Trades have also been reported in the US and Australia.Asia has also witnessed the development of RED. Hong Kong witnessed the first RED transaction in end 2006 where the trade was based on the repeat sales index developed by the University of Hong Kong.\nDevelopment of real estate derivatives for Singapore: The growth of RED internationally has sparked interest in developing a real estate derivative market for Singapore. This is congruous with the fact that real estate is a major source of wealth creation and management in Asia in general and Singapore in particular as Singapore aspires to be a major risk management centre. Early exploratory efforts revealed that while there is keen interest among market participants to develop the RED market in Singapore, a number of issues have to be worked out.The foremost issue is a robust real estate index. Singapore's most widely followed indicator of real estate prices is the Urban Redevelopment Authority Property Price Index (PPI). The URA PPI is a transactions-based index that is published once every three months. The URA uses the Laspeyres method, i.e. weights assigned to the various property types in each locality are based on the mix of properties transacted in a fixed year called the base year. To reflect changes in the market structure over time, the PPPI is rebased every five to ten years.Aside from the frequency, the URA PPI does not control for quality of properties transacted other than segregating sub-indices based on a limited number of geographical regions. This can be an issue as real estate is heterogeneous.There are various approaches to control for quality. The two most widely followed approaches are the hedonic price approach and the repeat sales approach. In the hedonic price approach, the property price is expressed as a function of various explanatory variables such as location, floor area, facilities, floor level, view, neighbouring amenities, etc. Because the explanatory power of the index (typically) increases with the number of explanatory variables, it is time consuming and costly to estimate a price index using a hedonic model.The repeat sales approach, in contrast, does away with the need for exhaustive explanatory variable. The key idea is to find past transactions for the property sold, i.e. to compile repeat sales for the same property. As the property is largely unchanged over time, the difference in price can be accrued to the change in value over time. The S&P CME Housing Futures and Options contracts use the Case-Shiller repeat sale method, as do the HKU residential price index.Another alternative approach exists for the construction of price indexes - the appraisal based approach. The IPD index and NCREIF index (for US commercial properties) are based on appraisals. There are problems and issues associated with appraisal based indexes, but that is beyond the scope of this paper.\nFeatures of the Singapore real estate market: For exposition purposes, we can regard the real estate market in Singapore as comprising residential and commercial properties. Let us examine the residential property market first.Residential market\nOther issues: While methodologies exist for the construction of a robust real estate index that is congruous with characteristics of the Singapore real estate market, there are other issues to overcome as well. First, the index must pass the stringent scrutiny of academia and experts. Second, the index must be well understood and accepted by the industry. Third, the index must be published in a timely fashion and without biases. Fourth, there must be a trustworthy producer of the index.Apart from the index-related issues, there is also the question of fungibility. International investors looking for exposure or hedging strategies are likely to be familiar with established methodologies such as the repeat sales and appraisal-based approaches. The fungibility question is even more acute for cross-country transactions.Last but not least, there is a question of market acceptability of RED as a whole. If the experience in Europe is anything to go by, this is not an insurmountable issue that cannot be addressed with education and knowledge dissemination.\nConclusion: While real estate derivatives have immense potential and we have witnessed a tremendous growth in its development in Europe, it is clear that the real estate derivative industry is in its infancy. Surprisingly, academic research is probably ahead of the industry in this respect.This paper examines the issues peculiar to Singapore in regards to the establishment of real estate derivative contracts. It is clear that the first hurdle is the establishment of a rigorous property index that is representative of the characteristics of the Singapore property market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - While the development of real estate derivative contracts has important implications for real estate as an asset class, it has not been widely accepted in Asia. This paper aims to examine the issues involved in developing the real estate derivative market for Singapore.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The concept of real estate derivatives is reviewed. The limitations to the extant real estate index are discussed. Different approaches to constructing real estate indices are discussed in particular reference to the features of the Singapore real estate market.\nFindings: - The Singapore residential market is dominated by public housing, heterogeneity and relatively low turnover. The applicability of repeat sales approach may not be well suited. Geostatistical models appear promising. The commercial real estate market suffers from even lower turnover. The most appropriate commercial real estate index could be similar to that offered by IPD. Several issues were also highlighted. First, the index must pass the stringent scrutiny of academia and experts. Second, the index must be well understood and accepted by the industry. Third, the index must be published in a timely fashion and without biases. Fourth, there must be a trustworthy producer of the index.\nResearch limitations/implications: - For an index to be accepted, it must satisfy the issue of fungibility. International investors looking for exposure or hedging strategies are likely to be familiar with established methodologies such as the repeat sales and appraisal-based approaches.\nPractical implications: - Market acceptability of RED. If the experience in Europe is anything to go by, this is not an insurmountable issue that cannot be addressed with education and knowledge dissemination.\nOriginality/value: - While real estate derivatives have immense potential and a tremendous growth in its development in Europe has been witnessed, it is clear that the real estate derivative industry is in its infancy. The paper examines the issues peculiar to Singapore with regard to the establishment of real estate derivative contracts. The paper is of interest to policy makers and industry practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ms. Y: a life less ordinary - an interview	[ "Transsexual", "Workplace", "Dignity", "Dress codes", "Dress", "Conditions of employment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This is an interview with Ms Y. She used to be identified as a male, but for ten or so years now, finally, has been identified as female. She does not like the words \"transitioning\" or \"identifying\" because they are inaccurate. She simply became herself. This statement is very revealing by itself. But coupled with the answers to some of the intimate questions posed, questions heterosexual, female or male individuals probably will never have to answer in a whole lifetime, this interview was an eye opener. That is true despite the fact that I had been teaching and learning about transsexualism/transgender for a decade. This interview made me realize, more than any article ever could, how difficult it is - on all levels - to do what Ms Y did and live a life that is true to oneself. It takes so much courage. I'm not sure if I would have that much courage, or, indeed, if many others would either. Whilst it may be easy to mock others, it is never easy to be seen as the other. That is made blatantly obvious with the answer to my first question:JJ: What was it like being in a workplace transitioning?Ms Y: Bloody awful! In hindsight I should have moved.This answer sets the scene for a difficult topic - difficult for the people who live with it and difficult for those who deal with it in the workplace. Human relations have always been spaces of negotiation, awkwardness and conflict; and law's interaction with them has certainly not been comfortable. In fact, there is not much law making when it comes to dress codes in the UK, even less for transsexual employees transitioning (see Jones, 2013).\n2. Private life: Sitting down at the kitchen table, we first discuss her private life which then led to her work - public life. These are not easy questions as they relate to her family: her wife and children, a subject still peppered with hurt:Ms Y: People find it hard to deal with what I am. The person I was married to had close to a nervous breakdown when I did. I took her to hospital and the doctor said, 'what are you doing to her?' My answer was - nothing, I want to be me.On asking how she found out, Ms Y explains that her wife found some female clothes in her wardrobe. Then she asked and Ms Y told her. Her reaction was to become very angry, saying that Ms Y should see a doctor. Ironically, it was her wife telling her to see a doctor that set Ms Y down the legal route of transitioning because that doctor was very supportive. Thereafter, she went to see a private specialist in London, who prescribed hormones during the first meeting. These were not free on the NHS, but cost PS60. Ms Y recounts how she sat on the prescription for three months:JJ: Why?Ms Y: I was scared of the consequences. It was the end of my old life. Once you take estrogen and you are transsexual there is no going back.Three months in these circumstances is a very long time. It is blatantly obvious that this is not a decision to be taken lightly nor that anyone in her position would. You must really, deep down, need to do this, believe it is right for you, before embarking on this road. It is not like you are going to be rewarded or acknowledged for it. Quite the opposite, you will be discriminated against, maybe beaten up, made fun of and stared at maybe for the rest of your life. This is a heavy burden to carry.Ms Y recounts taking the estrogen and going to Manchester to the trans clubs:Ms Y: Being me for the first time - at 48!!!Then the problems started with her wife who was not prepared to accept that Ms Y actually was female. They tried to make a go of it but to no avail. In the end, things got so bad that Ms Y had to leave just after Christmas once their children, who were then in their 20s, had left after the holidays. Saying \"sorry\", Ms Y walked out the door. Ms Y and her wife tried again, but it just did not work. They divorced and have not seen each other since. One of Ms Y's children did not accept her either. There was a lot of interference, peer and family pressure at that time, which continues to this day a decade on. Once Ms Y walked out of her martial home, she started wearing female-identified clothes.\n3. At work: At work, in a large international company, Ms Y told someone in authority at that she was transitioning. They were of no real help. Despite the fact that the company had \"experts\" advising them on what to do, they just played lip service to her needs/requirements and did not deal with colleagues:JJ: Did you have problems at work?Ms Y: Lots of problems. People did not know about me; there was a total lack of informing the workforce about what it means to be transsexual. I think that for 98 per cent of my colleagues there was no deliberate animosity against me. But there was for some people, particularly male colleagues who are chauvinists. They felt challenged by me.My question then moved on to knowing now what we knew then. So easy to ask, but when you are in the situation, whether it be depression, abuse, harassment etc., almost impossible to do something about at the time. On top of dealing with transitioning, having to change jobs too? Was that not something equality law was supposed to prevent?Ms Y: In hindsight getting out of existing workplace is the best option. I did not. The employer missed the point because he should have communicated with the entire workforce instead of talking to individuals in my work group. This is the wrong approach. Transsexuals are seen as trouble makers/hot potatoes because people do not want to deal with the issues. It is a cultural thing: hide it under the carpet. Equality sessions would have been the right way. Especially in the current climate where it is about saving money/making money rather than about people (e.g. pensions and benefits).Indeed, the codes of conduct that exist now, but maybe not 15 years ago, emphasize the need for privacy and ensuring that the individual is not outed by actions on the part of the employer. This is vitally important for an employment relationship to continue and to \"get the best\" out of the transitioning employee. Despite the human resource (HR) jargon, it actually makes sense. Identity is about how we feel about ourselves, how we interact with others and how we want to present ourselves - every day. Having power over very personal aspects of our lives is the key to self-respect and living a dignified life. It is at the heart of all human rights - even in the workplace.\n4. Dressing and dress codes: The company where Ms Y worked did not have a formal dress code. However, if you were perceived as male then your dress attire would be expected to be stereotypical male attire, e.g. wearing a shirt and trousers. The same for women: wearing something \"feminine.\"Ms Y: At the start of transitioning my focus was on wearing female clothes. But I soon found that there is a misconception that femininity means wearing female clothes. It is a misconception that society has, and a misconception that transsexual people have. Now I realize that it is not the case. The media representation of women - adverts for example. Skinny models. But we are women, not models and that makes women feel inferior. This is yet another way that corporations want to dictate what we wear and how we live our lives.And of course \"looking feminine\" has been subject to much case law in the USA (see Brower 2013):Ms Y: Many transsexuals believe that dress is the big thing, for example wearing a dress etc. Clothes are a big issue. But really, it is not about clothing. It is about being who you want to be.I think this is the heart of the matter: being able to be yourself. Choosing what clothing to wear is a large part of that. It is vitally important and it puzzles me still why in the UK there are so few cases brought to court about the employer telling their employees what to wear (see Jones and Fry this issue). Ms Y's job required her to travel between different company sites. At the start of her transitioning she chose carefully where to present as female and where as male. Different attitudes prevailed on the different workplaces. But eventually, once the hormones kicked in, she wore female clothing full time. Ms Y describes the combination of the change in hormones and female clothing as \"coming out of my shell - blossoming.\" She quite simply became herself.\n5. The law and the need for role models: JJ: Did the new laws on gender recognition make any difference to your life at work and at home? For example, the Gender Recognition Act 2004?Ms Y: They did not make a big difference. I can get my pension three years before a male. Then there are the criminal as well as the civil laws that I can and have used to enforce my rights. I have the right to have my history expunged. Many organisations to not understand or recognize this.Most, if not all, of our systems require us to identify as either male or female. Despite some movement on this recently, for example, Australia is allowing passports with third gender identity category: \"indeterminate,\" this is still the case. Does this have anything to do with how we perform at work? Not really. But societal attitudes persist. That is one of the reasons for allowing transsexuals to change their records, including their birth certificates. Changing certificates and documents held by local authorities, UKBA, companies, the workplace and many hundreds, if not thousands of places, is a monumental task. It requires patience, but most of all persistence. Many companies and authorities are reluctant to change their records. However, according to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA), they must do so. In addition, they are not allowed to disclose the change or what it said before. If they do, it is a criminal offence under Section 22 of the GRA. But these laws are hardly enforced. In fact to date there has never been one prosecution as a crime under the act. That is why Ms Y has for many years trained people in different sectors in the public services in order to change attitudes. This, she hopes, will stop the discrimination and people telling her how to live her life.She also stated that having role models would help:Ms Y: When you are a transsexual you have to identify yourself as a transsexual in order to be a role model. For example being a judge on an employment tribunal. That singles you out as different. But you need people in positions of power to be able to change people's attitude or enforce the law; people who will be empathetic and understand what it is to be a transsexual, who will understand the issues and how a person feels. Because there is very little support from anyone to help with the consequences of identifying as a transsexual: for example, financial and housing advice. You need a shoulder to cry on.The interview came to a close with these words by Ms Y: \"I want to live my life, be left alone, I want to be respected. In general I have no difficulties when people don't know about me. They tend to leave me alone.\" I found the latter to be profoundly sad: have we not evolved enough in society to accept people simply the way they are? Apparently not.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Ms. Y is a MTF (male-to-female) woman. The purpose of the interview is to examine the problematics of leading a life that is perceived as different in the workplace and in private.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses common problems faced by transsexuals at work.\nFindings: - Ms. Y divulges some personal and intimate thoughts, in particular her thoughts about dress codes, difficulties at work and becoming herself.\nOriginality/value: - The interview comments highlight the lack in the pace of change and persistent attitudes towards transsexuals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluation of a certification process for community nurses involved in sex and relationship education	[ "Sex education", "Nurses", "Education", "Schools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In England, personal, social and health education (PSHE), alongside citizenship education, has an important role to play in preparing young people for adult life. Both involve individuals acquiring information, developing skills and forming beliefs, values and attitudes that will be of benefit both now and in the future. Well planned and good quality sex and relationships education (SRE) can, in principle, equip children and young people to make informed choices so as to minimize the risk of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV (Kirby, 1997, 1999, 2001; Social Exclusion Unit, 1999). Yet a recent report from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted, 2005) draws attention to the fact that PSHE in general, and SRE in particular, are often not well delivered in English secondary schools. Strengthening the quality of SRE within PSHE is therefore central to success in future efforts to promote young people's sexual and reproductive health (Department of Health, 2001).England has one of the highest reported rates of teenage conception in Western Europe. Despite recent declines, there is evidence that in the UK the incidence of teenage conception in under 18 year-olds is beginning to rise once again (Guillebaud, 2004). While not all such conceptions are unintended or unwanted, teenage motherhood is often associated with a number of negative consequences, including low birth weight and high rates of infant morbidity and mortality, increased likelihood of poverty and a range of other social problems (Social Exclusion Unit, 1999). The SEU also found that teenagers are often more embarrassed using and talking about contraception than about sex and that they lack information about, and access to, emergency hormonal contraception.Recent epidemiological evidence also points to unacceptably high levels of sexually transmitted infection among young people, and England's national Sexual Health Strategy (Department of Health, 2001) points to a number of ways in which these might be reduced. Schools have an important role to play in equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and dispositions to promote sexual and reproductive health. Within schools, community nurses[1] are in a unique position to support and enhance school-based SRE through their knowledge, expertise and skills and through their capacity to forge links between school, home (parents/carers) and communities (Department of Health, 1999a, b, 2001). Their role is also key in advising young people about how to access relevant sexual health services.In October 2001, a pilot programme for the professional development and certification of teachers was launched as part of the National Healthy Schools Programme. Following predominantly positive external evaluation (Warwick et al., 2005), this has now become a national programme. In recognition of the need to offer similar support and preparation to community nurses working to support the delivery of SRE, a pilot programme of professional development in relation to PSHE (with a focus on SRE), also leading to certification, was developed with the support of the Department of Health (DH) and launched in April 2003. Importantly, this built on learning from the earlier teachers' programme, while at the same time valuing and reflecting nurses' unique contribution to SRE. Educational strategies, such as the value of participants evidencing their achievements in relation to the themes and dimensions through a personal portfolio of documented experiences and reflection, were developed as a result of generally positive feedback from the earlier teachers' programme. In addition, the value of feedback from an interim evaluation of the portfolio was recognised in the teachers' programme.The pilot programme was managed and coordinated in each locality by the Healthy Schools Team in England on behalf of the HDA and DH, and ran for one year in nine centres (one from each of the Government Office Regions), with five community nurses selected to take part in each centre (45 nurses intotal, 43 of whom were female). Local healthy schools programmes, in those areas looking to participate, developed a proposal in liaison with local partners. Nine pilot groups were selected so as to target areas of high deprivation; focus on areas with high teenage pregnancy rates; achieve an overall mix of areas that had/had not been involved in the earlier certification programme for teachers; and achieve a wide representation of variables such as location types, community nurse roles, settings.The programme provided an opportunity for nurses to gain certification for their current practice with young people primarily of secondary school age. It was not a taught course, but rather a programme that offered community nurses support to develop their teaching and understanding in relation to SRE. Against a draft standards framework, nurse participants in the pilot certification programme compiled a portfolio of evidence relevant to, and developed from, their own practice and learning objectives. They received support from a local \"lead\" or coordinator for the duration of the pilot programme, and the written evidence they produced (for example, value statements, records of teaching experiences, assessments of observed classroom teaching, increased theoretical understandings and personal reflections) was then assessed by a national assessor.Local leads planned group meetings for the nurses so they could share examples of best practice and discuss difficult teaching and learning concerns as they arose during the year. Each nurse was encouraged to identify her personal learning objectives, and leads helped find ways and resources to meet them. For individuals this involved, for example:* nurses working together to develop lesson plans;* a lead and nurse working together to develop strategy in relation to SRE;* a nurse with particular skills and expertise in one area discussing her work with the remainder of the group; and* inviting someone with specific skills, e.g. SRE for ethnic minority groups, to talk with the group.To support those taking part in the pilot, PS1k was allocated for each nurse involved and this money was used by some for additional, related continuing professional development (CPD) such as attendance at study days and/or short courses. Rarely was it used to provide cover for study time, generally because additional nursing staff were not available.Those who participated included nurses working in school settings, community outreach, community midwifery, SureStart programmes, family planning, health visiting, and with looked-after children. Nurses were already engaged in a variety of activities related to SRE, including classroom work with/without teachers, \"drop-in\" sessions in schools and community youth settings, and ante-natal classes for teenagers. Their range of experience and expertise meant it was important for the programme to incorporate an emphasis on individual learning objectives so that each participant could plan for appropriate personal development. All were keen to develop their knowledge and expertise in SRE for young people and saw the pilot programme as a useful way to achieve this. They joined the programme on a voluntary basis with the agreement of their line managers. They understood that the programme was a pilot and that their participation might involve interviews to assist with the evaluation.\nEvaluation of the pilot programme: The evaluation of the pilot programme commenced in June 2003 and focused on six centres selected in collaboration with funders at the start of the evaluation. These centres were Sunderland, Lancashire, Birmingham, Hertfordshire, Ealing and Plymouth, and were selected to take into account geographical location, the professional mix of the nurses taking part and the employer of the local lead for the certification process.Aims of the evaluation\nFindings: Management of the pilot programme\nConclusions: Overall, findings from the evaluation suggest that the pilot certification programme was viewed positively by the majority of stakeholders. It was seen as contributing positively to SRE work in a variety of school and non-school settings. The pilot programme was perceived as being well managed and the national team showed itself willing to respond to the views of those working on and with the programme.Nurses on the programme worked hard to both develop their SRE work and to organise the evidence required for submission for assessment. They supported each other effectively and increased their collaborative work, particularly with teachers. They became increasingly thoughtful and confident about SRE work, which resulted in some new initiatives such as working more with vulnerable young people, in one-to-one sessions, with parents and with groups of teachers. Many became more involved in strategic developments and developed particular skills in classroom work and in evaluation techniques.For some nurses, the demands of the programme were more challenging than for others. For a few, this was a reflection of their recent study experience (or lack of it). For others, the schools' focus of the programme necessitated developing contacts and settings for SRE work outside their normal experience. For yet others, with work primarily of a one-to-one nature, submitting evidence suitable for assessment posed a particular challenge. Some of these challenges may be effectively addressed in future provision through the development of introductory programme materials and activities, information about study skills and portfolio building and targeted training activities.Local leads generally supported the nurses on the programme effectively. Where the relationship between nurse and local lead worked well, it strengthened existing links between health and education more generally. However, for some community nurses, working with a lead with an educational background was not entirely successful. Some line managers and assessors also questioned the appropriateness of the background of the local lead in terms of their capacity to offer adequate support to practising nurses. Interestingly, there was no consensus about whether future local leads should be from a health or education background.The study time needed for nurses to undertake the programme successfully was identified as a problem at both initial and second interviews with nurses themselves and with local leads. Nurses' professional colleagues and national assessors also expressed concern about this. There was disappointment that no dedicated time had been made available for most nurses as it would have made a considerable difference to their perception of what they were being asked to do within an already busy work schedule. It was difficult to ascertain if PS1k for each nurse to complete the programme was adequate or not because it was used so variably during the pilot. Line managers felt it was sufficient to support nurses on the programme but had little knowledge of how it had been spent.As the pilot programme progressed, nurses became more comfortable with the kinds of evidence they were required to produce. The inclusion of an interim, formative assessment reinforced this increasing confidence and was generally welcomed. For many nurses, it was both encouraging and motivating to have completed some of the necessary work and to receive constructive feedback. There remained confusion about the level at which the work was and should be assessed.There was much agreement about the value of links with the teachers' programme, but little consensus about how such links could be fostered. The schools' focus developed initially from the earlier teachers' certification programme and from the continuing relationship with the National Healthy Schools Programme. However, the evaluation indicates that wider community nurse professions found the programme useful in developing their SRE skills and, in some cases, in encouraging more links with colleagues working in education. In addition, the programme confirmed that young people seek SRE information and advice in a range of settings, not just in schools.As the certification programme rolls out in England, it will be important to find ways of ensuring good synergy between community nursing and education, while respecting the unique contribution that nurses make to SRE work. There will also be opportunities to evaluate changes in professional practice as a result of participation in the programme and, in the longer term, young people's understandings and behaviour in relation to sex health.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Alongside teachers, community nurses have been identified as having an important role to play in the provision of school-based personal, social and health education (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE). However, there currently exist few programmes of preparation for this work that recognise the specific contribution of community nurses to SRE. This paper reports on findings from a formative evaluation of a pilot certification scheme for community nurses involved in SRE provision and recently implemented in England. The evaluation sought specifically to access views about the value of the educational experience in preparing school nurses to better fulfil their SRE role.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - During the implementation of the pilot scheme, 124 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including national players, local scheme support leads, nurses participating in the pilot scheme, nurse managers and other colleagues. Data gathering adopted a close-focus, largely qualitative approach. Partial transcription took place and a thematic analysis was carried out using constant comparative method.\nFindings: - Findings suggest that a well-designed scheme of the type described is likely to be well received by community nurses, but that ways need to be found to ensure good synergy between local health and education services in the support of SRE in schools. At the same time, there is a need to respect the unique contribution of community nurses and the skills that they bring to this work.\nOriginality/value: - This paper raises awareness and highlights issues surrounding a pilot certification scheme for community nurses involved in sex and relationships in education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Non-linear threshold algorithm based solution for the redundancy allocation problem considering multiple redundancy strategies	[ "Strategy", "System design", "Redundancy allocation", "Heuristics", "Non-linear threshold algorithm", "Redundancy strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: The redundancy allocation problem (RAP) has attracted the attention of several researchers (e.g. Fyffe et al., 1968; Misra and Ljubojevic, 1973; Nakagawa and Miyazaki, 1981; Coit and Smith, 1996; Liang and Smith, 2004; Yeh and Hsieh, 2011). Widely discussed in the literature and applied to solve various design related problems including electrical and mechanical systems, the RAP contributed to the development and design of critical and high-performance systems used in telecommunications, aerospace, gas and oil industries as well as power distribution and transportation. The objective is to achieve a high level of reliability by providing redundancy at various subsystems subject to operational, financial and technological constraints.\n2. Problem formulation: Consider a system composed of s subsystems connected in series. A subsystem i consists of ni identical components connected in parallel. Each of these components can be added in active or in standby mode. Multiple variants of components are available for each subsystem i (i= 1, ..., s). Each component is distinct with respect to its weight and cost. For each subsystem, either active redundancy or cold standby redundancy can be employed. In case of cold standby subsystems, two scenarios for detecting failure and switching are considered. For Scenario 1; to detect a failure and to activate the redundant component, system performance is continually monitored by failure detection and switching hardware, and switch reliability ri(t) is considered a non-increasing function of time. For Scenario 2; failure is only possible when the switch is required; the probability that the switching will be successful ri is a constant.\n3. Solution methodology: 3.1 The conventional threshold accepting algorithm\n4. Results: 4.1 Illustrative example\n5. Conclusion: An algorithm based on non-linear TA rule is proposed for solving a more realistic variant of the classical series-parallel RAP where the option for the redundancy strategy at the subsystem level is considered as a decision. Both active and cold standby strategies are considered. The objective is to maximize the system's reliability subject to weight and cost constraints. The expression of the accepting function of the introduced algorithm is mainly inspired by the transfer function of a low-pass RC-filter which defines the accepting mechanism of new solutions. To encourage the proposed non-linear threshold algorithm (NTAA) to explore feasible solutions area, a procedure based on penalized objective function has been developed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce an efficient algorithm based on a non-linear accepting threshold to solve the redundancy allocation problem (RAP) considering multiple redundancy strategies. In addition to the components reliability, multiple redundancy strategies are simultaneously considered to vary the reliability of the system. The goal is to determine the optimal selection of elements, redundancy levels and redundancy strategy, which maximizes the system reliability under various system-level constraints.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The mixed RAP considering the use of active and standby components at the subsystem level belongs to the class of NP-hard problems involving selection of elements and redundancy levels, to maximize a specific system performance under a given set of physical and budget constraints. Generally, the authors recourse to meta-heuristic algorithms to solve this type of optimization problem in a reasonable computational time, especially for large-size problems. A non-linear threshold accepting algorithm (NTAA) is developed to solve the tackled optimization problem. Numerical results for test problems from previous research are reported and analyzed to assess the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.\nFindings: The comparison with the best solutions obtained in previous studies, namely: genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, memetic algorithm and the particle swarm optimization for 33 different instances of the problem, demonstrated the superiority of the proposed algorithm in finding for all considered instances, a high-quality solution in a minimum computational time.\nResearch limitations/implications: Considering multiple redundancy strategies helps to achieve higher reliability levels but increases the complexity of the obtained solution leading to infeasible systems in term of physical design. Technological constraints must be integrated into the model to provide a more comprehensive and realistic approach.\nPractical implications: Designing high performant systems which meet customer requirements, under different economic and functional constraints is the main challenge faced by the manufacturers. The proposed algorithm aims to provide a superior solution of the reliability optimization problem by considering the possibility to adopt multiple redundancy strategies at the subsystem level in a minimum computational time.\nOriginality/value: A NTAA is expanded to the RAP considering multiple redundancy strategies at the subsystem level subject to weight and cost constraints. A procedure based on a penalized objective function is developed to encourage the algorithm to explore toward the feasible solutions area. By outperforming well-known solving technique, the NTAA provides a powerful tool to reliability designers of complex systems where different varieties of redundancies can be considered to achieve high-reliability systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing high performance working through case study evidence	[ "High performance work practices", "High performance", "High performance working" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This article proposes and discusses five inter-related high performance working (HPW) groupings of value to practitioners interested in developing HPW in their organizations.\nHigh performance working: HPW is sometimes a contentious notion that dominates human resource management literature (Boxall, 2012). Belt and Giles (2009, p. 3) define HPW as \"a general approach to managing organizations that aims to stimulate more effective employee involvement and commitment in order to achieve high levels of performance\". HPW requires a contingent bundle(s) of HPW practices, collectively referred to as a HPW system. HPW practices that comprise these systems can be classified as human resource (HR) interventions and actions that contribute, at an operational level, to the totality of HPW at an organizational level (Grant and Maxwell, 2015). Achievement of HPW therefore calls for a deliberate focus on ensuring effectiveness in not only how people are led and managed strategically in their organization but also how work and jobs are designed operationally to enable higher levels of employee participation and skills utilization (Grant et al., 2014).\nResearch method: The five HPW groupings identified above were empirically tested to investigate contemporary HPW within a range of organizations. The findings reported here are drawn from three UK-based qualitative case studies. Cases 1 and 2 are large public sector organizations. Case 3 is a smaller organization operating in the voluntary sector. The voluntary sector case was incorporated to explore HPW within a notably different organizational context, as advocated by Kalleberg et al. (2015). Data were collected via nine in-depth interviews with managers (three from each case) and three subsequent focus groups (one in each case). The focus groups comprised six, eight, and four employee (non-manager) interviewees. Ten questions (two per HPW grouping) were posed to all interviewees in a semi-structured format. The inductive data analysis process in each case was informed by Creswell (2014). Elemental to this was close, repeated reading of the transcripts to appreciate meaning and inherent themes, and then coding of the emergent themes to gather the data in each theme for closer scrutiny. Validity was addressed by triangulation of the themes from the two types of data collection and participants, together with each author self-reflecting on their positionality in interpreting the data. This was followed by peer debriefing which corroborated the authors' analysis of the data. Reliability was addressed by the authors by regularly discussing their analysis and the cross checking of codes with each other and the peer de-briefer. Illustrative, anonymous quotations from managers and employees are incorporated within the findings and coded in each case to indicate the spread of quoted sources.\nFindings and discussion: While heavily regulated and prescriptive roles were viewed as being necessary within the risk-critical nature of Cases 1 and 2, hierarchical structures and demarcated roles were perceived as potential inhibitors of job autonomy and involvement. A manager for example recognized that:\nConclusion: The research findings validate the theoretical importance of the five HPW groupings. More, they imply a number of relationships within and between the five groupings, confirming the need to view the groupings collectively and dynamically. The groups of autonomy and involvement, together with leadership and management, arguably have particular importance, as they are most often linked to the other groupings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to theoretically proffer and empirically evidence five inter-related high performance working (HPW) groupings of value to practitioners interested in developing HPW in their organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical research is based on three UK-based qualitative case studies. Data are drawn from nine in-depth interviews with managers (three from each case) and three subsequent focus groups (one in each case). Focus groups comprised six, eight, and four employee (non-manager) interviewees.\nFindings: The empirical findings validate the theoretical importance of the five identified HPW groupings. More, they imply a number of relationships within and between the five groupings, confirming the need to view the groupings collectively and dynamically.\nOriginality/value: The five HPW groupings provide a foundation for further research to closely evaluate the dynamism within and across the groupings. They also offer practical types of human resource interventions and actions for practitioners to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of HPW in their organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Security culture and the employment relationship as drivers of employees' security compliance	[ "Employees", "End-user computing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A major challenge for organizations is encouraging employees to comply with mandated information security policies, procedures and guidelines. Many employees routinely make a conscious decision to violate such mandates because they want to expedite their work or increase their own productivity (Beautement and Sasse, 2009; Predd et al., 2008). Other employees may violate with more harmful intentions, such as stealing sensitive corporate data or sabotaging company networks. Regardless of intent, research indicates that over half of all information, security breaches stem from employees' lack of security compliance (Wilson, 2009).\nMethodology: Data for this study were collected using two online surveys that were administered at separate points in time. The first survey measured security compliance (COMP) and contained several demographic items. The second survey was administered two weeks after the first and contained measures for the three security culture dimensions - TMCS, COM and MON - as well as measures for JS and perceived organizational commitment (POS). The two stage approach allowed us to separate collection of the independent from the dependent variables, thus reducing the likelihood of common method effects (i.e. respondents answered all survey items in a similar pattern) in our results (Podsakoff et al., 2003).\nDiscussion: This paper introduced and empirically tested a model on the effect security culture, JS, and perceived organizational support on security compliance intention. The results suggest that both security-related and general work environment factors contribute to employees' security compliance. The results also provide some evidence that these factors are moderated by employee position, industry and tenure with the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of security-related and employment relationship factors on employees' security compliance decisions. A major challenge for organizations is encouraging employee compliance with security policies, procedures and guidelines. Specifically, we predict that security culture, job satisfaction and perceived organizational support have a positive effect on employees' security compliance intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study used a survey approach for data collection. Data were collected using two online surveys that were administered at separate points in time.\nFindings: Our results provide empirical support for security culture as a driver of employees' security compliance in the workplace. Another finding is that an employee's feeling of job satisfaction influences his/her security compliance intention, although this relationship appears to be contingent on the employee's position, tenure and industry. Surprisingly, we also found a negative relationship between perceived organizational support and security compliance intention.\nOriginality/value: Our results provide one of the few empirical validations of security culture, and we recognize its multidimensional nature as conceptualized through top management commitment to security (TMCS), security communication and computer monitoring. We also extend security compliance research by considering the influence of employment relationship factors drawn from the organizational behavior literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Institutional drivers of environmental management accounting adoption in public sector water organisations	[ "Environmental management accounting", "Stakeholders", "Water supply organizations", "Institutional theory", "Reflexive isomorphism", "Institutional logics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The emergence and development of environmental management accounting (EMA) in recent years has provided new approaches and tools for organisational management to track environmental performance. However, Gibassier and Alcouffe (2018, p. 1) concluded that \"we still do not fully understand the potential contribution of environmental management accounting (EMA) to a transition toward sustainability\". EMA systems may give visibility to the environmental aspects of organisational activity that are otherwise often unclear in the conventional management accounting systems (Burritt et al., 2002). The use of EMA may also assist environmental performance improvement, particularly in relation to carbon emissions management and energy consumption (Horisch et al., 2015; Qian et al., 2018; Qian and Schaltegger, 2017). It may also enhance the accountability for organisational environmental impacts (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2000). However, there is conflicting evidence from prior research relating to the outcomes and extended use of EMA with respect to environmental performance (see Christ et al., 2016; Hart and Ahuja, 1996; Phan et al., 2017). This suggests that reasons other than environmental performance improvement may drive EMA adoption.\n2. Theoretical perspectives: institutions, reflexive isomorphism and institutional logics: Contemporary institutional theory, or new institutionalism[1], provides a particularly useful frame within which to examine the motivations and drivers that impel organisations to adopt EMA. It emphasises how the organisational need for both survival and legitimacy produces conformity with prevailing (institutionalised) practices and procedures, regardless of their efficacy or rationality in the organisational context (Meyer and Rowan, 1977). Institutional theory emphasises how such conformity may lead to \"increased stability, legitimacy, and access to resources\" (Ball and Craig, 2010, p. 283).\n3. Research approach and method: A qualitative case study research approach with multiple sources and analytical techniques was adopted in this research.\n4. Case analysis findings: 4.1 Annual report disclosures\n5. Discussion: DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) explanation of isomorphism focusses on organisational homogenisation processes rather than exploring the process of aligning an individual organisation's logic to that of the field. We find that water service organisations, as might be expected, seek to legitimate their own position and actions by reflecting institutional logics that are centred on legislative requirements. We have also investigated the interaction of the organisational processes with other institutional influences, demonstrating a legitimating strategy in which organisations actively seek to align field-level and internal logics (Nicholls, 2010). This is evident both in their own adaptations and in the way they seek to influence how logics develop in the field and emerge, in turn, as factors that can provide the organisation with legitimacy.\n6. Conclusion: This paper provides a deeper understanding of the interplay of drivers of EMA in the Australian water industry. The analysis shows how water organisations align and adapt their existing institutional logics with influential institutional logics in the field. This alignment was reflected in the way our case organisations valued environmental sustainability, demonstrated environmental performance improvement and modified existing reporting and operational activities. These all provided organisational legitimacy in the environmental and sustainability arenas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influences on the adoption of environmental management accounting (EMA) in corporatised water supply organisations, from an institutional theory perspective, drawing on the concepts of reflexive isomorphism and institutional logics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The primary research involves case analysis of three companies in the Australian water supply industry, drawing on interviews, internal documents and publicly available documents, including annual reports.\nFindings: Two key drivers for the adoption and emergence of EMA are: the emergence of a government regulator in the form of the Essential Services Commission (ESC) and community expectations with regard to environmental performance and disclosure. The water organisations were found to be reflexively isomorphic, while seeking to align their commercial logic to \"sustainability\" and \"ensuring community expectations\" logics to the legitimate adoption of EMA.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the literature by providing case study evidence of the intentions and motivations of management in adopting EMA, and the nature of that adoption process over an extended period. Further, it provides empirical evidence of the applicability of reflexive isomorphism in the context of EMA and institutional logics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Retail store loyalty: a comparison of two customer segments	[ "Consumer behaviour", "United States of America", "Retailing", "Customer loyalty", "Shops" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's increasingly volatile business environment where retailers face stiffening inter and intra competition (Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt, 2000), increasing operational costs and declining profit margins (Yasin and Yavas, 2003), they find themselves under constant pressure to capture a larger portion of tightly held customer dollars. Consequently, for retailers, now more than ever before, customer loyalty occupies the center stage as a strategic business goal (Dick and Basu, 1994; Reichheld, 1996). And they continuously strive to create and maintain a loyal customer base (Dowling and Uncles, 1997; Sirohi et al., 1998).This growing focus on loyalty is evident in two recent conferences sponsored by the Marketing Science Institute (MSI, 2002a, b), a special customer relationship management section of the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Marketing and extant research on customer lifetime value (Gupta et al., 2001; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Rust et al., 2004). Among others, loyal customers generate more predictable sales, a steady cash flow and an improved profit stream (Harris and Goode, 2004; Kumar and Shah, 2004; Rust et al., 2004). They are also less costly, less price sensitive and spend more with the retailer (Harris and Goode, 2004; Kumar and Shah, 2004; Rust et al., 2004). Furthermore, loyal customers are active promoters of the retailer through word of mouth and can become ambassadors of the business (Butcher et al., 2001).Our review of the loyalty literature suggests that the body of writings in the area can be decomposed into two main streams. The first stream of writings, in the face of continuing debate over the operationalization of the loyalty construct, seeks a deeper conceptualization of the loyalty phenomenon and for better measures (Bandyopadhay and Martell, 2007; Zins, 2001). The second stream of writings, recognizing the crucial role of loyalty in the attainment of desirable business outcomes, focuses on gaining a richer understanding of the drivers of loyalty (Noble et al., 2006).Purpose\nRelevant literature: Conceptualization and measurement of loyalty\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Do different loyalty measures converge or diverge? Does this vary by customer typology? To address these questions, correlation analysis was performed between the loyalty measures for the overall sample as well as for each customer segment. As shown in Table I, all pairwise correlations were significantly positive. The strongest correlation in each case (i.e. overall sample, do-it-yourself customers and professional customers) was between affective (satisfaction) and conative (continued patronage intentions) loyalty measures. The correlations between satisfaction and share of wallet, and continued patronage intentions and share of wallet were very similar in all three sets of analyses and ranged from 0.39 to 0.41. While these analyses do not indicate sequentiality and causality, they nevertheless show that the three loyalty measures converge. Furthermore, the similar pattern of results across the two customer groups point to the inter-segment viability of our finding.Which factors lead to store loyalty among customers? Do they vary according to type of measure (i.e. satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet) and by customer typology? To determine the relative efficacies of the drivers of customer loyalty, six regression models were run (three for each customer type) by using merchandise quality, interaction quality, store environment and price as the independent, and satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet as the dependent variables. The results are presented in Table II for the do-it-yourself customers and in Table III for the professional customers. In each regression model, the variance inflation factor (VIF) test (Cohen et al., 2003) showed lack of collinearity among the independent variables (i.e. VIFs < 3).As can be seen from Table II, all the models run for the do-it-yourself customers proved to be significant. The independent variables collectively were most effective in explaining the variance in satisfaction with an R2 value of 45 per cent and least effective in the case of share of wallet (R2=18 per cent). A closer scrutiny of the results showed that all the standardized regression (b) coefficients with the exception of store environment in the case of continued patronage intentions were significant. Interaction quality had the most explanatory power in the cases of satisfaction and continued patronage intentions followed by merchandise quality, price and store environment in that order. However, merchandise quality emerged as the most effective predictor of share of wallet. As in the cases of other loyalty measures, store environment was the least effective predictor of share of wallet.As shown in Table III, all three regression models run for the professional customers segment, as well, were significant. The explained variances ranged from a high of 51 per cent (satisfaction) to a low of 24 per cent (share of wallet). While merchandise quality, interaction quality and price were all significant predictors of the three loyalty measures, store environment was a significant predictor of only continued patronage intentions. When results are examined more closely, it appears that satisfaction and continued patronage intentions are most susceptible to the influence of interaction quality. In fact, the contribution of interaction quality to the explanation of satisfaction is twice as much as the second most important antecedent, merchandise quality. Price that emerged as a significant variable in all three models is not as critical as the two quality measures (merchandise quality and interaction quality). In relative terms, price is more likely to increase continued patronage intentions; its influence on satisfaction and share of wallet is smaller.To discern the extent of within-group agreement as well as between-group concordance, beta coefficients were rank-ordered from 1 to 4 in terms of their absolute magnitudes. This was done across each loyalty measure for both groups separately. Schucany and Frawley test was then applied to the data. The test statistic can range between -1 and 1 where a coefficient of 1 signifies perfect similarity and a coefficient of -1 perfect dissimilarity. The results in Table IV show that overall there is a very high degree of similarity between the do-it-yourself customers and the professional customers (W=0.91).It should be noted that while the results of this study are enlightening, its setting is limited to a particular retailer selling a particular product category. This may have led to sampling artifacts. Therefore, generalizations beyond the specific context of this research must be guarded and readers should keep this in mind in the interpretation of the findings and implications.\nDiscussion: In this study, we addressed two objectives. First, following Oliver's (1999) conceptualization, we examined if various measures of loyalty (satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet) converge or diverge. Altogether our results showed that the measures did converge. This finding lends support not only to those studies which investigated the associations between satisfaction and share of wallet ( Magi, 2003), satisfaction and repurchase intentions ( Jones et al., 2000), and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty ( Bandyopadhay and Martell, 2007), but perhaps more importantly mirror images the findings of Harris and Goode (2004), who also reported that the strongest correlations were between affective and conative loyalty.Second, we investigated the relative efficacies of merchandise quality, interaction quality, price and store environment as drivers of the three loyalty measures (i.e. satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet). This was done for both the do-it-yourself and the professional customer segments served by the retailer. The goal was to ascertain if the drivers of different loyalty measures also converged or diverged across segments. The results altogether suggest that merchandise quality is an effective predictor of loyalty but perhaps not as critical or dominant as interaction quality and show that, for the most part, the predictors converge. It appears that similar factors consistently exert like influence in generating loyalty between the two customer segments. In other words, the factors that emerged as the most influential for the do-it-yourself customers were the same for the professional customers.Additional intriguing observations can be made from our results pertaining to the efficacies of the drivers of customer loyalty. One is that, although a significant predictor of loyalty in all the models run, price is not a critical determinant of loyalty. While this is surprising, an explanation can be offered for the relatively weak role price plays in forming store loyalty. Perhaps, the current retailing practice of matching competitors' prices (even offering discounts) may have weakened the influence of price in forming store loyalty (Kukar-Kinney, 2006). Also it appears that in primary store selection, the role of low prices varies from store to store (Thelen and Woodside, 1997).The second observation relates to the questionable role of store environment in leading to store loyalty. As discussed earlier, store environment did not emerge as a significant predictor of loyalty in three of the six regression models we ran in this study. While the results obtained here are not conclusive, they contradict the findings of some earlier studies (Bloemer and de Ruyter, 1998). Perhaps, certain elements of store environment (e.g. atmospherics) may be providing cues to customers that impact their inferences of other drivers of loyalty (e.g. merchandise quality, price). In other words, store environment's influence on customer loyalty may not be direct as conceptualized here, but rather indirect and mediated through other drivers of customer loyalty. Thus, further research to probe this issue would be a useful contribution to the literature.Otherwise, our findings receive support from the extant literature. For instance, Butcher et al. (2001) and Veloutsou et al. (2004) found that interaction quality is a significant correlate of loyalty. Selnes' (1993) research indicated that product performance/quality was significantly associated with loyalty. Likewise, in a comprehensive study of grocery store loyalty, Sirohi et al. (1998) found that merchandise quality exerts a significant influence on store loyalty intentions.Implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to determine if various measures of loyalty (satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet) converge or diverge. A related objective of the study is to examine the relative efficacies of merchandise quality, interaction quality, price and store environment in inducing store loyalty for two customer segments of a national automotive parts and accessories retailer in the USA. The two segments are the do-it-yourself customers and the professional customers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data for the study are collected via mail questionnaires. Usable responses are obtained from 17,034 customers. In operationalizing store loyalty, affective, conative and action-related measures are used.\nFindings: - The results altogether suggest that merchandise quality is an effective predictor of loyalty but perhaps not as critical or dominant as interaction quality. Results also show that similar factors consistently exert like influence in generating loyalty for the two customer segments.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The efficacies of other antecedent variables (e.g. perceived value/value for money) as drivers of store loyalty should be examined. Also, it would be worthwhile to investigate the possible moderating role of demographic characteristics (e.g. gender) and situational characteristics (e.g. critical incident recovery) in attenuating the relationships between the antecedent variables and store loyalty.\nPractical implications: - To reinforce loyalty among its both do-it-yourself and professional customers, the focal retailer should continue to enhance the interaction skills of current and prospective employees via careful selection, training and motivation.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that the three measures of loyalty (satisfaction, continued patronage and share of wallet) converge. The strongest correlations are between affective and conative loyalty.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Myths and truths about coaching: How to acquire right perspective to enhance leadership excellence	[ "Training", "Leadership development", "Coaching", "Employee development", "Organizational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Fixed graphic\nMyth #1: coaching and training are the same: Truth: Coaching is to provide advice, guidance, suggestions and recommendations, while training is the process of providing information and developing skills and abilities to execute tasks effectively. Training is often conducted in groups, while coaching is often a one-to-one exercise tailored to the needs of the learners. The objective of training is to follow a set of pattern and practices to impart skills, abilities, methods, theories, tactics and strategies, while the objective of coaching is to conduct a series of meetings, mostly one-on-one, to inspire and facilitate goals and objectives. Most of the time, coaching is an extension of training, not the other way round. If training builds infrastructure, coaching builds superstructure.\nMyth #2: coaching is synonymous with mentoring: Truth: People often use the terms coaching and mentoring interchangeably. Coaching involves listening and questioning, while mentoring involves sharing experiences, skills and abilities. For coaching to work, the person being coached must accept the credentials and authority of the coach; for mentoring to work, the person being mentored must genuinely relate to the mentor. Coaching is \"functional\" and mentoring is \"relational\". Coaching is a short-term task-based activity, while mentoring is a long-term relationship-based exercise. Coaching is structured and scheduled with fixed duration, while mentoring is informal with a series of meetings as and when the person being mentored needs advice, support or guidance. Coaching is narrowly focused, while mentoring is broadly focused.\nMyth #3: coaching and counseling are synonymous: Truth: Coaching addresses workplace challenges to remove bottlenecks and enhance the performance of employees. In contrast, counseling is a supportive process by a supervisor to help employees to define and work through personal problems that affect job performance. Coaching focuses on future prospects, while counseling tries to solve present problems. Those who have personal problems seek counseling and those who have professional problems undergo coaching.\nMyth #4: coaching involves huge costs: Truth: Coaching can provide large returns for relatively little outlay. It can be an important tool in continuous learning and professional growth. It can help to attract new talent to an organization and make sure that existing talent is more likely to stay.\nMyth #5: coaching is needed for poor and weak performers only: Truth: Coaching is needed for both weak and good performers. Coaching is a continuous process of learning and growing. Marshall Goldsmith reveals in his book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, that leaders have to learn continuously because what worked for them to reach a particular position may not help them to reach their next position, as the speed of change in the modern workplace is so great.\nMyth #6: coaches are critics: Truth: Critics sometimes attack as well as praise individuals, while coaches address the behavior of individuals to bring out changes and enhance performance among the people being coached through their \"sandwich\" feedback. Sandwich feedback is a polished way of giving feedback to others. It starts by praising strengths, then suggesting improvements and concluding with praise. Precisely, it is putting the tough news between the two tender positive pieces of feedback. Hence, coaches are not critics. They are feedback-givers and highly focused on improving others' performance. Criticism centers on the individual, while feedback is behavior-centric.\nMyth #7: coaches provide everything on a platter: Truth: Coaches encourage, motivate and help the people being coached to align their goals effectively to accomplish them. Coaches do not, however, have any magic wand to ensure success. They can only help people who want to be helped.\nMyth #8: coaches give you fish regularly: Truth: Coaches teach the art of catching fish. They enable people to become competent and independent and so grow as successful leaders.\nMyth #9: coaches are unprofessional: Truth: Good coaches are passionate people with plenty of experience who want to make a difference to the lives of others. American football coach Eddie Robinson remarked: \"Coaching is a profession of love. You cannot coach people unless you love them.\" True coaches are highly dedicated and committed. They mean business. They enjoy associating with people and sharing their knowledge, experiences, skills and abilities. It is their passion that makes them good coaches. The world is full of intelligent and smart people, and they know how to differentiate between coaches and quacks.\nMyth #10: coaching gives limited returns: Truth: Fortune magazine reports: \"Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary pay-off from the coaching they got, managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.\" In addition, coaching enhances employee engagement, gives job satisfaction and delivers better services and products to clients and customers. It enhances employee loyalty and minimizes attrition.\nMyth #11: coaches know everything: Truth: Coaches are experts in coaching, not in other areas. They may not have the domain experience and expertise of the people being coached, but they know the art of questioning, finding out needs and enhancing performance. With their knowledge and experience, coaches apply time-tested tools and techniques to bring out the best in the people they are coaching.\nMyth #12: coaching is an employee incentive: Truth: Coaching goes beyond employee incentives. It is an employee-engagement, employee-development and employee-retention tool. It can develop employees as successful professionals and leaders.\nMyth #13: coaching is telling: Truth: Coaching is a process of hand-holding, questioning, listening, guiding and sharing knowledge and expertise. It is something far beyond telling, with lots of passion, professional ethics and etiquette.\nMyth #14: women cannot make as good coaches as men: Truth: There is no connection between coaching and gender. Anybody can excel as a good coach. The soft skills of listening to and understanding others are more often associated with women than men.\nConclusion: These are only some of the many myths associated with coaching. In the right hands, it can be an extraordinarily powerful development tool. As sports coach Ara Parseghian once said: \"A good coach will make his players see what they can become rather than what they are.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Demonstrates how to acquire right perspective to enhance leadership excellence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Considers 14 myths about coaching and puts forward an alternative viewpoint.\nFindings: Defines coaching as a process of hand-holding, questioning, listening, guiding and sharing knowledge and expertise.\nPractical implications: Shows that coaching helps people to acquire skills, abilities and knowledge to enhance their leadership excellence.\nSocial implications: Seeks strong support from all stakeholders including educators, trainers, mentors and counselors to differentiate coaching from other disciplines.\nOriginality/value: Turns the spotlight on coaching as a specialism that can make a difference to the lives of learners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Differences among baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, and Generation Z wine consumers in Lebanon: Some perspectives	[ "Wine", "Wine consumers", "Generational marketing", "Segmentation", "Lebanon" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Wine is a fascinating and complex product. It is generally regarded as an experienced product, which means that it cannot be fully valued before consumption, as it is not possible to smell or taste it before a bottle is opened (Barber et al., 2008; Charters and Pettigrew, 2007; Grunert, 2005). Wine also demonstrates massive varieties and depth, which is often overwhelming to the new customer (Bruwer et al., 2014; Kelley et al., 2015). Wine requires the involvement and experience of customers for them to understand and judge the qualities of the wine and to make the right purchasing decisions.\nGenerational cohort theory: The generational cohort theory was introduced by Karl Mannheim (Mannheim, 1952) and advanced by others (Strauss and Howe, 1997; Inglehart, 1997). This theory considers that people who experience the same historical, social, cultural, political and economic events during their coming-of-age years (generally between 17 and 23 years old) share common values, preferences and behaviours during their life. A generational cohort is characterized as a group of people who were born during the same time period, who go through life together, and therefore, experience similar external events in their late adolescent and early adult years (Rahulan et al., 2015; Schewe and Noble, 2000). Significant historical events and cultural phenomena lead them to the formation of impactful collective memories (Dencker et al., 2008; Schuman and Scott, 1989). As each generational cohort experiences major events together, they demonstrate common characteristics through accumulated knowledge and shared experiences (Motta et al., 2002; Meredith and Schewe, 1994; Rentz and Reynolds, 1991).\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: Recent studies that have examined cohorts of consumers discovered that multiple segments exist in the wine market and investigating the differences between those cohorts could lead marketers to modify their marketing activities to better satisfy their customers. As consumers age, their tastes and values will change as a result of experiences and exposure to products and situations. There is some evidence that the benefits derived from wine, as well as consumption and purchasing pattern will change as wine consumers age (Melo, 2010; Ritchie, 2007).\nResearch methodology: Research setting\nFindings: For the purpose of analysis, the generational consumer groups were established, including Generation Z respondents, who were born between 1995 and 2000; Millennials, between 1980 and 1994; Generation X, between 1965 and 1979; baby boomers, between 1950 and 1964. Thus, baby boomers comprised of 33 consumers, which were 7.43 of the sample. Millennials included 177 consumers, which were top of the sample with 39.8 per cent of the sample. Generation X included 136 consumers, which made 30.6 per cent of the sample. Finally, Generation Z was represented with 98 consumers, which is 22.7 per cent of the sample.\nConclusions and Discussion: The paper divided Lebanese wine consumers into four groups based on generations, namely, baby boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z. Then, the study investigated whether there was any difference among those cohorts in terms of wine drinking motivations, wine attributes, wine consumption and purchasing behaviour and socio-economic characteristics.\nLimitations and directions for future research: The study has some limitations. As it attempted to investigate the Lebanese wine consumers based on generational differences, the findings cannot be generalized to fit all countries. More research will be required in other countries to derive more reliable and enlightening conclusions on the subject. Another research perspective could be a cross-cultural study using the same questionnaire in culturally different countries to better understand the differences between countries. These approaches will help to give a wider understanding of the segments and how they relate to wine consumers in different countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the study is to group Lebanese wine consumers based on generational cohorts. It also explores the characteristics of the customers in each group based on wine attributes, information sources, wine consumption, purchase behaviour and socio-economic characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data in the study were collected from the main supermarkets, hypermarkets and special liquor outlets, as well as upscale restaurants serving alcohol in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, through a structured questionnaire. Respondents were intercepted by using convenience sampling. Out of 700 people approached, 444 surveys were collected.\nFindings: After splitting consumers into four different generational groups, namely, baby boomers, Generation X, millennials and Generation Z, the study clearly identified the differences between generations regarding wine attributes, information sources, purchasing and consumption and socio-demographic characteristics.\nOriginality/value: Although there are numerous studies on the investigation of wine consumers in the literature from various countries, this is the first study looking at wine consumers in one of the Middle Eastern countries, Lebanon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors influencing inbound medical travel to India	[ "India", "Accreditation", "Global healthcare", "Medical travel", "Patient safety", "Waiting time" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: India is an attractive tourist destination given its rich cultural and historical heritage sites along with being a popular \"medical tourism\" (MTm) destination and known for high-end of surgical procedures such as cardiac, cancer, stem cell, knee replacements and organ transplants (Burns, 2015). According to MTm Index, India ranked fifth globally and second in Asia based on destination, environment, MTm industry and quality of facilities and services (MTI, 2016). There has been an increase in inbound foreign tourists' arrivals to India for various reasons due the government sponsored \"Incredible India Campaign\" and declaring India as a \"Global Health Destination\" in the tenth five-year plan, besides introducing visa on arrival, medical visa (M-Visa) and e-visa schemes (CII-Mckinsey, 2013; GOI, 2018; Medhekar et al., 2014).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Medical tourism\n3. Methods: This study is exploratory in nature to understand the MTm phenomenon from the demand-side and to determine the key factors that influence the decision to travel abroad to a developing country India for medical treatment/surgery. This four-stage study was informed by literature, interviews with hospital healthcare providers, foreign MTs interviews and survey with foreign MTs in India. Only the third stage is discussed in the paper. A qualitative thematic content analysis method is adopted in healthcare-related research, to describe and interpret a complex phenomenon (Creswell, 2014; Greene and Thorogood, 2009). Furthermore, inductive data analysis is applied to determine patterns and themes, through the participants' interview, researcher observations and documents, where the researcher needs to identify interaction of variables that can be tested quantitatively (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2010).\n4. Results: A total number of 24 foreign MTs were interviewed post-surgery at various hospitals in India. There were demographic differences between the MTs and their need for different types of treatment. Of the 24 actual MTs, representing eight countries, 13 of them were female and 11 were male participants (Table II). Eight participants were between the age of 30 and 45, seven were between the age of 46 and 55, four were between the age of 56 and 65 and five were between the age of 66 and 75. Of these, 14 were in the workforce, 4 were dependant and 6 were retirees. Their income and employment indicates that they could afford to travel abroad for surgery. The sample of MTs had university education and the capacity to make informed decisions about medical treatment overseas. Out of 24 MTs, 14 engaged in tourism. All MTs interviewed searched the internet and travelled abroad with a companion to seek high-end surgery. From 24 participants, 6 had hip/knee replacements, 4 cardiac surgery, 4 eye surgery, 3 dental work, 3 spinal fusions, 3 cancer surgery and 1 undertook reproductive treatment. A total of 14 MTs had previous experience of treatment in India and used MTm facilitators to arrange their trips and 9 had health insurance cover.\n5. Discussion and policy implications: This study has significant managerial and policy implications for global MTm. It provides signal from global patient/MTs perspective to developing host countries of treatment, for providing quality of global healthcare to foreign patients. From the foreign MTs perspective, the following nine patient-centric themes (Table III) related to MTm healthcare services are discussed.\n6. Limitations and future research: The limitations of this study were that qualitative data collection was limited to private hospitals located in six capital cities of India. Foreign MTs seeking treatment were interviewed after the ethical permission was given by the hospital. Only 24 MTs were willing to participate in the interview from 15 hospitals. However, it should be noted that findings might be specific to these participants and private hospitals in India. Therefore, caution should be taken in generalising the findings to other MTm hospitals and countries.\n7. Conclusion: This study contributes to MTm body of knowledge based on interview findings from actual foreign MTs, as to why they chose to travel abroad for surgery. After the literature review, 24 foreign patients/MTs from 15 private hospitals at six locations in India were interviewed, and nine themes (see Figure 1) and factors were identified that influence the decision of the patients to travel abroad for surgery. MTs are concerned about reputation of the hospital, physician, country and quality of surgery, medical technology and pre- and post-surgery care. While MTs share some aspects with wellness and mainstream tourists, there are other complex factors unique to MTm. Public and private partnership is required to frame MTm policy focussing on hospital accreditation, patient safety/security, country infrastructure and address all regulatory and ethical concerns of the foreign MTs to make their MTm experience safe with positive healthcare outcome for repeat visits. This study provides insight from foreign medical patient's perspective and case for provision and promotion of quality of Indian medical and tourism services as an export of healthcare services to attract foreigners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the demand-side factors that influence the inbound medical tourists' (MTs) decision to travel abroad for medical treatment/surgery.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The researchers conducted thematic analysis of in-depth interviews in India with 24 foreign MTs' to generate the themes, identify factors and propose a model with hypothesis for future quantitative survey.\nFindings: The findings conclude that patients ranked in ascending order less waiting time for surgery, healthcare quality and accreditation, staff/surgeons expertise, healthcare information, hospital facilities and services, patient safety, travel risk, surgical costs and holiday opportunity as important factors that influence the decision to travel abroad for medical treatment/surgery.\nResearch limitations/implications: Foreign patients from six private hospitals were willing to be interviewed with the permission of the hospital. Due to confidentiality and privacy policy, many hospitals declined interviews with foreign patients.\nPractical implications: The findings are generalised in case of foreign patients as MTs and all private hospitals treating foreign patients in India and other global healthcare destinations. Policy implications suggest that private hospitals in developing countries need to provide first-class quality of healthcare as foreign patients look for internationally accredited quality, no waiting time, patient safety, qualified and experienced surgeons, healthcare workers education and experience hospital facilities and post-surgery care with positive healthcare outcomes.\nOriginality/value: There is little empirical research on the views of inbound MTs, about factors influencing their decision to travel abroad for surgery to India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimizing decisions using knowledge risk strategy	[ "Knowledge", "Decision making", "Risk", "Resource based strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is significant focus in the management literature on the importance of knowledge and risk to firm success. Knowledge is seen as critical to competitive position (Zack, 1999), firm organization (Quinn et al., 1996; Grant, 1996a) and to inter-organizational relationships (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Grant and Baden-Fuller, 1995). Extending knowledge through development of intellectual property is integral to organic firm growth and innovative capability (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990) so that efficient capture of knowledge becomes critical to expansion in domestic markets (Mahoney and Williams, 2003) and internationally (Ghemawat, 2008; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989). Moreover, knowledge is one of the firm's resources that must be reconfigured when extending its dynamic capabilities (Teece et al., 1997). Because knowledge is so critical to organizational learning and development, its optimal deployment may be the only sustainable form of competitive advantage (De Gues, 1988) and so a lack - like limits on any resource - constrains a decision-makers' ability to develop strategic approaches.\n2. Integrating knowledge and risk: the knowledge-risk nexus: In most studies, knowledge is functional and constitutes sufficient understanding to form a basis for action (Saint-Onge, 1996) or to make judgments. Davenport and Prusak (1998, p. 5), for instance, define knowledge as: \"a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information\". At the other extreme is ignorance, which Carayannis (1999) defines as the absence of knowledge required for optimal action, which results in either inability to take action or decisions without full understanding. Knowledge is an abstraction from action because it enables action or performance but in itself is not valuable and requires application to enhance performance.\n3. An efficient knowledge-risk frontier: the trade-off between knowledge gaps and corporate risk: Knowledge and risk are partial substitutes. Thus, organizations' accumulated knowledge can be applied to reduce risk, whereas organizations that inefficiently apply their knowledge incur unnecessary risk. Because building knowledge increases firms' understanding of alternative actions, it can increase the probability of success. However, building knowledge has a cost and hence organizations must trade between the costs of investment in knowledge against those of higher risk.\n4. Managerial implications of the knowledge-risk frontier: knowledge-risk strategy: This section builds on the linkages that were established between knowledge and risk to present a practice-focused approach which is labelled knowledge-risk strategy. Knowledge-risk strategy identifies and manages the exposure to risk resulting from gaps in knowledge and is distinguished by the centrality of the knowledge-risk nexus, and optimizing the firm's position on the efficient knowledge-risk frontier.\n5. Implications and further research: In summary, the concept of knowledge-risk management links knowledge acquisition to improved risk management, incorporates the link between knowledge acquisition and organizational learning, recognizes that each has a cost, as well as potential benefit and develops an optimized strategy to balance knowledge and risk. This should produce new insights for strategy and corporate governance by outlining how the relationship between risk and knowledge affects firm behaviour. The paper has also outlined a new direction for resource-based firm research: a knowledge-based view of firm risk that delivers knowledge-risk strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to focus on a strategic approach for making trade-offs between knowledge and risk.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Knowledge and risk are viewed as organizational resources that have an inherent trade-off between them, so that optimal firm performance does not necessarily arise through greater accumulation of knowledge nor from reduced risk. This trade-off is represented as an efficient knowledge-risk frontier. The paper examines the dynamics of this frontier on organizational performance.\nFindings: The concept of knowledge-risk strategy is presented which contends that non-probabilistic risk or uncertainty originates from gaps in knowledge.\nResearch limitations implications: The paper proposes a new line of research to understand decision-making in organizations, particularly those which focus on knowledge intensive products and services.\nPractical implications: The paper proposes managerial approaches to improve organizational positioning relative to the efficient knowledge-risk frontier through greater awareness of contributors to knowledge gaps and risk in decision situations, as well as traditional strategic tools such as outsourcing.\nOriginality/value: The postulated link between risk and knowledge gaps establishes a knowledge-based view of firm risk and recognizes trade-offs for decisions regarding knowledge accumulation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The interaction between rational arguments and emotional appeals in the entrepreneurial pitch	[ "Decision making", "Entrepreneurship", "Persuasion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The capacity to communicate in efficient and persuasive ways is one of the characteristics that entrepreneurs and employers most frequently seek[1]. The two latest reports of the American Association of Colleges and Employers, for example, listed communication skills and the capacity to persuade among the ten competences US employers rate most highly when deciding who to employ (National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2015, p. 32; National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2017, p. 30). Recent scholarship has also focussed on how the use of linguistic and paralinguistic persuasive strategies may affect business decisions (see, e.g. Garcia-Gomez, 2018; Clarke et al., 2019; Diez-Prados, 2019; van Werven et al., 2019). In this vein, our study sets out to explore the efficacy of persuasive strategies in the entrepreneurial pitch, with special emphasis on how the use of rational arguments and emotional appeals may affect business decisions. We investigate this research question by analysing a corpus of televised entrepreneurial pitches according to content analysis methodology (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005; Mayring, 2014) and pragma-linguistic argumentative theories (Toulmin, 2003; van Eemeren and Grootendorst, 2004). We start by reviewing previous scholarship on the use of reason and emotion in business contexts and by defining the methodological ground and the hypotheses that we intend to test, regarding the use of rational arguments and emotional appeals in the entrepreneurial pitch. Then, we focus on the study of the televised corpus with a \"mixed\" content analysis methodology (Mayring, 2014); that is, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to triangulate the results. The research that we conduct contributes to studies on entrepreneurship and business decision making, but it is also significant for applied linguistics (pragmatics and discourse analysis).\nReason and emotion in entrepreneurial contexts: The persuasive power of the emotions has been recognised since antiquity, when rhetorical treatises distinguished between \"ethos\", \"pathos\" and \"logos\". In his Ars Rhetorica Aristotle (2018) considered that in addition to suitable content, if a speech was to be convincing it had to be delivered in such a way that it makes the speaker worthy of belief, as well as to evoke in the audience a particular disposition or frame of mind. In De Oratore, Cicero (1976) argued along the same lines when advising that to be persuasive the orator had to act on the audience's feelings, inciting them to hatred or anger, or to peace of mind or compassion, in accordance with his needs (p. 15). More recently, social psychology has confirmed the classical belief in the power of the emotions to modify human behaviour. In their classic study of the perception of persuasive stimuli, Petty and Cacioppo, for instance, demonstrated that as individuals we can use one of two routes to process information: the \"central\" route and the \"peripheral\" route. With regard to the former, subjects centre their attention on the basic elements of the message on the cognitive plane, above all on the arguments deployed by the speaker, such as a product's utility, quality or price. In contrast, when following the peripheral route, we pay greater attention to matters of context which are extra-cognitive in nature, such as those which stimulate certain emotional reactions - a product's physical appearance, for example, or the speaker's credibility. Furthermore, Petty and Cacioppo (1986) argued that there is correlation between subjects' degrees of motivation and interest on the one hand, and their readiness to base their decisions on rational cognitive mechanisms: \"When motivation and ability to process are high, people are concerned with evaluating the true merits of the advocacy\" (p. 186). If this premise is granted, it may easily be deduced that in contexts where the persuasive message is addressed to expert audiences who are familiar with the product or the ideas submitted to their consideration, rational arguments must take pride of place, while \"peripheral\" elements such as the emotions must be relegated to the background. This state of affairs explains why persuasive and sales strategies targeted at particular professional groups, like doctors or businessmen, with presumably high levels of interest and specialisation are traditionally focussed on the presentation of objective, aseptic data and eschew the techniques used profusely in other contexts to manipulate the emotions.\nMethodology: The lack of agreement regarding the persuasive value of emotional factors in entrepreneurial pitches calls for new research into the matter. To this end, our investigation intends to contribute to the current state of play in various ways. In the first place, we propose to develop an analytical tool to enable us to identify the main factors investors take into account before adopting their business decisions; this tool differentiates between rational aspects (tied to central information processing) and emotional aspects (of a peripheral kind). Second, we aim to gauge the persuasive efficacy of the emotions in entrepreneurial pitches, where both actors have utilitarian motives (speakers aim to secure investment for the development of their business ventures and investors wish to secure economic profit). Finally, we shall attempt to test whether some or other of the factors, whether rational or emotional, described in the analytical model are exclusive by nature, that is to say, whether their absence can allow a particular response on the part of the investors to be predicted, irrespective of the presence of the other specified criteria (cf. Maxwell et al., 2011). Put synthetically, we shall try to test the following hypotheses:\nFindings and discussion: Results of the qualitative analysis\nConclusions: Contributions and implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study is concerned with the perlocutionary force of emotional strategies in entrepreneurship discourse. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent, and under what circumstances, emotional appeals may be effective to convince the conversational partner in entrepreneurship discourse.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine the interaction between rational and emotional appeals this paper analyses a corpus formed by several examples of the \"elevator pitch\" genre, which have been taken from a TV programme called Tu Oportunidad (Your Chance), the Spanish counterpart of the British Dragon's Den and the American Shark Tank. Using the information gathered in the discursive analysis of the corpus, the paper establishes a template that identifies the main rational and emotional aspects that characterize the entrepreneurial pitch. In a second stage of the research, the template is used to conduct a quantitative analysis of the persuasive influence of rational and emotional aspects.\nFindings: The results of the qualitative and quantitative research show that there is a clear correlation between the propensity to finance entrepreneurial ventures and the presence of rational aspects in the entrepreneurial pitch. The lack of rational arguments determines the failure of the entrepreneur's efforts to be persuasive, regardless of the emotional appeals that are introduced into the pitch. Emotional appeals prove to be useful to reinforce rational arguments but they are not sufficiently persuasive on their own.\nOriginality/value: The paper offers insight into the criteria that investors take into account in order to evaluate entrepreneurial projects, as well as on the strategies that entrepreneurs should develop to build a successful business pitch.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supply chain planning and trust: two sides of the same coin	[ "Trust", "Operational performance", "Supply chain integration", "Survey", "Supply chain planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Rapid new product development, markets integration, e-commerce and risk related to uncertainties have been drivers for buyer-supplier integration in the last decades. As theoretical basis, this topic may follow two different approaches for buyer-supplier integration in the literature. The first approach is based on the transaction costs theory. According to Williamson (1996), contracts are able to decrease opportunist behavior in the buyer-supplier relations. The second approach is influenced by lean management, which highlights the need for close relations between buyer and suppliers (Helper and Sako, 1995). This paper tries to integrate both approaches to have a better understanding of supply chain integration.\nTheoretical background: Supply chain planning\nTheoretical model: The theoretical model proposed in this study is presented in Figure 1. The model shows the buyer-supplier relationship, their integration with planning and in trust-based aspects, and their influence on operational performance. Briefly, supply chain planning and trust are the starting points for the development of integration with suppliers, which, in turn, is going to impact the operational performance of the focal company. The focal company is defined as the company that develops the supply chain planning.\nMethod: Data\nResults: The results from CFA indicate the measuring instrument have a good fit, as shown in Table II.\nDiscussion: The results indicate supply chain planning is positively related to trust. More specifically, this result suggests that, by gathering buyer and supplier information, and using this information to develop a supply chain plan, the focal company can foster trust among its buyers and suppliers. A supply chain planning may be an indicator of future commitment between buyer and supplier and it is related to trust, what is related to the concept of technical trust. It may suggest that the future buyer behavior is in accordance with the present relationship between buyer and supplier (Table VII).\nConclusions: The results highlighted the understanding that supply planning combined with trust are potential drivers for supplier integration and performance. Even that these aspects are not studied in past studies in an integrated approach, our findings showed that they are complementarily. By relying on more accurate information and detailing companies' future actions, a supply planning process seems to be appealing for highlight an expected competence and enhance integration between focal companies and their suppliers. At the same time, supply chain planning is positively related to a trust-based relationship, even that this second aspect was not a direct antecedent for integration with suppliers in the sample analyzed. Nevertheless both need to be present for integration and for improved performance, i.e., they are different sides of the same coin.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between supply planning, trust and integration, and the influence of them on operational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper used a survey with 335 respondents from three different industries. The paper analyzed the data with structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results suggest that supply planning and trust are positively related and both influence supply integration and operational performance. At the end the paper proposed a classification for supply integration based on planning use and trust.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample is composed by companies from only three industries (machinery, electronics and automobile), what does not allow generalization.\nPractical implications: Managers are challenged to develop simultaneously supply chain planning practices and trust-based relationship within buyers and suppliers. They must pay attention to different integration drivers and use them accordingly and in the context analyzed. The study suggests a 2x2 matrix that might help managers' decision making.\nOriginality/value: Despite the importance of planning in supply and manufacturing management, few papers analyzed the role of supply planning integrated to trust. The combination between these aspects brings a more realistic and pragmatic view of the supply chain management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A study of Canadian female baby boomers: Physiological and psychological needs, clothing choice and shopping motives	[ "Clothing", "Baby boomers", "Physical and psychological needs", "Product choice", "Shopping behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1982 convened the first World Assembly on Ageing in Vienna, the topic of an aging population has drawn substantial attention; and much literature on the subject, including books (McCann and Bryson, 2015), journal articles (Twigg, 2007) and reports (Young, 2002), has been published over the last three decades. According to 2016 census (Grenier, 2017), the population of Canadian mature consumers aged 55-64 (4.9 million) has outnumbered the young consumers aged 15-24 (4.3 million). \"In the coming years, many (baby boomers) will reach the age of 65, accelerating population aging in Canada\" (Statistics Canada, 2011, p. 3). By 2031, all baby boomers will have reached 65, and the proportion of seniors could reach 23 per cent, compared to 15 per cent in 2011. Due to the continuous growth of baby boomer segment, it is reasonable to suggest that this demographic cohort can play an increasingly significant role on clothing consumption. When baby boomers enter the life stage of \"empty nest\", they have more disposable income to spend on consumer goods to satisfy their personal needs (Wray and Hodges, 2008). As Moschis et al. (2011) point out in their study, the life-changing events (e.g. \"empty nest\" and retirement) could greatly affect the aging consumers' consumption priorities--shifting from family goods to personal goods. In other words, baby boomers are more likely to spend more time and money on consumer products including apparels than their younger counterparts (Bone, 1991; Gordon, et al., 2002; Niemela-Nyrhinen, 2007; Thompson and Thompson, 2009). Although older consumers have high level of discretionary time and money, they often encounter difficulties in finding desirable clothing that fit their body shape (Lee et al., 2012). Many of them are frustrated and demotivated by their apparel shopping experience. The aging population has been greatly ignored by the fashion industry. With such a context, it is not difficult to understand why the baby boomers have been described as \"forgotten generation\" (Brown, 2001; Niemela-Nyrhinen, 2007; Thompson and Thompson, 2009) because many fashion companies and marketers have paid more attention to other generational cohorts than to this growing demographic segment. In order to offer better products and increase sales in this growing market, it is important for the fashion practitioners to understand the changing needs of baby boomers. Although previous studies (Birtwistle and Tsim, 2005; Rahman and Chang, 2018; Wray and Hodges, 2008) have examined the psychographic and behavioural aspects of aging consumers, there have been relatively few studies which have focused on Canadian female baby boomers and their clothing consumption behaviours. Thus, further investigation on baby boomers' shopping behaviour and experiences is imperative and timely. In short, the primary purpose of this research study is to advance our existing knowledge of Canadian female baby boomers; particularly their physiological and psychological needs, shopping motives, clothing choice and consumption experience.\nLiterature review: Classification of baby boomers\nMethodology: A qualitative research approach was employed for this study. Data were collected from two generational segments: early baby boomers (1946-1954), and late baby boomers (1955-1964). Subjects were recruited through personal network and snowball sampling technique in Toronto. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 female Canadians (as shown in Table I) to uncover, explore and understand some of the issues related to their shopping behaviour, clothing choice and life-changing experiences. In all, 13 informants were deemed to be sufficient for this type of study; as McCracken (1988, p. 17) suggests in his book entitled The Long Interview: Qualitative Research Methods, \"The first principle is that 'less is more'. It is more important to work longer, and with greater care, with fewer people than more superficially with many of them\". Females were recruited for this study because they are relatively more involved with fashion and show greater sensitivity towards clothing cues than do men (Beaudoin et al., 2003; Moss, 2009). Our face-to-face interview consisted of six sections--first, shopping behaviour and motives, e.g., How often do you shop for clothes? What are the reasons for a wardrobe update? How much do you spend on clothing annually? Do you shop for clothing online? Second, chronological and cognitive/feel age, e.g., What age do you currently think of as \"old\"? Does aging affect your clothing choice? Third, clothing choice and evaluative criteria, e.g., Can you describe your personal style? How important are the current trends to your clothing choice? What clothing attributes are important to you when it comes to clothing purchase? Fourth, employment status and daily activities, e.g., Are you employed or retired? How does your profession and/or social life affect your clothing choice? How often do you engage in physical activities and exercising? Fifth, fashion industry, e.g., Are you satisfied with the clothing styles offered by the Canadian fashion industry? Why or why not? Sixth, demographic information, e.g., year of birth, age, education and marital status. Each informant was interviewed individually for approximately 30-60 minutes. Every interview was audio-recorded and then transcribed verbatim.\nResults: Participants' characteristics\nDiscussion and conclusion: People engage in shopping activities for various reasons: they could be either social or personal, and some may not be directly related to the actual purchase of the merchandise. Nevertheless, shopping experience, shopping outcomes (i.e. products acquired) and consumption experience are still of primary importance to female baby boomers. Shopping involves both intrinsic and extrinsic values of the products (Rahman 2011). Shopping goes way beyond functional utility and task orientation (Wesley et al., 2006), and provides other experiential benefits and gratifications (Rahman 2012). Utilitarian value reflects task orientation, while hedonic value indicates personal gratification and self-expression associated with the shopping experience. In terms of hedonic shopping values, two baby boomers in the study used shopping as a means to relieve stress. They also enjoyed the aesthetic qualities of the apparel products and learning about the current fashion trends while shopping. On the other hands, they have achieved utilitarian shopping values by updating their wardrobe for work and other occasion, replacing worn-out clothing items and taking advantage of the convenient shopping opportunities to fulfil their shopping tasks.\nLimitations: Clearly, this study has several limitations. For example, similar research is needed in other countries to produce more reliable and enlightening conclusions for research of this type. Due to the size of our sample, the findings from the comparative analysis of our subdivided cohorts (early/late baby boomers) cannot be generalised. A single qualitative study should not form the basis for generalisations about female baby boomer shopping and consuming behaviours, and a quantitative study with a larger sample may yield stability and reliability. This research can also be extended to different consumer products, demographic cohorts and gender. In addition, quantitative, or a mix of research methods, may be employed to further investigate the relationship between baby boomer consumption behaviours and the role of specific product attributes. For example: How could clothing attributes be used to improve or enhance users' mental fitness and well-being? Nevertheless, this study offers a solid foundation for future research by providing meaningful insights and valuable information about the physiological and psychological needs, clothing choices and garment fit of female Canadian baby boomers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of baby boomers' physiological and psychological needs through clothing consumption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach was employed for this study. Data were collected from two generational segments: early baby boomers (1946-1954), and late baby boomers (1955-1964). In total, 13 informants aged from 53 to 71 years were participated in this study. Content analysis and interpretive approach were used for data analysis.\nFindings: According to the findings, there are several reasons why the baby boomers shopped for clothing, including a way of stress relief or retail therapy, wardrobe update, replacement of worn-out garments, attractiveness of clothing styles and convenience. Style, fit, comfort and colour were the four most important product evaluative cues. Other than product cues, age appropriateness is an important factor for clothing consumption. Many informants were disappointed with their current body type, shopping experience and the industry offers.\nPractical implications: Age-appropriate clothing can give wearers greater self-assurance/-gratification. If fashion designers create their products based on the baby boomers' cognitive age, it would probably increase their customers' acceptance and satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: The rapid growth of the aging population is a global phenomenon. Therefore, investigating the needs and challenges of the baby boomer generation is both timely and imperative. This study intended to offer new knowledge on the issues of baby boomers' unmet needs, and provide insights and implications to fashion practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the benefits of mentoring activities for the mentor	[ "Mentoring", "Protégé", "Mentor", "Benefits of mentoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Although a consensus seems to be emerging from the literature defining mentoring as a relationship of fruitful exchange for both the less experienced employee (i.e. the protege) and the more experienced person (the mentor), the majority of research has concentrated on the benefits derived by the mentee, while less attention has been given to the benefits for the mentor (Allen et al., 1997; Allen, 2007; Haggard et al., 2011). Thus, mentoring appears as a human resources management practice aimed at favouring the professional and personal development of the protege in a privileged manner. It is synonymous with facilitated socialisation and career success, both objective and subjective.\n2. Theoretical background and formulation of hypotheses: 2.1 Activities and behaviours of mentors: an analysis from the perspective of social exchange theory\n3. Method: 3.1 Procedure\n4. Results: 4.1 Confirmatory factor analysis\n5. Discussion: Drawing on social exchange theory (Gouldner, 1960; Chadwick-Jones, 1976; Gefen and Ridings, 2002), the first objective of this paper was to empirically validate the benefits of mentoring for the mentor and to test links between mentoring activities and benefits. The second was to incorporate two contextual variables into our analyses: the nature of the mentoring relationship (formal or informal) and the homogeneity in terms of gender of the mentor-protege dyad.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Mentoring is more and more studied by researchers on account of its professional and personal impact on mentees. This contribution has two main objectives. First, to empirically validate the benefits for the mentor and to test links between mentoring activities and benefits through a multidimensional analysis. Second, to incorporate two variables structuring the relationship into the analysis: the formal vs informal nature of the mentoring relationship and the gender composition of the dyad. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 161 French managers have been surveyed.\nFindings: The results show that mentors value the personal dimension of the relationship more than the professional dimension. Moreover, informal mentoring favours the perception of a rewarding experience by the mentor, whereas formal mentoring is synonymous with improved professional performance. This research calls into question the advantage of same-sex dyads, suggesting that heterogeneity favours improved performance.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the paper was to focus on the homogeneity of the mentor-protege dyad in terms of gender.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
School leaders' relational and management work orientation	[ "Leadership", "Management", "School improvement", "Relation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades, the Scandinavian countries have swung from previously characteristic social democratic regimes to neoliberal policy regimes. The swing has been underpinned by institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In educational contexts, since the beginning of the 2000s the shift has included increasing focus on school leadership, with demands from the state for school leaders to ensure that student results (which have been declining in international comparisons) improve via scientific goal- and result-oriented management (Blossing et al., 2014; Lundahl, 2005). The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has strongly promoted these demands, and data from PISA evaluations have been analysed from various perspectives to test hypotheses that may explain variations in student performance (e.g. Baumann and Krskova, 2016). A recent report by the OECD (2015) strongly focused on school leaders' management in explanations of the declining student performances in Sweden, and (inter alia) recommended establishment of a national institute to raise school leader quality.\nEarlier research: School leaders' work\nMethodology: The 26 interviewed K-9 school leaders (17 women, 9 men) were sampled ad hoc from a Swedish municipality with approximately 40,000 inhabitants located close to one of Sweden's biggest cities. Of them, 12 had at least ten years' experience of work as a school leader, 8 had five to nine years' experience and 6 had at most four years' experience.\nResults: In this section, we first present results concerning each of the considered aspects and dimensions of the school leaders' work orientations, with illustrative quotations. Then we draw conclusions and relate them to both previous findings and our hypotheses, that their orientation may be strongly social and relational, but they may pay too little attention to managerial (techno structural) aspects of their work.\nDiscussion: As already mentioned, one of the objectives of this study was to test the utility of techno- and socio-structure notions for analysing school leaders' work orientations. The results confirm that the interviewees' work orientations can be described in terms of several permutations of moderate to high or low degrees of attention to object and formal (techno structure), and person and symbol (socio structure) aspects of their work. They articulated attention to object aspects in comments regarding setting effective goals, and involving staff in both establishing intermediate goals and making plans to reach them. Consideration of formal aspects is expressed in comments about organising teams, scheduling teacher meetings, shaping working routines in meetings, making plans and (in some cases) creating an infrastructure. Recognition of the importance of person aspects can be discerned in comments about attending to the teachers, listening to their needs at the coffee machine, giving responses that encourage their co-operation with the leaders' (and/or agreed) agendas, and working with their personality types. Finally, engagement with symbol aspects is evident in the highlighting of words like participation, trust and confidence, as well as attempts to ensure that values symbolised by the words permeate the leaders' organisations.\nConclusion: Theoretically, our findings contribute to an understanding of school leaders' relational and management work orientation, by showing that it can be understood in terms of several permutations of moderate to high or low degrees of object and formal (techno structure), and person and symbol (socio structure) components.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of Swedish school leaders' relational and management work orientation, in terms of both techno and socio structure dimensions. The background is the neoliberal policy regime, underpinned by OECD and PISA, and an increased focus on school leaders' management work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 26 school leaders in a Swedish municipality were interviewed, and their responses were analysed to score their expressed orientations in terms of techno structure (object and formal) and socio structure (person and symbolic) dimensions.\nFindings: The school leaders had predominantly formal work orientations, expressed in comments about organising teams, scheduling teacher meetings, shaping working routines in meetings, making plans and (in some cases) creating an infrastructure. Scores for object (goal and result) and symbolic dimensions of their management orientation were low.\nPractical implications: The results suggest a need to increase Swedish school leaders' attention to object aspects, and both person and symbolic aspects of the formal or organising dimension, of their work. They also indicate the importance of establishing and communicating core symbols in compulsory schooling, like democracy and equity, to avoid external accountability pressures instrumentally shaping schools' management.\nOriginality/value: In contrast to previous research, the analysis indicates that Swedish school leaders have a predominantly formal and organising work orientation, frequently with little clear goal and results orientation, or attention to professional needs and motivations of the teachers (important aspects of person orientation).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementation of the CLiP database: A pilot study from an audit of a consultation-liaison psychiatry service in Malaysia	[ "Benchmarking", "Clinical database", "Clinical audit", "Clinical indicators", "Data collection", "Consultation-liaison psychiatry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLiP) is a multifaceted subspecialty that functions as the interface between psychological and physical health (Smith, 2003). The need for specialized CLiP services is demonstrated by the high prevalence of psychiatric conditions among the medically ill which ranges from 20 to 60 per cent (Katon and Gonzales, 1994; Martucci et al., 1999; Parsonage et al., 2012). Moreover, the value of an effective CLiP service is appreciated not only in improvements of patient morbidity and mortality, but in significant financial savings to the healthcare service (Parsonage and Fossey, 2011). In Malaysia, most CLiP services are overseen by the general psychiatrist due to the lack of formally trained subspecialists in this field (Zainal, 2010), but the evidence suggests a role for more specialized services (Guthrie et al., 2016; Parsonage et al., 2012). In 2017, a clinical database was developed to facilitate the development of clinical indicators or tools to monitor aspects of clinical service (Ellen et al., 2006; Holmes et al., 2001). As the largest training centre for CLiP in Malaysia, it is timely to audit the implementation of this database and compare the clinical indicators with established benchmarks (Bayney, 2005).\n2. Method: 2.1 Aims and objectives\n3. Results: 3.1 Compliance to reporting of referrals to the CLiP database\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Compliance to reporting of referrals to the CLiP database\n5. Conclusion: This is the first major audit of CLiP services at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and it provides important information on clinical indicators, reasons for referral as well as the quality of data obtained from the CLiP database. Overall, the data suggest that interventions conducted after the preliminary audit were effective in improving the compliance of reporting using the CLiP database. More can be done to further improve other aspects of service such as the timeliness of response and documentation of a written care plan. On a wider scale, it suggests that the CLiP team should play a more prominent role in terms of improving the awareness of delirium in the general hospital. Specialised CLiP services are still relatively new in Malaysia and the national operational guidelines for such a service are still in progress. The authors recommend that the findings from this audit be used as pilot data to conduct a more comprehensive audit over a longer period of time and assist in the continuous improvement of the quality of CLiP services. Furthermore, the use of the CliP database is a tool to collect data for this purpose and has potential to be modified and improved for application on an international scale.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the findings from an audit of the implementation of a consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLiP) database in all inpatients referred to a CLiP service at the largest hospital in Malaysia with the aim of improving the quality CLiP services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: All inpatient referrals to the CLiP team were recorded over a three-month period and compared to previous audit data from 2017. Four audit standards were assessed: the reporting of referrals, timeliness of response indication of reason for referral and presence of a management plan.\nFindings: The compliance of reporting using the CLiP form was 70.1 per cent compared to 28 per cent in the audit data from 2017 after interventions were conducted. Analysis of the completed CLiP form reveals that 89 per cent of referrals were seen within the same working day. All referrals included the reason for referral. The most common reason for referral was for depressive disorders, but post-assessment, delirium was the most common diagnosis. In total, 87.8 per cent satisfied the audit criteria for a completed written care plan.\nOriginality/value: Specialised CLiP services are relatively new in Malaysia and this is the first paper to examine the quality of such services in the country. Interventions were effective in improving the compliance of reporting using the CLiP database. The findings suggest that the CLiP services are on par with international audit standards. Furthermore, data from this clinical audit can serve as a benchmark for the development of national operating policies in similar settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial crisis and SME capital structure: Swedish empirical evidence	[ "Capital structure", "Financial crisis", "Small- and medium-sized enterprises", "Cross-sectional sample" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The 2008-2009 global financial crisis created major uncertainty in the financial markets, which had a significant impact on firms' choices of capital structure (Almeida et al., 2011; Dick et al., 2013). The financial crisis created a liquidity crisis for many banks, in turn resulting in reduced credit supply, making it more expensive for firms to use external capital in the form of short- and long-term loans (Cornett et al., 2011). In other words, banks' lack of confidence in each other's financial collateral led to decreased lending and, consequently, a reduced supply of loans (Fosberg, 2012).\n2. Theoretical framework and previous empirical studies: 2.1 Global financial crisis macroeconomic uncertainty\n3. Variable selection, hypothesis development, data sample and model specification: 3.1 Selection of variables\n4. Empirical results: 4.1 Results of the descriptive analysis\n5. Concluding remarks: The relationship between the global financial crisis and SME capital structure has been regarded as important in previous studies, but findings have nevertheless varied. This might be because results are dependent on various factors, such as the study sample, characteristics of the selected firms, methods used, and country and legislative matters. The current study combines time-, industry-, and firm-specific factors in studying the dynamics of SME capital structure during and after the financial crisis in Sweden using a comprehensive and cross-sectoral database.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine capital structure determinants of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during and after the global financial crisis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Statistical methods, including ordinary least squares and the generalised method of moments, were used to analyse a sample of over 40,800 Swedish SMEs operating in four industries during the 2008-2015 period.\nFindings: The results indicate that the independent variables - i.e. financial crisis, profitability, size, tangibility and industry affiliation - to various degrees explain changes in short-term debt (STD) and long-term debt (LTD) ratios. In particular, the empirical findings indicate that the sampled SMEs tended to rely more on STD and LTD during (2008-2009) than after (2010-2015) the financial crisis.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to data availability, the current study is limited to a sample of Swedish SMEs in four industries covering eight years. Further research could examine the generalisability of these findings by investigating other firms operating in other industries and other countries.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of few examining determinants of short- and long-term SME debt during and after the global financial crisis, using data from a large-scale cross-sectional database.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reflective Notes: a tool for individual and team learning	[ "Learning styles", "Team learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A continual challenge in organizations is to act with the big picture in mind. Organizational life does not allow for time to think things through. Actions must be taken and often they must be done quickly. There is no time to think about future implications. We simply act in the here and now. Managers and employees must learn to act in the here and now and consider future implications - at the same time.\nThe process of collecting reflective notes: Reflective notes work best with a work group or team that meets on an ongoing basis. Since team members need to be engaged in the dialogue and workings of the team, each time a team meets, in addition to the regular group members, a reflective analyst sits in as a silent member of the team. The analyst's job is to listen, observe, record, and then to create the reflective notes. The analyst takes note of conversations, of nonverbal cues - what is said and what is not said - what is avoided, and of who is present and who is not. She then reflects these data back to the participants through reflective notes that provide perspective and provoke reflection.After reflecting on the meeting herself, the analyst begins the notes with a statement of the theme of the overall meeting and then may discuss any sub-themes that emerged during the session. For instance the main theme of the meeting may have been about how to resolve a specific problem, but during the meeting an ancillary conversation occurred about how communications take place between departments. Both topics would be observed with the second one as a sub-theme.Observations or statements of specific things that happened during the meeting follow the introductory theme segment. For instance, during the discussion one of the participants may have created a visual image that describes a specific phenomenon in his or her mind. He may have drawn it on a flip chart for the edification of the entire group. This should be included in the notes. Another paragraph or two might describe a specific conversation regarding an event that highlighted an obvious controversy. When the discussion got tense, the subject was changed and the disagreement abandoned. This group dynamic could be reflected to the team in the notes. Headings for each topic may be created to pique interest or provoke reflection.Building on what has been illuminated thus far, the analyst next poses provocative reflective questions to encourage readers to think beyond the boundaries of what they experienced at the meeting. Why did the conversation about a particular topic take the turn it did? What were the unspoken issues that were skirted or avoided entirely? What might be the unintended consequences of a specific course of action?Finally, the analyst lists action items agreed on by the team and provides a suggested listing of what might be considered next in order to facilitate reflective capacity and team learning. This is not necessarily an agenda for the next meeting and indeed the team may decide not to address items listed or to even just ignore them thereby providing a potential item for future reflective notes asking why the team decided to ignore a suggestion.Once composed the reflective notes are shared with the entire team. Members are asked to read them prior to the next meeting. Copies of the notes are also distributed at the next meeting. To connect the previous session with the current one, prior to calling the group to order, members take the opportunity to reread the notes so they are fresh in their minds. The first order of business is a \"check-in\" where each member takes a minute or two, and sometimes longer, to state the things on his or her mind. Often, since the notes have just been reviewed, something in them becomes a part of the check-in thereby reflecting an item of significance for that individual. Others may build on the observation.Historically, reflective notes emanate from theories of adult learning that posit that people best learn by integrating their lived experiences with new concepts they encounter. Most directly applicable is Mezirow's (1990) concept of critical reflection. Mezirow defines reflection as the process of examining the justification of our beliefs in order to guide our actions or to reassess the effectiveness of our approaches to problem solving. Critical reflection then allows us to assess the validity of our presuppositions. Reflective notes provide a lens to permit us to reflect back a different picture of who we are and what we do and what we say often leading to a transformation in our beliefs.The second foundation of Reflective Notes comes from the practical application of learning histories. A learning history tells an organization's \"story\" from the perspective of the people involved (Senge et al., 1999). It is created by consultants who act as learning historians to gather data from the many participants of the organization. The historians compose a living history of the organization. It is an extensive and time consuming process that helps people remember or learn how and why the organization became what it did.After going through a learning history process at Harley Davidson, a product development team wanted a tool that would allow them to learn on an ongoing basis. As a result Reflective Notes were developed. As a tool it provides a way not only for individual members of the team to learn about themselves, but also for them to learn from other perspectives of the same phenomenon, and for the entire team to develop a new level of learning and performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify and delineate a practical tool that assists teams in organizations and the individuals in those teams in reflecting and learning from their own conversations\nDesign/methodology/approach: - For more than three years, the author acted as a Reflective Analyst for a team focusing on new product development.\nFindings: - By reflecting back to the themes of their conversations and by asking questions that caused them to reflect on the dynamics of the group, what was said and not said, and how people responded the team is able to understand themselves in a new way.\nOriginality/value: - The Reflective Note process will be of value to learning facilitators, leaders of work teams, and individuals interested in finding new learning processes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Selective maintenance optimization under schedule and quality constraints	[ "Reliability", "Optimization", "Quality control", "Scheduling", "Selective maintenance", "Simulated annealing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nNomenclature: A\n1. Introduction: Performance of a production system to a large extent depends upon the effective planning of its shop floor-level operations like, maintenance, quality control and production scheduling. The effective management of these shop floor functions can reduce operational costs to a great extent. In the operational context, frequent machine breakdowns will affect the production schedule and also the undetected deterioration of the machine may affect the product quality. The trade-off between these shop floor activities has captured the interest of researchers, leading to the studies focussing on various issues related to interdependency between these shop floor activities (Ben-Daya and Rahim, 2000; Cassady and Kutanoglu, 2003, 2005; Panagiotidou and Tagaras, 2008; Pandey et al., 2011; Tambe et al., 2013; Xue et al., 2014; Xia et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: In this section, a brief literature review related to the integrated approaches is presented. The existing integrated approaches for production scheduling and maintenance, related to single machine, mostly assume a known preventive maintenance (PM) interval (Graves and Lee, 1999; Liao and Chen, 2003). However, in certain cases, the maintenance interval is flexible and acts as a decision variable (Yang et al., 2011; Low et al., 2010). In recent years, integrated approaches of production scheduling with maintenance considering the probabilistic machine breakdown conditions have also been developed. Cassady and Kutanoglu (2003, 2005) developed an integrated mathematical model for a single machine problem with an objective of minimizing the total weighted expected tardiness. They considered multiple maintenance activities and the risk of not performing maintenance in their model. Chen (2006) solved a scheduling problem with periodic maintenance to minimize the total flow time by assuming several unavailable intervals. The model is based on several maintenance intervals sequenced in a schedule under the non-resumable case. Ji et al. (2007) considered a single machine scheduling problem with periodic maintenance activities. Sbihi and Varnier (2008) studied a single machine scheduling problem with several fixed and flexible maintenance periods for non-resumable jobs and proposed a heuristic and a branch and bound algorithm to minimize the maximum tardiness. Zhou et al. (2012) developed a dynamic opportunistic PM model for a multi-component system considering changes in job shop schedule. Wong et al. (2013) proposed a joint scheduling method to handle production-maintenance scheduling that considers multiple resources and maintenance tasks. Wang and Liu (2013) dealt with an integrated optimization model for production scheduling and PM in a single machine similar to Cassady and Kutanoglu (2005) using branch and bound approach. Cui et al. (2014) studied the problem of finding robust production and maintenance schedules for a single machine with failure uncertainty. They proposed a proactive joint model which simultaneously determines the production scheduling and maintenance policy to optimize the robustness of schedules. A three-phase heuristic algorithm is devised to solve the mathematic model. Lu et al. (2015) proposed a joint model for integrating run-based PM into the production scheduling problem, in which the sequence of jobs, the PM times and the planned completion times of jobs are proactively determined simultaneously.\n3. Problem description: Consider a production unit having n components, where each component is subjected to degradation due to continuous operation over a period of time and producing conforming and non-conforming products. The time-to-failure distribution of each component is assumed to follow a two parameter Weibull distribution.\n4. Development of integrated model: In this section, the proposed integrated model is presented. First, individual models of selective maintenance, process quality control procedure and production scheduling will be presented and then an integrated model of the three activities is developed by jointly considering the expected total cost of maintenance, process quality control procedure and the schedule penalty.\n5. Proposed Integrated approach: The proposed integrated approach is shown in Figure 2 and termed as S+M/Q. In this approach, the production schedule for the batches to be processed is obtained independently while the maintenance (M) and quality control (Q) decisions are optimized considering the optimal production schedule on the machine. In this approach, as a first step, an optimal schedule (S*) for the batches to be processed on the machine is decided using a production scheduling algorithm. In this paper, a backward forward (B-F) heuristic (Sule, 2007) is used. During optimization, each maintenance decision (M\n6. Numerical example: In this section, we present the details of the real life example to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed integrated approach.\n7. Conclusion: This paper has presented a methodology for optimizing maintenance plan with repair time, availability and detection time constraints for a single machine production schedule. An integrated approach for selective maintenance, quality control and production scheduling is presented. A cost model considering the expected cost of maintenance decision, the expected cost of process quality control and the expected schedule penalty cost, is developed. The approach results into an optimal maintenance decision by taking one of the three maintenance actions, namely, repair, replace or do-nothing for the system components along with the optimal parameters for sampling procedure, namely, sample size, the acceptance number and the time between samples, considering the optimal production schedule. A SA algorithm is used for optimization of the decision parameters. The integrated approach has shown around 10 percent cost saving as compared to the conventional approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The traditional practice for maintenance, quality control and production scheduling is to plan independently irrespective of an interrelationship exist between them. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach for integrating maintenance, quality control and production scheduling. The objective is to investigate the benefits of the integrated effect in terms of the expected total cost of system operation of the three functions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed approach is based on the conditional reliability of the components. Cost model for integrating selective maintenance, quality control using sampling-based procedure and production scheduling is developed using the conditional reliability. An integrated approach is such that, first an optimal schedule for the batches to be processed is obtained independently while the maintenance and quality control decisions are optimized considering the optimal schedule on the machine. The expected total cost of conventional approach, i.e. \"No integration\" is calculated to compare the effectiveness of integrated approach.\nFindings: The integrated approach have shown a higher cost saving as compared to the independent planning approach. The approach is practical to implement as the results are obtained in a reasonable computational time.\nPractical implications: The approach presented in this paper is generic and can be applied at planned as well as unplanned opportunities. The proposed integrated approach is dynamic in nature, as during maintenance opportunities, it is possible to optimize the decision on maintenance, quality control and production scheduling considering the current age of components and production requirement.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the paper is in the approach for integration of the three elements of shop floor operations that are usually treated separately and rarely touched upon by researchers in the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of food product types and affective states on consumers' decision making	[ "Affective states", "Food product types", "Healthful product", "Hedonic product", "Unfamiliar product", "Variety seeking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consider a situation in which you are in a happy mood and decide to try a product category that you have never previously purchased, and hence you are unfamiliar with that particular product category. How much variety would you like, from which to choose during the following week, among products with which you are not familiar? The focus of previous research has primarily been on familiar products in relation to variety seeking (VS) behavior (Choi et al., 2006; Kahn and Isen, 1993), so the prediction of consumers' choice patterns for unfamiliar products is unclear. This is because past research of VS and mood states has not examined different product types (e.g. unfamiliar and healthful product types).\nHedonic products vs healthful products: Menon and Kahn (1995) indicated that VS behavior may increase for individuals when offered safe and enjoyable product choices. It has been found that a mildly positive mood correlates to enhanced VS in relation to hedonic products, such as crackers and chips (Kahn and Isen, 1993; Menon and Kahn, 1995). Lin and Lin (2012) demonstrated that sad people are more subject to VS than happy people when making decisions to purchase enjoyable products. Conversely, Wansink et al. (2003) found that happy people tend to prefer healthful food products. Garg et al. (2007) further illustrated that mood states interact with product types, so that happy people prefer to consume more than sad people when offered healthier food products (such as raisins), while sad people would consume more than happy people when offered more hedonic products (such as M&Ms).\nFamiliar products vs unfamiliar products: It has been demonstrated that brand familiarity has an influence on consumer behavior. There is an especially strong relationship between affective responses and brand evaluations (Campbell and Keller, 2003; Machleit et al., 1993; Machleit and Wilson, 1988). Mahajan and Wind (2002) showed that the affective states associated with a familiar brand or product may become part of consumers' autobiographical memories, which makes them stronger and more accessible when the consumer is making purchase decisions. On the other hand, unfamiliar products tend to require more cognitive effort on the part of the customer, which could make them less susceptible to affective approaches.\nStudy 1: In this study a scenario that most consumers would encounter in their daily lives is used. Participants were asked to make choices from nine different snacks. This paper tested the hypothesis that there is an interaction between mood states and product types that emerges when people seek variety: specifically, that happy people tend to incorporate more VS than sad people when they are offered healthful products. Conversely, sad people tend to incorporate more VS than happy people when they are offered hedonic products.\nStudy 2: Study 2 examines whether product familiarity moderates the relationship between mood states and VS. This paper tested the hypothesis that an interaction between mood states and product types will emerge when people seek variety: sad people will demonstrate more VS than happy people when they are offered familiar products. Conversely, happy people will demonstrate more VS than sad people when they are offered unfamiliar products.\nDiscussion and implications: The impact of mood states on VS has received a great deal of attention in recent years (Kahn and Isen, 1993; Roehm and Reohm, 2005). Much has been done to explain the VS tendency, mainly in search of hedonic products (Choi et al., 2006; Kahn and Isen, 1993; Menon and Kahn, 1995). Here, however, this paper demonstrates the need to examine the moderating role of different product types on the relationship between mood states and VS.\nLimitations and future research: One of the research limitations of this research is the use of students in the sampling. As with any single sample study, there is a need for the findings to be replicated in order to determine their generalizability. Since consumers might respond differently to VS with age and experience, future research could use respondents with different levels of marketplace experience to determine the generalizability of the data and findings. In addition, the study was conducted in a laboratory setting. Since VS often takes place in the retail context, future research could conduct studies in more realistic shopping environments. Finally, since mood-changing cues or mood-threatening cues occur when people in different mood states respond to VS, future research could add process measures to realize and further discuss the underlying mechanisms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of food product types and affective states and on consumers' variety seeking (VS) tendency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two experiments are conducted in this paper to examine the influence of different food product types and the VS-mood state relationship.\nFindings: The results are consistent with the author's hypotheses and indicate that happy people incorporate more VS when healthful and unfamiliar food products are offered, while sad people incorporate more VS when hedonic and familiar food products are offered.\nPractical implications: Marketers of leading brands selling hedonic food products could cultivate positive emotions in their target consumers in order to prevent them from switching brands. Conversely, marketers of follower brands may find it appropriate to induce negative moods in their consumers to encourage brand switching. For those marketers who sell less hedonic, healthier food products, marketing strategies should be contrary to those for hedonic food products. In addition, marketers may conduct strategies to prevent consumers from feeling sad in the case of products with a low market profile and which are unfamiliar to their consumers. They could cultivate happy moods in consumers to encourage them to make more varied food product choices.\nOriginality/value: Prior research has focussed mainly on hedonic and familiar products when explaining VS behavior, but the present research has demonstrated the need to discuss different product types, such as healthful and unfamiliar products, in order to obtain a broader understanding of affective states on VS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A new double exponentially weighted moving average control chart using repetitive sampling	[ "Control chart", "Average run length", "Average sample size", "Repetitive sampling", "RS-DEWMA chart" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Quality control charts are used in the monitoring of manufacturing process to detect special (assignable) cause of variation that is responsible for changes in the product quality. Three of the most widely used process control charts are the Shewhart control chart introduced by Shewhart (1931), the cumulative sum (CUSUM) control chart proposed by Page (1954) and the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart which was first introduced by Roberts (1959). The EWMA and CUSUM control charts accumulates information over time to detect small process parameter shifts while Shewhart control charts are known to be useful to detect large process shifts quickly. The EWMA control chart has been studied extensively by Crowder (1989), Ng and Case (1989), Borror et al. (1999), Lu and Reynolds (1999), Chan and Zhang (2000), Jones et al. (2001), Maravelakis et al. (2005), Reynolds and Stoumbos (2006), Abbasi (2010) and Abujiya et al. (2014) amongst many others. It has been observed that the EWMA and CUSUM control charts outperform the Shewhart charts in the detection of small persistent process shifts (Woodall, 1986; Hunter, 1986; Crowder, 1987; Lucas and Saccucci, 1990).\nThe DEWMA control chart procedure: Let X1, X2 , ..., Xn represent sequentially recorded independent and identically distributed random sample of size n having a normal distribution with mean m and standard deviation s. The DEWMA control statistic Zi is defined as:(1)\nDescription of the RS-DEWMA control chart: Assume that observations from a process are normally distributed with mean, m and variance, s2, we proposed the DEWMA control chart using repetitive sampling as follows:\nEvaluation of the proposed control chart: RS-DEWMA control chart vs single sampling DEWMA control chart\nIllustrative examples: This section illustrates how to construct the proposed control chart limits using simulated and real-life data.\nConclusion: In this paper, the DEWMA control chart using the repetitive sampling is presented for monitoring the process mean. The expression for the ARL and the ASS was derived. Tables of values for the control chart coefficients are given. The performance of the proposed control chart was evaluated using the ARL criteria. The study shows that the proposed control chart consistently gives smaller ARL values when compared with the existing DEWMA control chart. Also, the study shows that the proposed control chart is more efficient than the control chart proposed by Zhang and Chen (2005) in terms of ARL for the detection of small process mean shift. The proposed control chart allows better decision on the state of the process. However, the performance of the proposed chart relatively deteriorates for large smoothing constants. It is hoped that quality personnel and process engineers involved in day-to-day production process will find the proposed control chart useful in quickly and effectively detecting a small sudden shift in process mean. This will reduce non-conforming products from such processes and increase the profit of the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a double exponentially weighted moving average control chart using repetitive sampling (RS-DEWMA) for a normally distributed process variable to improve the efficiency of detecting small process mean shift.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The algorithm for the implementation of the proposed chart is developed and the formulae for the in-control and out-of-control average run lengths (ARLs) are derived. Tables of ARLs are presented for various process mean shift. The performance of the proposed chart is investigated in terms of the average run-length for small process mean shift and compared with the existing DEWMA control chart. Numerical examples are given as illustration of the design and implementation of the proposed chart.\nFindings: The proposed control chart is more efficient than the existing DEWMA control chart in the detection of small process mean shifts as it consistently gives smaller ARL values and quickly detects the process shift. However, the performance of the proposed chart relatively deteriorates for large smoothing constants.\nPractical implications: The application of repetitive sampling in the control chart literature is gaining wide acceptability. The design and implementation of the RS-DEWMA control chart offers a new approach in the detection of small process mean shift by process control personnel.\nOriginality/value: This paper fills a gap in the literature by examining the performance of the repetitive sampling DEWMA control chart. The use of repetitive sampling technique in the control chart is discussed in the literature, however, its use based on the DEWMA statistic has not been considered in this context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Can search engine data improve accuracy of demand forecasting for new products? Evidence from automotive market	[ "Bass diffusion model", "Automotive market", "Diffusion of new products", "Internet search pattern", "Search engine data" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The consumer buying decision process generally has five stages: problem or need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior (Dewey, 1997; Mohr et al., 2010). The information search stage can be further divided into internal and external search components. The consumer conducts an internal search by recalling his or her own experiences. When the consumer cannot obtain sufficient information through an internal search, he or she conducts an external search by consulting external information sources, such as word-of-mouth and mass-market communications (Engel et al., 1995; Awasthy et al., 2012). Such consumer searches for product information come at a cost, and when the search benefit exceeds the search cost, then these searches affect consumer utility for the product and purchase decision (De los Santos et al., 2012; Haubl et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2010). As growth of the internet has increased rapidly since the end of the twentieth century, consumers have access to more and more reliable information from the internet at low cost. Thus, the internet now plays an important role as an external search medium in the consumer buying decision process (Klein and Ford, 2003; Peterson and Merino, 2003; Woo et al., 2014). Specifically, according to Bickart and Schindler (2001), consumers who obtained product information from online discussions showed greater interest in the product than consumers who obtained information from marketer-generated online sources.\n2. Literature review: Several consumer research studies have analyzed the relationship between consumer purchase behavior and the internet as an information search channel and have confirmed that the internet has a significant effect on consumer purchase decisions. By analyzing a survey of new car purchasers, Ratchford et al. (2003) found that the internet was relied upon for vehicle information as much as other information search channels (e.g. friends, relatives, dealers and manufacturers). Also based on survey data, Kulkarni et al. (2012) empirically verified that, when purchasing cars, internet users place more weight on car ratings, while non-internet users place more weight on recommendations. Xiang et al. (2018) and Woo et al. (2015) similarly found that consumer purchasing intentions were influenced by the information they obtained online. In consumer research, the relationship between consumer purchase behavior and the internet as an information search channel has been studied indirectly and with limitations, based on survey data. Although these studies provided evidence that the internet is an important medium that influences consumers' purchasing decisions, they did not use actual internet search behavior of consumers to predict consumer purchases.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Proposed model\n4. Analysis: We utilize the proposed model of this study in three ways based on the data mentioned in the above section. First, we show the estimated results of the proposed model and compare the magnitude of the effects of internet search activity on the innovation and imitation parameters. Here, we assume that there is only a one-month time lag and use 24 months to train our proposed model for all cases when studying this relationship. Second, we conduct statistical analyses of estimated parameters to determine whether there is a significant difference between these parameters for each vehicle class or region. Lastly, we compare the out-of-sample performance of our proposed model with two other reference models.\n5. Summary and conclusions: In this study, we used big data to analyze the relationship between consumer internet search pattern and new product diffusion. To determine whether big data can be used in forecasting the sales of new products, we conducted three analyses. First, we proposed a new diffusion model that incorporates consumer internet search patterns into the Bass diffusion model. Based on our proposed model, we estimated the influence of internet search patterns on the internal and external effects of new product diffusion for five geographic regions and 63 vehicle models based on monthly internet search query index data and monthly vehicle sales data. Second, we created box plots and performed statistical tests to examine the differential influence of internet search patterns on new product diffusion by geographic region and vehicle class. Third, we compared the forecast performance of the traditional Bass diffusion model, ARMAX model, and the proposed diffusion model to assess the potential contribution of big data in forecasting sales of new products.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between new product diffusion and consumer internet search patterns using big data and to investigate whether such data can be used in forecasting new product diffusion.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research proposes a new product diffusion model based on the Bass diffusion model by incorporating consumer internet search behavior. Actual data from search engine queries and new vehicle sales for each vehicle class and region are used to estimate the proposed model. Statistical analyses are used to interpret the estimated results, and the prediction performance of the proposed method is compared with other methods to validate the usefulness of data for internet search engine queries in forecasting new product diffusion.\nFindings: The estimated coefficients of the proposed model provide a clear interpretation of the relationship between new product diffusion and internet search volume. In 83.62 percent of 218 cases, analyzing the internet search pattern data are significant to explain new product diffusion and that internet search volume helps to predict new product diffusion. Therefore, marketing that seeks to increase internet search volume could positively affect vehicle sales. In addition, the demand forecasting performance of the proposed diffusion model is superior to those of other models for both long-term and short-term predictions.\nResearch limitations/implications: As search queries have only been available since 2004, comparisons with data from earlier years are not possible. The proposed model can be extended using other big data from additional sources.\nOriginality/value: This research directly demonstrates the relationship between new product diffusion and consumer internet search pattern and investigates whether internet search queries can be used to forecast new product diffusion by product type and region. Based on the estimated results, increasing internet search volume could positively affect vehicle sales across product types and regions. Because the proposed model had the best prediction power compared with the other considered models for all cases with large margins, it can be successfully utilized in forecasting demand for new products.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cross-functional executive involvement and worker involvement in lean manufacturing and sustainability alignment	[ "Sustainability", "Lean manufacturing", "Organizational model", "Strategic alignment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Sustainability is an increasingly essential element of most company strategies (McKinsey, 2013); however, the formulation and implementation of operations strategies that embrace sustainability remain open issues. For example, the alignment of a traditional lean manufacturing operations system with environmental and social sustainability goals and practices might be challenging (King and Lenox, 2001; Hasle et al., 2012). At the operations level, sustainability means developing processes that are more efficient and less costly in terms of energy and resource use (environmental sustainability), as well as maintaining adequate standards for worker well-being (social sustainability) (Epstein, 2008).\n2. Literature review and research questions: 2.1. Strategic alignment of lean manufacturing and sustainability\n3. Methodology: To ground our theoretical insights, we employed an inductive case study methodology to address the research questions. Such theoretical elaboration is appropriate when previous research provides a starting point for a new inductive study (Maitlis, 2005). We sought to extend existing theory on operations strategies and sustainability development.\n4. Results: As shown in Tables V and VI, the results indicate that three groups can be identified based on the level of cross-functional executive involvement and worker involvement. Tables VII-IX show that the organizational models adopted lead to different levels of strategic alignment and consequently different performance levels (see Table X).\n5. Discussion and implications: The results show that companies characterized by different organizational models achieve different levels of strategic alignment between lean manufacturing and environmental and social sustainability. Companies characterized by an Advanced organizational model are able to enhance the positive links between lean manufacturing and environmental and social sustainability (Longoni et al., 2013) and avoid possible negative links (Rothenberg et al., 2001).\n6. Conclusion, limitations, and directions for future research: The purpose of this study was to analyze the strategic (mis)alignment between lean manufacturing and environmental and social sustainability. Case study methodology and strategic alignment as matching were used to empirically derive ideal profiles of companies characterized by aligned or misaligned lean manufacturing and sustainability strategy, based on their organizational model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Lean manufacturing has been demonstrated to increase operations and economic performance, but its alignment with environmental and social sustainability is unclear. The purpose of this paper is to understand how cross-functional executive involvement and worker involvement, in the formulation and implementation of the operations strategy, support the strategic alignment of lean manufacturing and sustainability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An inductive case study methodology was employed. Such theoretical elaboration is appropriate when extending existing theory (i.e. operations strategy theory and sustainability development theory). Evidence was drawn from ten cross-industry case studies. Within and cross-case analyses were performed.\nFindings: The results demonstrate that cross-functional executive involvement and worker involvement positively affect the strategic alignment of the lean manufacturing statement and bundles (just-in-time, total quality management, total preventive maintenance, and human resources management) with environmental and social goals and practices. Specifically, the study reveals the impact of cross-functional executive involvement on the formulation of lean manufacturing aligned with environmental and social sustainability. Worker involvement positively affects the actual implementation of lean manufacturing aligned with environmental and social sustainability.\nPractical implications: This research provides guidance to practitioners regarding how different organizational models lead to different levels of lean manufacturing and sustainability strategic alignment and performance.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the operations strategy literature and the sustainability development literature, providing evidence regarding the mechanisms supporting the strategic alignment of lean manufacturing and social and environmental sustainability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Islamic vs conventional Human Development Index: empirical evidence from ten Muslim countries	[ "Development", "Human capabilities", "Human development", "Islamic human development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The UN's Human Development Index (HDI) emerged as a response to the shortcoming of using income per capita as a proxy for development. The index was developed based on the notion of human capabilities as outlined by Amartya Sen (1984). For a long time, major macroeconomic indicators, such as gross national product (GNP) per capita, were used as proxy for social, economic, and human development. The search for alternative indicators began after many researchers revealed the shortcomings of GNP (Hicks and Streeten, 1979; Ivanova et al., 1999; UNDP, 1990-2011). For instance, GNP fails to capture goods and services that are not produced for market exchange. It does not value leisure time and basic human rights. It does not care about the distribution of income or the depletion of scarce natural resources. On the other hand, it counts the production of harmful goods and services as the improvement of well-being. Thus, GNP per capita is not a good proxy for even measuring economic development, let alone human development. Indeed, it is obvious that countries with higher economic development do not necessarily mean that they achieve higher human development.\n2. Need for iHDI: Although the cHDI is more successful for assessing human development than the use of economic indicators such as GNP per capita, it is far from complete. Many researchers have pointed out the shortcomings of the cHDI. Indeed, the very organization behind the cHDI (i.e. UNDP) recently published a report of major scholarly objections to the index. According to this report, the criticisms can be summed up in two broad categories. The first one is conceptual and content related while the second one is technical and measurement related. In other words, some researchers have criticized the HDI due to its definition of human development and its determinant variables whereas others have objected to the measure techniques and weight of variables in coming up with a single index.\n3. From Maqasid-i Qur'an to Maqasid-i Insan: The cHDI is not an appropriate measure of human development from an Islamic perspective mainly due to the paradigmatic differences. The index is developed based on a secular paradigm with its ontological, epistemological, anthropological, and teleological perspectives. As human life is limited to this world, human development is strictly defined within one-dimensional life. Thus, its economic model - free market capitalism - gives no room for the hereafter. It is a worldly project that offers worldly paradise through a free market system. It does not accept any reality beyond the material one. Therefore, it has a strict view of human nature. It attempts to reduce the human experience to bio-chemical reactions. On the other hand, Islamic economics relies on a Qur'anic paradigm called the Tawhidi paradigm due to the importance of Tawhid in the Islamic worldview. Indeed, Tawhid is the essential message of the Qur'an and the defining worldview of Islam. The Tawhidi paradigm takes both this world and the hereafter as a reality while setting goals for people. Thus, Islamic economics has to function within the Tawhidi paradigm with its ontology, epistemology, anthropology, and teleology.\n4. The Tawhidi paradigm and Islamic economics: Is there objective reality? What is this? Is there objective truth? What is the purpose of life? Are there universal characteristics of human nature? Answers to these questions in Islam center around the concept of Tawhid, the existence of one God. According to the Tawhidi paradigm, God is not the product of human imagination, but He is the necessary existence behind the existence of everything. Knowledge about God is the highest objective truth verified by both revealed books and the book of the universe. A human is not a random product of the evolutionary process, but he is God's greatest project. Islam is not a marginal religion dealing with spiritual life alone. It is a religion providing guidance and well-being for both this life and the hereafter. Therefore, the word falah (real well-being) and its derivatives have been used in the Qur'an many times. In the five-time daily azan (call to prayer), people are also invited to falah. Islam aims to achieve its goal through its value-based and God-centered moral and spiritual worldview (Aydin, 2013).\n5. Human development in Islamic moral vs capitalist economics: We assert that the distinctive feature of Islamic moral economics should come from its Tawhidi paradigm, which sets very different maqasid (ultimate goals) for people compared to the secular paradigm. The capitalist economic system, which relies on the secular paradigm, encourages working for a living, wealth, and knowledge as means to intermediate ends - namely, power (control), pleasure (satisfaction), and praise (show). Therefore, the system promotes the functional and positional goods and services to satisfy animal desires and ego. The ultimate goal or final end is considered to be happiness through consumption. Even knowledge is a means for either wealth or ego-satisfying positions. Scientific and technological advancements are not for understanding truth or virtue, but for power and pleasure. Therefore, paradoxically, despite remarkable scientific, technological, and economic advancement, we have not seen a significant change in subjective well-being. Rather, we see the dark sides of a decadent civilization in the rise of suicide, homicide, ecocide (killing of environment), and soulicide (killing of human souls).\n6. Defining human nature and human development within the Tawhidi anthropology: The Tawhidi anthropology is substantially different than secular anthropology, which denies the spiritual dimension of human nature. In other words, Tawhidi and secular paradigms have different views on what humans are and what they should be. Therefore, the measurement of human development has to be different. Since the purpose of any HDI is to measure human development, we have to start with the understanding of human nature - namely, whether it is given by God or nurtured by society.\n7. Measuring human development based on the Tawhidi paradigm: We think that measuring human development has to start with an understanding of human nature and human goals within the Tawhidi paradigm. As previously discussed, the ultimate goal for humans is to reach their perfection (or to become insan-i kamil). That is possible by promoting the positive elements of human nature while controlling the negative elements. Thus, we can argue that an iHDI should be based on the comprehensive understanding of human nature as outlined above. We think that an iHDI is the function of controlling the negative side of human nature while unleashing its positive sides. Thus, from an Islamic perspective, humans are supposed to develop toward the perfect human (insan-i kamel) among all creatures, fulfilling their mission of khalifa on earth. While the standard HDI focused mainly on health, education, and income, the Islamic worldview of human development should be more comprehensive because Islam in its nature as a religion is inherently concerned with integrating all aspects of life for living a good and fruitful life, what is called al-hayat al-tayyeba. Pursuing the pleasure of God in all behaviors will guide humans' choices for achieving their ultimate purpose in life.\n8. Eight-dimensional iHDI: We developed an eight-dimensional composite HDI based on the understanding of human nature from Tawhidi anthropology. These dimensions included physical, reasoning, spiritual, ethical, animal, social, deciding, and oppressive selves. We measured them using nine different indices, three of which come from cHDI. We included six new indices to measure six additional dimensions. Thus, our model can be considered a modified version of the cHDI. We kept education, health, and income indices from the cHDI while adding spirituality, corruption, morality, social, freedom, and safety indices. Our purpose was to come up with a modified index, rather than a completely new one.\n9. Conclusion, limitations, and future research: Human development is a major goal from an Islamic perspective. Indeed, one can consider the Qur'an and Sunnah as the divine guide for human development to be the best of the best among all of creation, surpassing even angels. Therefore, it is very important to measure and monitor human development. The cHDI provides some guidance, but it is not sufficient from the Islamic perspective because it only includes variables that are proxies for physical (bodily) and intellectual development. On the other hand, Islamic economics primarily emphasizes the development of moral, ethical, social, and spiritual dimensions of human nature. It assumes a multi-dimensional human nature rather than self-interest-driven utility maximization. Thus, as ideal human development is substantially different than what is measured by the cHDI, we suggest an alternative measurement of human development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Given the fact that the Islamic economic paradigm differs from the secular capitalist paradigm in terms of its emphasis on morality and spirituality, the author thinks that the current Human Development Index (HDI) does not capture human development from an Islamic perspective. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a paradigmatic, theoretical, and conceptual model for the suggested Islamic HDI (iHDI) and second, to present several proxy variables for multi-dimensional iHDI and test the proposed index through empirical data for ten Muslim countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author developed eight-dimensional composite iHDIs based on the understanding of human nature from the Tawhidi anthropology. These dimensions included physical, reasoning, spiritual, ethical, animal, social, deciding, and oppressive selves. The author measured them using nine different indices, three of which came from the conventional HDI (cHDI). The author then compared the rankings of those Muslim countries in iHDI to those in cHDI.\nFindings: The iHDI rankings for all Muslim countries except two differed from those in cHDI. The difference was more substantial for countries with higher economic development. Thus, improved cHDI rankings for Muslim countries based on their economic development do not necessarily mean that they move toward ideal human development. This finding confirms the need for an alternative human development indexing approach from an Islamic perspective.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is likely to initiate movement to develop an alternative HDI from Islamic perspective.\nPractical implications: The paper findings have important policy implications for Muslim countries.\nOriginality/value: It is the first empirical paper showing how to develop an alternative HDI from an Islamic perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using a game-based learning approach in teaching overall equipment effectiveness	[ "Performance measurement", "Training", "Lean manufacturing", "Game-based learning", "Overall equipment effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is an accepted performance indicator in identifying and measuring losses to increase the effectiveness of equipment (Kumar et al., 2013). OEE combines three measures, by multiplying the factors of availability, performance and quality. OEE is considered a key measure in both total productive maintenance (TPM) and lean maintenance (Anvari et al., 2010). Phogat and Gupta (2017), however, point out that lack of measurement of OEE is just one out of 11 larger problems in maintenance operations.\nTheoretical background: Overall equipment effectiveness\nDevelopment of the OEE game: Reference company\nThe OEE game: The OEE game is built on five made-up rounds (or iterations) with associated components. The components consist of printed material and an MS Excel document with several sheets. The printed material contains information on the particular rounds as well as two sets of playing cards. The explanation on the game flow follows.\nDiscussion: Using the categorization of simulation types of game-based education and training, as suggested by De Vin et al. (2018), to categorize this game, it can be perceived as a combination of a digital desktop game and a paper-based game. This can be seen as an advantage as the reference company with its three factories is using this type of set-up in its operational use of OEE. OEE as a performance indicator is the focus of the game and the participants are supposed to train and learn, through practical tests and discussions/reflections, about OEE, how it is measured and calculated, what losses are considered part of OEE and what losses are considered part of OE (which is context dependent), how to analyze and improve OEE, how to set appropriate OEE targets and the importance of logging OEE-related losses accurately. Though the game is based on made-up historical data, there is a great deal of realism in the data as they are based on real data from a manufacturing reference company plant. Unrealistic data are mentioned by Badurdeen et al. (2010) as one of the gaps in existing simulation designs. A commonly suggested feedback from participants in the tests of the game has been, \"Why are we not running this exercise with (our own) real data instead of this data?\" The feedback should not be mistaken as criticism on the realism of the data. The fact is that the data are perceived as realistic by the participants and hence they question why the exercise is not done on real data instead. The obvious answer is that if real data were used, then it would not be a game, but an actual analysis. With the made-up data, the game lets the participants focus on learning outcomes that are considered important for them to evaluate before analyzing real data. Running a game on real data would mean that the learning outcomes would be different in every round and sometimes the learning outcomes might not be conceivable. The fact that the participants have this feedback can be positively interpreted as engagement and motivation to use the newly acquired knowledge in real applications.\nConclusions: Measuring and analyzing OEE in an industrial context can have several pitfalls and ambiguities, such as missing data, poor or inadequate comments, data logged into incorrect loss categories, incorrect cycle times or set-up times. When teaching OEE to students or industrial workers it often becomes quite theoretical in nature, and it seems like all calculations always add up. This is something that might become confusing when implementing OEE in a real context. Thus, teaching OEE should include a discussion of these pitfalls and ambiguities; although, doing so theoretically might be difficult. Including them in a GBL approach is one possibility, and it has been the aim of this study to visualize such an attempt.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel training material for the performance indicator overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in the form of a game-based learning (GBL) approach to be used in Industry and University context. The paper will present the development of the game as well as results from tests of the game with Industry employees and University students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data that are used in the game have been acquired from real OEE data logs of a reference company. The game has been refined iteratively using feedback from the participants of the tests.\nFindings: The paper presents the game with its components and learning objectives. A comparison of various theoretical factors on GBL and the novel training material is performed and future improvements are suggested.\nResearch limitations/implications: The game has been developed based on OEE data logs from only one reference company.\nPractical implications: The training material and specifically the game can be used to train Industrial workers and University students to better envision OEE as a performance indicator.\nOriginality/value: Serious games on lean manufacturing have been developed and played for a long time. While some of these games include OEE as an important result parameter, none really demonstrates how it is measured and analyzed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How organizations can successfully navigate change: The critical role of leadership	[ "Leadership", "Change", "Leadership style", "Stakeholders" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe increasing rate of change: Today's business world is one in which the only real certainty is uncertainty. Unremitting globalization and the rampant march of technology are among the most cited reasons for its volatile state. And the increasingly ephemeral nature of trends fueled partly by ever-evolving stakeholder requirements is likewise significant.\nWhy leadership style can make a difference: Wise owls realize that leadership becomes even more critical when change is factored into the equation. Many people regard change as a dirty word, not least because it forces them out of their comfort zone. Anxieties surface when the status quo is threatened so it's critical to allay any fears as soon as possible.\nFramework to incorporate key change stages: Scholars have offered a variety of different frameworks that suggest different stages involved in change. While the number of stages varies, most include variants of identifying the need for change, communicating the case, building a change framework, implementing the process, empowering others, navigating change, evaluation and ensuring that change is sustained. Frequent communication is vital and training programs focused on change are a sensible idea too.\nComment: The review is based on: \"Change leadership in the 21st century\", by Dumas and Beinecke (2018), published in Journal of Organizational Change Management. The rapidity of change that characterizes today's business environment is a cause of much apprehension in organizations. However, charismatic leaders who empower employees and involve them in the change process can secure the support needed to enable successful transition.\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: Adapting to the rapid pace of change in their operating environment is challenging for most firms. Successful transition becomes likelier if organizational leadership displays the skills and attributes needed to motivate employees and gain their support for the change process.\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" } ]
Assessing the sustainability content of the Nigerian engineering curriculum	[ "Curriculum", "Sustainability", "Assessment", "Content", "Engineering education", "Nigeria" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2004, the Barcelona Declaration (EESD, 2004) presented a sustainability narrative of increasing complexity and the inadequacies of the dominant socioeconomic development model. A new kind of engineer was needed, possessing such skills as an understanding of engineering's interface with society, economy and environment. Also recommended were the application of systemic and holistic methods, ability to work in multidisciplinary teams and the capacity to utilise professional knowledge according to deontological principles and universal ethics. Engineering education must be reoriented towards achieving these competences (EESD, 2004). These ideas made inroads into the educational policies of several governments, with accreditation organisations introducing sustainability as a certification requirement.\nMethods: Data collection\nResults: Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards for engineering\nDiscussion: General discussion\nLimitations: The sustainability assessment approach adopted in the study is constrained by the problem of defining sustainability content - the question of what constitutes a sustainability syllabus or course. Consequently, how to measure the sustainability content of a pedagogical document is not unambiguous. Expert-derived sustainability themes as used in this study are a useful means of gauging sustainability content. However, the resulting sustainability themes are ineluctably equivocal and the derived catalogue unavoidably incomplete. No expert listing of sustainability themes can be exhaustive enough to cover all aspects of sustainability, which is underlain by the fluidity of the sustainability concept. These inherent constraints may have limited the research's potential for a comprehensive appraisal of the sustainability content of the Nigerian engineering curriculum. Topics in the engineering documents that could qualify as sustainability content might have been overlooked for not fitting the a priori codes derived from the sustainability themes.\nConclusion: Results of a sustainability content analysis of the Nigerian engineering curriculum were presented in the paper. The assessment involved the official BMAS document for accrediting engineering programmes and engineering curriculum documents from two Nigerian HEIs. These data were tested against 37 sustainability topics obtained from an expert-derived list of sustainability themes. An outcome of the study was that the sustainability content of the engineering programmes based on the documentary analysis was low at a mean spread of 4.3 per cent (13.37 per cent average potential content). Furthermore, environmental concepts were the most cited sustainability themes, whilst social topics were the least stated issues in the curriculum. Most of the featured sustainability topics appeared in the traditional engineering management courses. Only the BMAS document mentioned sustainability competence as an expected learning outcome for engineering graduates. A comparative look at the sustainability contents of the UCL and Nigerian engineering curricula revealed a similarity in the core disciplines, but with the UCL engineering curriculum through the IEP model containing more sustainability topics. Nonetheless, the efficacy of such content in terms of students' sustainability literacy cannot be guaranteed. Overall, the findings confirmed the need for a sustainability education intervention for the Nigerian engineering curriculum.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to present an assessment of the sustainability content of the Nigerian engineering curriculum in universities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Content analysis is used to generate and analyse data from three engineering documents, namely, the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards for Engineering Programmes in Nigeria and the engineering handbooks of two Nigerian higher education institutions.\nFindings: The Nigerian engineering curriculum is revealed to have a low sustainability content, with environmental concepts being the most cited themes and social topics as the least stated issues.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sustainability assessment approach adopted in the study is constrained by the question of what constitutes a sustainability syllabus. Expert-derived sustainability themes used in the study are unavoidably incomplete and may limit the conduct of an exhaustive sustainability content assessment.\nPractical implications: Based on the research outcome, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and other stakeholders can consider ways to adequately incorporate sustainability themes in the Nigerian engineering curriculum.\nOriginality/value: The research is an effort to determine the presence of sustainability issues in the Nigerian engineering education, which has hitherto been scarcely documented. This study provides a baseline and a rationale for sustainability education interventions in the Nigerian engineering curriculum. It also presents a methodology for analysing sustainability content in university curriculum and contributes to the continuing sustainability education discourse, especially in relation to sub-Saharan Africa.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using reasoned imagination to learn about cascading hazards: a pilot study	[ "Questionnaire", "Critical thinking", "Transformative learning", "Cascading hazards", "Hazard correlation matrix", "Reasoned imagination" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Our complex socio-economic system is subjected to both internal (anthropogenic/technological) and external (natural) hazards, whose combined effects may be difficult to anticipate. Recent major catastrophes have often resulted from such interactions. Some of the best known examples are the 2005 hurricane Katrina, USA, which produced a surge large enough to breach levees, ultimately triggering the wide-scale flooding of the city of New Orleans (Comfort, 2006) and the 2011 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake, whose unexpected high magnitude triggered a tsunami larger than planned in the protection of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, leading to a major nuclear accident with radioactive material released, along with other industrial accidents (Norio et al., 2011; Krausmann and Cruz, 2013). Both disasters and their consequences triggered in turn a partial collapse of several production sectors (Hallegatte, 2008; Norio et al., 2011). Gill and Malamud (2014) performed a review of almost one hundred potential interactions between various natural hazards, illustrating the richness of cascading hazard phenomena. Challenges in multi-hazard assessment and multi-risk governance are reviewed in Kappes et al. (2012) and Mignan et al. (2016), respectively.\n2. Method: 2.1. Critical thinking exercise on multi-hazard\n3. Results: 3.1. HCM quality evaluation\n4. Conclusions: The results on the present pilot study revealed that the HCM is a simple tool to describe known cascading phenomena (e.g. Figure 4(d)) and that it could also be used to integrate reasoned imagination into the description of additional - often unforeseen - cascades (Section 3.2). The participants, high school teachers in natural sciences, clearly stated that they learned about the complexity of cascading hazards and this especially thanks to the modus operandi, which is the HCM method. This suggests that the HCM method could be labeled as a cognitive and teaching tool (Jonassen, 1992), since it engages thinking processes on cascading hazard processes. More precisely, once the idea that complex cascades can be deconstructed into simple one-to-one interactions is assimilated, new knowledge can be inferred.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a pilot study involving high school teachers in natural sciences. The aim was to foster critical thinking about cascading hazards via the use of reasoned imagination. Cascading phenomena can lead to extreme catastrophes and are thus a challenge for disaster prevention and management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following a presentation listing some known cascading phenomena, the participants completed a questionnaire consisting of a blank hazard correlation matrix (HCM) and some open-ended questions. The HCM qualitatively described possible interactions between 16 different perils selected from a large spectrum of natural, technological and socio-economic hazards.\nFindings: Most participants were able to describe cascading phenomena within the HCM by reducing them into sets of one-to-one interactions. Based on their experience and imagination, the participants foresaw additional interactions that were not discussed, never observed but are scientifically plausible. The majority of the respondents reported that they learnt something new and wanted to learn more about cascading hazards.\nOriginality/value: The HCM is especially effective in translating complex hazard scenarios into basic interactions and vice versa. Being imaginative (here via the use of reasoned imagination) and accessible, the HCM could be used as basis for transformative learning in the education of the public and of practitioners on the role of cascading hazards in catastrophes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Rome wasn't built in a day ... reflecting on time, intellectual capital and intellectual liabilities	[ "Value creation", "Time", "Intellectual capital", "Intellectual liabilities", "Temporal lens", "Value destruction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"Rome wasn't built in a day, but when it fell, it burnt in one\". This adage, with its reference to creation, destruction, and time, provides a very apropos springboard for the discussion underlying this study. This paper builds on Giuliani (2013) to provide a different analysis regarding the intellectual capital (IC) value creation and value destruction processes. While that paper suggests there exist differences between value creation and value destruction processes in terms of connections, i.e. between (IC) dynamics and intellectual liability (IL) dynamics, it also offers the possibility of investigating the temporal dimension of the analysed value processes. Because of length and scope limitations, Giuliani (2013) did not develop this aspect previously. Consequently, the present study purports to investigate IC and ILs through a temporal lens (Ancona et al., 2001a).\n2. IC and ILs under a temporal lens: Among the several perspectives from which IC can be observed, two main approaches, one static and one dynamic, can be identified (Meritum, 2002). While the former focuses on the stock of IC resources, investigating how they can be visualized and quantified by subscribing to the old adage \"you can manage what you can measure\" (Brannstrom and Giuliani, 2009; Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Grojer and Johanson, 1996; Mouritsen, 2009; Mouritsen and Roslender, 2009; Stewart, 1997), the latter is instead centred on flows, processes, rules, activities, and connections, i.e. on the value creation process (Cuganesan, 2005, p. 360; Cuganesan and Dumay, 2009, p. 1163; Marr et al., 2004, p. 312).\n3. Design of the study: This study tries to answer two calls: the first is the one for case studies that are useful for analysing IC \"in action\" (Cuganesan, 2005) or \"in practice\" (Dumay, 2013) while the second is the one that requires a qualitative analysis of time (Ezzamel and Robson, 1995; Hassard, 1996). Thus, this research adopts the field study method to investigate how companies perceive when IC does what.\n4. Investigating IC and ILs in practice through a temporal lens: Investigating IC from a dynamic perspective can be problematic as it is perceived to have a complex nature and multiple connections with the other organizational resources. Within the nine companies investigated different positions could be identified. In the analysis of the empirics, the investigation will develop as follows. First, a focus on \"accounting for time\" will be proposed; then some responses regarding time and its attributes will be discussed; finally some reflections about time, ILs and value destruction will be offered.\n5. Conclusions: The aim of this paper was to analyse the role played by IC and ILs \"in practice\" within the value creation and value destruction processes, by adopting a temporal lens and a managerial perspective. In particular, this study is based on the following research question:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse, through a temporal lens and from a managerial perspective, the role played by intellectual capital (IC) and intellectual liabilities (ILs) \"in practice\" within the value creation and value destruction processes. In particular, this study is based on the following research question: to what extent are time and its attributes considered, measured, and discussed with reference to IC and ILs and their influence on financial capital (FC)? In order to achieve this purpose, the author has carried out a field study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A field study method is adopted in order to understand IC and ILs \"in action\" from a temporal perspective.\nFindings: This study highlights the relevance of time when IC and ILs are analysed from a dynamic perspective. In particular, the main findings are the following. First, it emerges that the time dimension of IC tends not to be measured due to the complexity of IC itself and to the lack of adequate accounting practices. Second, IC time is generally considered to be non-cyclical and random. Third, even if time is not measured, some companies talk about it and when this is done with regularity, time perceptions move from an individual sphere to a collective one and they become more and more reliable. Moreover, IC performance is perceived to be \"distant\" from FC performance: the succession of events and the time lags are difficult to define and quantify as the influence of IC on FC is mediated by several resources and events. Lastly, the value destruction process related to ILs tends to generate negative effects faster than the value creation one, especially with reference to the impacts of IC on FC.\nResearch limitations/implications: The main limitations of this study are twofold. The first is related to the methodology adopted and the related risks that the results may be subject to both interviewee and interviewer bias and interpretation. The second is related to the fact that the constructs to be discussed were not proposed by the firms but by the author, in order to make the results comparable.\nPractical implications: This study contributes to the literature on IC and ILs \"in action\" and \"in practice\". Moreover, this study enriches the extant IC and ILs literature focusing on time, a variable that is generally assumed to be a natural unchangeable phenomenon that does not deserve attention. In particular, the findings highlight the different behaviours and perceptions that occur when IC and ILs are looked at through a temporal lens. Finally, this study pinpoints that value creation and value destruction processes seem to have different timings as it takes more time to create value than to destroy it.\nOriginality/value: In comparison to previous studies, this study does not focus on the positive and negative effects of IC separately, but combines the two issues, also comparing the value creation and the value destruction processes in order to offer a complete picture. Moreover, it adopts a temporal lens, which has been applied only with reference to IC but not to ILs as well. Finally, while the extant literature on ILs tends to investigate them from a theoretical perspective and adopting a static approach, this research investigates ILs empirically from a dynamic perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Never apologize and never explain	[ "Reputation", "Public", "Corporation", "Apology", "Authentic", "Effective" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: After trekking across the Alps, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV kneeled outside Pope Gregory VII's castle at Canossa from January 25 to January 27, 1077 in a blizzard without food or drink to apologize for renouncing Gregory as pope (Robinson, 1999). Almost a hundred years later, another Henry, England's King Henry II apologized for his complicity in the murder of Thomas a Beckett, his erstwhile chancellor whom he had appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. On July 12, 1174, the king did penance at Canterbury, allowing each bishop present to beat him five times with a rod, followed by a slashing with twigs by 80 monks (Hosler, 2007).\nSpecificity: Vague and generalized apologies, even when cloaked in powerful words of regret or remorse fail the test of credibility because they are not strongly connected to the behavior requiring an apology. After power failed on one of the line's cruise ships in February, 2013, leading to unsanitary conditions, President and CEO Gerry Cahill said this on ABC's Good Morning America: \"I need to apologize to our guests and to our families that have been affected by a very difficult situation\" (ABC News, 2013). While he also talked about \"conditions\" aboard the ship, he missed the opportunity to apologize for those specific conditions. In order to be effective, corporate apologies should be as specific as possible. In the case of Carnival, there is also a question of authenticity as, in the same apology, Cahill tried to suggest that the conditions were actually not as bad as described by some passengers tweeting from on board. In the context of an apology, questioning the credibility of the victim is rarely effective.\nAuthenticity: The language of apology has become more sophisticated in recent years but there are still many examples of apologies that fail because they either are not authentic or do not sound authentic. The most common formula for these non-apology apologies often takes the form of the statement that the company is sorry if offense has been taken: \"We are sorry if people feel offended by the design of our new Bref Duo Stripes,\" said Henkel, German manufacturer of the toilet freshener, after Ukrainians complained about an advertisement that some consumers thought made it look like the national flag had been put into a toilet bowl (Reuters, 2013). One can almost hear the corporate fury and gnashing of teeth behind the statement. Many apologies also fail the test of authenticity by seeming to be more about the perpetrator as victim. In the case of Lance Armstrong, the champion cyclist who finally admitting to doping, the bulk of his apology interviews seemed to be about the burden and the strain on him as opposed to the suffering or injustice caused to his actual victims or to society.\nTimeliness: Apologies can also be ineffective for reasons of timing but it is not all one way. Apologies can come both too early, as well as too late. We often see this problem in corporate statements that use phrases such as \"put this situation behind us,\" \"we need to move on\" and \"we're glad we've been able to deal with this situation to the satisfaction of all parties.\" The premature apology has even migrated into the standard scripts for customer service centers of large companies. It is all too frequent to call with a complaint and receive an apology prior to the problem even being fully stated. This has the perverse effect of irritating the caller even more because he or she feels instantly that the so-called apology is nothing more than a veiled request that the complainer stop complaining.\nFollow through: Which brings us to the most critical element of any apology, a credible plan to make victims whole, where possible, or make changes to operating procedures that address the defect. While a heartfelt apology may be effective on its own in the short term, restoring a corporate reputation requires a well thought through plan of action that can be the basis of a renewed relationship with stakeholders. After a delayed response to its global recall, Toyota did create a \"Safety Star\" system that implemented comprehensive new safety practices (Toyota Star Safety System, 2010). After its storm delay debacle, Jet Blue issued a new \"Passenger Bill of Rights\" that codified the changes that the airline was making in its aircraft logistics management system (Jet Blue, 2007). Most notable was Denny's Restaurants' transformation after federal charges in 1994 of systematic corporate racism (Associated Press, 2002). By 2002, through a company-wide diversity commitment, the number of African-American franchise holders had gone from 1 to 64. The number of its contracts with minority suppliers went from zero in 1994 to $100 million in less than a decade. This is one of the clearest examples of a company that matched its actions to its words.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: To assess whether the current trend for public apologies will continue or fade away\nDesign/methodology/approach: Review of selected public apologies to assess their impact on public perception.\nFindings: In spite of some apology \"fatigue,\" well-executed apologies have an appropriate role in helping to rebuild reputation.\nOriginality/value: Corporate executives can learn what makes an effective apology\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of volunteer organizations in leadership skill development	[ "Transferable skills", "Leadership skills", "Service learning", "Volunteer organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Twenty-first century business sustainability requires the implementation of dynamic leadership practices. The general business environment is constantly evolving as global interaction and technological enhancements continue to broaden the competitive landscape. While corporate training within an employee's place of business may provide professional development in the latest leadership techniques, the outcome may focus more on theory rather than provide actual hands-on application, or the training itself may be reserved for only a select few (Zheltoukhova, 2014). The corporate environment may also present limitations for the number of available promotions to higher-level leadership opportunities (Mogensen, 2008). Also, training certainly does not guarantee a work promotion or the ability to immediately implement the learned skill sets (Bates, 2004).\nBackground: Review of the literature\nMethods: Design\nFindings and analysis: In total, 15 current or past Presidents of Junior League and 15 current or past Masters of the Masonic Fraternity participated in the study. Participant ages ranged from 38 to 73. After coding and recoding the responses, and conducting frequency distributions, three key themes emerged. These themes related to training, application, and transference. Each theme is explored below and verbatim responses presented to reinforce a descriptive sampling of the shared viewpoints.\nDiscussion and practical implications: The results of the study affirmed the value of volunteer organizations in its role of leadership skill development from the volunteer's viewpoint. In answering the overarching research question, the authors conclude that accepting a leadership role within a volunteer organization clearly provides opportunities to develop new skills, as well as further hone currently held skill sets. The volunteer who assumes a leadership role has the potential to gain personal and professional confidence. The themes that emerged from this study: training, practice, and transference, closely align with KM theory and the knowledge transfer life cycle. In gender-specific volunteer organizations, there appears to be no difference between the opportunities for men and women to learn and practice leadership skills. The skill sets gleaned from the leadership roles within the volunteer organization are transferable and applicable to the participants' full-time work organization.\nLimitations and recommendations for future research: Research results tend to resemble an iceberg. The presented results may be just the tip of the iceberg of potential information. Additional critical analysis reveals the larger, unseen portion, which reflects the limitations of the current study and the possibilities for future research. This study was a preliminary exploration of the role of volunteer organizations in leadership skill development.\nConclusion: Managers within business settings should consider the value-added benefits of encouraging employees to become involved in volunteer organizations and accept leadership roles. Not only does this promote good corporate social responsibility, but the skill development and enhancement could further benefit the firm. Employees may not always have opportunities for continuous upward advancement within the business organization; however, gaining new skills could add to the breadth and depth of knowledge and skill sets, as well as helping employees to reach a higher level of potential.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of service learning and the use of volunteer organizations as a means for members to learn and hone leadership skills that can be transferred to their full-time corporate positions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative study incorporating a phenomenological design was utilized to interview 30 past presidents of two volunteer organizations in Florida, Junior League and the Masonic Fraternity. The goal was to explore the participants' thoughts and experiences related to transferable leadership skill development.\nFindings: Emerging themes confirmed that accepting leadership roles within volunteer organizations is conducive to learning, testing, and evaluating new methods of leadership and skill enhancement. These skill sets can then be transferred and applied to different corporate settings.\nPractical implications: Organizational leaders should consider the value-added benefits of encouraging employees to become involved in volunteer organizations and accepting leadership roles. This not only promotes good corporate social responsibility, but provides the employee with leadership skill development, which may ultimately benefit the firm.\nOriginality/value: Participants belonging to two separate volunteer organizations presented viewpoints regarding the value of volunteer organizations in developing and honing transferable leadership skills. Previous research has not addressed direct skill transference from leadership experiences in volunteer organizations and therefore, this research is unique in its contribution to the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Governance structure and public health provision	[ "Government policy", "New Zealand", "Management", "Governance", "Corporate governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The governance of health providers can have a significant impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of care provided by those organisations. As hospitals become more complex, a number of concerns are raised about governance structure. For example, is efficiency and effectiveness best achieved when governance is performed by a board or by specialist management teams? Should a board of directors be made up of locally elected members or should these members be appointed by government? Another consideration is whether healthcare organisation should be centralised to maximise resource use or regionalised to better meet local needs? Lastly, to what degree should the public participate in a public healthcare system?\nLiterature review: Public health board structure results from a political process and relies on the concerns of politicians and their advisers. A major consideration is how accurately their intentions are replicated in reality. This section reviews the literature examining the structural issues raised in the law's formation and identified in the research questions.\nMethod: The objective of this research is to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the governance structure of a public health board. Three steps with different methodologies were undertaken to achieve this goal.\nAnalysis of parliament's intentions: The current health board structure is a consequence of a law passed in 2000, the New Zealand Health and Disabilities Act. As a consequence of this law, the healthcare service of New Zealand was divided into a number of regions. Governance was:\nBoard meeting analysis: To select the best governance model, we need to know what boards actually do. However, Schwartz-Ziv and Weisbach (2013, p. 363) noted \"Our knowledge of Boards of directors is substantially limited by the private way which they usually operate\". This section seeks to increase our understanding and thereby inform our choice of structure by analysing what boards do. Agendas and minutes from 32 CDHB meetings were analysed and coded following standard content analysis methods.\nInterview of clinicians: The final part of this study was a survey of clinicians on their views of the governance structure.\nDiscussion: In light of the research results, the discussion re-examines the four research questions.\nConclusion: The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the efficiency and effectiveness of the CDHB structure. It focused on four key questions, that is:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A key question in the provision of public health concerns how that provision is governed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the governance structure of a public health board and its perceived impact on the efficacy of clinical operations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structural issues examined the level of centralisation and public participation, and whether governance should occur through elected boards or appointed managers. These issues were examined through multiple lenses. First was the intention of the structure, examining the issues identified by parliament when the new structure was created. Second, the activities of the board were examined through an analysis of board meetings. Finally, hospital clinicians were surveyed through semi-structured interviews with both quantitative and qualitative questioning.\nFindings: A contradiction was revealed between intention, perception and actual activities. This raises concerns over whether the public are significantly informed to elect the best-skilled appointees to governance positions.\nPractical implications: This research holds implications for selecting governance structures of public health providers.\nOriginality/value: Few studies have looked at the role of a publicly elected healthcare governance structure from the perspective of the clinicians. Hence, this study contributes to the literature on healthcare structure and its impact on clinical operations, by including a clinician's perspective. However, this paper goes beyond the survey and also considers the intention of the structure as proposed by parliament, and board activities or what the board actually does. This enables a comparison of intention with outcomes and perception of those outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cross-functional interconnectedness as an enabler of customer value	[ "Critical incident technique", "Cross-functional relationships", "Marketing promises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Marketing activities depend on efforts from several areas within the firm and from customer experiences with the product or service to generate a process of value co-creation. In this sense, the traditional responsibility of marketing, as an organizational unit, has been divided with other functions that deal with activities with potential to create and to deliver customer value (Gronroos, 2009). These circumstances highlight the relevance of studying cross-functional integration, which is essential to create customer value through products and services (Lambert and Cook, 1990; Daugherty et al., 2009). As Gronroos (2009) stated, the customer value creation only happens after the consumption and use of the product or the service. Functions such as logistics, operations and customer complaints are partially involved with marketing responsibilities, ensuring that promises of customer value, including meeting market requirements and expectations, are fulfilled. This phenomenon has been studied through the perspective of relationship marketing, which gives emphasis on the integration of several areas to perform customer management processes instead of transactions restricted to a single function (Gronroos, 1999).\n2. Literature review: According to Gronroos (2009), marketing creates expectations by promising value, but does not create value or promise value creation. \"Expectations created by promises are kept by providing assistance to customers' value creation\" (Gronroos, 2009 p. 356). These promises need to be kept by several internal activities to create and disseminate value through products and services. Value is either created by the customer or through co-creation with a supplier. This is clearer when Gronroos (2009, p. 353) says \"although the customers are the ultimate creators of value for themselves, during the interactions the firm gets an opportunity to co-create value with its customers\".\n3. Research method: This study is motivated by the following question: How does cross-functional interconnectedness influence customer value enabling? The critical incident technique (CIT) was used to perform data collection and analysis (Flanagan, 1954). Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted in three Brazilian companies. Glaser and Strauss (1967, p. 55) explain that the investigation within multiple organizations may attempt to minimize differences between them. \"Minimizing differences between comparative cases increases the possibility of the researcher finding very similar definitions for certain categories\". This type of sample selection helps to establish a well-defined set of conditions within which the categories under analysis exist, thus establishing a possibility of replication of theoretical characteristics.\n4. Results: Figure 2 provides an overview of the three sets of functional networks examined in this study, embedded in ElectricCo, GlassCo and ChemicalCo.\n5. Discussion: This paper aimed to analyze the processes of interconnectedness in cross-functional networks involved in customer value enabling. Grounded on the literature of relationship marketing (Gronroos, 2009), three main constructs concerning cross-functional networks can be highlighted: marketing processes, network relationships and impacts of interconnectedness on enabling promises.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the processes of interconnectedness in cross-functional relationships involved in customer value enabling.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted in three Brazilian companies from different industries. The critical incident technique was used for data collection and analysis. Content analysis was used to characterize the critical incidents within functional area networks.\nFindings: Six main critical incidents were identified within the studied relationships: process, urgency, lack of trust, capacity and demand imbalance, motivation and challenge. The results show situations in which the collaborative behavior of the actors generates customer value facilitation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The firms studied are small and medium, located in an emerging economy and are resource-constrained. Further research could be performed in organizations in other countries with different sizes and resources. Future studies could also include customers within the analyzed functional networks to evaluate value-in-use behavior.\nPractical implications: Process, as a critical incident, may be composed of several elements that could affect the processes of value creation. Moreover, the adjustment between production capacity and demand should focus on avoiding propagation of functional problems through the processes. This focus may facilitate spontaneous community behavior and customer knowledge renewal.\nOriginality/value: This paper generates new qualitative bases to characterize the interconnectedness within functional networks within the perspective of relationship marketing. The study of the internal functions and processes revealed several particularities that are not evidenced in the extant literature, which is concentrated in relationships among companies. The quality of the relationship among the members of a functional network may affect the effectiveness of the promises of customer value, more specifically in value enabling.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teacher effectiveness and student achievement: Investigating a multilevel cross-classified model	[ "Teachers", "Quality", "Students", "Quality improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The question of whether a particular school and its teachers have a substantial effect[1] on student achievement is central to efforts to increase accountability. Students attend one school over several years with instruction from multiple teachers. Although schools are more commonly evaluated in terms of the performances of their students, teachers can be also (e.g. see Mendro et al., 1998). A number of countries (e.g. Australia, UK, USA) are experimenting with performance-related salary incentives for teachers. Teachers can earn salary bonuses if their students make substantial academic gains. With the increased attention to school and teacher accountability, an important consideration is whether some teachers within the school are more effective than others in producing student learning and, if so, does having more effective teachers over time confer any academic advantage to students? Moreover, does the \"collective\" effectiveness of teachers differentiate schools in terms of their students' achievement levels?\nBackground of the study: Since the 1970s, research on school effects has focused on ways that schools can diminish inequities in students' academic outcomes due to their varied demographic and learning backgrounds. Previous research indicates that some schools are better able than others to produce higher and more equitable outcomes among students with differing social and racial/ethnic backgrounds (Creemers, 1994; Good and Brophy, 1986; Hill and Rowe, 1998; Lee and Bryk, 1989; Mortimore, 1993; Teddlie and Reynolds, 2000). Among school factors found to affect student outcomes consistently are organizational structures (e.g. size), climate (e.g. expectations for achievement, safety), policies and procedures (e.g. assessment, discipline), academic organization (e.g. grouping strategies, curriculum and learning activities), and teachers (e.g. professional qualifications, skills, classroom effectiveness).Teacher quality\nResearch focus: Given variability in findings of previous research, their limitations, and several unknowns (e.g. differences in designs and methods of estimating teacher effects, accumulation of effects over time, handling missing data), it seems too soon to conclude, at least from existing empirical studies, that teachers are the single most important variable in accounting for student achievement - despite the attractiveness of the statement as a policy lever to enhance support for teacher preparation, credentialing, and accountability. Multilevel models hold promise for examining the contributions of successive teachers and schools to student learning because they make better use of the available information than more simplified analyses (Thum, 2003). Multilevel models assume students are not randomly assigned to classrooms, and teachers are not randomly distributed across schools. Students are clustered in classrooms with teachers of differing skills and effectiveness and in schools with differing community expectations, teacher skills, and academic processes. School factors can moderate learning conditions within classrooms (e.g. prolonged grouping assignments, differential access to curriculum, inconsistent academic experiences for students within a particular grade level). Students therefore share similarities with peers within these hierarchical social groupings. The sum of these varied learning contexts enhances or diminishes students' academic outcomes in direct and indirect ways.Conceptual model\nMethod: Data\nVariables in the models: Student-level variables\nResults: The first step in the analysis is to fit the \"unconditional\" models, or models without explanatory variables. This analysis provides a description of the variance components associated with each level of a data hierarchy. Three unconditional models are compared in Table I. Models 1 and 2 are three-level hierarchical models (students nested in classrooms and in schools) that partition the variance in reading and math outcomes into components associated with students, their first- or second-year classrooms, and their schools. Model 3 is a cross-classified model examining the variance in reading and outcomes due to students, each of their two classrooms, and schools.How much variance in student outcomes is associated with classrooms?\nDiscussion and implications: Currently, there is a strong expectation that school personnel improve the quality of learning environments and instruction that takes place within schools in ways that lead to higher student outcomes. Much attention has focused on upgrading the quality and effectiveness of the school's teaching staff. Previous studies have found teacher characteristics (e.g. preparation, qualifications, knowledge) and behavior affect student learning. There are, however, few studies on the consistency and duration of teacher effects (Bressoux and Bianco, 2004; McCaffrey et al., 2003).The findings of this study provide support for the view that teacher effectiveness is related to differences in student outcomes in several ways consistent with the proposed theoretical model. First, similar to previous studies, teacher effects do matter in describing student achievement levels (e.g. Mendro et al., 1998; Rowan et al., 2002; Sanders and Horn, 1998). More specifically, the effectiveness levels of successive teachers were positively associated with estimates of students' ending achievement in both reading and math. In contrast to Bressoux and Bianco (2004), who found that previous teacher effects did not persist, in this study both the previous and immediate teachers produced observable and consistent effects on student outcomes. The combined teacher effects were slightly larger in math than reading.Results indicated the size of both previous and current teacher effects randomly varied across classrooms, with about 80 percent of the variability between classes within schools. Within schools, some students were assigned to more effective teachers than others, and over time, these assignment decisions resulted in differential achievement outcomes. The pattern of results, therefore, provides support for the study's first hypothesis, since all four proposed within-school teacher effects were significant.Second, the results suggest something new in terms of demonstrating the added value of teacher effectiveness both within schools and between schools. One way this latter school effect might occur, as proposed in H2, would be if higher mean levels of teacher effectiveness, as an organizational property of schools, contributed to higher achievement levels between schools. This premise was supported for both reading and math achievement. The results therefore provide support for H2, suggesting that teacher effects also tend to accumulate across organizational levels. More specifically, holding equal the effectiveness of students' immediate teachers within their schools, attending a school where the collective teaching effectiveness is considerably \"above average\" produced small additional academic advantages for those students, compared with students in \"average\" schools.Third, the study identified a constellation of school-level variables associated with teachers that also contributes to differences between schools in student achievement. In addition to collective teacher effectiveness, the variables included the stability of the school's teaching staff over time and stakeholder perceptions about the quality of its educational processes. Stronger academic press (e.g. classroom emphasis on academics, expectations for student achievement assessment of student progress) and leadership were positively related to ending achievement. This result provides hints about tangible steps school leaders can take to engage in efforts strengthen resources and academic processes that enhance students' success.Implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show how increasing teacher effectiveness is central to school efforts to improve student outcomes. This study aims to examine successive teachers' effects on student achievement. The premise advanced is that teacher effectiveness is an individual resource that varies across classrooms within schools, as well as a collective resource that varies across schools.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The methods used represent an attempt to expand the scope of previous studies about ways in which schools affect student learning by examining a multilevel constellation of teacher-related effects (e.g. classroom effectiveness, collective teaching quality, school academic organization) that can be changed to increase educational effectiveness. The sample consisted of 9,196 students, cross-classified in 511 and 527 classrooms, and nested in 156 elementary schools.\nFindings: - First, the effectiveness of successive teachers was related to student achievement in reading and math. Second, collective teacher effectiveness, as an organizational property of schools, was positively associated with achievement levels. Third, the stability of the school's teaching staff and the quality of its academic organization and teaching processes were positively related to achievement levels.\nOriginality/value: - Findings are consistent with studies that have found that differences in teacher effectiveness matter in explaining student achievement. They also suggest that teacher effects tend to accumulate within and between schools to provide noticeable academic advantage or disadvantage. The results imply promising avenues through which a leadership focus on hiring and retaining high-quality teachers and facilitating improved academic processes can yield increased school effectiveness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Data-based decision making in primary schools in Ethiopia	[ "Accountability", "Ethiopia", "School improvement", "Primary schools", "Data-based decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Accountability systems and advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have resulted in the proliferation of large amounts of data that can contribute to a rich environment for teacher professional development. Data are any \"information that is collected and organized to represent some aspect of the school\" (Schildkamp et al., 2013, p. 10), and include input data (e.g. student characteristics), process data (e.g. the quality of instruction), outcome data (e.g. student test scores, student well-being) and context data (e.g. policy documents and resources) (Ikemoto and Marsh, 2007). Data use or data-based decision making is a process of \"systematically analyzing existing data sources within the school, applying outcomes of analyses to innovate teaching, curricula, and school performance, and implementing (e.g. genuine improvement actions) and evaluating these innovations\" (Schildkamp and Kuiper, 2010, p. 482). Data use, therefore, represents a systematic, structured, iterative and interpretive social process in which stakeholders such as teachers and school leaders transform data into actionable knowledge to improve school and student performance.\n2. Conceptual framework: 2.1 Data use in schools\n3. Methodology: To explore the type and amount of data available in Ethiopian primary schools (RQ1), assess the extent of data use (RQ2), and identify the factors influencing data use (RQ3), a mixed methods approach was adopted in this study. Table I presents a summary of the research questions, instruments, sources of data and data analysis techniques.\n4. Data analysis: The availability of different types of data was determined using the inventory checklist, and the use of data was implied when interview participants mentioned a given type of data and explained how they use these data. Regarding the extent of data use for accountability, school development and instruction, a descriptive analysis was conducted. Moreover, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was calculated to determine whether there was a significant difference between high- and low-performing schools. Multilevel analysis was conducted to determine the extent of the influence of characteristics of the data (e.g. accessibility, reliability), the users (e.g. knowledge and skills), and the school organization (e.g. time for data use, support), as defined in the conceptual framework (Section 2.2) on data use for accountability, school development and instruction (Section 2.1). To obtain deeper insight into how schools use data for different purposes and to understand how different factors influence the data use process, qualitative data from interview responses were analyzed using a coding rubric developed based on the theoretical framework. The inter-rater reliability check of the coding of transcribed interview responses was conducted by two experts (including the author) who matched the full excerpts of the interview data from one of the four schools with the categories or themes using the coding rubric. The inter-reliability coefficient was calculated from 3 of the 12 transcribed interviews (25 percent) with 20 codes and 44 responses, where the inter-rater agreement was 77 percent. The responses from all interviews were then coded, and a range of perspectives that encompassed similar thought processes were identified (Creswell, 2012) and organized around three major themes of data use - accountability, school development and instruction.\n5. Results: The results of survey and interview data analysis are presented below, organized by research question. The results present the extent of data availability and use, data use processes and influential factors, within and across high- and low-performing schools.\n6. Conclusions and discussion: 6.1 Type and amount of data available in schools\n7. Implications for practice, policy and research: With an ongoing standards-based accountability environment, effective use of data for improvement remains a key challenge for schools, particularly low-performing ones. They struggle to use data effectively and make changes in student learning. The results of this study show that school organizational characteristics often hinder data use, but the mechanism differs in different schools, indicating that any intervention to change school practice should consider how these factors comes into play as schools practice their improvement plans. This can be extended to supporting schools to strengthen existing professional development to be more structured and systematic (e.g. Lai et al., 2009; Schildkamp and Poortman, 2015), because data literacy is a precondition for effective implementation of data-based decision making (Van Geel et al., 2017). To this end, leadership always remain an important factor, through a vision on data use, modeling and peer coaching (Marsh and Farrell, 2015; Schildkamp and Poortman, 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The Ethiopian educational system has witnessed considerable structural and curricular changes aimed to address access, equity and relevance. At the same time, there are serious concerns about educational quality as a consequence of these changes. Data use can be an important approach for changing the planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation of activities having the purpose of improving teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to investigate data use in primary education in Ethiopia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a mixed methods approach, surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from a cluster random sample of eight primary schools representing four different levels of effectiveness in implementing a mandated school improvement program in Ethiopia.\nFindings: The availability of wider ranges of input, process, outcome and context data per se does not ensure actual use. A complex combination of data, user and organizational factors influences data use in schools, with organizational factors appearing to be most influential. Unrealistic accountability pressures and lack of targeted supervision support seemed to cause unintended data use, such as abuse of data.\nPractical implications: Schools need more systematic professional development in data use, with explicit attention to school leadership. Moreover, it is important to make educational inspection processes more responsive to the demands of the school improvement process by adding aspects of the school improvement tradition, such as data-based decision making.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to understanding of the nature, characteristics and processes of data use in a developing country context, in which competing accountability mandates often shape policy and practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How do suppliers address stringent environmental requirements from buyers? An exploratory study in the Bangladesh ready-made garment industry	[ "Stringent buyer environmental requirements", "Green supply chain", "Supplier environmental capability", "Buyer–supplier relationship", "Dynamic capability theory", "Transaction cost economics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the past three decades, sustainability has become one of the most critical issues for firms to address, and this trend is evident in the research on supply chains (Sarkis et al., 2010; Esfahbodi et al., 2016). To reduce the negative effect of supply chain practices on the natural environment, firms must undertake initiatives that require specific capabilities and resources (Simpson et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2014). Research has shown that such capabilities are developed incrementally over time, and that they need to fit each firm's unique circumstances (Murillo-Luna et al., 2008; Simpson et al., 2012) to meet performance commitments.\nStringent environmental requirements: Given their position in the supply chain, OEM firms naturally face more intense scrutiny than do their suppliers, and are even held responsible for their suppliers' behaviour and practices (Vachon and Klassen, 2006; Seuring and Muller, 2008). Therefore, buyers set their own environmental requirements for their suppliers, considering local and global environmental regulations, and individual firms' strategies. The purpose of the environmental requirements set by buyers is to green the supplier's processes or activities and thus improve environmental performance of the supply chain (Simpson et al., 2007; Kushwaha and Sharma, 2016). Generally, these environmental requirements are enforced through standards (e.g. the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001), targets, innovation, reductions (e.g. emissions), recycling and remanufacturing. However, when these requirements are conveyed to the upstream suppliers as buying specifications, they do not necessarily match the original regulations and protocols because they are made more stringent by the buyers (Lee et al., 2014).\nMethodology: Research method: multiple case study approach\nResults: The summary of the findings is based on each supplier's response about their perceptions of stringent environmental requirements. The suppliers' responses relating to how these requirements affect their internal functions such as capability development and firm performance, and the implications of the buyer's involvement in this context are reported. The findings and the identified themes and sub-themes are presented in Table AI. The propositions drawn from the findings are presented in Figure 1.\nDiscussion: The concept of \"stringency\": a supplier transaction cost perspective\nContribution, limitations and further research: This research contributes to the literature by proposing and exploring the concept of \"stringent environmental requirements\" imposed by buyers on suppliers in the supply chain. Using the concept of transaction cost, the following factors contributing to stringency (as perceived by the supplier) were identified: uncertainty of changes in buyer environmental requirements; extent of newness and variety in the supplier's environmental requirement portfolio; complexity in implementing buyer environmental requirements; and extent of the use of buyer-specific frameworks to fulfil the buyer environmental requirements. Employing dynamic capability theory, this research also provided an understanding of the connections among perceived stringency, the supplier's environmental capability and the supplier's environmental performance. Moreover, this research provides evidence for the argument in the extant literature that buyer involvement and suppliers' green orientation may improve suppliers' development of environmental capability and reduce their perception of stringency.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Stakeholders such as customers, governments and environmental organisations are more concerned than ever about the impact of supply chain practices on the environment, leading firms to introduce environmental requirements into their supply contracts. While the extant literature on supply chains acknowledges this trend, it fails to inform comprehensively on the concept of \"stringent environmental requirement\" and its consequences. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this concept and explore how such requirements may translate into supplier environmental performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative methodology was adopted by the study and data were collected through conducting eight case studies in the Bangladesh ready-made garment (RMG) industry.\nFindings: A number of factors were found to be influencing suppliers' perception of stringency, such as uncertainty relating to the newness and deadline of buyers' environmental requirements, the complexity of implementing the requirements, and the use of buyer-specific frameworks. The research also shows that suppliers' efforts in building environmental capability play a vital role in dealing with stringent environmental requirements.\nResearch limitations/implications: The case studies are limited to the Bangladesh RMG industry. Given that environmental regulations vary across different countries and industries, the data may not reflect all the possible variations in stringent environmental requirements.\nPractical implications: The new insight proposed by this research can guide firms to further understand how supplier environmental performance and the sustainability of their supply chain can be achieved. The research provides broad insight into how suppliers can address stringent environmental requirements and improve their environmental performance.\nOriginality/value: This research establishes evidence for the relatively new phenomenon of \"stringent environmental requirements\", and develops a theoretical framework to demonstrate the relationships among the critical determinants relevant to this phenomenon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Policy shocks, current account and the macroeconomy in a developing country: A Keynesian approach	[ "Exchange rate", "Unemployment", "Current account", "Non-traded sector", "Macroeconomic policies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A prominent theme of structuralist macroeconomics has been the crucial role that the current account imbalance plays in shaping macroeconomic developments in emerging market economies. The persistent current account deficit may cause macroeconomic instability. The balance of payment crisis in India in the late 1980s and early 1990s is a case in point. The persistent current account deficits and currency crisis are interlinked. Different episodes of currency crisis were aggravated by growing current account deficits and accumulation of external debt. Brancaccio (2012) emphasized the role of current account imbalances between Eurozone members and the resulting accumulation of external private and public credit and debt in explaining the Eurozone crisis during 2010. It is also to be noted that the South East Asian currency crisis[1] was preceded by unsustainable current account deficit. Moreover, current account deficits may result in sharp increase in income inequality. Kumhof et al. (2012) has provided cross-sectional evidences to show that income inequality and financial liberalization are associated with larger external deficits. The paper also theoretically explains how current account deficits respond to income inequality. Growing current account deficits pose threat to solvency of the state, which is always accompanied by down rating of credit worthiness. Temporarily, current account deficits may be managed by the capital flow. Once the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product goes beyond the threshold value, the developing countries experience a sudden stop in the capital flow. This may lead to disorderly depreciation of currency.\n2. The model: This paper constructs a two-sector model of a small open economy under a flexible exchange rate regime. The traded sector uses only labor as a factor of production. The price of the traded goods in terms of foreign currency is fixed in the international market. Consumers spend a fraction of their total expenditure on importables and remaining on non-traded goods. Similarly, the government expenditure consists of expenditure on both importables and non-traded goods. The output of the non-traded sector is demand determined and the price of the non-traded sector is fixed. The wage rate is also fixed, leading to involuntary unemployment in both the short run and long run. There are two assets in the economy: domestic currency and foreign bonds. The expected return on foreign bonds is the sum of foreign interest rate and expected change in exchange rate less of Tobin tax. The exchange rate dynamics is the outcome of portfolio choice. Expectations are subject to perfect foresight.\n3. Some applications: In this section, the model can be profitably used to analyze the effects of anticipated and unanticipated policy-induced shocks on current account balance, stock of foreign assets, exchange rate and sectoral composition of output and level of employment.\n4. Conclusion: The nexus between the macroeconomic policy and the current account has attracted serious attention from economists and policymakers. This paper focuses on the interaction between current account, exchange rate, and sectoral composition of output and unemployment in terms of a two-sector model of a small open economy, which can be applied to a large class of emerging market economies. It retains many elements of the alternative approaches of current account, namely the trade balance approach, the saving investment approach and the general equilibrium approach. However, it extends recent approaches by giving an important role to the involuntary unemployment in line with the Keynesian effective demand principle.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This is a theoretical paper in the field of international macroeconomics. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a dynamic interaction between current account imbalance and unemployment in response to some policy-induced shocks for a small open economy under a flexible exchange rate.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a two-sector framework: one sector is traded and another is the non-traded sector that is subject to an effective demand constraint. The current account imbalance arises due to the discrepancy between production of traded goods, household consumption of traded goods and government purchases of importables. The authors keep the asset structure simple by considering only domestic currency and foreign bonds that are imperfect substitutes. The paper considers a standard methodology of dynamic adjustment process involving change in foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate under perfect foresight. The saddle path properties of the equilibrium are also examined.\nFindings: The results of comparative static exercises depend on a set of structural features of a developing country, which include asset substitutability, wage price rigidity and sectoral asymmetries. The paper shows that expansionary monetary policy, balanced budget fiscal expansion and financial liberalization have an ambiguous effect on the current account balance, foreign exchange reserves, non-traded sector and the level of employment.\nOriginality/value: The existence of Keynesian unemployment with fixed prices is the key ingredient of this paper. The paper introduces the problem of effective demand to analyze the dynamics of current account balance and exchange rate, which, in turn, determine the sectoral composition of output and level of employment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An assessment of customer service in business-to-business relationships	[ "Business‐to‐business marketing", "Customer services quality", "Customer service 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 issue.\nIntroduction: Early research in business-to-business markets indicated the importance of customer service (e.g. Cunningham and Roberts, 1974). More recently, customer service appears to be an implicit assumption within the notion of relationships, be it from an interaction or other relationship perspective: feedback takes place through the interactions that occur between customer and supplier (Hakansson, 1982; Turnbull and Valla, 1986; Ford, 2002). However, this feedback will often be informal in nature and may well be given to technical personnel. The question of how this can be best collated and used for strategic purposes then becomes vital. Some researchers suggest that the collection of such market intelligence is the role of the sales engineers although, in practice, this can be fraught with problems such as pressure to achieve new sales and failures in management information systems (Donaldson, 1998). Little explicit attention seems to be given to this issue in either the business-to-business marketing or the sales management literature. Indeed, Parasuraman (1998) has remarked upon the paucity of research into customer service in business-to-business markets. Additionally, Homburg and Garbe (1999) believe that quality should be seen as a key issue in business-to-business services.On the other hand, within consumer service markets, the collection of customer feedback appears to have become integral to the service process itself. A number of tools have been proposed and are widely discussed within the service quality literature, e.g. Gronroos (1984, 1988) and Zeithaml et al. (1988).This research project provides an exploratory investigation of perceptions of service quality within a business-to-business setting that covers a range of diverse business interfaces (e.g. from a four-hour service visit to a major hotel chain, to the complete installation of a multi-million pound fire protection system) and customers (e.g. the end user, an architect, a prime contractor or a combination of these).The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Firstly, we review the different streams of literature that are appropriate to our research, starting with an overview of customer service and service quality in consumer markets. Then we consider the extant literature relating to customer service and satisfaction in business-to-business markets. We then describe the methodology utilised for the research, present our tentative findings and discuss the managerial and theoretical implications they suggest. Finally, we discuss how the research can be developed.\nCustomer service and service quality in consumer markets: There is substantial research evidence on customer service, service quality and customer relationships in consumer markets. This has focused primarily, but not exclusively, in service industries and the findings are largely applicable in product markets.Research has been fuelled by a number of concerns, a key issue being the role of people in service production, delivery and consumption such that quality control in the traditional way is not possible as people become integral to service quality (Bitner et al., 1994; Glynn and Lehtinen, 1995; Schneider et al., 1998). This issue remains pertinent, although perhaps to a lesser extent today, with the prevalence of e-commerce and e-service. Increasing inter-personal interactions and relationships have been evident and of significance in a number of consumer markets, and a further set of research evidence deals with links between customer service, satisfaction, customer loyalty and retention, and profitability. For example, one can consider the costs and benefits of retained customers vis-a-vis new customers, the lifetime value of customers and the links between loyalty, revenue growth and profitability. Zeithaml (2000) has reviewed the evidence on the profit consequences of service quality. Further, there is research that considers the impact of employee performance, loyalty and retention on customer satisfaction and retention, and organisational success (e.g. Heskett et al., 1994).The well-known major contributions to understanding service quality in consumer markets have related to definitions, dimensions and measurement issues. Early definitions were offered by Gronroos (1984), Berry et al. (1985, 1988) and Zeithaml et al. (1988). More recently, Bitner et al. (2002) have examined the ability of technology to effectively customise service offerings, and recover from service failures, and discussed the infusion of technology as an enabler of both employees and customers in efforts to achieve these goals.Early discussions on dimensions of service quality focused on outcome and process (e.g. Gronroos, 1988; Lehtinen and Lehtinen, 1982); design, production, delivery and relational dimensions (Gummesson and Gronroos, 1987); and technical, integrative, functional and outcome (Edvardsson et al., 1989). The most widely reported set of service quality determinants, proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988), has been used in a host of studies in varying industries and cultures in which the factor structure is frequently not replicated. Further, Johnston et al. (1990) and Silvestro and Johnston (1990) provide a framework of hygiene, enhancing and dual threshold factors.When measuring service quality, most research attention has been given to SERVQUAL and, to a lesser extent, SERVPERF and similar tools, and discussion surrounding their use. Tools of this nature are used widely by consumer market researchers and by practitioners. However, a number of authors believe that SERVQUAL cannot be easily applied in a business-to-business context, see Homburg and Garbe (1999), for example. Thus, it is necessary to consider how service quality can be understood in a business-to-business context.\nCustomer service and satisfaction in business-to-business markets: Customer service/service quality\nSetting the research context: Who to collect data from?\nPilot fieldwork: The preceding sections demonstrate that there is no accepted consensus as to what to collect, who to collect it from, when and how to collect it. Hence, we use an in-depth pilot case study of one business-to-business service firm as an exploratory platform. As Yin (1994) states, case studies are appropriate for how, why, when and what questions; the findings of Tikkanen et al. (2000) illustrate the benefits of taking this approach.A manufacturer and service provider that is part of a multinational company, situated in the North West of the UK, was the focus of this pilot study: they identified service quality as a key performance indicator in their desire to maintain market leadership. The company is the UK's largest provider of fire protection, safety systems and specialist control technology engineering. They provide a multitude of products/services and serve a diverse range of industries, with their customers ranging from large retail chains to petrochemical and electricity generating industries, facilities management companies and consultants and architects. Service interactions range from a four-hour service visit to a hotel or retail outlet, to the complete installation of a multi-million pound fire protection system. Further, the initial customer may often not be the end user, adding an additional complication to the challenge of collecting, analysing and acting upon service quality/customer satisfaction data.In the pilot case study, we utilised multiple forms of data collection. These included: semi-structured in-depth interviews, observation within the company and its customer organisations, as well as collecting appropriate secondary data. Two interview guides were developed, one for customers and one for the company's employees: questions were designed to determine what people's perceptions of service quality were in the context of this company and the services they provide. All the interviews were recorded and subsequently transcribed[1].The interviewees included:* Company personnel: e.g. senior management, sales engineers, support engineers, site engineers, service engineers, quality managers and service desk personnel.* Subcontractors working for the company.* Customer personnel: e.g. end users (managers and users); consultants and architects; and facilities management personnel and their customers.A total of 13 interviews were conducted within the company and its subcontractors and 12 with their customers. Of the 12 customers, three of them were contractors and nine were end-users. Eight of the customers had long-term relationships with the company (i.e. lasting more than ten years and one had been working with the company for more than 50 years).Two research students, who worked in the company for three months on this project, undertook the observation; all the observation was overt. Field notes were made during the observation and subsequently used as part of the data analysis.\nAnalysis: The data were analysed using principles outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994): pattern matching and thematic development were utilised. The coding was cross-checked amongst the researchers to ensure consistency of findings. The analysis involved both inductive and deductive coding, with the researchers using codes developed from the extant literature as well as defining new codes as they explored the data collected.\nFindings: The research supported much of the extant research with respect to the factors that were identified as components of service quality. These are discussed below and summarised in Table I.Factors identified by both customers and the selling company\nManagerial implications: This research supports our contention that service quality in a business-to-business context is a complex and multifaceted issue. Customers and suppliers appear to have some similar perceptions of quality and some very different expectations. This provides a number of challenges for managers:* The dynamic and interactive nature of service quality. Managers need to recognise the dynamic nature of service quality and the role of both provider and user and make sure they develop strategies that cater for this complexity, e.g. by ensuring that employees are aware of the factors that their customers deem to be significant in service quality and how these requirements may change over time. Collecting meaningful data about service quality perceptions managers need to find mechanisms for collecting perceptions about service quality both internally and externally (including perceptions of actors from their wider network, such as subcontractors). The lack of consensus in our findings suggests that instead of using measures of service quality and satisfaction that have been transferred from consumer markets, managers need to take time to consider the most appropriate method of gaining feedback on aspects of quality in the context of the industries in which they operate.* Importance of internal communication. Managers must be aware of the significance of the role of internal communication in service quality and ensure that procedures are in place to ensure effective internal communication (especially when it relates to customers) as well as for effective external communication. Implementing internal marketing concepts may be a useful aid to achieving improved communication.* Technical expertise and experience of a customer's business/industry. The importance of the central marketing tenet of being aware of the customer's needs and businesses is emphasised by these findings. Managers must ensure that they utilise the experience of their employees to the full in this context and be aware that this factor may well provide them with competitive advantage and bring them repeat business.* Problem solving capability. Managers should empower personnel and give them appropriate technical training to enable them to solve problems before they escalate and become sources of real dissatisfaction.* Minimum disruption. The concept of \"minimum disruption\" as a dimension of service quality also has wide ranging implications. Once managers are aware that such a factor is of central importance to customers, they should be able to offer solutions that explicitly focus on this aspect of their service. It can also be suggested that this notion does not just apply to aspects such as installation; it may well apply in maintenance and other consultancy visits, even in the context of making sales appointments to visit a customer.* Impact of the wider network on service quality requirements. Managers must also be aware of the influence of other actors in the network, e.g. the requirements that insurance companies place upon purchasers and that the selling company needs to have the expertise to implement.* Impact of subcontractors on service quality perceptions. Managers need to be aware of the impact that subcontractors may have on customer perceptions of service quality. In this context, it may well be pertinent to suggest that managers consider including performance indicators that relate to service quality in any contracts they set up with subcontractors.* External communication. The findings highlight the importance of external communication. Customers need to receive accurate, appropriate and timely information about products and services: such material is at the core of excellent service quality.* Quality of employees. Comments by the buyers emphasise the criticality of the employee to service success. Skills including knowledge, courtesy and understanding of customer requirements should be high priority in the recruitment and development of all employees (both front and back office).\nConclusions: The variety of service quality dimensions identified above confirms Szmigin's (1993) assertion that it is necessary to investigate subjective measures in specific contexts. Our research suggests that it may not be feasible to produce one all embracing measure of service quality in a business-to-business context. Rather, managers and researchers alike must be aware of the components that appear to be able to be generalised across industries and those which are specific to the context in which they are operating.Additionally, our findings show that personnel from both sides of a relationship have different perceptions/understanding of service quality and that service quality is also affected by actions in the wider network of actors that surround a company. Further research is needed to determine if these differences persist across a larger sample and different contexts. However, it does support Svensson's (2001, 2002, 2004) findings regarding imbalance in dyadic perceptions of service quality and suggests that managers need to pay attention to these factors.Clearly our work is only exploratory and undertaken in a specific context, a UK provider of fire protection and safety systems, and it is not possible to come up with any definitive models or explanations. However, we believe that it is essential for further research to investigate how dyadic service quality perceptions change over time and how this relates to other dimensions such as trust, commitment, customer profitability and retention. For example, we would suggest that this could be achieved by:* developing research in different industries and contexts, e.g. do different companies, industries and/or cultures value different aspects of service and therefore evaluate service quality differently;* how dyadic perceptions of quality change/develop over time and how these perceptions relate to other relationship dimensions, e.g. trust, commitment etc.; and* developing possible models that illustrate the dynamics of the service quality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of customer service/service quality in business-to-business contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An in-depth case study was used to discover the perceptions of both key individuals in the supplying company and key customers.\nFindings: - The paper shows that that customer service/service quality in a business-to-business context is a complex and multifaceted issue, the different parties in a relationship have differing perceptions of what constitutes service quality and that actors from the wider network can have an impact on perceptions of service quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This work is tentative in nature so it is not possible to generalise the findings to a wider context. However, it suggests that this area needs much more detailed and in-depth investigation.\nPractical implications: - Managers need to be aware of the complexity of customers' service quality perceptions in a business-to-business context. They must consider dynamics, actions of other actors and how best to demonstrate their expertise and experience.\nOriginality/value: - The findings of this research, although only exploratory, are significant because they are one of the few pieces of research into business-to-business service quality in which perceptions of quality from both sides of the dyad are collected and analysed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning and usefulness stemming from collaboration in a maritime crisis management exercise in Northern Norway	[ "Exercise", "Learning", "Collaboration", "Norway", "Disaster training" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Collaboration exercises that handle crisis are arranged in order to improve inter-organisational integration (Kim, 2013). However, in the few studies that have been performed on such exercises, it has proven to be difficult to create cross-boundary collaboration (Berlin and Carlstrom, 2008 pp. 182,183). Organisations that are supposed to collaborate have proven to be satisfied working side-by-side rather than synchronously or across boundaries (Van Wart and Kapucu, 2011, pp. 504-507; Andersson et al., 2014, pp. 87-88). Such results have contributed to doubting the value of collaboration exercises. The outcomes in terms of learning and usefulness have been questioned (Berlin and Carlstrom, 2015b, p. 454). Norway is of special interest when studying crisis collaboration. In contrast to other Scandinavian countries, Norway has legislated collaboration in its emergency preparedness regulations (Regjeringen, 2017). The collaboration principle states that authorities, enterprises, and agencies have an independent responsibility to ensure collaboration related to crisis management. The legislation was a response to an evaluation on the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utoya on 22 July 2011 (Gjorv, 2012). One severe critique from the evaluation was that even if there was an established system of command and control within each participating organisation, misunderstandings and lack of collaboration delayed the operation.\n2. Literature review: In a Swedish study, Berlin and Carlstrom (2015b) have shown that collaborative elements in exercises contribute to perceived learning (R2=0.53), and learning in turn has a perceived beneficial effect on actual crisis work (R2=0.26). However, according to the participants in the Swedish study, the exercises were characterised by long waiting times and gave few opportunities to practise different strategies in collaborations between different agencies. The participants thought that the exercises were more useful to command officers than operational staff. The study indicated that by strengthening the collaborative elements of the exercises, learning could be improved. A Dutch study by Scholtens et al. has been critical to classical command and control models that obstruct decentralised and fast decision making. Such systems favour single organisational commands before multidisciplinary coordination. The authors underlined that the way in which exercises were conducted is a repetition of already known skills and not necessary interaction among teams.\n3. Methods: The Exercise Nord 2016 that was investigated was based on multiple scenarios; all together, approximately 1,500 actors participated in this exercise. The exercise took place within an air traffic control zone in connection to the Bodo airport. The background for the exercise was a ship that had been to the coast of Greenland as a combined research and cultural expedition. Students, teaching staff, and a delegation from one military squadron were on-board. The ship was now returning to Bodo. Around 6 a.m., difficulties are reported on-board by the ship when approaching land; this turns out to be a fire when the ship approaches Bodo. The exercise took approximately eight hours (with briefing and debriefing), closely timed in a 4-hour schedule underpinning the exercise's perceived success. The structure of the event followed nine phases - a fire on-board a vessel at sea involving the local RITS team:\n4. Results: The mean age of the participants was 47 years (SD=12.7). In all, 64 per cent were men. The youngest participant was 19 and the oldest was 65 years old. Most of the participants were employed by the county council or a municipality (44 per cent). The second most represented organisation was the coast guard (21 per cent). The rest of the participants were employed in civil defence organisations, the National Guard, ambulance services, the University Nord, and The Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue. The experiences of exercises varied among the participants. They had participated in zero to a maximum of 100 exercises (M=13.8; SD=25.8).\n5. Discussion: The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived collaboration between responding organisations during maritime crisis work, with an emphasis on the possible effects on learning and usefulness. The results indicated that the studied exercises focussed on collaboration, contributed to perceived learning and contributed to usefulness. Within the collaboration dimension, a majority of participants found their points of view being taken into account. These results indicated an open and collaborative climate during the exercise. Even if some of the items clearly pointed to collaboration, the dimension of collaboration was modest (i.e. 2.98 on a five-point Likert scale). A reason for this could be that relatively few considered the instructions clear on how to collaborate, and most of the participants found themselves repeating well-known activities during the exercise - so-called \"drills\" or procedural trainings. Berlin and Carlstrom (2015a) have deciphered between drills and collaborative exercises. A drill is defined as training of professional skills. In contrast, during a collaboration exercise the participant faces situations where he/she is forced to adapt their professional knowledge (from drills) to colleagues who have other professional skills (Scholtens, 2008).\n6. Limitations: We denote four limitations of this study: The effects of age, exercise experience, and gender were not investigated in this study. It could also be beneficial to address the issue of perceived collaboration by in-depth interviews among the participants. Furthermore, collaboration is highlighted as principal in the Norwegian context; this can provide a positive bias towards the collaboration concept at a symbolic level, addressing more the policy-levels rather than the practises (Goodlad, 1979). Even if collaboration is an emergency legislative principle in Norway, it needs more tailored practical exercises. The ideas of simplicity and complexity in training needs close attention. Furthermore, we recommend a more extensive focus on collaboration in exercises in order to create increased perceived learning and practical usefulness. This could lead the way to collaboration trainings and new learning practices.\n7. Conclusion: Collaboration is one of four legislative principles of emergency work in Norway (Regjeringen, 2017). Therefore, a result (M=4.2, SD=0.99) from the exercise focus on collaboration is to be expected. Overall, the Exercise NORD 2016 displayed relatively sufficient figures when measuring collaboration. However, learning and usefulness has the potential to be improved, but also the analogy of the exercise phases as well. Every phase contributed to a script-based exercise, possibly leaving out improvisation. Emergency training can improve learning and usefulness using collaborative training techniques where an intra-organisational focus is downplayed. Inter-organisational learning through common learning objectives might be beneficial. The problems with collaboration training (Van Wart and Kapucu, 2011; Andersson et al., 2014), where the training happens in parallel and more seldom synchronously, can with an increased focus on collaboration and inter-organisational activity can strengthen learning in this form of activities. Less complexity does not necessarily lead to naivete; it might help participants discover dilemmas and insufficiencies in codes of conduct, rules, or practices. The option of running the same scenario twice can be useful to immediately test the ideas of improvement made in the first run.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research investigates the perceived collaboration between public, private, and volunteer organisations during maritime crisis work, with an emphasis on learning and collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to investigate participants' perceived collaboration training in relation to learning and usefulness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The exercise studied in this research was run in the far North in Norway. It was estimated by the participants to be Europe's most extensive exercise in 2016. Mixed methods research approach was applied, i.e. on-site observations, photos and interviews were conducted during the exercise. After the exercise, an online survey was distributed to emergency personnel holding different positions in conjunction with this exercise.\nFindings: As reported, the exercise contributed to new insights on the relationship between collaboration and learning. The study showed that collaborative elements in exercises contribute to perceived learning (R=0.86, R2=0.74), and that learning in turn had a perceived beneficial effect on actual emergency work (R=0.79, R2=0.62).\nResearch limitations/implications: The possible research implications from this study include more focus on collaboration and new training schemes that could increase learning and usefulness.\nPractical implications: Collaboration between actors seemed to suffer from the size of the exercise. A smaller exercise, less dependency on predetermined scripts, and more receptivity towards improvisation could improve collaboration.\nSocial implications: Increased awareness on the outcomes of collaboration exercise might increase their learning and usefulness, providing societies with improved rescue services.\nOriginality/value: This research implies that increased perceived collaboration has an effect on learning and usefulness in maritime exercises.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lone voices have an emotional content: focussing on mental health service user and carer involvement	[ "Mental health services", "Employee involvement", "Learning organizations", "Change management", "Empowerment", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Service user and carer involvement is central to social care and NHS activity. The National Health Act 2006 Section 242 confirms a statutory duty to consult and involve service users in ongoing service planning, proposal development and decisions about general service delivery, not just changes and new proposals (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2008). Increased public expectation for openness and accountability has influenced health needs identification, treatment and care, developing and planning services (Smith and Ross, 2007). Designing services that involves users and carers practically, based on the premise that involvement should positively affect service accessibility and acceptability, is an underlying value in most mental health service development. This approach is endorsed by government policy in four overlapping areas:1. Generic health and social care.2. Mental health services.3. Patient and public involvement in health and social care.4. Research governance in health and social care (Mental Health Foundation, 2003; Department of Health, 1999, 2002).Little evidence exists about the effectiveness and impact of involving users in mental health service delivery and evaluation, and more formal evaluation is required (Simpson and House, 2002; Crawford et al., 2002; Minogue et al., 2005). However, one research study concluded that users contribute ideas that hold greater user value, are more original and can be used as a learning tool to understand users better. This can inspire professionals to think more innovatively (Magnusson, 2003). Whilst Magnusson's research was in mobile telephony innovation, it raises interesting questions for service user involvement and the potential health and social care benefits. However, involving patients in health research can be far from straightforward with patients having different objectives and interests from researchers (Rhodes et al., 2001). Separating specific contributions from patients/consumers is a difficult task (Smith, 1988; Williamson, 2001), which can be compounded by service user and clinicians' different perspectives on successful outcomes. Service users, for example, value choice and control (Read and Reynolds, 1996) while clinicians view symptom alleviation as more important (Perkins, 2001). Service users, however, are not homogenous and different groups have different priorities. The \"ideal\" approach, therefore, is to identify an agenda for change and through co-researching, determine a means to change together (Hostick, 1998).We describe preliminary findings from a participatory action research project about the nature of involvement from service user and carer perspectives. This mental health trust project explored the early stages of implementing self-directed support, and providing individual budgets to people instead of contracted social care services. Service user and carer involvement in the research project was based on the premise that it would strongly influence the project's design. This provides a viewpoint and critique from those that knew the reality of receiving services, thus making research process and outcomes more relevant. Self-directed support is part of the government's social care service personalisation agenda, tailoring care and support to:* better fit a person's individual needs;* offer greater choice; and* use transparent processes to better inform service users and carers.User involvement should mean letting service users set the agenda, contribute to decisions, challenge the status quo and ultimately change the balance of power crucial for commissioning personalised care (Commission for Social Care Inspection, 2004).Five participants, recruited as co-researchers, formed part of a steering group including participants from various organisations implementing self-directed support. All participants were white British; two were female carers aged 52 and 59; three were service users, one male aged 50 and two females aged 34 and 55. However, the younger, female service-user dropped out after six months.\nStudy design: Participatory action research focuses on power and participation issues (Coghlan and Brannick, 2010). It actively focuses on change and problem solving (Reason, 1998) where power structures are explicitly challenged (Alabaster et al., 2000). The premise is to develop relevant and meaningful outcomes (Falkner and Thomas, 2002). Where a democratic approach to involvement is taken, the concern is improving people's lives rather than involvement being used to improve service delivery (Beresford, 2005). We detail findings from a larger project using a collaborative action research approach to study mental health support structures, processes and outcomes. The main study used focus groups and semi-structured interviews within an action research framework.Action research is a simultaneous inquiry and practical action (Winter and Munn-Giddings, 2001). It is social research based on collaboration between researchers and their clients, aiming to problem solve and generate new knowledge (Coghlan and Brannick, 2010). Kurt Lewin first described action research processes as cyclical (Waterman et al., 2001) involving diagnosing a changing situation, planning, collecting data, taking action and then reflecting on results in order to plan further action (Coghlan and Brannick, 2010) (Figure 1). Health and social care service reform and improvement, and increasing expectation that individuals and communities will collaborate and consult suggests action research has an increasing role in achieving NHS goals (Hart and Bond, 1995; Waterman et al., 2001). We define collaboration as \"agreeing the facts and conclusions in an ethos of shared knowledge and understanding\" (Hitchen, 2007, p. 24). Action research, together with a second reflection cycle, is a continual enquiry into how steps are conducted and what is learned. Reflecting involves:* programme content;* issues;* what is happening;* process; and* how things are being done, their premise, underlying assumptions and perspectives (Coghlan and Brannick, 2010).Reflection is not confined to the lead action researcher but to all participants and groups whose experience manifests in, for example, struggles, conflicts and satisfaction. Reflection is crucial for learning, problem solving and decision making throughout the project's life. In this venture, the steering group reflected on all action research stages (Figure 1).\nAim: Our main aim was to understand involvement from a service user and carer perspective and recommend improvements to the process. We drew on service user and carer co-researcher experience to address this aim.Ethical considerations\nFindings: Three key findings emerged (Table I).Language and communication\nDiscussion: It is no surprise that professional language hinders service user and carer understanding, which leads to significant communication blocks. Focus group research by Connor and Wilson (2006) into service-user involvement experiences found that agreeing an acceptable language was one of their four main findings. Steel (2005) considers language use significant when involving vulnerable people in research. If this is not addressed then there is a danger that non-specialist involvement remains tokenistic. Our findings suggest that even in meetings where this has been considered carefully beforehand, language barriers blocking full understanding and communication are likely. Combined with pressures on professionals to produce speedy positive change project outcomes, and time-limited meetings, assumptions that service user and carer representatives understand what is said is increased, especially if they have not expressed otherwise. In our study, users and carers felt they were seen as stupid if they are always the ones asking questions. A lack of respect may result if service user and carer learning needs are not considered as a necessary prerequisite for fuller meeting contributions.Our second main finding was that being \"involved\" has an emotional impact not always recognised by professionals. Participants believed that contributing to groups, drawing on personal experience as a service user or carer, has a lasting emotional cost. Moves to involve users for designing and delivering services imply a value to their experiences, which should be as valuable as the professional perspective (Telford and Faulkner, 2004). Service user experience is an important resource that can improve care and support that individuals receive in the community (Tait and Lester, 2005). However, professional reservations about user involvement include service user participation being distorted by anger, illness and expressed inappropriately (Crawford, 2001).Our findings suggest service user reservations need to be acknowledged. Their reference points are their mental health service experiences, which may cause feelings to surface that are unknown to professionals. Service users and carers in our study argued that emotive language needs to be in the forefront and that there is little learning without it. Using experiences productively is indicated, particularly in mental health organisations, where they are seen as a symptom of either a particular service user's condition or one of the less-welcome \"side effects\" of involvement. Consequently, involving users and carers in service planning is a challenge. Assumptions that people with mental health problems have a diminished ability to define their wishes, problems and needs may cast doubt on their views and ideas, giving precedence to other stakeholders (Perkins, 2001). Group members believed that careful and contained discussions, where emotions are either openly or tacitly suppressed, do little to change strongly held attitudes. Expressing feelings that get to the heart of what matters, which challenge thinking and rationales for working in particular ways, are important. Emotions act as powerful motivators and have a pervasive influence on human behaviour and beliefs (Marsella and Gratch, 2002). Recognising emotional input's importance needs to be encouraged and used positively if we are to encourage user involvement in service development, delivery and improvement.Power imbalance was our third major finding. Holosko et al. (2001) suggest that service user input and empowerment are necessary for public service organisational effectiveness. Additionally, organisations that solicit service user input and then ignore it not only fail to empower but may actively disempower service users. Those involved in research conducted by Rhodes et al. (2001) saw education and information empowering and enabling people to take more control over their lives and use resources wisely. Hill et al. (2000) describe power imbalance as an unresolved issue in user involvement particularly where users are introduced to existing planning groups. Large mental health organisations mean there are inevitably people holding disempowering attitudes. Our service user and carer co-researchers did not sense any urgency tackling power issues. Power relations underlie most user-led change difficulties. We need continuing awareness of power relationship contexts (Carr, 2004). Programmes have been designed to change staff attitudes but these may be ineffective, so tackling underlying professional attitudes is unlikely to change attitudes. Developing involvement cultures begins in the workplace at all levels. Openness and willingness to change in order to feel secure about involving people in planning services is important (Western Health and Social Services Board, 2005). Trusts with a workforce in their middle years may be inclined towards professional paternalistic approaches reflected in their earlier training and this may reduce their capacity for cultural shift (Cole and Perides, 1995).Fundamental principles underpinning good practice for involving service users and carers have been addressed in Care Services Improvement Partnership guidelines (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2006a, b). However, without beliefs that involvement produces better services then a \"tick box culture\" dominates. Cultural change needs to come from service users and carers, developing confidence and louder voices, to ensure change is driven from all directions.\nPolicy implications: Government policy has addressed the user involvement agenda in its NHS Plan (Department of Health, 2000), which emphasises a patient-centred NHS. Those using the service are central to service design and delivery. Mental health services and in particular Working in Partnership (Department of Health, 1994) and Building Bridges (Department of Health, 1995) encourage user involvement. Policy documents present user involvement as a quality issue, attributing this with service improvements (Fudge et al., 2008). Policy is less clear how service user involvement should be undertaken and how NHS managers and practitioners should interpret and implement user involvement policy. Our study highlights the gap between involving service user and carers meaningfully, achieving mutually agreed outcomes and the experience from the service user and carer perspective. It is suggested that NHS staff need to equip those leading involvement projects with skills and awareness to make this a meaningful and productive experience for all, which ensures that more people participate and stay involved and that outcomes are achieved on which that both service providers and receivers collaborate.\nLimitations: This small study in a larger action research project examined self-directed support within mental health services. Service user and carer co-researchers were recruited and fully participated as both researchers and participants. The lead researcher worked closely with co-researchers to obtain involvement perspectives. Research findings were shared for comment and interpretation. Working relationships developed over 18 months, enabling the lead researcher to understand their involvement. Contributions about involvement were considered and modified over time. There was no concern about the content of what was shared. Participatory research means researchers collaborate with minority groups that may not represent the community from which they are drawn (Macaulay et al., 1999), which raises bias issues. Concerns that users are not representative are well documented (Crawford et al., 2002; Rose, 2003; Tait and Lester, 2005), which may indicate why expert patient experiences are less open to criticism. Our study is not generalisable owing to the research group's small size, but data gained are supported by user-involvement literature. Our study highlights participation's effects on service users, which few have explored (Crawford et al., 2002). The service-user perspective has systematically failed to be acknowledged in health research; individual, experientially-based knowledge does not fit comfortably within the medical-scientific arena. Service-user based research should be viewed as a different way of seeing the world by encouraging reflection on the impact that involving consumers has (Hodgson and Canvin, 2005). Without this perspective, research may have less impact on healthcare practice (Beresford, 2003).\nConclusion: Our study suggests that service user and carer participant themes: communication; emotional impact; and power relations are important areas that need addressing if user involvement is to be improved. Emotional impact appears to be an area lacking research in mental health services. New studies may improve user involvement. Our findings suggest that considerable improvement is needed to engage service users and carers in mutually beneficial working relationships for developing services. Implementing self-directed support in mental health services, which aims to provide more flexible, person-centred services, including user and carer choices, will need to consider how to use collaborative processes and increase service recipient involvement in the most effective way. This should ensure that services and processes are developed that people want and own.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe learning gained from involving service users and carers as researchers in an action research study. The researchers aimed to introduce self-directed support in mental health services - part of the government's personalisation agenda, which requires a move from current social care commissioning, where a person is matched to available services, to one where a person self-assesses, has an agreed support plan and then with appropriate help, purchases his or her own services to lead as independent a life as possible. This development is allied closely with the mental health service recovery approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Three service users and two carers were recruited to work alongside the lead researcher. Service users were fully involved in the steering group - part of participatory action research project. Data were collected from: debriefing meetings with co-researchers between April and December 2007; a group interview held by the lead researcher; and participants' journal comments and self-reflections.\nFindings: - The main areas in which service users and carers found involvement difficult were: overcoming professional language barriers; emotional impact; and power imbalances between themselves and professionals. Findings suggest that considerable improvement is required by mental health professionals and managers if service users and carers are successfully involved in projects.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a small study within a larger action research project. Findings are not generalisable owing to the small sample; however, findings are supported by the service-user involvement literature.\nOriginality/value: - Few studies explore participation effects on service users and carers from their perspective. This research provides insights into what needs to be addressed to improve service user and carer involvement to improve mental health services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding community vulnerability to climate change and variability at a coastal municipality in southern Mozambique	[ "Climate change", "Sustainable livelihoods", "Adaptation to climate change", "Community livelihoods", "Livelihoods vulnerability index" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Climate change and variability has been considered the major issue of concern in the past decades, especially when integrated into economic development and human livelihoods (Maru et al., 2014, Williams et al., 2008). Indeed, climate change may have dramatic effects on the planning process of economic development (Ford and Smit, 2004; Weaver, 2003), can influence community livelihoods (Adger, 2003) and may disrupt community and individuals' abilities to undergo their normal course of live (Artur and Hilhorst, 2012). Following this, attempts have been developed all over the world to understand how individuals and communities will be affected by projected climate change trends (McClanahan et al., 2009; Handmer et al., 1999).\n2. Material and methods: 2.1 Study area: the municipality of Inhambane, southern Mozambique\n3. Results: In total, 476 households (out of ca. 2,159) were surveyed for this study. Of the surveyed households, 62 per cent (n = 293) had a maximum of 5 people, 32 per cent (n = 155) had between 6 and 10 people and 6 per cent (n = 27) had more than 10 people, with a maximum of 18 people (n = 7). Next, 12 interviewees (22 per cent) were between 18 and 20 years old, 191 (40 per cent) were between 21 and 35 years old and the remaining were more than 35 years old (n = 182). Most interviewees were women (n = 299; 62.8 per cent), while household leaders were mostly men (n = 313, 65.8 per cent). Most sub-indicators had very low vulnerability, ranging from 0 to 0.2 (N = 16, 34.04 per cent) and only six had very high vulnerability (ranging from 0.8 to 0.97). Access to water was not considered a concern at the municipality of Inhambane, neither the fatality of climate-associated events. Despite the reduced number of households giving or receiving support from others, the large number of households using biomass energy for daily activities and reduced land ownership are issues that raise concerns in the context of adaptation to climate change-associated events (Table III).\n4. Discussion: 4.1 The overall context of livelihoods' vulnerability\n5. Conclusions: This study applied a broadly applied framework to understand how community livelihoods are vulnerable to climate change and variability and the capacity at the household level to cope with these challenges. Overall, at the municipality of Inhambane, the level of vulnerability was moderate and was mostly influenced by the combined effects of lack of financial resources, reduced inter-household bonds and no ownership of land resources.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to understand the vulnerability of community livelihoods (human, social, financial, natural and physical assets) at a coastal environment in southern Mozambique, considering the level of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study adopted the sustainable livelihoods approach. Data were collected through distribution of a structured questionnaire to 476 randomly selected households at the municipality of Inhambane. The questionnaire assessed all capital assets, covering 14 indicators and 43 sub-indicators of vulnerability, derived from published literature.\nFindings: Results indicate that overall community vulnerability is largely derived from the vulnerability of physical, financial and social capitals, illustrated by declared food shortage, low nutrition levels, weak social networks, high level of biomass utilization and lack of financial resources due to unemployment. These aspects largely influence the noticed reduced adaptive capacity of surveyed households.\nPractical implications: The study identified the need to improve the overall process of natural resources appropriation and utilization and the improvement of the governance capacity at the local targeting infrastructure, community structure and networks and capacity building that might enhance community livelihoods in changing scenarios.\nOriginality/value: The study is a contribution to the overall understanding of how livelihoods are exposed to climate change and variability in coastal settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A phenomenological approach to the collaborative consumer	[ "Collaborative consumption", "Sharing economy", "Consumerism", "Sustainable consumer" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumption patterns are changing (Botsman and Rogers, 2011; Zervas et al., 2017) and according to the World Economic Forum (2011), collaborative consumption is gradually becoming an alternative to the existing consumption models. This subject has been mentioned by several institutions (European Economic and Social Committee, 2013; World Economic Forum, 2011; Martin, 2015), stressing the need to further study it. At the same time, collaborative consumption has been attracting a growing interest from the public opinion (Kaufman, 2012; Matzler et al., 2015; The Economist, 2013), fostering the emergence of new business models (Botsman and Rogers, 2011; Gansky, 2012; Martin, 2016; Zervas et al., 2017).\nLiterature review: Collaborative consumption is emerging as a new trend of consumption, through collaboration between people, by extending the use of idling resources. This article builds on the contributions of authors such as Juliet Schor (2011), who positions collaborative consumption as a social tradition that has been galvanized in recent years by environmental movements, the internet and economic crisis. This section summarizes the main contributions in the literature regarding different types of collaborative consumption (e.g. sharing, giving, lending, bartering, renting and even selling), exploring the influence of environmental concerns, internet facilitating features and economic downturn in the adoption of this type of consumption from both the provider and the consumer perspectives.\nMethodology: A qualitative approach was adopted with the purpose of collecting empirical evidence of collaborative consumption practices. To this end, 12 unstructured phenomenological interviews were conducted to gain insight into the interviewees' points of view and personal experiences, in a detailed and spontaneous analysis of the theme. Thus, at the beginning of each interview, the participants were asked to share their experience on collaborative consumption, based on the information that was known in advance about the interviewee, using the main guiding question \"Could you please share with me your experience with [type of collaborative consumption]?\" When the interviewer requested an appropriate additional information to add greater detail about the phenomenon under study, by resuming expressions and information provided by the interviewee, with questions such as \"You mentioned [collaboration behavior or practice], can you explain further [the motivations, the expectations, how it fits into your everyday life].\"\nResults: The narratives of the interviewees included reasons for consumer collaboration, benefits obtained and values associated with it. An aspect that was clear from the start was the existence of different profiles of collaborative consumers. Some of the interviewees were noted to play predominantly the role of either consumer or provider, while others usually play both roles. This study provides evidence of different profiles, particularly with regard to motivations to participate in collaborative consumption, the type of consumption experience and the preference for partners with strong or weak ties. It is also possible to verify that some of the interviewees have adopted different forms of collaborative consumption and encompassing a set of goods and services, as, for example, Interviewee 6 (45-year-old woman, 2 children), who has experience of carpooling, clothing donation and book lending, while others only have experience on one kind of collaborative consumption, for example, Interviewee 7 (39-year-old man, no children), who only shares the car for commuting to work.\nConclusion: This paper provides interesting insights into the behavior of collaborative consumers, by shedding light on its complexity, demonstrating that both the collaboration role (provider, exchanger and consumer) and the collaboration modality (e.g. sharing, gifting and lending) are central aspects for understanding collaborative consumption. In fact, collaboration roles have already been approached by extant literature (Einav et al., 2016; Schor, 2016; Botsman and Rogers, 2011) and are inherent to some collaboration modalities (e.g. gifting and sharing), but this study further uncovers the multifaceted structure to collaborative consumption. On the one hand, its various modalities have distinct characteristics, being attractive to different consumer profiles and preferences, and having a varying relationship with economic, social and technological contexts. On the other hand, collaborative roles exerted by consumers are associated with different perceived benefits (Figure 1). This combination of variables influences the outcomes of collaborative consumption, which may include both sustainability/frugality and consumerism.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Collaborative consumption emerges from social practices such as sharing, lending and gifting. It is becoming more common among consumers, boosted by the internet, which facilitates the collaboration process with both strong and weak ties. This paper aims to examine collaborative consumer experience, delving into the factors that contribute to the adoption and the perceived benefits of this alternative form of consumption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 12 phenomenological interviews were conducted o explore the theme from an individual perspective, attested by the consumers' narratives and experiences.\nFindings: The results highlight collaborative consumption as being influenced by family practices, social relations and the current economic scenario. Also, noteworthy is the evidence that collaborative consumption enables consumers to select from a more diversified portfolio of products and services, especially the ones featured by the internet and social media. Consumers perceive financial, emotional, social, environmental and increased consumption benefits, depending on their practices of collaborative consumption, and also on their role as providers, consumers or exchangers.\nOriginality/value: Through the phenomenological approach, based on individual reports of experiences related to collaborative consumption, it was possible to highlight some aspects relevant to better understanding the behavior of collaborative consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Socioeconomic determinants of protein and calorie consumption and potential risk of protein-energy malnutrition among households in South-West Nigeria	[ "Nutrition", "Poverty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nutrients from food are fundamental human needs that remain unachieved among vast majority of the people worldwide. The lack of such nutrients and their associated debilities are profound and felt more by poor households in developing countries and among disadvantaged grouped such as children and women. Ensuring adequate nutrition is arguably the most critical of human capital investment as its sufficiency in terms of stock and flow is inevitable for human survival. Malnutrition can be referred to as a state of nutrition whereby inadequate or excess supply of energy, protein and/or other nutrients leads to debilitating effects on human tissue or body cells-undermining their functions and clinical outcomes (Elia, 2003). Malnutrition may occur as over-nutrition or under-nutrition. Under-nutrition can manifests in the form of protein-energy malnutrition which arises due to inadequate supply of protein and energy to the body and as micro nutrient deficiencies. Over-nutrition on the other hand is associated with excessive intake of food above body requirements - most especially food calories. Severe health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension are known offshoots of over-nutrition.\nMethodology: Study area\nResults and discussion: Household income and food budget shares\nConclusion and recommendation: The study examined the problem of malnutrition among Nigerian households with emphasis on protein and calorie intake. Socioeconomic factors influencing per capita calorie and protein intakes as well as the possible risks of protein-energy malnutrition among household members were also examined. The study provided confirmatory evidence that protein energy malnutrition occurred among household members. The problem of protein energy malnutrition is more of inadequate calorie intake as opposed to protein intake. While on the average, both male and female members of the households satisfied their protein requirements, inadequate calorie intake was found among female members. A more disaggregated analysis by age and gender indicated a slight shortfall in protein intake among adolescents of both genders. Calorie intake insufficiencies were also evident among pre-school and school age children of both gender as well as male adolescents and female adults. Excess intake of calorie was more pronounced among male adults and excess consumption of protein was particularly obvious among adult males and females as well as male adolescents. While preschool and school age children of both genders satisfy their protein requirements, there appear to be shortfalls in their calorie intake. Children in these age categories are undernourished in terms of calorie intake deficiency, however, they are not likely to suffer from kwashiorkor and marasmus.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the problem of malnutrition among Nigerian households with emphasis on protein and calorie intake.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Multi-stage random sampling approach was used to select 321 household members drawn from a total of 80 households. A combination of descriptive and inferential statistics was applied in analysing the data.\nFindings: The study revealed that household income, dependency ratio, education and gender of household head, among others, are factors that would significantly influence per capita daily calorie and protein intake of households. Protein-energy malnutrition is more of inadequate calorie than protein intake. There was confirmatory evidence of inadequate consumption of calorie among pre-school and school age children, while adult male members seemed to consume the above requirements with the possibility of being at the risk of obesity. Though children were undernourished, they are unlikely to be marasmic.\nOriginality/value: The study examined the problem of malnutrition among Nigerian households with emphasis on protein and calorie intake. Socio-economic factors influencing per capita calorie and protein intakes as well as the possible risks of protein-energy malnutrition among household members were also examined. The patterns of intake of calorie and protein consumption among household members indicated the possibility of over-nutrition and under-nutrition coexisting among members of the households with over-nutrition and potential risks of obesity in adult males and under-nutrition among pre-school and school age children.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Polic(y)ing time and curriculum: how teachers critically negotiate restrictive policies	[ "Literacy", "English language arts", "Teaching writing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: No Child Left Behind (NCLB). National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Race to the Top (RTT). Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Third grade reading bills. In the 60 years after the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was enacted, and, particularly in the four decades since A Nation at Risk (1983) was released, revolving-door educational reforms continue to redefine processes of teaching and learning (Marshall and Brownell, 2015). Read here as Big-P policies (House, 1991), these are formal, top-down school reform policies legislated, implemented and regulated by national, state and local governments (Ball, 2008; Tefera and Voulgarides, 2016). Yet, as others illustrate (Goodman et al., 2013), Big-P policies are not the only policies enacted in literacies classrooms.\nLiterature review: Peopling policy\nTheoretical framework: polic(y)ing time and curriculum: In this section, we theorize what it means to Policy- and police- curriculum and time. Foucault (1977) theorizes institutions such as school as controlled, surveilled spaces in which power and agency may be enacted by teachers and children subversively. We position time and curriculum as accompanied by implied problems teachers confront and solve daily. Building from Ball and colleagues' (2012) Foucauldian theorization of P/policy in classrooms as enacted daily problem-solving, we understand that \"[P]olicies pose problems to their subjects, problems that must be solved in context\" (p. 270). We became interested in how two particular areas of Policy enactment in the focal classrooms:\nMethods: locating and understanding P/policy across three classrooms: This interpretive inquiry (Erickson, 1986) viewed problems related to time and curriculum through the lens of P/policymaking. As outlined in our analysis, this framing allowed us to examine meaning and implications behind elementary public school teachers' agentic policy enactments at the classroom level. Following Ball et al.'s (2012) policy audit work across school sites, we compared classroom texts, observations and artifacts as evidence of teachers' policymaking in ELA classrooms.\nFindings: Elementary teachers (re)making time and curriculum\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to theorize teacher agency as enacted through a P/policymaking lens in three elementary classrooms. Big-P Policies are formal, top-down school reform policies legislated, created, implemented and regulated by national, state and local governments. Yet, Big-P policies are not the only policies enacted in literacies classrooms. Rather, little-p policies or teachers' local, personal and creative enactments of their values and expertise are also in play in daily classroom decisions. Little p-policies are teachers doing their best in response to their students and school contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Adapting elements of discursive analysis, this interpretive inquiry is designed to examine textual artifacts, situated alongside classroom events and particular local practices, to explicate what teachers' policymaking enactments regarding time and curriculum look like across three distinct contexts. Using three elementary classrooms as examples, this paper provides analytic snapshots illustrating teachers' policymaking to solve problems of practice posed by state and school policies for curriculum, and for use of time at school.\nFindings: The findings suggest that teachers ration (aliz)ed use of time in ways that enacted personal politics, to prioritize children's personal growth and well-being alongside teachers' values, even when use of time became \"inefficient.\" An artifact from three focal classrooms illustrates particular practices - scheduling, connecting and modeling - teachers leveraged to enact little p-policy. Teachers' little p-policy enactment is teacher agency, used to disrupt temporal and curricular policies.\nOriginality/value: This framing is valuable because little-p policymaking works to disrupt and negotiate temporal and curricular mandates imposed on classrooms from the outside.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does franchising matter on IPO performance? An examination of underpricing and post-IPO performance	[ "Franchising", "Returns", "Underpricing", "Initial public offering" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Initial public offering (IPO) literature has highlighted two fundamental irregularities governing IPO issues - underpricing of IPOs (Ibbotson, 1975; Beatty and Ritter, 1986; Ritter and Welch, 2002; Ljungqvist, 2007) and long-run underperformance of IPO stocks (Ritter, 1991; Teoh et al., 1998). Underpricing is the difference between the offer price and the closing price of the IPO shares on the first trading day (Ibbotson, 1975; Beatty and Ritter, 1986). The first day underpricing of IPO shares appears widespread across capital markets throughout the world (Engelen and Essen, 2010). For instance, Engelen and Essen (2010) report a wide range of underpricing for 2,290 firms over 21 countries, spanning a range of 2.11 per cent in Argentina, to 12.12per cent in France and to 21.14 per cent in the USA.\nTheoretical background and hypothesis development: Underpricing of initial public offering shares\nMethodology: Sample and data\nEmpirical analysis and findings: Descriptive statistics\nConclusion: The current study proposes pre-IPO franchising as an insightful firm characteristic of IPO firms and anticipates that investors price it in their return expectations. Furthermore, the study explores whether firms with pre-IPO franchising activity outperform non-franchising firms in the post-IPO era. Findings of the study show that pre-IPO franchising is priced negatively in IPO investments, and increases the level of underpricing by about 10.17 per cent controlling for known factors of underpricing. With regard to long-run underperformance of IPO stocks, the study finds clear evidence for the hypothesis that franchising firms, on average, have better return performance compared to non-franchising firms in the post-IPO period, which is consistent with the large franchising literature that illustrates positive performance implications of franchising activity. This study's findings reveal meaningful implications for IPO research and financial markets participants.\nTheoretical implications: The current study contributes to the IPO literature by exploring the potential effect of pre-IPO franchising activity on IPO underpricing and long-run returns. In this regard, this study's motivation is stemmed from the line of research that explores firm qualities as attributes of underpricing and long-run returns in the IPO context (Chemmanur and Paeglis, 2005; Filatotchev and Bishop, 2002).\nManagerial implications: The study finds support mainly for the argument that pre-IPO franchising is perceived risky at an IPO. This finding could be best explained with the risk perception of investors. This can be a valid presumption considering that with franchising comes great responsibility for company executives to protect the brand reputation as well as to handle conflicting interests between storeowners and corporate offices. Moreover, by investing on a franchised firm, investors' returns are dependent not only on the success of the franchising firms but also on the performance of a large number of independent franchisees who may have all different financial motivations and goals. If this is the signal that is perceived from franchising activity, higher underpricing is reasonable for the issues of franchising firms. This finding has practical importance both for issuers and investors. Franchised companies that are contemplating going public or those that are already in the stages of promoting their issues should develop and incorporate effective marketing strategies to convey potential investors the true image of their firm to avoid leaving large amounts of IPO proceeds on the table. If left uncontrolled, being a franchising company is perceived and valued negatively by the investors, and this could result in losing significant money upfront by the issuing firms. In the current study, for instance, an average restaurant company with pre-IPO franchising leaves approximately USA$19m on the table because of a drastic underpricing.\nLimitations and future research: This research is not free from limitations. One of the limitations is the generalizability of the findings. The study uses IPOs only from the restaurant industry for the given reasons described in the introduction. Therefore, findings might be applicable within the boundaries of the restaurant industry only. Other industries with similar service and franchising characteristics might relate the current findings to their own settings and test any consistency and inconsistency in findings. Second, the sample size is relatively small, primarily because of the use a single industry and data availability. However, it should be noted that all the efforts have been exhausted to increase the number of IPOs in the study's sample. Another limitation might be related to the empirical models. It is the researchers' belief that a comprehensive analysis of the previous literature has been performed and models have been refined to correctly test the study's hypotheses. Yet, it is still possible that empirical models may be missing other control variables that may have an impact on the results. Given the small sample size, the empirical models have been attempted to be kept compact. Further research should focus on these limitations and try to find ways to eliminate them as much as possible. Furthermore, similar settings should be tested in different countries where the companies operate in dissimilar operating and cultural environments, and in different industries where the service component is relevant to a lesser degree.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper has two main purposes. First, this paper aims to examine whether pre-initial public offering (IPO) franchising activity of issuing firms is priced in the financial markets and results in pricing differential between franchising and non-franchising firms at the time of IPO. Second, the paper aims to find out whether firms with pre-IPO franchising achieve better post-IPO stock performance compared to non-franchising firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To test research hypotheses, empirical models were developed and tested through ordinary least square regression analysis. Several data sources were used including Thomson One Banker's SDC database, Compustat/CRSP and IPO prospectuses.\nFindings: The paper provides further insights to the underpricing phenomenon surrounding IPOs and long-run performance of IPO shares subsequent to listing. Particularly, the study reveals that franchising firms underprice their issues to a higher degree compared to non-franchising firms, and franchising positively affects the post-IPO benchmark adjusted cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) over a three-year observation period.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because the study tests the proposed hypotheses using data only from the restaurant industry, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test similar hypotheses using larger sample sizes from other industries.\nPractical implications: The study's findings have important implications both for IPO issuers in positioning their offering and for IPO investors in comparing IPO stocks and forming long-run portfolios.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes both to the IPO and franchising literatures by providing primary insights about how investors perceive pre-IPO franchising and incorporate their perception into their pricing at an IPO.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A developed case-based reasoning system for machine tool selection	[ "Manufacturing", "Decision support systems", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In this modern era of global competitiveness, manufacturing is considered as the backbone of any industrialized nation. The process of manufacturing includes all types of shaping operations performed to convert raw materials into valued final products. Plastic forming methods are extensively used to shape raw work materials into finished products. However, machining is the removal of unwanted material from the parent workpiece by means of a cutting tool so as to obtain a final product of desired shape, size and accuracy. Compared to plastic forming technology, machining technology is usually adopted whenever part accuracy and surface quality are of prime importance (Youssef and Hoffy, 2008). Nearly, every person depends either directly or indirectly on machining processes in some way (Hoffman et al., 2012). Machine tool is a non-portable, power operated and valued device where energies are expanded to produce jobs of different shape, sizes and surface finish by removing excess material from the preformed blank with the help of cutting tool(s) (Groover, 2013). In the present age, generally, most of the material removal processes are performed by machine tools in order to achieve the desired part geometries. The general purpose machine tools, such as drilling, milling, grinding, jig boring, honing, lapping, etc. are capable to perform versatile operations through chip removal and abrasion techniques, and can thus generate varying shape features on the parent work materials. Special purpose machine tools are competent to perform complex machining operations, such as generation of gears, threads and other irregular shapes. Computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, such as CNC milling, CNC turning, CNC drilling, machining centers, etc. are proficient to deal with large production volumes where the operator's interventions are minimal or completely eliminated. But, the capability of each machine tool to produce diverse part geometries through different machining operations at the specified accuracy and surface integrity makes the situation a complex one leading to a decision-making problem. Machine tool selection is considered to be one of the most critical decision-making processes because of the presence of a large number of stochastic factors in the evaluation stage. At the shop floor, the production engineers are compelled to make decisions for this selection problem based on their past experience. In addition to several stringent technical decisions, the production engineers are also faced with varying business decisions based on minimization of the total cost driven by global competitiveness without compromising safety and quality of the generated entities. But, scarcity of human expertise and limited power to analyze a large array of conflicting criteria have led to the development of a structured case-base (CB) for the machine tool selection problems that can be further utilized for the decision-making purpose.\n2. Literature review: Wang et al. (2000) proposed a fuzzy multi-attribute decision-making method for selecting the best machine tool in a flexible manufacturing cell. Rai et al. (2002) applied fuzzy goal programming along with genetic algorithm for machine tool selection and operation allocation in flexible manufacturing system (FMS). Moon et al. (2002) proposed an integrated machine tool selection and operation sequencing model with capacity and precedence constraints using genetic algorithm. Lee et al. (2003) presented an integrated model to perform operation sequence determination and tool selection simultaneously in order to minimize tool waiting time in an FMS. Yurdakul (2004) applied analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as a decision-making tool to justify machine tool selection. Chan et al. (2005) integrated ant colony optimization approach with a fuzzy goal programming model to solve machine tool selection and operation allocation problems in FMS. Ayag and Ozdemir (2006) adopted a fuzzy AHP approach to evaluate machine tool alternatives. At first, fuzzy AHP was applied to weigh the alternatives under multiple attributes and then benefit/cost ratio analysis was carried out using both fuzzy AHP score and procurement cost of each alternative. It was propounded that the alternative with the highest benefit/cost ratio would be the best machine tool. Mishra et al. (2006) adopted a fuzzy goal programming model having multiple conflicting objectives and constraints for solving machine tool selection and operation allocation problems. Ayag (2007) presented a hybrid approach for machine tool selection using AHP and simulation techniques. The AHP method was first adopted to narrow down the set of feasible alternatives and a simulation generator was then employed to finally identify the best suited machine tool. Onut et al. (2008) incorporated fuzzy set theory in a decision model for selecting the most appropriate machine tool for a manufacturing organization. Duran and Aguilo (2008) applied fuzzy AHP method for computer-aided machine tool selection. Sun et al. (2008) proposed a machine tool selection technology for networked manufacturing using AHP and grey relation analysis techniques. Ic and Yurdakul (2009) developed a decision support system (DSS) to aid the decision makers in solving machining center selection problems. Fuzzy AHP and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) were employed to rank the feasible alternatives. Tsai et al. (2010) proposed a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model for selection of 4-axis CNC machining centers along with the evaluation of some of the important criteria for the same from a vast array of technical specifications. Athawale and Chakraborty (2010) adopted TOPSIS method for machine tool selection, while considering capital cost, machining diameter and length, spindle speed, etc. as some of the important evaluation criteria. Alberti et al. (2011) designed a DSS for high speed milling machine selection based on various machining characteristics, such as accuracy, cost, performance test, etc. Taha and Rostam (2011) developed a fuzzy AHP-artificial neural network-based DSS model for machine tool selection in a flexible manufacturing cell. Taha and Rostam (2012) designed a hybrid fuzzy AHP and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation-based DSS model for machine tool selection. Samvedi et al. (2012) proposed an integrated approach for machine tool selection using fuzzy AHP and grey relation analysis methods. Aghdaie et al. (2013) presented an integrated approach based on step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis and complex proportional assessment of alternatives with grey relations for machine tool selection. Xin et al. (2014) developed a model for machine tool selection using integral-valued data fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm. Prasad and Chakraborty (2015) designed an expert system for CNC turning center selection so as to meet the requirements of different production plans. Sahu et al. (2015) highlighted that selection of a proper CNC machine tool would not only be dependent on quantitative and qualitative criteria, but also on subjective attributes, such as productivity, precision, accuracy, etc. The VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method was adopted for ranking of the feasible CNC machine tools. Wu et al. (2016) proposed a multi-criteria group decision-making technique based on fuzzy VIKOR method to solve CNC machine tool selection problems. Cakir (2016) presented an integrated approach for machine tool selection using fuzzy simple multi-attribute rating technique and fuzzy weighted axiomatic design principles.\n3. Architecture of CBR approach: Intelligence being a part of cognitive science may be defined as the process of rational and abstract thinking, which is purposeful and goal oriented while consisting of knowledge and feats, both conscious and unconscious, acquired through continuous study and experience. Computer-based DSSs have already been employed to help the decision makers improve their decision-making performance by alleviating problems caused by their bounded rationality and augmenting their information processing capacity (Kleindorfer et al., 1993). Task-specific knowledge and understanding of the problem structure is an essential task to develop efficient decision-making model or rules. But, those DSSs miserably fail when encountered with unstructured decision-making problems. The AI is concerned with design of intelligence in artificial artifact/system. AI systems are generally manmade and intelligence is built into them. It tries to develop a computer system to personify human behavior. But, it is quite obvious that some of the complex intelligent tasks, such as expert tasks cannot be readily manipulated by human beings as the capacity and performance of humans are limited. Moreover, intelligent systems are capable to accomplish mundane tasks, such as planning routes and activities, recognizing people through vision, communicating through natural languages, etc. and expert tasks, such as medical diagnosis, mathematical problem solving, complex decision making, etc. From the past few decades, researchers have been continuously trying to develop a flexible information processing system that can exploit tolerance for imprecision, uncertainty, approximate reasoning and partial truth to achieve traceability, robustness, low solution cost and close relation to human reasoning process. Amongst the other research areas of AI, CBR is an emerging paradigm for designing intelligent systems. In essence, CBR is an analogical reasoning method (Kolodner, 1991; Mukhopadhyay et al., 1992) which solves problems while calculating similarity between the past problems and relating them with a current, unsolved problem to provide analogical inferences providing solutions. It assumes a memory model for representing, indexing and organizing past similar cases, and a process model for retrieving and modifying the past cases and assimilating the new ones. Moreover, it is also an approach to incremental, sustained learning, since a new experience is retained each time a problem has been solved, making it immediately available for future problems (Aamodt and Plaza, 1994). It is composed of the following three terms:\n4. CBR system for machine tool selection: In recent days, manufacturing organizations are striving to develop superior products to compete in the global market scenario. Various types of machine tools are usually employed to bring the final shape and sizes of those products. Improper selection of machine tools implies wastage of the scarce resources which directly increases cost of the end products. From the business point of view, customers always want superior products at the minimal cost. Thus, selection of proper machine tools not only decreases production cost, but it also dramatically increases quality, productivity, flexibility and responsiveness of the manufacturing systems. Therefore, machine tools should always be selected in a systematic way and from a practical point of view. The question of decision making arises when there is an availability of several competing alternatives. Generally, in a decision-making process, uncertainty and doubts are sufficiently reduced so as to reach at a reasonable solution. While selecting the most suitable machine tool alternative, several quantitative and qualitative conflicting attributes are considered, such as production rate (PR), cost, power required, repeatability of machine tools, etc. Because of these diverse conflicting criteria, quantifying the uncertain qualitative attributes becomes extremely complex. For example, a machine tool able to manufacture several different parts can result in increased set-up/changeover time (Youssef and Hoffy, 2008). The CNC machines are employed for repetitive, difficult and unsafe manufacturing tasks requiring a high level of accuracy (Hoffman et al., 2012). The traditional machine tools are also able for machining of complicated and intricate shapes. However, selecting the most appropriate stand-alone machine tool from various alternatives becomes a difficult task for the manufacturing organizations.\n5. Illustrative examples: In order to demonstrate the applicability, potentiality and solution accuracy of the CBR approach-based decision-making model for machine tool selection, the following three demonstrative examples are presented.\n6. Advantages of CBR approach: Decision making in the manufacturing sector is a critical task for the management personnel. Solutions of complex decision-making problems are to be quickly arrived at so as to minimize the downtime at the shop floor. Data regarding various machining processes and their relevant parameters are readily available at the shop floor, but to amalgamate those data to aid a decision-making process is really an arduous task. Sometimes, domain experts have to share their knowledge to train the novice personnel. But scarcity of experts in the manufacturing sector has forced to develop a system where all the successful cases can be stored to efficiently aid the decision-making process. The CBR is regarded as an AI technique to support the capability of learning and reasoning in an advanced decision support environment. It can be employed as a decision-making tool where conclusions and decisions are accepted on the basis of stored cases. There is no need of knowledge extraction and rule-base development as in case of expert systems. Moreover, it is quite easy to develop a corporate memory while sharing the individual experiences. It is also proven its immense potentiality in murky domains where knowledge representation and extraction are impossible for the knowledge engineers.\n7. Conclusions: The manufacturing domain is murky and it is not easy to articulate knowledge in the form of rules. Enormous amount of data regarding various process characteristic values of different machine tools are available which can be stored in a suitable database. But to exploit those data from the database, traditional expert systems require meticulous matching of values for each of the given process characteristics. The CBR approach is a paradigm which is based on a notion of similarity. There was an initial skepticism in constructing a knowledge-based expert system in a domain which is complex and ill-defined. The CBR approach is successfully demonstrated the technique to control these knowledge and made it available to the end user for further processing. While designing this CBR system for machine tool selection, the opinions of various machine shop operators and machining experts are sort and subsumed in a CB so as to achieve maximum solution accuracy. The developed system deals with retrieval of a set of similar cases and final selection of the best matched case nearest to the given query set. It is observed that the CBR system can successfully provide a reasonable solution to a given machine tool selection problem where there is a paucity of expert knowledge. Its performance is also ratified while demonstrating three real time examples. It can also guide a production engineer in setting various parametric combinations for consummating maximum performance from the selected machine tool, although fine-tuning of those parametric settings may often be required. It is also noticed that the time taken by this CBR system to retrieve the best matched case is within the admissible limit. Dynamic increase in the contents of the CB would increase the efficiency of the CBR system. If the volume of data in the CB increases, along with the process characteristic values, it would become quite difficult to organize them using simple indexing structures. It is thus recommended to adopt other advanced case representation and indexing structures to retrieve the cases more efficiently. The generated repository from the CBR system would be a resource for developing other functionalities and exploring the paths of exploiting the accumulated information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Subtractive manufacturing process is the controlled removal of unwanted material from the parent workpiece for having the desired shape and size of the product. Several types of available machine tools are utilized to carry out this manufacturing operation. Selection of the most appropriate machine tool is thus one of the most crucial factors in deciding the success of a manufacturing organization. Ill-suited machine tool may often lead to reduced productivity, flexibility, precision and poor responsiveness. Choosing the best suited machine tool for a specific machining operation becomes more complex, as the process engineers have to consider a diverse range of available alternatives based on a set of conflicting criteria. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case-based reasoning (CBR), an amalgamated domain of artificial intelligence and human cognitive process, has already been proven to be an effective tool for ill-defined and unstructured problems. It imitates human reasoning process, using specific knowledge accumulated from the previously encountered situations to solve new problems. This paper elucidates development and application of a CBR system for machine tool selection while fulfilling varying user defined requirements. Here, based on some specified process characteristic values, past similar cases are retrieved and reused to solve a current machine tool selection problem.\nFindings: A software prototype is also developed in Visual BASIC 6.0 and three real time examples are illustrated to validate the application potentiality of CBR system for the said purpose.\nOriginality/value: The developed CBR system for machine tool selection retrieves a set of similar cases and selects the best matched case nearest to the given query set. It can successfully provide a reasonable solution to a given machine tool selection problem where there is a paucity of expert knowledge. It can also guide the process engineers in setting various parametric combinations for achieving maximum machining performance from the selected machine tool, although fine-tuning of those settings may often be required.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying EEG in consumer neuroscience	[ "Consumer neuroscience", "Electroencephalogram (EEG)", "Event-related potential (ERP)", "FMRI vs EEG", "Multi-methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Consumer neuroscience is a growing approach to research that is garnering increased attention among academic researchers in the fields of marketing and consumer research. As marketing researchers increasingly acknowledge the shortcomings of self-reported data derived from surveys and qualitative methods, consumer researchers are searching for alternative (or complementary) methods to overcome the biases inherent in self-reports. Neuroscience methods provide one such alternative, as well as a means to dig deeper into understanding the cognitive processes and underlying mechanisms that help explain consumer behaviors. Kenning and Plassmann (2008, p. 532) note that the goal of consumer neuroscience \"is to use insights and methods from neuroscience to enhance the understanding of consumer behavior\". Yet, while gaining visibility over the past decade, this approach to consumer research is yet to gain widespread use as an effective and feasible methodological approach among marketing academics.\nUnderstanding electroencephalogram activity and event-related potential components: EEG is essentially a measure of brainwave activity detected at the surface of the scalp. To understand why certain study design procedures are necessary and how technical decisions are crucial for increasing the quality of the data for inferences to be made, we need to first understand the physiology of the brain. The basic building block of the brain (and nervous system) is the neuron. Neurons communicate with each other electrochemically (i.e. via tiny electrical signals). When neurons are similarly aligned, as is the case for the neocortex or outer layer of the brain, the electrical activity can be measured at the scalp with electrodes using a differential amplifier (which will be discussed in more detail in later sections). By way of analogy, this is like a chorus. Many singers (neurons) on a stage, all aimed at an audience, can produce a powerful sound (even louder when microphones and amplifiers are in place). As a direct measure of brain-related activity, EEG can thus be used to understand how brain cells (neurons) communicate with each other (sing together). EEG is thus distinct from fMRI, which is a measure of changes in blood flow to a brain region reflecting neural operations within that area.\nAdvantages of an electroencephalogram approach to consumer research: Compared to other methods, EEG is a relatively less invasive and less expensive method of measuring brain waves on the surface of the scalp, which is increasingly gaining attention in the field of marketing research. EEG is especially useful for capturing direct and objective data to further assist researchers in understanding the cognitive and emotional processes involved in information processing and decision-making. We use Plassmann et al.'s (2015) framework, which describes five general marketing applications of neuroscience research, to demonstrate and discuss the application of these guidelines, specifically to EEG studies in marketing. We also discuss a few marketing-related MEG studies, where applicable, given the similarities to EEG. Furthermore, this framework, combined with corresponding study examples, provides readers with an overview of the functional benefits of considering EEG as an alternative or complementary approach to conducting consumer research.\nAn overview of marketing-related electroencephalogram studies: Many EEG studies focus on cognitive and emotional processing in participants in response to a particular stimulus. From the selected EEG/ERP studies reviewed (Table I), whether it is processing ads or brands, products or price, the researchers all attempt to understand one or more of the following relevant cognitive processes in consumer research:\nConsiderations and decisions in conducting an event-related potential study: To reiterate, ERPs is one specific application of the EEG method, where a large number of trials are \"time-locked\" to understand perceptual or cognitive processes in response to sensory stimuli. To capture the high-quality ERP data used to infer and understand cognitive and emotional processes, the following three sections describe the considerations and decisions involved in the data collection and processing (often referred to as data cleaning) of ERP data. These sections outline considerations related to acquiring data and filtering noise, averaging and referencing and number of trials and electrodes. See Handy (2004), Luck (2014) and Picton et al. (2000) for more detailed background information and guidelines on ERP. Also refer to Light et al. (2010) for a step-by-step guidance on required materials and procedures for conducting an ERP study.\nA comparison of electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging approaches: In the past 35 years, a significant number of journals have emerged dedicated to the topic of cognitive neuroscience, featuring numerous EEG and ERP studies. To date, however, fMRI has dominated neuroscience methods in marketing and other business research fields. In marketing research, there has been a slow but steady increase in the number of fMRI studies over the past decade (Hedgcock and Rao, 2009; Reimann et al., 2012; Reimann et al., 2011; Yoon et al., 2006). However, there are far fewer EEG studies (Boksem and Smidts, 2015; Jones et al., 2012; Pozharliev et al., 2015) in business journals, despite the considerable history of EEG studies in neuroscience and psychology (Luck, 2005a, 2005b). Marketing scholars have been slow to adopt EEG approaches, yet quicker to adopt the relatively newer, significantly costlier and technologically more complex, fMRI technique.\nCombining event-related potential and functional magnetic resonance imaging approaches to enhance consumer research: We consider two well-known fMRI studies in marketing, and conjecture about how ERP could be used to further enhance our knowledge within the areas of inquiry. First, we consider Yoon et al.'s (2006) fMRI study of brand personality, which challenges the prevailing assumption that brands are processed like personality judgments. Specifically, these authors find that person-related judgments activate medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) areas more so than brand judgments.\nOther multi-method approaches using electroencephalogram: Two potential ways to extend fMRI studies using an ERP approach were just discussed; however, there are several other notable examples of the successful use of multiple methods. Ohme et al. (2009) used EEG, along with galvanic skin response (GSR) and facial electromyography (EMG), to capture affect and emotions in response to two versions of the same ad. EMG has been shown to be effective in capturing facial muscle movement to infer facial expressions associated with emotions. Another neurophysiological measure, the skin conductance (SC) technique, which measures activation of the autonomic nervous system, captured arousal. Both EMG and SC have been shown to be more accurate than self-report measures (Hazlett and Hazlett, 1999; LaBarbera and Tucciarone, 1995). In this example, the use of other biometrics complement the EEG results and provide additional evidence of the processes studied.\nSummary and conclusion: In their paper, Plassmann et al. (2015) proposed five marketing applications of neuroscience methods. In this paper, we present a review of past and current marketing research that use an EEG approach to study consumer behavior, and further demonstrate that these five applications are indeed realistic and generalizable to EEG-based research. The studies highlighted demonstrate that consumer neuroscience, and EEG in particular, cannot only be used to study an array of cognitive processes that are relevant to consumer research, but also, when used appropriately, can have an advantage over traditional methods.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review past papers focused on understanding consumer-related topics in marketing and related interdisciplinary fields to demonstrate the applications of electroencephalogram (EEG) in consumer neuroscience.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In addition to the review of papers using EEG to study consumer cognitive processes, the authors also discuss relevant decisions and considerations in conducting event-related potential (ERP) studies. Further, a framework proposed by Plassmann et al. (2015) was used to discuss the applications of EEG in marketing research from papers reviewed.\nFindings: This paper successfully used Plassmann et al.'s (2015) framework to discuss five applications of neuroscience to marketing research. A review of growing EEG studies in the field of marketing and other interdisciplinary fields reveals the advantages and potential of using EEG in combination with other methods. This calls for more research using such methods.\nResearch limitations/implications: A technical overview of ERP-related terminology provides researchers with a background for understanding and reviewing ERP studies. A discussion of method-related considerations and decisions provides marketing researchers with an introduction to the method and refers readers to relevant literature.\nPractical implications: The marketing industry has been quick to adopt cutting edge technology, including EEG, to understand and predict consumer behavior for the purpose of improving marketing practices. This paper connects the academic and practitioner spheres by presenting past and potential EEG research that can be translatable to the marketing industry.\nOriginality/value: The authors review past literature on the use of EEG to study consumer-related topics in marketing and interdisciplinary fields, to demonstrate its advantages over-traditional methods in studying consumer-relevant behaviors. To foster increasing use of EEG in consumer neuroscience research, the authors further provide technical and marketing-specific considerations for both academic and market researchers. This paper is one of the first to review past EEG papers and provide methodological background insights for marketing researchers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An integrated model of festival revisit intentions: Theory of planned behavior and festival quality/satisfaction	[ "Festivals", "Repeat buying" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Festivals have seen rapid growth locally and globally with regard to numbers, diversity and popularity since the 1980s (Getz, 2005). More and more communities, organizations and governments have developed various forms of festivals as a growing and vibrant sector of the tourism and leisure industries, hoping to provide tangible and intangible benefits in their communities and regions (Getz, 1997). Benefits of festivals are demonstrated more explicitly in peripheral rural areas, particularly in boosting local economies, creating employment opportunities and promoting local culture and products (Huang et al., 2010). Although small in scale, rural festivals can hold a diverse plethora of themes and programs.\nLiterature review: Theory of planned behavior\nResearch methods: Survey development\nResults of the analysis: Preliminary analysis\nDiscussion and conclusions: This study attempted to develop an integrated model to explain and predict festival visitors' revisit intentions by simultaneously adopting festival quality/satisfaction and TPB. Another contributory goal of the study was to determine the importance of social influences on current visitors' revisit intentions to the festival. Results of the analyses indicated that the theoretical constructs had adequate reliability and validity and the proposed model had an acceptable fit to the empirical data. The overall explanatory power of the research model explained 84 per cent of the variance for revisit intention to the festival and 60 per cent for satisfaction, indicating that the integrated model explained the endogenous variables quite well. Thus, the incorporation of festival quality, satisfaction and TPB with the addition of social influence variables provided a model which theoretically explained festival revisit intentions. Thus, this approach concurrently revealed the perspectives of the effect that festival service quality has on revisit intentions and how visitors psychologically and socially perceived their intentions to attend a festival again.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the determinants of current visitors' festival revisit intentions. The concepts of festival quality and satisfaction were adapted and integrated with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) from social psychology to theorize a model of festival revisit intentions. In addition, given the importance of social characteristics in festival visiting behavior, the relative impacts of three modes of social influences (i.e. subjective norms, group norms and social identity) were investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Statistical analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships with the data collected onsite during the Nonsan Strawberry Festival, held in Nonsan, South Korea. The eleven constructs were incorporated into the structural model to examine the hypothesized relationships among the latent factors.\nFindings: Results of the analyses indicated that the proposed model had an acceptable fit to the empirical data. The overall explanatory power of the model had an R2 of 84 per cent for revisit intention and an R2 of 60 per cent for satisfaction. Satisfaction was found to be the strongest predictor of visitors' revisit intensions, followed by social identity, subjective norms and group norms.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study developed an integrated model to explain festival visitors' revisit intentions by adopting not only visitors' personal evaluation of the festival experience and but also a series of social influences.\nPractical implications: Based on the results, festival managers should allocate their marketing resources for the festival program, environment and souvenirs to increase the visitors' perception of quality. Particular attention should also be given to visitor groups and their travel companions' influences on their intentions to revisit the festival.\nOriginality/value: The incorporation of festival quality and satisfaction and TPB extended with additional social influence variables provided a model with a theoretical basis to explain festival revisit intentions. This approach may provide an initial blueprint for further investigation of other theoretical revisit models.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The implications of work-family balance among dual-earner couples: The case of medical practitioners in Nigeria	[ "Nigeria", "Dual-earner couples", "Work-family balance", "Role theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper examines the implications of work-family balance (WFB) among dual-earner couples in a non-western context using Nigeria as a case study. The issue of WFB has generated increased interest among academics, particularly in the western world (Halpern, 2005; Grzywacz and Bass, 2003; Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007) and in the popular press (Chao, 2005). For instance, academics have argued that WFB enhances employees' well-being and serves as a source of a healthy and well-functioning society (Halpern, 2005). Kalliath and Brough (2008, p. 326) proposed that \"work-life balance is the individual perception that work and non-work activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an individual's current life priorities\". Research on the work-life balance (WLB) of dual earners is growing (e.g. Harvey and Buckley, 1998; Makela et al., 2011; Shimazu et al., 2013; Tammelin et al., 2015), yet research focussing specifically on dual-earner couples in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) context (such as Nigeria) is scarce. In this context, some recent studies have more broadly examined work-family conflict (e.g. Adisa et al., 2016a), while some focussed on coping strategies of working mothers in Nigeria with those of Britain (Adisa et al., 2016b).\nWork and family in context: The human effort to produce for livelihood has always been understood as \"work\". This effort (work) is the time and energy that an individual (employee) is contracted to expend in return for reward, usually financial, to a third party (employer) (Clutterbuck, 2003). Work is akin to selling one's time, physical, and/or mental energy for a specific number of hours of the day and an agreed number of days of the week. Work is characterised as a source of well-being (Hakanen and Schaufeli, 2012) and is associated with productivity (Guthrie, 2001). Work in this sense cannot be confused with familial duties (Dex, 2009) because work and family are distinctly separate domains with different activities and purposes. Although some may argue for an indirect relationship, traditionally, although individuals undertake some kind of work in both the workplace and family domain, they only get paid for the former. Generally, activities undertaken in the workplace are paid for in terms of wages or salaries and are usually bound by both a psychological contract (unwritten) and an employment contract (often written) which spells out the roles and responsibilities of both the employee and employer. Such roles and responsibilities are expected to serve as a source of satisfaction which brings a sense of meaning and purpose to the lives of employees (Gambles et al., 2006). On the other hand, work undertaken in the family domain is not likely to be paid for and is considered part of the familial responsibilities to which the parties are not bound by any form of explicit binding contract. This, arguably, explains Clark and Farmer's (1998) proposition that work satisfies the end of providing an income and gives some sense of accomplishment, whereas home life builds close relationships to sustain happiness. It is therefore pertinent to note that, despite the clear distinction made in sociology between work and employment (e.g. Pahl and Wallace, 1988; Pahl, 1989), literature on WFB routinely equates the two (MacInnes, 2008).\nBalancing the pendulum: Work has become integral to life and supports human development and well-being to the extent that a temporary or permanent lack of meaningful work becomes a source of distress (Kanter, 1977). The family, an integral unit of society, often provides labour to produce goods and services. However, balancing these two important aspects of life are challenging (Alison, 2014) but crucial in terms of fostering and maintaining employees' well-being (Den Dulk and de Ruijter, 2008). The question of how to balance the swinging pendulum of individuals' multiple engagements in their work and family lives produced the concept of WFB (Stock et al., 2014). WFB has consequently generated substantial interest among employees, organisations, governments, and academics (Grzywacz and Carlson, 2007) and \"has emerged as a strategic issue for human resource management\" (De Cieri et al., 2005, p. 91). For most academics, it facilitates individuals' well-being and provides the lynchpin for a healthy and well-functioning society (Halpern, 2005). Governments are also increasingly recognising that WFB promotes employees' happiness and general well-being (Lewis, 2009). Similarly, organisations have developed WFB policies to enhance employee commitment and job satisfaction (Carlson et al., 2009; Liu and Wang, 2011). A healthy balance between employees' work demands and family responsibilities also reduces absenteeism, improves employee retention, and increases productivity (Beham et al., 2012; Lazar et al., 2010).\nDual-earner couples: The evolving nature of the workforce in terms of gender, age, and race (Zedeck and Mosier, 1990; McCormick, 2007) has increased the number of women in paid employment. This has increased the number of dual-earner couples (Harvey and Buckley, 1998; Makela et al., 2011). There are now more dual-earner couples than ever before (Clarkberg, 1999; Haddock et al., 2006). The reasons for active female participation in the labour market include: augmenting the family's financial resource base; women's desire for fulfilment and independence; making a case for gender equity (OECD, 2001); and the increase in women gaining university degrees also increases their desire to use their acquired knowledge and experience (Padula, 1994). It is, therefore, logical to conclude that dual-earner couples have significantly replaced the traditional \"breadwinner\" husband and \"homemaker\" wife model and much attention is being given to understanding the impact of this phenomenon at work (Kotila et al., 2013; Shimazu et al., 2013), with some recent studies focussing on situations in which the woman is actually the main breadwinner or superior earner (Bloemen and Stancanelli, 2015). Dual-earner couples are husbands and wives or partners in civil relationships who are gainfully employed in the form of paid employment and maintain family lives alongside such employment. Dual-earner and dual-career couples have become more of the rule than the exception (Makela et al., 2011). Dual-earner and dual-career couples are related but fundamentally different in the sense that with dual-earner couples both earn income to support their family but they are not psychologically committed to their profession (Harvey and Buckley, 1998). Dual-career couples, on the other hand, are psychologically committed to, and maintain developmental progression in their professional roles (Hammer et al., 1997; Makela et al., 2011). It is, however, essential to note that dual-career couples are a subset of dual-earner couples (Pierce and Delahaye, 1996). Dual-career couples further exhibit a high commitment towards, and personal identification with, the work role. In contrast, dual-earner couples' commitment to the work role is low for one or both couples (Hiller and Dyehouse, 1987).\nRole theory and WFB: WFB is a multifaceted concept (McCarthy et al., 2013). This paper is underpinned by the role theory which addresses individual involvement in multiple roles. The role theory has underpinned many HRM studies over the past three decades and has provided a framework for the allocation of work roles in organisations (Cardina and Wicks, 2004; Madsen, 2002). According to Biddle (1979), the role theory is the study of behaviours characteristic of individuals within situations or contexts (that is roles) and with sundry processes that produce, explain, or predict those behaviours. In their classic works, Katz and Kahn (1966, 1978) argued that employees are required to undertake specific work roles in order to perform their duties effectively and efficiently. In each role, employees are confronted with role expectations, which can be fulfilled with certain behaviours (Rodham, 2000). When employees fail to perform the expected roles, repercussions which could negatively affect their work life may occur (Katz and Kahn, 1966, 1978). Indeed, employees are involved in several life roles with conflicting demands, and effectively fulfilling those expected roles can be challenging. Therefore, organisations seek to deal with issues resulting from employees' inability to combine the demands of their working role with complex familial responsibilities (Boles et al., 2003). It is clear in the literature on WFB (Burke, 2004; Thompson and Prottas, 2006) that contemporary HRM practice struggles to effectively integrate employees' roles (Maertz and Boyar, 2011).\nResearch design and method: A qualitative method has been chosen for the study because of its ability to capture the richness and diversity of the ways in which stakeholders ascribe and construct meaning (Hanson et al., 2011). The researchers use the interpretive-constructivist paradigm and the constructivist-phenomenologist philosophies, which both underscore a person's lived experience (Stake, 2005, 2006). This methodological position provides the necessary framework needed for the development of detailed understanding (Chang et al., 2010; Cresswell, 2009) and allows insight into richly detailed narratives of the lived experiences (Stake, 2005, 2006).\nFindings: The respondents indicated that WFB is a phenomenon which requires a great deal of attention as most organisations in Nigeria give little attention to addressing the issue. Most of the organisations are preoccupied with other issues (such as non-payment of salary and salary increment) that they consider more pertinent and therefore neglect the issue of WFB. It is also evident that, in the SSA, setting, the extended family systems place extra demands on professionals (depending on their status). Therefore, the challenges faced by dual earners in Africa have multiple dimensions. Our findings capture both the positive and negative impacts of dual-earner status on WFB.\nDiscussion: Having two earners in a family is beneficial, but not without potential negative consequences. Our findings highlight the benefits and challenges associated with being a dual-earner couple. The notion of the traditional male breadwinner and female home carer is part of Nigerian culture, but its practice has been altered by the pressing need for two salary earners to boost the family income. Dual-earner couples are generally more able to increase the family income and standard of living. Women share the financial responsibility with their husbands/partners, thereby giving the husbands/partners the opportunity to invest in the capital market through stock ownership and other businesses to further enhance the family's financial resources. Such satisfied employees are unlikely to take part-time work elsewhere, thereby making them more focussed with little likelihood of leaving their current employment, thus reducing employee turnover. This may well explain why Beutell and Wittig-Berman (1999) argued that the catalogue of problems that employees experience at home has a negative impact on work performance. A healthy home life, on the other hand, increases job satisfaction (Barnett et al., 2003).\nConclusion and recommendations: This paper has provided insights into the WFB of dual-earner couples in the non-western context of SSA, highlighting the previously unexplored implications of dual-earner status in the context of SSA. There are benefits to dual-earner status for male and female dual earners. In a patriarchal society such as Nigeria, dual-earner status enables female employees to accomplish a higher sense of self-worth and achievement. Males enjoy some relief from carrying the family's entire financial burden and this enables investment in order to further increase the family's financial security. However, negative implications such as inadequate time to attend to family and familial duties sometimes result in external stress with consequent negative effects on child development, family cohesion, and society at large. This study has emphasised that a female dual-earner in most developing countries may be disadvantaged because she is under a great deal of pressure to perform satisfactorily both at work and at home. Employers and policymakers must be more sensitive to the WFB of female dual earners. Perhaps such societies need to propagate the need for female participation in the workforce at all levels and the need for family roles to be shared in a way in which the burden on females would be reduced. Male dual earners must also be aware that with financial benefits come shared domestic responsibilities. Such couples must mutually agree on ways in which they can both improve their WFB. Employers could also explore working patterns which would suit such families; for example, that both dual earners may not always work the same weekend, etc. Dual-earner couples must reconcile their work and family roles in order to reduce the negative implications of their dual-earner status. This can be achieved by setting appropriate priorities, clarifying roles and expectations, and moving away from patriarchal mentalities which load all of the domestic duties on women. The global trend among both male and female doctors is to pay greater attention to balancing their professional and private lives (Buddeberg-Fischer et al., 2008). Organisations must be sensitive to and conscious of the dual-earner phenomenon in order to develop WFB initiatives. Such initiatives have often helped employees become more effective at work and home (Elloy and Smith, 2004; Thomas and Ganster, 1995). In addition, such initiatives have resulted in increased productivity and reduced absenteeism and turnover (Higgins et al., 1992). In addition, organisations must develop WFB policies which do not lose sight of the extended family system in the context of SSA.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The implications of the work-family balance (WFB) of dual-earner couples are well known; however, the extant literature on this topic has failed to adequately explore the context of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), specifically Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the WFB of dual-earner couples in Nigeria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper employs a qualitative methodology in order to explore the effect of couples' dual-earner status on their WFB in an African context by using Nigerian medical practitioners as the empirical focus.\nFindings: The findings reveal that the dual-earner status provides some respite from financial hardship and improves family finances, which subsequently enhances WFB. However, the dual-earner status also has negative impacts on WFB in terms of work performance, dysfunctionality, and associated societal problems.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides insights into the WFB of dual-earner couples in the non-western context of SSA, highlighting the previously unexplored implications of dual-earner status in the context of SSA.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Controlling urban car parking - an exemplar for public management?	[ "Public administration", "Car parks (buildings)", "Service levels", "Urban areas", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The organisation of urban car parking demonstrates an ideal empirical test of two critical aspects of theorising public management. It is a classic example of the \"wicked problem\" to which there are no easy answers and the imposition of purported solutions may generate other problems and discontents (Rittel and Webber, 1973). It is also an extremely good example of how analysis in a theoretical context of the routine minutiae of everyday social activity can enhance our understanding of more complex aspects of human social interaction and the manner in which public agencies can better respond to such everyday circumstances (Akerlof, 1970; Anderson and de Palma, 2004; Titmuss, 1997). It also has particular interest for researchers in public management since it appears that recent changes in public parking management in the UK have successfully achieved major improvements in efficiency and effectiveness at a time when such improvements in public services are much sought after by governments everywhere. But, such measurable improvements have not been popular with many citizens who are also motorists.Urban parking pressures, and the enforcement processes and systems that have been developed to manage the rapid growth of car traffic in cities are a feature of everyday life in all developed economies. It is claimed that we can see the growth of \"parking rage\" (RAC, cited Walsh, 2005). Sometimes such anger can lead to real tragedy, with a death occurring in Glasgow in 2004 during a violent argument over a parking space. Similar incidents occur in other countries; in California a man was crushed by his own illegally parked car as he resisted it being towed away (Pollack, 2005). Press reports from the Peoples' Republic of China have reported unspecified driver resistance to the imposition of controls and charges for street parking in major cities (Shanghai Daily, 2005).Reports on parking pressures; the potential consequences of shortages of urban parking; overly robust enforcement; and the (almost) inevitable errors that arise when some parking authorities issue a large number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) are now standard topics in the news menu of local newspapers in the UK. Parking in our towns and cities is clearly therefore a matter of considerable public interest, particularly to those who own cars and drive them into urban centres. On a scale of public concern, it may not rate as of great significance, but there are well placed media commentators who discuss parking as a symptom of some broader perceived malaise. A former editor of The Times (Linklater, 2004): \"... struck a minor blow for the common man ... \" in appealing successfully against a PCN and in his article on this cited Edmund Burke as his precedent for drawing \"... wider significance ... \" from this incident.This paper explores some aspects of that \"wider significance\" for the effective management of a public service that takes us beyond the day-to-day urban frustration of relatively prosperous car owners.The purpose of the paper is to analyse the organisation of urban car parking as an exemplar of the management of complex public services. It is particularly concerned to discuss some of the conflicting and ambiguous views that can relate to \"wicked problems\" (Rittel and Webber, 1973). The major primary sources drawn upon here are government documentation; contemporary print media and web accessed publications. The operation of regulatory services such as car parking are not generally discussed in major works on local government (Wilson and Game, 2007; Stoker and Wilson, 2004). As an example of public management urban on-street parking does not appear to have been subject to any sustained form of academic examination with only one substantial piece of work (Raine et al., 2005) and that focused on the quality of local authority parking operations. The search for a parking space is seen by economists as a classic phenomenon of optimising utility and of the management of common property, but such work tends to be from the perspective of pure economic theory (Anderson and de Palma, 2004).\nTheoretical context: It is possible to examine the organisation of urban car parking from a number of different perspectives; those drawn from economics provide perhaps the most pertinent means of analysis.Parking as a common good\nThe organisation of urban parking controls: Urban parking controls have been introduced in different urban areas either because of pressure of traffic flow, or because of pressure of demand at particular times of day and night. Circumstances change over the longer term as traffic volumes and flows increase and will take different forms in different locations at different times; however, they now have almost universal presence in congested urban areas. On street parking, meters were first introduced in Oklahoma City in 1935; in central London in 1958; in Paris in 1971; Edinburgh in 1973; Beijing in 2005 (GLA, 2005; Sud Ouest, 2005; Scotsman, 2003; Shanghai Daily, 2005).The definition of the appropriate spaces and payments for parking will vary according to the intensity and pattern of local social and commercial life. Different periods of time and level of charge will apply depending on whether the area is predominantly office; shopping; leisure or other forms of activity. Typically, however, such parking control areas are characterised by technologies that are very similar in form regardless of country or jurisdiction. A parking meter in Amsterdam; Reyjavik; New York or Budapest is instantly recognisable by any motorist. Such meters provide paid parking for a limited time and specific space and infringement is penalised by either vehicle removal or a fixed financial penalty.\nEnforcing parking - a success for public management?: If it is accepted that the provision and enforcement of paid on street parking is a common good, then it follows that those authorised to monitor and police this provision are providing a public service. Parking attendants (PAs) are public servants, although in some jurisdictions they are employed by companies contracted to the local government. In the UK, this organisational form developed in the period following the Road Traffic Act (1991). This provided for the decriminalisation of parking enforcement and the introduction of PAs to carry out the parking enforcement duties in areas designated as Special Parking Areas. In London all 32 London Boroughs and the City of London introduced these arrangements in 1994. In Scotland, Edinburgh (1998) and Glasgow (1999) were the first councils to implement new powers under the Act, with Aberdeen following in 2002; throughout the UK, increasing numbers of councils are introducing such arrangements.Although these PAs are providing a necessary public service, in doing so, they may often necessarily effect a sanction or penalty on people who have not observed the necessary regulations. Raine et al. (2005, p. 7) again:It is all too easy for the public to perceive parking enforcement in wholly negative terms. In particular, those who receive parking tickets or whose vehicles are clamped or removed by the authorities or their contactors are of course, especially prone to view the process and the penalties in a critical light, often irrespective of the fact that they had contravened a traffic regulation.There is frequent criticism of the activities of PAs who are variously described as: \"too zealous\"; \"over enthusiastic\"; \"too keen\" and condemned for \"sticking to the letter of the law\" (Evening News, 2002; 2004). It is a regular newspaper cliche to refer to PAs as being \"dreaded\" and to re-inforce such a malign image by the persistent usage of words such as \"Enforcers\"; \"Red Devils\"; \"Blue meanies\". The trade paper (Parking News, 2002) shows that such terms are not original to any one paper and are used by local papers throughout the UK. What this form of public criticism also points to is the need for further research into organisational and employee incentivitisation in comparable public services (Karl and Sutton, 1998; Rainey, 1983).What all such often hostile commentary and reaction simultaneously reflects and disguises is improved performance on the part of those responsible for enforcing parking regulations in our major cities.The Economist (2004) newspaper is often brutally critical of public management; however, in discussing changed parking regimes, it takes a different perspective: \"Deregulation has made traffic wardens more effective. Hooray\". The article continues to discuss the public ambivalence to enhanced effectiveness in parking control:Ask a Londoner - particularly a middle class Londoner - how to raise standards of law and order in the city, and they are likely to talk of putting more officers on the streets, upping the number of minorities in uniform and cracking down harder on minor quality-of-life offences. Which is odd, because parking attendants, who excel in all three respects, are almost universally detested (The Economist, 2004, p. 29).\nActivity and performance metrics: In Scotland, although data on parking enforcement is published on an irregular basis it has been possible to see the impact of the decriminalisation of street parking offences when compared with traditional modes of enforcement, by comparing PCN issued in different areas (Table I).Earlier figures are not available for Scotland but the Association of London Government claims that in the 1980s:... only one illegal parking act in 100 was penalised and more than 50 per cent of fixed penalty notices were not paid ... (GLA, 2005, p. 16).Evidence from different parts of the UK would therefore suggest that the metrics of performance are being improved. Enhanced efficiency is even recognised by motorists' organisations, such as the RAC Foundation for Motoring, which acknowledged performance improvement and recognised that this is not necessarily popular with motorists:The transition from the benign or laissez faire police enforcement and the much more enthusiastic and efficient enforcement by, or on behalf of the London Boroughs, has been predictably controversial and confrontational, as both motorists, Parking Attendants and the London Boroughs embarked on a steep learning curve. (GLA, 2005, p. 16).There is a form of quasi legal redress or appeal for a motorist who is dissatisfied with his/her penalty notice. The aggrieved motorist must first write to the council but the route of appeal can lead on to a local parking appeal tribunal, an independent body with final decision-making powers to uphold or quash a PCN. We could therefore reasonably infer that a surrogate for effective and proper performance by PAs is the proportion of appeals that are upheld by each parking appeal tribunal. The figures for year 2002/2003 showing the proportion of PCNs successfully appealed are shown in Table II for a number of different jurisdictions.The data available from any examination of parking penalty appeals is ambiguous, inconclusive and there is limited time series data available. However, the figures shown might suggest that - at that point - Manchester appeared to be a council where parking enforcement was operated to a robust standard and the data reported here is consistent with references to good practice in Manchester referred to in the GLA (2005, p. 55) enforcement study.Of course, in a climate of increasing apparent hostility to over zealous parking control, a high premium is placed on enhanced quality of practice - indeed this is the main burden of conclusion for Raine et al. (2005).\nSome broader lessons for public management: Any consideration of the processes of parking control and public debate about the practice of control suggests there are common themes to the discussion that have a clear resonance with debates about the nature of other public services. It also indicates complex elements of public service production rarely discussed amongst that wider constituency of citizens simply unhappy that they cannot find a parking space; are paying too much for one or have been penalised because they have overstayed their allotted time by 10 minutes.There seem to be several key aspects where the implications of the underlying premise that leads to the introduction of parking control and the routinised operation of parking control both resonate with contemporary debates about other public services. We can see these themes manifest in both the operation of parking controls and the reaction of some members of the public to such controls[2]. Some of the relevant aspects are as follows: flexibility in provision; individual discretion and trust; the rationing of services; pricing and charging; and government attempts to modify social behaviour. And of course, since this is represents a \"wicked problem\" then a number of these are interrelated in a complex manner.Consistency or flexibility in provision\nSome conclusions: An examination of parking control and comparison off this service with other, different, public services shows an increasing level of complexity for government and for the citizens within any society in effectively organising a public service. For government at all levels in the UK - and in most other societies - the big grand decisions and projects are either gone (the motorway building programme) or go wrong (pension provision, health service information technology projects). Much of government is now concerned with \"wicked problems\" not easy ones, but that is not made explicit in the public political debate nor is it expressed in terms that are well understood by much of the population.Even in managing urban parking, governments in many jurisdictions in the UK have clearly failed to convince many drivers (and sometimes the wider community) that effective and rigorous control of parking is necessary, not just desirable. There is an interesting contrast here with one other aspect of driver population behaviour; the proportion of motorists who still consider it acceptable to drink excessively when in charge of a car. If we use deaths from drink-related accidents as a reasonable surrogate for motorists drinking, the period from the early 1980s to 2001 saw reduction in drink-related road deaths from 1,550 to under 500 (PACTS, 2003). So, behaviour can be changed but in respect of drinking the tragically negative impact of deviant behaviour is so much more unambiguous; exceeding allocate parking time for 10 minutes somewhat less so.But if the nature, extent and volume of such policy challenges is to continue to develop - as it appears set to - then governments at every level have to become more adept; less hesitant and more direct in their communication to enable the greater engagement and motivation of citizens and residents.It is at times of high-political tension - such as at elections - that organised parties seem to find this most difficult. In the UK, it appears that at elections, both government and opposition are afraid to raise challenging issues which reveal complexity. As Tony Wright (2005, p. 95) MP - a former academic and Chair of the Public Administration Committee - comments:... there was a collective terror [in the General Election] of saying anything that any body of voters might find disagreeable.The reality of \"wicked problems\" is that they probably will produce some disagreeable outcomes for some people as they generate benefits for others or for the broader society. Public management academics have a major contribution to make in exploring that phenomenon whether in issues of high policy or parking on the High Street.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to analyse the management of urban on street car parking as an example of the dilemmas of understanding and improving the performance of public management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A conceptual paper that assesses empirical practice against different theoretical frameworks and suggests new management and policy directions.\nFindings: - The management of regulatory services such as urban on street car parking are little examined in the literature of public management, though the economic literature does review some aspects of parking behaviour. This paper analyses car parking as an exemplar site for empirical confirmation of the difficulties of reconciling multiple stakeholder interests when addressing a \"wicked problem\". The paper further argues that public management theory can be developed from examination of such routine minutiae of day-to-day life.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a fresh theoretical perspective on an every day social activity and suggests that such analysis can aid theory building for public management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Work-related depression in the hotel industry: a study in the United Arab Emirates	[ "Depression", "Emotional exhaustion", "Hotel employees", "Personal resources", "United Arab Emirates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employees in frontline service jobs of the hospitality industry play a critical role in delivering service quality and establishing long-term relationships with customers. Their attitudes and behaviors towards customers influence customers' perceptions of service quality (Hartline and Ferrell, 1996). Despite this realization, such employees are faced with role stress, work-family conflict, customer aggression, and burnout (e.g. Deery, 2008; Karatepe et al., 2009; Ledgerwood et al., 1998). More importantly, there is evidence that such stressors and burnout intensify depression (e.g. Baba et al., 1999; Frone et al., 1997; Yagil, 2008).Depression, which refers to \"prolonged negative feelings, inability to concentrate or function normally and other related depressive symptomatology\" (Baba et al., 1999, p. 166), is a serious illness and a common problem in the workplace. According to the American Psychiatric Association, major depression can be characterized by such symptoms as \"depressed mood most of the day; loss of interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities, most of the day; significant weight loss or weight gain when not dieting; sleep disturbances; psychomotor agitation; fatigue or loss of energy; feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt; diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness; and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide attempts\" (Shoor, 1994). Depression delineates alarming news for organizations through job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and turnover (Baba et al., 1999; Shani and Pizam, 2009).Purpose and rationale\nConceptual model and hypotheses: Conceptual model\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Measurement results\nDiscussion and implications: This study makes useful contributions to the hospitality management literature. Specifically, the current study provides insights pertaining to the effects of personal resources and emotional exhaustion on depression. Second, this study presents useful findings based on data obtained from Arab frontline employees in the international five-star chain hotels in the UAE, which is a non-western setting.The results clearly suggest that the model is viable. That is, of the seven hypothesized relationships tested in the current study, six were supported by the data. When the direct effects in the model are evaluated, the results demonstrate that positive affectivity and intrinsic motivation are the two personal resources reducing employees' emotional exhaustion. Such findings corroborate those of Iverson et al. (1998) and Karatepe and Aleshinloye (2009). The results, which are also consistent with the COR theory (Hobfoll, 2001), suggest that employees with positive affectivity and intrinsic motivation try to cope with problems associated with emotional exhaustion instead of avoiding them. The result that emotional exhaustion is a significant predictor of depression is consonant with the COR theory (Hobfoll, 2001) and is in line with those of Baba et al. (1999) and Shani and Pizam (2009). Depression appears to be inevitable, if employees are confronted with heightened emotional exhaustion through an escalating spiral of resource losses.When the mediating effects are assessed, several observations emerge from the findings. First, the results pertaining to emotional exhaustion as a full mediator between personal resources and depression are also consistent with the COR theory (Hobfoll, 2001). It appears that employees with positive affectivity and intrinsic motivation are less likely to experience depression, since they bypass the depletion of their scarce resources and are confronted with less emotional exhaustion. Such findings are important for hospitality firms, because employees in frontline service jobs experience heightened emotional exhaustion, leading to higher depression, and managers need to hire individuals whose personality traits match the requirements of frontline service jobs.It is noteworthy that the interaction of intrinsic motivation and positive affectivity lessens depression. Intrinsic motivation and positive affectivity appear to be the two personal resources that work together to shield employees from experiencing elevated levels of depression. That is, employees with more personal resources can control their work environment and protect themselves from experiencing depression. This is consistent with the COR theory (Hobfoll, 2001) and the findings of a similar study (see Zellars et al., 2006).On the other hand, the results reveal that intrinsic motivation does not moderate the effect of positive affectivity on emotional exhaustion. Two potential explanations can be given for this finding. First, emotional exhaustion is prevalent among frontline hotel employees, and such employees may be in need of more personal and job resources to cope with emotional exhaustion. Second, the relatively small sample size used in this study may be responsible for this finding. Despite such a finding, assessing intrinsic motivation as a potential moderator of the effect of positive affectivity on emotional exhaustion is worthy of future empirical attention.Management implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to develop and test a model, which examines work-related depression among frontline hotel employees. Specifically, the model examines emotional exhaustion as a full mediator of the effects of positive affectivity and intrinsic motivation on depression. The model also investigates the interaction of intrinsic motivation and positive affectivity on emotional exhaustion and depression.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were gathered from Arab frontline employees in the international five-star chain hotels of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. A total number of 135 self-administered questionnaires were collected.\nFindings: - The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrates that employees with positive affectivity and intrinsic motivation experience less emotional exhaustion. The results reveal that emotional exhaustion fully mediates the impacts of positive affectivity and intrinsic motivation on depression and further indicate that the interaction of intrinsic motivation and positive affectivity alleviates depression.\nResearch limitations/implications: - In future studies obtaining data from multiple sources would reduce the potential threat of common method bias associated with self-report data. Since the cross-sectional design of the present study constrains the ability to make causal inferences, future empirical studies with longitudinal data would be beneficial to establish causal relationships.\nPractical implications: - It would be helpful for employees to cope with emotional exhaustion and depression, if they could work in an environment, where there are supportive supervisors and wellness-health programs. Mentors could provide such employees with vocational psychosocial support and become role models in the workplace. Workshops could encourage employees to openly discuss their problems in the workplace and would demonstrate that the organization cares about their well-being.\nOriginality/value: - Very little is known about factors that may potentially exacerbate or alleviate work-related depression. Therefore, this study partially fills in this void in the hospitality management literature by testing the previously mentioned relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustaining academic life: A case for applying principles of social sustainability to the academic profession	[ "Higher education", "Social economics", "Universities", "Academic staff", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While the idea of sustainability in higher education has a history at an international level dating back to 1978 through the United Nations Unesco - UNEP International Environmental Education Programme (Wright, 2004), it has predominantly been seen to be the province of the environmental sciences, emphasizing ecology, resource management and environmental economics (Agyeman and Crouch, 2004). The disciplines, initiatives and policy around sustainability are often perceived to be limited to physical operations including The Greening of the Campus (Wright, 2004).Increasingly, social sustainability plays a significant role in the broader contemporary sustainability discourse. In order to meet the challenge of living sustainably, society needs to engage in a process of social learning, enhancing the ability to make appropriate choices about complex issues (Unesco, 2002). In this context sustainable development is concerned with values, perceptions and our relationships with each other and the natural world (Unesco, 2002). Sustainability is necessarily about culture and includes the ways in which social systems influence and are influenced by political, economic and biophysical systems. This view of sustainability requires a consideration of values, culture, decision-making, democratic process and the social system, and the related systems with which we identify.Unesco (1997) defines ecological sustainability as four interlocking systems: natural, social and cultural, economic and political. The systems are inter-related, interdependent and connected to the extent they cannot be usefully considered in isolation. It is evident from the literature that many higher education institutions have incorporated environmental sustainable development initiatives into academic programmes, research and community outreach (Tilbury et al., 2005). These authors advocate extending programmes of sustainability to incorporate social systems. Tilbury et al. (2005), in conducting a national review of the status of further and higher education in regard to sustainability practices, explicitly draw attention to an institution's ability to sustain their social systems and support the social capital of staff and students, with \"critical concern in the hiring, tenure and promotional systems\" (Tilbury et al., 2005, p. 2).Blaze Corcoran and Wals (2004, p. 3) believe higher education \"can play a pivotal role in turning society toward sustainability\". Orr (2002, p. 96) also states \"no institutions in modern society are better situated and more obliged to facilitate the transition to a sustainable future than colleges and universities\". However, the holistic, interdisciplinary, systems oriented nature of sustainability and its programs of change have often confronted the pillars of academic disciplines defended by professional bodies, career structures and criteria for promotion and advancement (Unesco, 2002). Jucker (2002) also identifies ingrained social values, institutional structures, personal privilege and power politics as actions ensuring a pattern of denial among academics. This denial of a collective responsibility toward sustainability, together with the managerialistic imperatives that drive much of the institutional decision making, has impeded the debates on the social sustainability of the Australian academic profession. It leads to questions in regard to the factors which impact on Australian academic staff's ability to work in socially sustainable ways.To address these questions, the authors draw on Barron and Gauntlett's (2002) work on socially sustainable communities. Their model of social sustainability identifies five principles (equity, diversity, interconnectedness, quality of life and democracy and governance) that seek \"to capture the goals of socially sustainable communities and describe what makes a community healthy and livable, both now and in the future\" (p. iv). Academic work will be discussed in terms of these principles.To contextualize this discussion, this article will offer a summary of recent research on social sustainability with a particular emphasis on Barron and Gauntlett's work; include a brief discussion of the current Australian higher education context and consider academic work in terms of five principles of social sustainability. Conclusions and suggestions for incorporating this work into university policies are offered.\nSocial sustainability: To consider the social sustainability of academic communities, an understanding of the concept is important. Social sustainability occurs when the formal and informal processes, systems, structures and relationships actively support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and livable communities (Barron and Gauntlett, 2002). Socially sustainable communities provide a good quality of life, with a focus on acting in the best interests of present and future members. The conceptual term, social sustainability, \"implies inter-relationships and interdependencies built on communication over time; local and global communities in constant struggle toward living together without exploitation in an ever-changing world\" (Murray et al., 2005, p. 10). A definition of a conceptual term, such as social sustainability, needs to be grounded by a set of principles that describe the attributes of the term and enable characteristics of socially sustainable communities to emerge. This article will consider the social sustainability of Australian academic communities in relation to these principles.\nPrinciples of social sustainability: Leanne Barron and Erin Gauntlett are two Australian practitioners who have conducted various projects on socially sustainable communities. Their extensive experience in this field facilitated the development of key principles that contribute to a definition of social sustainability. This section expands the discussion of Barron and Gauntlett's (2002) five principles. The first of these, equity, is described by Barron and Gauntlett (2002, p. vii) as \"a filter through which all other principles are viewed\", and includes a community's ability to provide equitable outcomes for members, particularly those members who are considered to be vulnerable and in a situation of disadvantage in the broader system. Diversity refers to the community's preparedness to seek diversity, valuing difference rather than homogeneity. Diversity of opinion, background, perspective, function and form challenges assumptions, encouraging creativity and originality. Interconnectedness includes the community's implicit and explicit internal networks and its connections with other communities, both local and global. To facilitate social sustainability, community structures and processes need to be democratic, encouraging participation and inclusion, with governance prioritising transparency and accountability (Barron and Gauntlett, 2002). The final principle, quality of life, enables community members to have a sense of wellbeing and an ability to thrive. Characteristics include a sense of self-worth, belonging, engagement, empowerment, safety and a sense of place and pride in one's own contribution (Barron and Gauntlett, 2002).The five principles suggested by Barron and Gauntlett (2002), inter-relate, with equity serving as a \"filter\" (Barron and Gauntlett, 2002) and quality of life indicating the presence and effectiveness of all five principles. The principles and their attributes enable descriptions and interpretations about the ability of social systems, and the communities contained within those systems, to be sustainable over time. In this article, these principles are used to interpret the social sustainability of academic communities.\nAcademic communities: In this section, the authors provide a brief summary of the current higher education environment in Australia. (For a more comprehensive description see Biggs, 2002; Coaldrake and Stedman, 1998). It is evident that the nature of academic work and indeed the Australian academic profession is being transformed by profound long-term changes (Marginson, 2000). The corporatisation of higher education, impacted by the global market economy has meant new frameworks of accountability dominated by profitability, efficiency and results orientation (Slaughter and Leslie, 1997). Corporate models and managerialism are a part of emerging definitions of academic work. Issues facing universities, and impacting on academic work, include funding for teaching and research, new technologies, quality assurance and accountability, performance based funding, accreditation, industrial relations, globalisation and organizational flexibility (Coaldrake and Stedman, 1998). Dual, often contradictory forces, influence academia at the level of ethos, curriculum, pedagogy, research, learning and enquiry, resource management and use, physical structures and architecture, community links and relationships (Sterling, 2004). Academic work and the profession are being reconstructed which begs the question of critical importance: What is academic work becoming and what is the profession's future? Marginson (2000, p. 23) proposes, that \"more than one future is possible\". While universities are increasingly reliant on fee charging, research performance and links with industry for their survival (Marginson, 2000), they are also \"increasingly sources of innovation in sustainability\" (Clugston, 2004).There are, however, barriers in Australian universities which inhibit these sources of innovation. These include the increasing lack of a sense of collective community in an increasingly competitive and isolated environment (Doyle and Hind, 1998; Churchman, 2004). In addition, there is an increasing centralisation of decision making, marginalising academic workers from decisions and reducing the multiplicity of institutional views (Murray and Dollery, 2005). A further barrier is the tendency by both government and institutions to homogenise academic staff (Tierney, 1997).Murray and Dollery (2005) point to several underlying problems in Australian higher education which they claim are not transitory issues. They identify multiple indicators that Australian academic communities are not socially sustainable. For example, the future of universities which provide mass education is premised on the availability of a large academic workforce comprised of highly qualified and specialised staff. In fact, Australian universities are finding it difficult to fill vacancies due to the declining attraction of academic careers. There will be a major shortfall of academics in the English-speaking world over the next decade which could make it more difficult for Australian universities to recruit staff (Hugo, 2005). Federal government sponsored studies attribute this to academic salaries being relatively uncompetitive with comparable private sector salaries in Australia and some overseas academic salaries (Horsley et al., 2005). It is likely that other factors have also made academic careers less attractive. For example, there is ample evidence of increasing stress associated with the role (Gillespie et al., 2001) and reduced opportunities for creativity and autonomy (Bathmaker and Avis, 2005). The student-staff ratio in Australian universities has risen steadily since 1994 with no sign of slowing and with the added pressure of increasing numbers of overseas students. This places additional, sometimes unmanageable, pressures on staff. Further shifts in the tertiary sector in Australia (which have been intimated in the federal government discussions) are likely to exacerbate these problems rather than facilitate any resolution to them, as many of the more attractive features of a career in academia, such as the autonomy and opportunity to pursue \"pet\" research projects, will be further reduced (Anderson, 2006).\nFive principles of social sustainability: Barron and Gauntlett's five principles provide an analytical lens through which to view the social sustainability of academic work.Equity\nConclusions and consequences: Each of the five principles of social sustainability proposed by Barron and Gauntlett (2002) need to drive institutional change within the Australian higher education sector. The implications of not addressing social sustainability in universities remain to be seen. Marginson (1998, p. 16) considers one of these consequences to be a great danger of \"the extinction of the academic personality\". This prediction calls into question Tilbury and Wortman's (2004, p. xi) claim that universities can be a \"primary agent of transformation towards sustainable development\". If Barron and Gauntlett's five principles are not incorporated into the ways in which an institution and its workers function, then it is difficult to work in socially sustainable ways and, it follows, social sustainability principles will not effectively be incorporated into its practices, including teaching and research. Examining the Australian corporate university landscape, it is hard to envision universities guiding others in the ability to make decisions which are the best for future generations when they do not appear to currently operate sustainably.The authors propose that a sense of community in Australian universities is possible only in the event that a plurality of voices contribute to debates and decisions on the academic environment. Blaze Corcoran and Wals (2004) put the question: Can multiple stakeholders with multiple perspectives commit to a pluralism of thought with the objective of arriving at creative solutions to complex challenges? It is from this standpoint that the academy has the opportunity to create new ways of working that are socially sustainable and will lead to a future that enables equity, diversity, interconnectedness, democracy and governance and quality of life to be realised.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine the social sustainability of academic work in Australian tertiary institutions, in addition to offering a summary of recent research on social sustainability with a particular emphasis on Barron and Gauntlett's work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Barron and Gauntlett's principles of social sustainability are used as a lens to investigate some of the current conditions of the academic profession.\nFindings: - It appears that Australian universities often fail to perform in a way that complies with the principles of social sustainability. This paper identifies examples in the literature of conditions which inhibit academic staff's ability to work in socially sustainable ways.\nPractical implications: - The paper proposes that universities incorporate principles of social sustainability into their planning and change management policies and processes.\nOriginality/value: - The paper recognises the importance of social sustainability in contemporary discourses of higher education. It contributes to the debates on both social sustainability and the ways in which corporatising universities impacts academic staff.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Which UGC features drive web purchase intent? A spike-and-slab Bayesian Variable Selection Approach	[ "User-generated content", "Bayesian variable selection", "Electronic word-of-mouth", "Spike-and-slab Bayesian method", "Web purchase decision making", "Web purchasing intent" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The internet has become one of the fastest growing marketplaces for transaction of goods and services and a vast source of 24/7 information for consumers (Nielsen Company, 2014). The ownership of digital platforms and internet access rates has been rising fast all over the world and Nielsen Company (2014) predicts that by 2017, 60 percent of total retail sales in the USA will be digitally influenced or be made on digital media.\n2. Literature review: 2.1. E-WOM and UGC\n3. Theoretical framework: As our study focusses on pinpointing UGC features that are critical to web purchase intention, we develop a categorization of UGC features based on the extant literature and the CMC context. In so doing, we follow in the lines of DeLone and McLean (2003, p. 27) who state that \"[...] for each research endeavor, the selection of information system success dimensions and measures should be contingent on the objectives and context of the empirical investigation.\" As a large number of terminology and constructs can be found in the literature, our categorization is made to achieve mutually exclusive categories that together capture the essence of the multi-faceted features of UGC. This categorization is used to inform the development of our survey instrument. Our final research instrument was developed after a pre-test which showed the validity of these features:\n4. Methodology: 4.1. Bayesian methodology\n5. Results: The posterior mean and standard deviation of the intercept b\n6. Implications, discussion, and conclusion: 6.1. Discussion and research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify user-generated content (UGC) features that determine web purchase decision making.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors embed a spike-and-slab Bayesian variable selection mechanism into a logistic regression model to identify the UGC features that are critical to web purchase intent. This enables us to make a highly reliable analysis of survey data.\nFindings: The results indicate that the web purchase decision is driven by the relevance, up-to-dateness and credibility of the UGC information content.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results show that the characteristics of UGC are seen as positive and the medium enables consumers to sort information and concentrate on aspects of the message that are similar to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM). One important implication is the relative importance of credibility which has been previously hypothesized to be lower in the electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) context. The results show that consumers consider credibility important as the improved technology provides more possibilities to find out about that factor. A limitation is that the data are not fully representative of the general population but our Bayesian method gives us high analytical quality.\nPractical implications: The study shows that UGC impacts consumer online purchase intentions. Marketers should understand the wide range of media that provide UGC and they should concentrate on the relevance, up-to-dateness and credibility of product information that they provide.\nOriginality/value: The analytical quality of the spike- and- slab Bayesian method suggests a new way of understanding the impact of aspects of UGC on consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer participation in services and employee innovative behavior: The mediating role of interpersonal trust	[ "Services", "Affective trust", "Employee innovative behavior", "Customer participation", "Cognitive trust" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Hospitality firms have increasingly recognized the importance of value co-creation between customers and employees (Kandampully et al., 2014) as customer experience creation became a core of services and a determinant of firm survival and growth in the hospitality industry (Chathoth et al., 2013; Chen et al., 2015). Service-dominant logic indicates that service co-creation allows the creation of memorable experiences, and this co-creation occurs more in the customer-employee interaction process than through the service provision by firms (Grissemann and Stokburger-Sauer, 2012). The importance of customer participation in services (CP), as a type of co-creation, is subsequently recognized and highlighted (Chen and Raab, 2014). CP is conceptualized as the specific participatory behaviors of customers in services, including mental or physical efforts and resources embedded in service production and delivery (Chen et al., 2015). These behaviors are manifested in emotional, physical and informational engagement (Li and Hsu, 2017). The inseparability of service production and consumption implies that customers participate in the processes when services are performed (Moeller, 2010). In this manner, service quality is influenced by the information and effort provided by customers (Uzkurt, 2010). Therefore, customers are encouraged to actively participate in service processes, enabling firms to strengthen competitiveness with additional resources from customers, who act as service \"value co-creators\" (Wu, 2011). Meanwhile, service firms are concerned about the possible influence of CP on employee behaviors.\n2. Theoretical background and hypothesis development: 2.1 Customer participation and employee innovative behavior\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Questionnaire development and analysis\n4. Findings: 4.1 Respondent profile\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the influence of customer participation in services on the innovative behaviors of employees. Although previous studies have acknowledged the importance of customers in service innovation and investigated how customer participation in product development teams affect innovation, the effect of mandatory customer participation in services on the employee innovative behavior has not been examined. In addition to addressing such gap, this study proposed the mediating role of interpersonal trust in the relationship between customer participation and employee innovative behavior and then tested the hypotheses in a restaurant context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 514 valid questionnaires were collected from frontline employees or entry-level managers in 25 well-known restaurants (including 14 hotels and 11 freestanding restaurants) in Beijing, China. The relationships among customer participation, interpersonal trust and employee innovative behavior were examined using structural models analyzed in AMOS 20.0.\nFindings: The structural equation modeling results indicate that customers' information and emotional participation in services significantly influence the innovative behavior of employees, whereas behavioral participation does not. In addition, a high level of interpersonal trust between customers and employees may increase employee innovative behaviors. Moreover, unlike cognitive trust, affective trust mediates the relationship between customer information or emotional participation and employee innovative behavior.\nPractical implications: Findings indicate that service firms can encourage customers to participate actively in service co-creation; their participation in terms of information is encouraged to foster employee innovative behaviors by training employees and establishing an appropriate climate for information exchange. Moreover, service firms must pay attention to the emotions of customers during the service processes. Furthermore, the affective trust between customers and employees is significant to service firms, which need to take measures for employees to manage their relationships with customers well.\nOriginality/value: Based on the concepts of service marketing and organizational behavior, this study contributes to the research on customer-employee co-production and employee innovative behavior from an interdisciplinary perspective. The study reveals the influencing mechanism of customer participation on employee innovative behavior and contributes to the research on customer-employee interpersonal trust. Previous studies emphasized the importance of trust among work group members in innovation, while this study supports the association between customer-employee interpersonal trust and employee innovative behaviors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessing the impact of libraries - the role of ISO 16439	[ "Measurement", "Standards", "Methods", "Impact", "Library", "ISO 16439" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Library performance has been measured and assessed by means of the resources put into the service and the use made of those resources for many years. Evaluation also routinely extends to measures of customer satisfaction. Whilst valuable in terms of running an efficient and cost-effective service, library statistics do not answer the fundamental question, increasingly asked by both librarians and other stakeholders - what difference does the library service make to an individual or a community? As a result, librarians and information scientists have begun to develop ways of measuring the impact of library services.\nWhat is library impact?: When considering library performance, a number of terms are commonly used to describe the basic elements for measurement:\nMethods for assessing library impact: Because library impact is relatively intangible, assessing it presents a number of challenges. It is a more demanding process than counting inputs and outputs, and takes considerable time and effort. For anything other than short-term, immediate impact, longitudinal studies are needed. Further, the library will not be the only factor in any given impact, and isolating its contribution is not always straightforward.\nInferred evidence: Chapter 6 of ISO 16439 deals with inferred evidence of impact. Library statistics are routinely collected and monitored; they do not, of themselves, measure library impact, but can be used to point to library impact. For example, changes in users' behaviour and skill levels can be demonstrated by time series data on usage, or data showing how the profile of users has changed. Increasing levels of use might suggest that users are finding the services they use beneficial; similarly, increased participation from one segment of the population may suggest that services for that target group are relevant and well received. Time series of performance indicators can be used in a similar way. For example, increased attendance at user training sessions may suggest that users gain benefit from the sessions.\nSolicited evidence: Chapter 7 of ISO 16439 describes solicited evidence, which is obtained directly from users, generally by means of a questionnaire survey, although other methods such as interviews or focus groups are sometimes used. Questions about the impact of using the library service can be the focus of the questionnaire, or may be inserted into a broader instrument seeking information about library use and/or satisfaction, for example. Questionnaires relating to a particular activity can be distributed at the time, or, if a record of attendance is kept, sometime later - for example, have you found the information provided in the session useful for your studies? An alternative approach puts questions in the context of what users might have done had the library service not been available to them.\nObserved evidence: Chapter 8 covers a variety of methods for gathering evidence by observation, including observation of users by researchers or remotely via video-recording or log analysis, as well as self-recording by users, and analysis of the citations made in written assignments. An observation can be structured or unstructured, carried out openly with the knowledge of the observed person, or covertly, with the observer participating in activities or watching from the side-lines. As with other methods, evidence of impact can be obtained by collecting data before and after a library intervention, identifying changes in behaviour, skills or attitudes.\nCombining methods - some examples: Many of the methods described in detail in ISO 16439 are most effective in demonstrating impact when used in combination, and this aspect is covered in Chapter 9, with a number of examples being provided. They may be purely quantitative - for example, comparing library use data with institutional data to identify statistical relationships between library use and performance. They may be qualitative, for example examining relationships between actions and outcomes. They may combine both, integrating student test results with interview findings and self-assessment, for example. Qualitative methods also add context and depth to quantitative data, to identify and illustrate impacts.\nAssessing the economic value of libraries: The final section of the standard (Chapter 10) deals with the slightly different topic of assessing the economic value of libraries. This uses rather different methods, which may be less familiar to library and information professionals. There are two broad approaches which are described - identifying the monetary value of library services to users and identifying the broader influence of the library on the economic life of the community, region or national economy. The first of these may be more relevant to academic libraries, particularly if that value can be shown to be greater than the level of the institutional investment in the library.\nChoosing a method: As with all research - and measuring the impact of your library is essentially research - the methods you choose will depend on the questions you seek to answer. This aspect is covered in an annex to the main standard (Annex B). Impact studies must start with determining which area of possible impact is to be investigated, and what kinds of data are required to demonstrate that impact. The methods, and scope of the study, will also depend on the resources and expertise available to carry it out.\nConclusion: To assess the impact of library services, it is helpful to break down the process into its component parts. Firstly, consider the areas of the service for which you want to identify an impact. This may be something focussed, such as information literacy training, or more general, such as resource provision.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Library impact and how to evaluate it has been debated for a number of years. While the activity - the busy-ness - of the library is now routinely measured and described, the difference the library makes is less tangible and harder to measure. Libraries in all sectors and worldwide are grappling with this issue, and the purpose of this paper is to summarise international standards available to support them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The first international standard concerning library impact, ISO 16439 Information and documentation - methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, was published in 2014 after several years in development.\nFindings: The standard describes a range of methods for assessing library impact which have been used across the world in a variety of libraries in all sectors.\nOriginality/value: This paper summarises the key methods described in the standard, and gives references for further reading.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lost opportunity: Is transformational leadership accurately recognized and rewarded in all managers?	[ "Performance appraisal", "Promotion", "Leader evaluation", "Transformational leadership", "Individually considerate leadership behaviour", "Leadership styles", "Women", "Leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Data from the academic and popular press in North America are unequivocal on two points:\nRole congruity theory: reason to question our ability to recognize leadership: Based on role congruity theory, some researchers have argued that women are not recommended for promotions at the same rate as men due to conflicting stereotypes between being a \"leader\" versus being \"female\" (Eagly and Karau, 2002). This assumption is aptly captured in the statement \"think manager - think male\" (see Schein et al., 1996). The conflict between what is expected from a manager (male behavior) and a woman (feminine behavior) is believed to negatively affect perceptions of female leaders, their evaluations, and recommendations for promotions, and reward. Research suggests that gender role stereotypes (i.e. shared social beliefs about the attributes of women and men) continue to inhibit women\nDo male and female raters share these perceptions?: Explanations for these biases in rating female versus male leaders go beyond shared social beliefs. For example, from an information processing or decision making perspective, Scott and Brown (2006) demonstrated that the conflicting schemas between being a woman and being a leader, can produce encoding or \"interference\" delays, making it harder for raters to even encode agentic (i.e. masculine) behavior on the part of female leaders versus male leaders. Eagly and Karau (2002) argue that it is our lack of ability to reconcile these incongruent schemas that causes the devaluation of a female leader\nBut what happens when leadership is no longer synonymous with being male?: Despite all of the above, the world is changing; old command-and-control models of leadership are no longer acceptable in a global economy, and for some time now authors have been writing about the increasing use of collaborative/supportive models of leadership in organizations (e.g. Fondas, 1997). Bass and Avolio (1994) argued that the \"traditional top-down hierarchical organization that favored dictation by authority seems to be giving way to a call for more caring and concern about relationship and collaboration across levels\" (pp. 51-2). These new work modalities include interactional, relational and participative management styles culturally defined as feminine in nature. This change in management discourse, which has traditionally been male oriented (e.g. Brenner et al., 1989; Collinson and Hearn, 1996; Schein, 1973, 1975; Schein and Davidson, 1993; Schein et al., 1989; Schein et al., 1996), is described by Fondas (1997) as a process of \"feminization\". This leads to an interesting question: what if a leadership style is congruent with feminine stereotypes? That is, what happens if some leadership behavior is inherently feminine (e.g. individually considerate transformational leadership behavior)?\nTransformational leadership theory: promise of a gender-neutral leadership theory: Given its \"post heroic\" nature, placing less emphasis on one central figure at the top and more on shared influence, transformational leadership has thrived over the past 20 years (Eagly and Carli, 2007). During the 1990s more than half of all empirical leadership studies focused on this theory (Judge and Bono, 2000), and Bass and Riggio\nThe fly in the ointment: the most popular measure of transformational leadership in North America was developed for male leaders: Although other ways of measuring transformational leadership have been proposed (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2001; Rafferty and Griffin, 2004, 2006), Bass and colleagues\nExamining the components of transformational leadership: some behaviors are more feminine than others: Because dimensions of the MLQ are typically correlated, for the sake of parsimony, researchers have tended to combine these components into one overall transformational leadership score (e.g. Barling et al., 2002; Bass, 1998). However, in studies employing principal components or partial least squares analyses, at least three empirically distinct transformational factors emerge:\nLinking leadership to performance evaluations: competence, civility, and reward recommendations: Perceptions of individual competence are assumed paramount in evaluating the leadership potential of a manager. Research illustrates how gender can influence performance evaluations and thus career potential (e.g. Biernat and Kobrynowicz, 1997; Catalyst, 2007a, b; Glick and Fiske, 1999; Heilman and Okimoto, 2007; Kanter, 1977; Sczesny et al., 2006). Women in management are often perceived as either competent or likeable, but rarely both (Heilman et al., 2004).\nGaps in the literature and hypotheses: Although many studies have demonstrated a link between transformational leadership and positive follower or organizational outcomes, to our knowledge previously published studies have not linked ratings of a manager\nMethods: Participants, design and conditions\nIndividual consideration conditions: Information about the performance or non-performance of IC was presented in a second vignette where a direct report describes an interaction with the manager under review (derived from IC items on the MLQ) to increase internal validity.\nSex of manager: The sex of the manager being rated was conveyed in the information forms by name, pronoun references and a photograph. Pre-testing was conducted to ensure that the female and male managers\nResults: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests indicated that rater sex was not significantly related to outcome measures: competence, recognition and reward recommendations, or interpersonal civility. Therefore, data from female and male senior leaders were combined in analyses. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated significant relationships between individualized consideration and all outcomes:\nDiscussion: Transformational leadership (Bass and Avolio, 2004; Bass and Riggio, 2006) is a widely recognized model of successful leadership across organizations, contexts, and countries. It involves treating your employees with individual consideration, inspiring them through your own behavior and vision, and encouraging them to intellectually challenge old assumptions. It is a distinctly \"different\" way of leading than the old command and control models of leadership. A different kind of leadership is precisely what is believed to be needed in modern multinational organizations. Although some research has utilized more balanced samples (incorporating more women) and outlined alternative gender-balanced components and measurements for transformational leadership (e.g. Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2001; Rafferty and Griffin, 2004), the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is still the most frequently used instrument in research (Eagly et al., 2003) and practice. In this study, we focus on this theory as it is typically measured in order to facilitate comparisons with the leadership literature and organizations around the globe (e.g. McKinsey, 2008). Because women are often rated as transformational leaders by followers (and often more so than men), the apparently \"gender neutral\" nature of transformational leadership seemed to be one of its strengths.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to test how senior leaders recognize and reward the same leadership behavior in male and female managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 120 senior government leaders evaluated simulated performance reviews wherein only manager\nFindings: Senior leaders (of both sexes) penalized male and female managers for failing to engage in individually considerate transformational leadership behavior (i.e. rating them as significantly less competent and civil, and recommending them for significantly fewer rewards such as salary and promotion) compared to control groups. However, only male managers benefited (in terms of competence ratings, recognition and reward) from being rated high on this behavior.\nPractical implications: Findings support arguments in the literature for a \"feminization\" of leadership, whereby both male and female managers are now penalized for not engaging in individually considerate leadership behavior. However, they also question the extent to which women will get credit for engaging in some of the same transformational leadership behaviors as men.\nOriginality/value: Researchers and practitioners often collapse across components of the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) in measuring transformational leadership behavior. This may obfuscate some of the components being aligned with sex role stereotypes, and therefore unlikely to be rewarded in certain candidates. If the present findings are confirmed by future research, there may be reason to question how the MLQ is being used in research and practice on transformational leadership behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
I am here to stay! The stock broking way (an Indian perspective): part 1	[ "Human resource management", "Stocks and shares", "Financial services", "Careers", "India" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Basically, the financial services sector, and stock broking in particular, is a people-to-people services industry in which \"relationships do matter\" and are the stepping stones to success. This is a sensitive business of being accountable to the \"financial service needs\" of the people. The advice of the service provider creates fortunes and can also lose them.As such, stock broking is a unique profession that integrates rejoicing, nervousness, taking a breather, depression and pensive moments - all in one, but of course at different points in time. With the investment revolution in stock markets, the stock broking industry has gained wide recognition as an avenue creating careers such as dealing, research, business development, compliance and operations. It is now increasingly being chosen as a profession of choice.Hence, this sector in particular demands a unique and complex set of HR strategies and systems to ensure that its people are managed as carefully as its clients' finances. For this, HR should have an understanding of the day-to-day work of people in the functions mentioned and the role specific influences that will have an impact on their long-term engagement. Thus, it is all about the thought that employee engagement is an ongoing process.In light of the above, the article deals with the influencers of employee engagement in the Indian stock broking industry and ways to ensure employee engagement. Part 1 discusses the changing landscape of the people perspective of the financial services sector and stock broking in particular, and the role of HR in employee engagement. Part 2 deals with role-specific engagement influencers and the attitudinal perspective required to ensure employee retention operating in various functions.Let us walk down memory lane of once upon a time, when there existed a highly dominant public sector in India, and look into the life of an \"employee\", who is now described in the jargon as \"human asset/talent/knowledge pool\", etc., the organisations. Life was pretty smooth with very few aspiring to fly high. The perception of life and work was entirely different. The majority were satisfied with a roof over their head, an accountable salary that took care of life's realities, and a few savings for the future generation. Life meant family, friends, relationships, and work.The \"New Economic Policy\" of 1991 addressed the task of bridging the barriers of the Indian economy by opening doors (a liberalised economy with reformed trade, financial, tax and investment policies, the removal of import licensing, reducing tariffs and relaxing foreign investment regulations) for people across the world to look at India as a reliable alternative to increase on their trade and economy. This may be a blessing or a bane. Of course, in the process, this also gave India a great opportunity to aim at increasing its GDP. Someone keeping a close watch on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (SENSEX) would have observed its soaring new heights, giving an indication of how lifestyles changed and the consolidation of the investment revolution in India.\nThe corporate human face: Until the early 1990s, HR was concerned with activities that were perceived to be mundane, such as payroll, staffing and employee welfare - so much so that some people, when transferred to HR, considered it a punishment posting. Post-liberalisation, the scenario changed completely. The rules of the game changed drastically. Hitherto, we were secure in the closed economy, and now we had to reckon with global competition on home turf. Over the period, HR has been transforming its image from that of a pencil pusher to that of a team that managed human relations on the floor and is now tuning itself to be a tool for generating high revenues through the resources/human assets/talent that it sources for the organisation. Typically it has traversed the journey from an \"employee transaction processing zone\" to \"employee advisory services team\".\n\"Survive smart\" - the new watchword: Over the last two decades corporate life has been stormed with sweeping professional changes - and so have the employees associated with it. \"Survive smart\" has gained watchword status. In such challenging times, it is important that the employee has a rewarding and successful career. The environment that is provided needs to be high on sensitivity. Being pleasant to colleagues, superiors and subordinates lays the foundation for a long-term career. Sensitivity has become a lubricant for a productive relationship. This relationship will in turn allow building on increasing the organisation's productivity.With growing competition, competence and with a passion to prove to be the best of all, people began spending more time at work than at home. This trend raised the expectations by and from the organisation. This created the need to domesticate the growing sense of self and the corporates turned their heads towards the so-called \"service/support arm\" - i.e. the personnel/HR department.\nWorld of work: Gone are the days of unions and bilateral agreements. Seldom does one hear of significant strikes/lockouts across the country. Today, it is more of right-sizing/people consolidation and consequence management for the improving corporate performance. There is also far greater mobility of people across countries, with most large Indian business organisations having offices or operations outside India. In many Indian offices today we come across people from other countries, working there as employees or consultants. These changes have paved the way to new academic disciplines, career avenues, especially in information technology (IT)/information technology enabled services (ITES)/business process outsourcing (BPO), retail and of course financial services, ensuring that the stock broking industry does not fall behind.With the trend towards mergers and acquisitions amongst domestic broking houses (e.g. Motilal Oswal and Gayatri Capital) and also investment interests of foreign players in the leading broking houses (e.g. Kotak and Karvy), it has been a total \"face-off\".\nChanging office dynamics and people: The look and feel of workplaces has undergone a paradigm shift. Now, a customer walking into the service centre will experience first-hand a congenial/hospitable atmosphere, which has a psychological influence on the customer's business decisions. The employees associated with the organisation sense a similar situation. The level of comfort starts from the front office to that of the employees' work desks, enabling them to function in a \"wired world\".The stock broking industry is no exception, with players like Kotak Securities, Karvy Group, Indiabulls, etc., having raised towers that brought a new look to their workplaces. The people in the workplace share a different relationship with the organisation they are working for - some are employees, some are consultants, etc. Among employees in the same category, some get paid more depending on the value that organisation gives to the individual's knowledge, skills, experience, network, or potential. Further, the industry has also seen much openness to having people in their thirties in senior positions.\nGrowing intellectuality: The reforms brought in respect of financial markets and increased financial services knowledge among the investor community, and the transparency created in the broking industry by regulators to safeguard the interests of investors has created new employment opportunities for people of different ages, experience and expertise.Employees have also taken charge of their financial planning and started exploring avenues such as stock markets and mutual funds more aggressively. They are opting for insurance policies with varied features that suit their risk mitigation needs. Looking ahead, the workplace of the future will only accelerate this trend. All these changes leave us aware of their impact on employees' lives, giving us a sense of the whiff of the makeover of their aspirations - choice, flexibility and autonomy in all aspects of their lives, including work.\nThe stock-broking industry - the changing face: The stock-broking business as such has undergone a sea change over the last decade[1]. There are three main factors behind the changes in the stock-broking business. The first was the shift from floor-based trading to screen-based trading in 1994. This brought transparency into the execution of trade and raised the confidence of investors. The result has been lower transaction charges and increased convenience. This has helped both investors and brokers.The second change was dematerialisation. Before this, buying or selling shares was a difficult matter. Even when an investor bought shares, they were not sure whether they would be transferred in their name. But now these concerns are no longer there. The introduction of futures and options was the third major factor that changed the face of the stock-broking business as it is a new avenue for revenue with minimised risk.\nJob of a stock broker - adding value to business: Traditionally, a stock broker's main role was to execute orders for buying and selling of shares. However, with the changes in the corporate and regulatory systems, the stock broker's role has changed from \"just execution of trades to advice along with execution\". Typically one can say that the role has evolved to be that of advisory from that of transaction processing. Now, the investor expects a broker to understand the need of the client, risk assessment, period of holding and returns expectation and provide research-based advice. This triggered the trend towards cross-selling of investment/financial products/services resulting in the restructuring of the jobs.\nExpectations for the future: With the advent of internet trading and mobile trading in the very near future and the revenues generated through brokerage reaching near zero, the role of stockbroker is all set to get a face-lift. Another change likely to happen is the entry of global broking firms into India for retail broking. Until now most of the global broking firms present in India have been offering their services just to institutional investors. When this situation arises, there will be consolidation in the stock-broking business. In view of the above, stock-brokers are expected to move towards hosting themselves as investment planning firms where a host of products are available at a single desk.\nWar for talent: The industry has reached a level of maturity today, and in terms of products and services India is second to none, with better services in many instances as compared to the other side of the globe. But we are limited in terms of manpower resources. In such challenging times, it is important that the employee has a rewarding and successful career. People do not necessarily work for money alone. They work for the camaraderie that they enjoy within the organisation. As discussed earlier, sensitivity is a lubricant for a productive relationships, which will in turn allow building on increasing the organisation's productivity. Accordingly the environment provided needs to be high on sensitivity. Being pleasant to colleagues, superiors and subordinates paves the foundation of a long-term career.We experience few of these statements these days:* Why do employees leave?* The attrition is very high!* People are running for money!* There is a dearth of talent in the stock broking industry.* We don't find quality dealers in the market.The grass on the other side is not always greener. Similarly, one should never zero down to the reality that \"not every one runs for green pastures\". Not every mind is alike, but what makes them distinct from others is their perception/attitude towards their work/job profile.\nRelationships do matter!: To understand the difference, we need to focus on why are we working in a particular organisation. We will find that somewhere hidden inside us is the aspect of being respected for who we are and the relationships we share with colleagues, subordinates, seniors that we cherish, and the work culture. These are some of the most important reasons for where we were and who we were. The next stop in the journey of success will be at where we are and what we are. This holds true whether our personal definition of success is financial, career, or personal happiness. The quality of relationships that one holds is a major factor in life's success. Interpersonal skills have a direct impact on interpersonal relationships, and improving these skills is critical for personal development.Reading between the lines, an ambitious/aspiring individual would look forward to \"holistic growth\" in both their life and their profession.Every player in the market speaks about retaining employees. Let all senses work and see if the expectations are more, as this is against the principle of the nature that change is the only constant thing in life.At every stage of life, an employee would like to grow. It is agreed that employees make or break the business. Hence, it is essential to hold onto/retain certain relationships with the employee community.However, one should have clarity on the following:* Is major attrition concentrated in certain roles (e.g. dealing/business development/research/operations/surveillance and risk management)?* Is attrition higher in certain businesses?* Is attrition greater in certain geographical areas?* Is attrition only in certain grade(s)?Having completed the above analysis, one should work towards getting the answers to the following questions:* Why to retain?* Who to retain?* When to retain?* How to retain?\nAmbition and the employee: When we look back on our own career, we can see that the most compelling reason for us to quit/change jobs was always to enhance our career. High performers are often capable of motivating themselves, and one thing that motivates them the most is ambition. Ambition is a positive trait which one looks for when hiring a person. Top performers achieve a lot because they are motivated by their ambition, but when the job no longer meets their ambition, employees start looking around for other venues to feed their ambition.Thus an employee's ambition is an advantage when used properly and a threat if not handled properly. The ambitions and aspirations (interdependent and interchangeable) depend on various factors that are related to the business function/portfolio the individual is associated with. Further, the one factor that motivates an employee in a particular function need not be the same with an employee in a different function. It will be a similar case with respect to the reasons for continuity/association with the company in respect of each function.\nPamper the human senses: The quest for finding the responses to the above questions drives us to the conclusion that not everyone has to be retained. Further, retaining employees should always be proactive, not reactive. Employee engagement is a continuous and a sensitive process. It is as sensitive as that of the sensitivity index (SENSEX) and it starts right from day one. Everything matters, right from receiving the individual at security to handing them over to the employing department to receiving feedback from the employee on the end of the day on their experiences of day one. This leaves them with the feeling of \"being cared about\", and this is what every employee looks forward to. It is also about pampering those human senses - at least during the initial days of the association - that actually stand up as a measure of the human ego. If these egos are satisfied, the rest is assured.\nLet us understand a bit of it ...: To gain a better grasp of the reasons, a better understanding of the various functions of stock broking activity (see Figure 1) will enable the thought process. Stock broking activity may be broadly classified into the following functions:Influencers - impact\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Since the financial services industry in India has reached a level of maturity in terms of products and quality of delivery of services and the advent of foreign players, there has been a virtual war for talent among the premier stock broking companies in India and, it is observed that the need of the hour is to ensure a long-term association of the employees with the company. The aims of this paper is to focus on how best one can integrate the aspirations of employees in this industry with the mission and goals of the organisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents the modern trends involved in changing office dynamics and the people associated with it, growing intellectuality and aspirations, the changing face of the stock broking industry and how the job of a stockbroker has been adding value to business. This paper provides an overview of the environmental factors, workplace factors and trade factors and the intensity of their influence on various functions of stock broking.\nFindings: - Stock broking firms require professionals of different cadres: dealers, research analysts, business development executives, operation executives, and executives associated with surveillance and risk management.\nOriginality/value: - This paper analyses the nature of the job of these professionals, the soft skills and hard skills the job demands on the part of the doer. Employee engagement may not be easy unless one promotes among their employees a clear understanding about the interdependence of the various functions of stock broking - operations, dealing, research trends, business development and surveillance and risk management processes. In the process, it indicates how the players in the stock broking industry need to gear up to ensure a hassle-less flow of the business. The paper concludes with a discussion on \"biting the bullet before it pricks\" and strategies that stock broking companies need to follow to ensure a long-term association with their employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Autonomy, professionalism, and the role of generation in professional capital	[ "Professionalism", "Autonomy", "Professional capital", "Generation", "Teacher" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In response to concerns about declining student achievement and global competitiveness, school systems around the world have tightened their focus on the work of teachers, trying to find ways to manage and control teachers' work through more monitoring and accountability. Such efforts, including alternate teacher certification and increased curriculum standardization, use what Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) identify as a business capital approach to teacher improvement. In this approach, recruiting and retaining high quality teachers means seeking out existing human capital - which includes \"the economically valuable knowledge and skills that could be developed in people - especially through education and training\" (p. 89) - and replacing teachers when they burn out or move on, rather than investing in and developing other more durable forms of capital.\nProfessional capital: As described briefly above, professional capital comprises three forms of capital: human, social, and decisional. Human capital, as defined by Hargreaves and Fullan (2012), includes \"the economically valuable knowledge and skills that could be developed in people - especially through education and training (p. 89). Social capital is \"how the quantity and quality of interactions and social relationships among people affects their access to knowledge and information; their senses of expectation, obligation, and trust; and how far they are likely to adhere to the same norms or codes of behavior\" (p. 90). Finally, decisional capital is \"the capital that professionals acquire and accumulate through structured and unstructured experience, practice, and reflection - capital that enables them to make wise judgments in circumstances where there is no fixed rule or piece of incontrovertible evidence to guide them\" (pp. 93-94).\nProfessionalism: Years of research in the field have shown that views about professionalism have changed over time, from fairly rudimentary to highly complex (Hargreaves, 2000; Stone-Johnson, 2014b; Troman, 1996). Hargreaves (2000) theorizes this development across four \"ages\" of professionalism: pre-professional, autonomous, collegial, and post-professional. Over time, professionalism moved from \"managerially demanding but technically simple\" (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 156), relatively autonomous but perhaps less innovative, to more collegial and collaborative but also more time and even labor intensive. Similarly, Troman (1996) argues that there are two types of professionalism: old and new. Old professionalism was defined by isolation and acceptance and a general lack of curriculum leadership (Troman, 1996) whereas new professionalism (Evans, 2008; Pollard et al., 1994; Troman, 1996) was defined by higher levels of collaboration and responsibility and shared leadership but also expanded to include work beyond the classroom as part of the responsibilities of teaching. Incorporated into the concept of new professionalism is the paradox that in exchange for greater voice in the work of teaching (professionalism), teachers are subject to both increased monitoring of their work through standardization and expanded work roles that go beyond their classroom work. Using either view, professionalism is seen not as static but as changing over time.\nGenerations: Although there is currently a limited body of research that examines the relationship between a teacher's generational identity and his or her experience in the teaching career, work in this area continues to grow. A generation is \"a special cohort-group whose length approximately matches that of a basic phase of life\" (Strauss and Howe, 1991, p. 34). These cohorts are shaped, held together by, and ultimately determined by common events that form their worldview (Mannheim, 1970). Frequently, cohorts are bounded by birth years. For example, the Boomer generation was born between 1943 and 1960, Generation X was born between 1961 and 1980, and the Millennial generation was born between 1981 and 2000 (Strauss and Howe, 1991) (although there is some disagreement of the exact boundary years, these generally represent the idea of generational cohorts).\nGenerational interpretative framework: These generational differences in attitudes toward work and in particular toward autonomy demonstrate a need to understand how teachers' career experiences and professional identities are shaped by their generational identity. A growing body of work has begun to explore this topic (Edge, 2014; Edge et al., 2016; Stone-Johnson, 2011, 2014a, b, 2016; Wilkins, 2011). Recent research describes how the combination of experience and identity shape teachers' \"generational interpretative frameworks\", which are \"the generational set of understandings about teaching that provide a way for teachers to view their job and conduct the duties expected of them\" (Stone-Johnson, 2016). Generational interpretative frameworks include a unique self-image, self-esteem, task perception, job motivation, and future orientation, and influence every generation of teachers' entry into, experience in, and ultimately move from the teaching career.\nDescribing the research: The data on Generation X teachers used in this paper come from a multi-year, mixed methods study on the teaching careers of Generation X teachers in the state of Massachusetts. Quantitative data were collected from the Schools and Staffing Survey administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (2005). Three data sets were used in this study: 1999-2000, 2003-2004, and 2007-2008. These data explore teachers' feelings of efficacy, control, satisfaction, and commitment. Qualitative data were gathered from semi-structured interviews (Merriam, 1998) with 12 teachers at various points in mid-career in the state of Massachusetts, all with between 7 and 20 years in the classroom. All participating teachers were members of Generation X, born between 1961 and 1980. Participants were obtained using snowball sampling (Goodman, 1961).\nFindings: The concept of generational interpretative frameworks extends the idea that teachers' experiences are shaped by a combination of experiences, beliefs, and orientations by connecting teachers' work experiences in classrooms to their generational cohorts. This theory builds upon Strauss and Howe's (1991) work which argues that each generation experiences phases of life (or here, the teaching career) in generationally unique ways. Below, I briefly detail how Generation X teachers' self-esteem, self-image, job motivation, task perception, and future perspective - the key elements of their generational interpretative framework - reflect their experiences as students and teachers and how these, in turn, ultimately shape the ways in which they understand and view professionalism. I then highlight the particular aspects of Generation X teachers' generational interpretative frameworks that show generational differences in views regarding autonomy. Finally, I connect these differences to the professional capital model, suggesting that school leaders must not only acknowledge these generational differences but also find ways to ensure that teachers' professional identities are connected with their work in ways that enhance and support their careers.\nDiscussion: In looking at Generation X teachers' generational interpretative frameworks, it becomes clear that this generation of teachers has a unique view of teaching and the teaching career that warrants discussion. Briefly summarizing, their self-image is formed by a pragmatic career entry that is defined not by a desire to change the world but to find work that keeps them engaged and employed. Their self-esteem and task perception once on the job are intertwined with their students' success - even in light of increased standardization. In fact, many of these teachers actually value the role that standards play in their work, mostly that they are clear about how they will be measured so that they can align their teaching with what is expected of them. They are not naive; they understand that standards and standardization come with less desirable effects to certain elements of creativity, but they appear willing to accept these costs in light of the aforementioned benefits. Their job motivation, what keeps them on the job, is closely tied to their professional self-esteem and task perception. Again, they are motivated by their student success, and anything that they perceive to help them reach this goal keeps them committed to their work. However, they struggle with seeing a future in teaching. Their future perspective is less clear. Many are making moves to leave the career. Further, those who express a desire to stay in teaching do not want to become principals. They are willing to consider semi-administrative roles that balance leadership with classroom teaching, but they are not willing to compromise what keeps them happy - actually working with students.\nImplications: Professional capital is a powerful model for transforming the work of teachers. Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) write:A big difference between successful systems and unsuccessful ones is that the former have a clear sense of direction and a high degree of coherence, and an interconnected set of policies and strategies as well as an embedded culture of improvement that provides that direction and coherence (p. 175).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how teachers' generational interpretative frameworks influence their career experiences and to demonstrate how these generational differences impact the power of professional capital to improve teaching and learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper utilizes data from a multi-year, mixed methods study of mid-career teachers in Massachusetts. Data in this paper come from semi-structured interviews with 12 Generation X teachers (born 1961-1980).\nFindings: Generation X teachers have a unique self-image, self-esteem, task perception, job motivation, and future perspective that form their generational interpretative framework. This framework is different from that of the prior generation.\nOriginality/value: These generational differences have implications for how Generation X teachers view professionalism and autonomy and how they see their careers over time. Drawing upon Hargreaves and Fullan's (2012) suggestions for school leaders, three implications are highlighted. First, a model of professional capital that incorporates teachers' generational differences must be aware of how teachers view their work before engaging in changing it. This implication ties directly into the second, which is that leaders must know their teachers and understand the culture in which they work. Together, these two implications suggest that implementing a model of professional capital is not enough; it must begin with deliberate thought as to who the teachers are who are being asked to change. Finally, to secure leadership stability and sustainability, leaders must respect generational differences that influence teachers' desires to move, or not move, into formal leadership roles.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Document phenomenology: a framework for holistic analysis	[ "Phenomenology", "Document analysis", "Document experience", "Document handling", "Document systems", "Properties of documentary practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Life is as infinitely great and profound as the immensity of the stars above us. One can only look at it through the narrow keyhole of one's own personal experience. But through it one perceives more than one can see. So above all one must keep the keyhole clean- Franz Kafka (Janouch, 1971, p. 191).\nIntroduction: Do documents exist? Or, perhaps more to the point: how do documents exist?\nWhat is holistic analysis?: Analysis is a detailed examination of the elements or structure of something. It is a way to break something into its parts to make the appreciation of it more manageable. At its best, analysis should be done with the constant self-reminder that the parts belong to a whole. This recalls Hegel's (1807/2005) ideal view of scientific development as the cycle of first breaking down concepts into ever-smaller categories, and then putting them back together to gain a holistic understanding.\nUnderstanding documents: The goal of document analysis, it would seem, is the understanding of the document or documents in question. This viewpoint is echoed by Bawden (2007), who argued that understanding is a more suitable concept as a theoretical basis for information science than knowledge, as understanding connotes a gradation of shades rather than the simple binary of known/unknown. Understanding is achieved through exploring and constructing inferential and explanatory relationships among pieces of knowledge (Briesen, 2014). For instance, to understand how a house fire came about, it is not enough to be told that the cause was \"faulty wiring\". Rather, one must also know what wiring is, that faulty wiring can cause a short circuit, that a short circuit can generate heat, etc., and moreover be able to see the relationship among these pieces of knowledge. Thus for a better understanding of a particular thing, a system (or systems) of representation must be regarded from diverse perspectives; as these different perspectives are incorporated, a progressively more sophisticated view of the thing is attained, resulting in progressive understanding.\nDocument phenomenology in two acts: Phenomenology is the study of being. In other words, phenomenology is the letting-be-seen (logos) of things that show themselves in themselves (phenomena) (Heidegger, 1927/2010). As defined by Heidegger, phenomenology is both descriptive and interpretative. In the following sections, we present a framework for the holistic analysis of documents - that is, the interpretation and description of documents - that is, document phenomenology. This framework will be presented in two acts.\nAct One: documental becoming: A document is only truly a document when an information object is perceived by an agent in a particular context. With no agent, the \"document\" - what Couzinet (2015) called a \"dormant document\" - is merely an information object. In the most typical case of a document, the information object is a physical object, and the agent is a human being. Thus, in this paper we use \"person\" and \"object\" as a kind of shorthand, not denying that other types of documents exist (e.g. animal-object, person-person).\nAct two: frames of documental being: Documents have discernible parts (Lund, 2004, 2009). And, moreover, documents themselves can be seen as parts of larger systems (Carter, 2016; Lund, 2010). We consider these different views as \"frames\" of analysis in document phenomenology, and we contend that the structure of experience is the same at all frames. This extends Carter's (2016) assertion that document infrastructure can evoke a sense of even larger systems: \"organizational structures are mirrored at other levels, influencing how objects are put before users in systematic ways\" (p. 72). In this sense, documents can be seen as fractals: the structure of the part is the same as the structure of the whole.\nConclusion: In this paper, we presented a framework for the holistic analysis of documents, expanding on previous conceptualizations. We drew lessons from phenomenology and linguistics in order to present a fuller framework, introducing a number of new analytical terms. In so doing, we have offered a cohesive, consistent vocabulary for document scholars of all kinds. In the framework of document experience presented here, a document manifests in an encounter between an object and a person - a transaction. From the object, intrinsic information and extrinsic information are present; from the person, adtrinsic information and abtrinsic information are present. In the document transaction, these elements are interpreted and become meaning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance document ontology and epistemology by proposing a framework for analysing documents from multiple perspectives of research and practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Understanding is positioned as an epistemic aim of documents, which can be approached through phenomenology.\nFindings: A phenomenological framework for document analysis is articulated. Key concepts in this framework are include intrinsic information, extrinsic information, abtrinsic information, and adtrinsic information. Information and meaning are distinguished. Finally, documents are positioned as part of a structural framework, which includes individual documents, parts of documents (docemes and docs), and systems of documents.\nResearch limitations/implications: Scholarship is extended with an eye toward holism; still, it is possible that important aspects of documents are overlooked. This framework serves as a stepping-stone along the continual refinement of methods for understanding documents.\nPractical implications: Both scholars and practitioners can consider documents through this framework. This will lead to further co-understanding and collaboration, as well as better education and a deeper understanding of all manner of document experiences.\nOriginality/value: This paper fills a need for a common way to conceptualise documents that respects the numerous ways in which documents exist and are used and examined. Such coherence is vital for the advancement of document scholarship and is the promotion of document literacy in society, which is becoming increasingly important.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Buying on rumors: how financial news flows affect the share price of Tesla	[ "Financial markets", "Event study", "Financial reporting", "Stock markets", "Market reactions", "Financial news" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The flow of information can severely impact the formation of stock prices (Mitra and Mitra, 2011). Similarly, media representations of companies might not only have a considerable influence on corporate reputation (cf. Fombrun and Shanley, 1990), but might also affect the fluctuations of their share prices (e.g. Scheufele et al., 2011). Scholars have argued that the way a company is presented in the news influences public evaluations and opinions about the company's future business prospects, and hence its market valuation (Pollock and Rindova, 2003). Previous research, however, has investigated the link between media representations and the stock market from a rather static perspective, measuring, for example, the amount of coverage and sentiment expressed in news items over a certain amount of time and the stock market reactions therewith (e.g. Scheufele et al., 2011; Strauss et al., 2016; Tetlock, 2007). Subsequently, studies in this research area have not paid attention to the complex dynamics of event-driven news coverage and its effects on stock market prices. It remains unclear how breaking issues can move the market gradually and how various outlets report on the issues over time, affecting investors' trading-decisions.\nTheoretical background: The relationships between financial news and the stock market\nData and methods: Case selection\nResults: Is it all just buying on rumors?\nDiscussion: Financial issue-attention cycle: reporting on news or making news?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to research how corporate communication regarding a specific corporate event (i.e. Tesla's tweets about a new product) as well as the framing of both the event itself and the market reactions therewith in the news media influence the formation of the share price of the respective company over time. In so doing, the study provides insights into the nature of market-moving information and the role of financial news flows in shaping market reactions in today's high-frequency news and information environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a multi-method case study approach, combining quantitative intraday event studies with a qualitative text analysis of financial online news and tweets by Elon Musk and Twitter, the authors shed light on the complex interaction between market events, financial information and stock market reactions. The analysis covers a period of four days, encompassing the announcement and introduction of the new battery pack for Model S and X by Tesla as well as the accompanying and follow-up reporting by the financial news media.\nFindings: Findings show that market reactions are driven by business events and expectations among the market rather than the follow-up reporting by financial news media. Financial online news instead seems to heavily rely on Elon Musk's attention-triggering news to sustain its 24-h airtime with a variety of reporting tools, keeping the highly demanded audience engaged. Eventually, Twitter accounts of media visible companies and personalities, such as Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, have been found to be useful market information sources for day traders and shareholders to trade at a profit.\nOriginality/value: The study is a response to recent discussions about the legitimacy of Twitter communication by CEOs or representatives of listed companies. The findings show that Twitter communication needs to be well considered in light of strict market regulations (e.g. SEC in the USA) regarding insider-trading and the publication of market-relevant information. In addition, corporate financial communication should avoid impetuous communication via social media channels as this could have deterrent effects on the market valuation of a listed company.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A systematic review of Green Business Process Management	[ "Environmental sustainability", "Systematic literature review", "Green IS", "BPM capabilities", "Green BPM" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, the optimisation of operations for ecological objectives has gained importance. Business process management (BPM), which refers to \"concepts, methods, and techniques that support the design, configuration, enactment, evaluation, and administration of business processes\" (Weske, 2012, p. 5), is a key starting point. BPM's optimisation objectives typically refer to cost, quality, time and flexibility (Reijers and Liman Mansar, 2005). Recently, however, researchers increasingly advocate to extend the scope of conventional BPM (Nowak, Leymann and Schumm, 2011; Nowak, Leymann, Schumm and Wetzstein, 2011) with an environmental sustainability dimension, i.e. Green BPM (Seidel et al., 2011).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Foundations of Green BPM\n3. Methodology: Our methodology relies on a hermeneutic framework for reviews (Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2014) and integrates the search, analysis and interpretation of the literature. Figure 1 presents the framework applied to our study.\n4. Results for RQ1: 4.1 Analysis of explicit and implicit definitions\n5. Results for RQ2: For analysing the ways of dissemination and the researchers involved, Figure 2 starts with an overview of the types of scholarly dissemination.\n6. Results for RQ3: 6.1 The classification framework\n7. Discussion: 7.1 Discussion for RQ1\n8. Conclusion: This study has presented a systematic literature review of the Green BPM field. We have offered a comprehensive definition for the discipline (RQ1), and a research agenda by focussing on the current state (RQ2) and the methods and techniques (RQ3).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Green Business Process Management (BPM) focusses on the ecological impact of business processes. Although it is an emerging field, different attitudes exist towards the discipline's name, the objectives and the approaches to realise them. By means of a systematic literature review, the purpose of this paper is to arrive at a common understanding of the discipline for successful development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The review methodology relies on a hermeneutic framework which integrates the search, analysis and interpretation of the literature. The sample is used in a text analysis to find an appropriate definition (RQ1), a bibliometric analysis to give insights in current Green BPM contributions (RQ2) and a content analysis to present differences with conventional BPM (RQ3).\nFindings: Green BPM follows a similar development as conventional BPM, namely from a more technical perspective to also including the managerial perspective. More research is required that goes beyond the traditional business process lifecycle.\nOriginality/value: The research questions generated a comprehensive overview about application domains and research topics, which in turn can deliver benefits for both research and practitioner-related communities. Researchers identify future research avenues, while practitioners find appropriate Green BPM techniques for their domain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New developments at Copac: access to the merged online catalogues of major UK and Irish academic libraries	[ "Copac", "Merged catalogues", "Article searching", "Collaborative collection management", "Academic libraries", "United Kingdom", "Ireland", "Online catalogues" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Copac library catalogue[1] gives free access to the merged online catalogues of many major University, specialist and National Libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library. The Copac team has been working extremely hard at the moment as we are undergoing a period of redevelopment. The changes we are making will give Copac a fresh look and help to ensure we are sustainable in the years to come. An important element of these changes has been to involve Copac users (and non-users) in the development and in exploring with them how the service should evolve in the future. All of these changes are happening alongside the on-going expansion of the number and variety of our contributing libraries. The following article describes some of the work we are currently undertaking.\nFIL conference and British Library document supply codes: We were very pleased to be accepted to present one of the parallel sessions at the 2010 Interlend Conference. We know from our user surveys and helpdesk queries that inter-library loans (ILL) librarians use Copac as a resource discovery tool and speaking at the conference allowed us to engage with some of our core users. Our session \"Copac: your union catalogue today and tomorrow\" included an overview of recent and forthcoming Copac developments plus an interactive discussion to find out how Interlend delegatesfelt about Copac and how we could help them to do their job.The discussions allowed us to see certain common themes emerging. ILL librarians wanted to:* See the British Library's document supply codes on Copac.* See which libraries take part in document supply - who lends and who does not. You would also appreciate it if it was easier for users to see which libraries lend their materials and which do not. This would help manage your users' expectations.* See more deduplication, but interestingly do not necessarily want electronic and print items merged as this can cause problems if the e-version is not licensed for document supply.It was an extremely useful session and we have been working to try and develop the suggestions that were made. We feel we now have a better understanding of how we can try to improve Copac to help ILL librarians.The Copac website has an information page for each contributing library. This does include some ILL information, but we have now also added the British Library document supply codes where available. We also hope to make this ILL information more visible, for library staff and end-users. As part of the Copac redevelopment the website is also being revised and restructured, so we will consider how we can pull together ILL details more effectively.We are currently working on re-engineering Copac and we are addressing de-duplication as part of this, so you will see fewer duplicate records in the future.\nA new Copac database: Copac has been in service for many years and had reached the point where we felt that major change was required. Consequently we are undertaking a complete re-engineering process, with a move to new software and a restructuring of the data and workflow. This will create a completely new Copac database, providing us with a stable base for future developments.In creating the Copac database the incoming data goes through an intricate de-duplication process. This matches duplicate records, erring on the side of caution. As we bring duplicate records together we retain unique data within the records, forming a consolidated record containing content contributed by all the records within the set. This process of matching and merging records is complex and has involved significant research to establish this within the new database. However, as a result of this work you should see a significant reduction in the number of duplicate records when using the new database.The new Copac database will also allow us to investigate the potential role of \"work\" level displays. The intention is to bring together multiple variant records for works such as Pride and Prejudice that occur in many different editions and forms. We will be working with users to consider whether the merging of records at the work level is helpful and, if so, how it might best be integrated within the interface.The basic development work on the re-engineering project is largely complete, but testing will continue and we will be building the new database over the coming months.\nA new user interface: We are currently working on a new user interface for Copac. This has involved a review of user requirements and workflow, with users involved in testing as the development work has proceeded. As a result, you should find the new interface makes Copac easier to search and navigate. The new interface also incorporates our new logo and graphic style, giving the site a fresh look and feel.Through user feedback we know that people really wanted to see details of the libraries holding the materials within the brief record display, so this will be introduced. We are also looking at other options such as making it easier to report record errors and possibly adding links to buy material. In the future, as the re-engineering work is completed, we will be introducing facets to allow you to narrow your search results more easily.There will be an open trial of the new interface in the autumn where you will be able to try out the initial version of the interface and give us your feedback. We appreciate all the comments we receive.\nSearching your library though Copac: Users from some academic libraries now have the option to see their local catalogue appearing alongside Copac records. This means that someone whose records are not on Copac can see whether the materials they are finding on Copac are available to them locally.To enable this \"local library search\" feature, you have to register your library catalogue and its Z39.50 details in the IESR[2], the UK's freely available catalogue of electronic resources and get in touch with the Copac team to let us know you have done so[3].Once Z39.50 access is established with your catalogue, users who login to Copac using your institutional username and password then have the option to search Copac and your library catalogue at the same time. As the results are merged, users will identify their local holdings by seeing the logo @your library in the brief record. We feel this is of particular interest to ILL librarians as it might reduce the number of ILL requests that are made for items that are actually already at the requester's home institution.\nFuture developments: Copac collaborative collection management project (CCM)\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper's aim is to describe recent developments at Copac - the service that gives access to the merged catalogues of many online catalogues of major university, specialist and national libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is a descriptive account.\nFindings: - The paper identifies and describes some major improvements that are being made to Copac.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is a valuable update on the service provided by Copac.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A cross-country comparison and validation of firms' stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices	[ "Stakeholders", "Corporate social responsibility", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The identification and categorization of relevant internal and external stakeholders in business constitutes an important corporate task in stakeholder theory. Many different categorizations in extant literature deal with stakeholder theory. However, most are not based on the outcome of specific parametric and multivariate testing of stakeholder frameworks but rather on general empirical insights and logical reasoning (Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Etzion, 2007; Evers et al., 2012; Ferrell et al., 2010; Fineman and Clarke, 1996; Freeman 1984; Gupta, 1995; Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999; Polonsky et al., 1999; Porter, 1985; Vargo and Lusch, 2004; Vilchez et al., 2017).\n2. Contextual background: In general, research assumes that countries nearby on one continent, such as Europe, are more alike to each other than countries that are more distant (O'Grady and Lane, 1996). Consider, for example, cultural differences in three Western countries: Norway, Spain and Sweden. The socio-economic indicators of these three countries are both similar and different (Hofstede, 1983; Kirkman et al., 2006; CIA, 2017). All three are linked to the European Union, but while Spain and Sweden are member states, Norway is a member of Schengen. Furthermore, the economies of all three countries are well-developed, but Spain is by far the largest economy of the three. All three have implemented a Western-style capitalist economy. Norway has the highest per capita gross domestic product, followed by Sweden and then Spain. Norway and Sweden are more affluent and high-tech industrial societies than Spain, but all three have market-oriented economic systems. With regard to population characteristics, Spain has a large population, while Norway and Sweden have much smaller ones. The standard of living is higher in Norway and Sweden than in Spain, though the cost of living is lower in the latter. Norway and Sweden have achieved and maintained an enviable standard of living, while Spain has suffered significantly since the financial crisis in 2007-2008 (CIA, 2017).\n3. Frame of reference: 3.1 Framing sustainability\n4. Methodology: This study is based primarily on the stakeholder framework and the empirical multivariate findings of Svensson et al. (2016) and Ferro et al. (2017). However, it is also based on a range of findings regarding organizations' efforts to engage in sustainable business practices (Dos Santos et al., 2013; Hogevold and Svensson, 2012; Svensson and Wagner, 2011; Wagner and Svensson, 2014).\n5. Empirical findings: Table II reports the sample characteristics of this study, as well as those of Svensson et al. (2016) in Norway and Ferro et al. (2017) in Spain. The cross-country statistics show that the business nature of the participating firms in this study belongs to different industries and sectors of corporate Sweden. This is in line with the diversity of the Norwegian and Spanish samples that also transcend across industries and sectors. Consequently, Table II shows a resemblance among the cross-country samples containing a broad range of business operations.\n6. Discussion: In this section, we discuss how the focal company and societal stakeholders are perceived differently in the different countries, with specific focus on Sweden. Regarding the focal company, this study found differences among the countries in terms of the role of own organization. The item of own organization remained in the Swedish context in the factor solution, while it was deleted in the Norway and Spain sample (Table V). A possible explanation for this is that compared with Spain, Sweden has low power distance, in which individuals are more informal in their interactions with others and often rely on norms and behaviors. According to Hofstede's (1983) power distance index, Spain scores high (57), while Sweden and Norway score lower (31).\n7. Research implications: This study fortifies several research implications in existing stakeholder theory and previous stakeholder research. First, this study successfully validates the framework of firms' internal and external stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices tested by Svensson et al. (2016) and Ferro et al. (2017).\n8. Managerial implications: Managers benefit from the validated framework of firms' internal and external stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices in several ways. First, the framework offers empirical insights into how broad spectrums of firms consider their internal and external stakeholders in sustainable business practices. Second, it offers a foundation to enable managers to examine their surrounding business context to determine which stakeholders are relevant and most important to the firm's business operation. Third, the stakeholder framework facilitates a reduced number of stakeholder categories identified in the literature to simplify the corporate determination of relevance and importance of specific stakeholders. Fourth, the stakeholder framework provides a logical categorization based on empirical evidence across several countries and industry samples. Fifth, it opens up corporate opportunities to explore why and to what extent some stakeholder groups are more relevant and important than others to the firms' operations in connection with sustainable business practices. Sixth, the consolidated categorization provides guidance to limit the assessment of stakeholders in relation to the focal firm.\n9. Conclusions and future research: This study confirms that the tested framework of firms' internal and external stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices is valid and reliable to assess up- and downstream stakeholders, as well as market and societal stakeholders. Furthermore, this study provides additional empirical support to categorize internal and external stakeholders in connection with sustainable business practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare and validate firms' internal and external stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices across business settings. It aims to assess the validity and reliability of a stakeholder framework appearing in previous studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a questionnaire survey and a cross-industry sample consisting of the largest firms in corporate Sweden. Multivariate analysis tests the stakeholder framework. Each of the 294 key informants was initially identified and contacted by telephone, generating a response rate of 36.5 per cent.\nFindings: The tested stakeholder framework appears valid and reliable across countries to assess the internal stakeholders of focal firms, as well as their up- and downstream, market and societal stakeholders. This study provides additional empirical support to categorize firms' stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study validates previous findings in terms of Swedish firms' considerations of internal and external stakeholders in sustainable business practices in relation to one similar country (Norway) and one different country (Spain). The study also shows how the three countries perceive the focal company and societal stakeholders differently.\nPractical implications: The tested framework sheds light on focal firms' stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices and elucidates the extent to which firms' account for their internal and external stakeholders in sustainable business practices.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the development of valid and reliable stakeholder theory across contexts and through time. In particular, it contributes to the development of a valid and reliable framework to categorize firms' stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Primary care in the United States: practice-based innovations and factors that influence adoption	[ "Innovation", "Medical practice", "Patient‐focused care", "Performance improvement", "Primary care", "United States of America", "Health services", "Market driven production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is an increased focus on the organization and delivery of primary care as part of overall health care sector reform in the United States. Considerable agreement exists among researchers and policymakers across countries that primary care should be the foundation of a well-designed health care system (Huynh et al., 2006; Vuori, 1984). This agreement; however, does not carry over into the organizational mechanisms best suited to pursuing or achieving this common belief.Primary care services include the delivery of first-contact medicine; the assumption of longitudinal responsibility for the patient; and the integration of physical, psychological, and social aspects of health (Starfield, 1998). The majority of primary care in the United States is delivered through small physician practices that are either independent or associated with larger groups of physicians. Physician practices that provide primary care, which include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology, account for approximately 60 percent of all outpatient visits (Burt et al., 2007). Primary care practices are currently threatened by low reimbursement, physician stress, shortage of providers, and difficulties in providing prompt access and reliable continuity of health care.The first goal of this study was to understand the use of specific innovative strategies in primary care physician practices in Virginia. These innovative strategies represent the implementation of new or altered services, processes, systems, and/or organizational structures to improve patient care and organizational outcomes. The second goal was to evaluate the influence of environmental factors and organizational characteristics on practice-based innovations.Innovation in Primary Care physician practices\nHypothesis development: Primary care practices exist in a highly complex and unstable environment with limited resources (Bodenheimer, 2003; Lipsky and Sharp, 2006; Starfield, 1998). The environment surrounding primary care consists of intense regulatory requirements, rigorous professional standards, complicated reimbursement systems, a fragmented and decentralized health care system, and deep-rooted cultural norms and expectations. Change in the environment is evidenced by mutating regulatory requirements; expanding pace and scope of discovery in medical science and information technology; and increasing demand for privacy and performance information. Primary care practices also exist in an environment with scarce resources - reflected by a reduction in the number of primary care practitioners (Graham et al., 2004) and a decrease in reimbursement for services (Sandy and Schroeder, 2003).Institutional theory explains organizational response to the environment, specifically responses to legal requirements, stakeholder expectations, and cultural norms and values (Zucker, 1977; Meyer and Rowan, 1977). Institutional theory emphasizes that the survival of organizations depends on conformity to externally imposed requirements such as laws, professional standards, licensure, or accreditation criterion. Coercive forces on physician practices originate from rules and regulations of payer organizations, particularly Medicare (Zinn et al., 1998) and managed care organizations (MCOs) (Banaszak-Holl et al., 1996). It is hypothesized that primary care practices in areas with higher concentrations of Medicare and MCOs beneficiaries are more likely to utilize innovative strategies in response to coercive forces from these organizations to improve care delivery:H1. Primary care practices in areas with higher concentrations of Medicare/MCO beneficiaries are more likely to adopt innovations than practices with lower levels Medicare/MCO beneficiaries.The theory also suggests that organizations in uncertain environments are more likely to adopt successful innovations from other organizations. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that primary care practices experiencing greater uncertainty from a lack of knowledge of, and difficulty complying with payer rules and regulations are more likely to adopt innovations to improve their financial standing and provision of care:H2. Primary care practices experiencing greater uncertainty are more likely to utilize innovations than practices that experience less uncertainty.Institutional theory maintains that organizations consider the environment from the perspective of gaining, maintaining, and enhancing legitimacy from their stakeholders when making strategic and operational decisions (Daft, 1998). The theory suggests that primary care practices will consider opinions of stakeholders before adopting innovative clinical processes or infrastructure components. Primary care practices are experiencing increased pressure to improve quality of care, access, and satisfaction from patients, patient groups and professional associations. This leads to the hypothesis that practices experiencing pressure from patients and stakeholder groups are more likely to adopt practice-based innovations:H3. Primary care practices that experience more pressure from external groups or organizations are more likely to utilize innovations than practices that experience less pressure.Resource dependence theory is used to explain the response of primary care practices to a dependency on external resources. Resources needed by physician practices include human resources, information, supplies and equipment, and financial gain from patient volume. Practices that experience scarcity of critical resources and heavy competition will try to innovate in order to improve the organization's success and viability (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978).The constructs used to reflect these key elements are competition, organizational relationships, and organizational slack. It is hypothesized that practices experiencing heavy competition for resources are more likely to utilize practice-based innovations. The logic is that practices will adopt innovations in order to differentiate themselves from their competitors:H4. Primary care practices in areas with a high density of competitors are more likely to utilize innovations than practices in areas with less competition.Primary care practices that are affiliated with larger health care systems, such as university hospitals and other public or private health systems, have greater exposure to institutional norms and are more likely to conform to standards brought on by the government and other institutions. It is also likely that practices affiliated with other health care organizations have more resources available to support organizational innovations than independent practices. This leads to the hypothesis that practices affiliated with larger health care systems are more likely to exhibit practice innovations than those that are not affiliated:H5. Primary care practices affiliated with larger health care systems are more likely to adopt innovations than practices that are independent.Organizational size may be related to adoption of innovations in primary care practices. Studies have shown that size and innovation are positively correlated (Damanpour, 1992) and the causal mechanism is often the presence of organizational \"slack\" (Bowen, 2002; Singh, 1986), defined as resources in reserve that permit the adoption of changes in strategy when environmental shifts occur (Bourgeois, 1981). Organizations with more slack, i.e. larger organizations, are thought to be able to cope more aggressively with resource scarcity. It is hypothesized that the greater the amount of slack, as measured by size of the practice, the more likely it will adopt innovations:H6. Large primary care practices are more likely to adopt innovations than smaller practices.\nMethods: Study design\nData sources and sample: Primary data collection\nResults: Practice innovations\nPractice and policy implications: This study sought to understand the utilization of specific innovations for improving patient care in primary care practices in Virginia. Various explanations may account for why some innovations are more frequently utilized than others. Innovations with a high degree of utilization may be easier for practices to adopt and may have a strong evidence base for improvements to quality of care, office efficiency, and/or an increase in reimbursement. The EHR is one innovation that may be difficult to implement due to high implementation costs, a high learning curve for employees, and significant disruption of office functions during conversion from a paper record system (Simon et al., 2007; DesRoches et al., 2008). Other innovations may not be frequently utilized because physicians lack the resources or business acumen for integrating these activities or services into their practice. Challenges with implementing specific innovations, such as those that require considerable financial and knowledge resources, could be overcome with the assistance of trained facilitators, such as practice coaches, and increased financial incentives to practices. The use of trained facilitators has been associated with increased likelihood that practices implement innovative components of the PCMH model (Nutting et al., 2009). Practices may benefit from the expertise of outside practice coaches or technical assistance providers on initiatives to improve practice operations, finances, information technology, and quality improvement activities.The study also sought to understand the organizational and environmental influences on practice-base innovations. Practice size was the strongest predictor of primary care practices' adoption of practice-based innovations. Since organizational size was used as a proxy for the level of resources available to practices the result indicates that level of resources is associated with innovations used in primary care practices. Considering that 26 percent of practices in the study sample were solo practitioners and that 64 percent were comprised of two to nine physicians, it may be that such small organizations do not have the necessary resources to innovate. This finding supports the strategy to use financial incentives to encourage innovation in physician practices. The results also indicate that primary care practices are responsive to the expectations and demands set forth by patients, groups that represent patients, and professional associations. While this study did not capture information on how those expectations were expressed to practices, the finding indicates that consumers and professional associations influence practices to adopt innovations designed to improve quality of care, access, and patient satisfaction.A relationship with other organizations was positively related to the level of innovation in primary care practices. Organizational relationships allow individual practices to garner more information and resources to be innovative, a commonly observed feature of many organizational networks (Scott and Davis, 2007; Wholey and Burns, 2003). It may be advantageous for practices to seek out and establish relationships with other health care organizations or cooperatives to obtain necessary resources to improve efficiency, access, and quality of care.The number of primary care physicians in the market was negatively related to the level of innovation. This finding means that the greater the competition, the less often primary care practices adopted practice-based innovations. Competition is usually defined as rivalry between organizations over a scarce resource, suggesting that primary care practices compete over a limited supply of patients, and in turn, reimbursement for services. Considering the shortage of primary care providers in the USA, it is possible that the effect of competition is different in this market. It is possible that other influences, such as professional norms and values are stronger in areas with higher numbers of primary care physicians. If this is the case, then the influence of professional associations on individual physician attitudes and knowledge is important for dissemination of practice-based innovations. Professional associations may represent an important source of information on improvement efforts and could disseminate information through internet sites, professional journals, webinars, and conferences.The study found that the level of payer organization penetration (Medicare and MCO) and practice perception of and knowledge of Medicare and MCO rules and regulations are not associated with practice-based innovation. Does this mean that regulations are not effective at pressuring primary care practices to change and make improvements to the practice? Not necessarily. This finding could reflect the lack of demands from payer organizations for improvements in quality and access to care. The current reimbursement system in the United States rewards practices for seeing a large number of patients in an office setting. Only recently have there been attempts by both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and private insurance companies to institute pay-for-performance programs that link reimbursement to performance (CMS, 2005). The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) also recently instituted a program to certify practices as patient-centered medical homes, which may influence patient volume and reimbursement to certified practices (NCQA, 2009). Another program designed to provide incentives to physician offices for adopting an EHR is outlined in The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH, 2009). HITECH, administered by the DHHS, starts by providing financial incentives to practices for adopting and using an EHR for patient care and performance improvement, then eventually imposes penalties on practices that are not compliant with requirements for an EHR. These efforts are aimed at providing incentives to physicians to encourage practice adoption of new technology and improvements to quality and access to care.Limitations\nConclusion: Primary care practices' adoption of innovations is bound by major constraints of limited resources and influenced by patients and other stakeholders. The study found that expectations from patients and professional organizations influenced the level of innovation in primary care practices. Organizational relationships and organizational size were positively correlated with adoption of practice-based innovations, indicating that the availability of resources is an important consideration for practices in the adoption of new technologies and processes. The finding that organizational size is the largest predictor of innovation in primary care practices has important implications for policy. Small physician practices may not have the resources or relationships necessary to acquire, develop and implement innovations. Policy-making and payer organizations will need to consider the constraints of small practices when developing policies that affect primary care practices.Competition, the struggle to obtain scarce resources, was negatively related to innovation, suggesting practices favored a more conventional approach to providing medical care under increasingly competitive circumstances. The results also indicate that payer organizations and uncertainty regarding the rules and regulations they put forth did not affect innovation in primary care practices. This may reflect the previous lack of pressure, or incentives, from payer organizations for the adoption of practice-based innovations.The question of what influences primary care practices to adopt innovations is critical to the larger problem of how to improve access and quality of care at this level of the health care sector. Future research should address what financial incentives and supporting structures and systems are required to stimulate more primary care practices to adopt innovations aimed at improving access and care delivery. The aims of future research should also identify specific innovations that improve efficiency and effectiveness of small physician practices. Appropriately aligned financial incentives, ones that are meaningful to physicians and substantial enough to encourage change, and a support structure that provides knowledge resources to practices of all sizes will be essential for instituting change and innovation in primary care practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to explore the use of specific innovations in primary care practices. The research seeks to examine whether a relationship exists between environmental factors and organizational characteristics and the level of innovation in primary care practices in Virginia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study utilized multiple secondary data sets and an organizational survey of primary care practices to define the external environment and the level of innovation. Institutional theory was used to explain the connection between innovations in primary care practices and institutional forces within the environment. Resource dependency theory was used to explain motivators for change based on a dependence on scarce financial, human, and information resources.\nFindings: - Results show a positive association between organizational size, organizational relationships, and stakeholder expectations on the level of innovation. A negative association was found between competition and the level of innovation. No relationship was found between degree of Medicare and managed care penetration and innovation, nor between knowledge of, and difficulty complying with, payer organization requirements and innovation.\nOriginality/value: - Primary care physician practices exist in a market-driven environment characterized by high pressure from regulatory sources, decreasing reimbursement levels, increasing rate of change in technologies, and increasing patient and community expectations. This study contributes new information on the relationship between organizational characteristics, the external environment and specific innovations in primary care practices. Information on the contributing factors to innovation in primary care is important for improving delivery of health care services and the ability of these practices to survive.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing the challenges of piggybacking into international markets	[ "Entry mode", "Trust", "Organizational culture", "Internationalization", "Knowledge-intensive business services", "Piggybacking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Firms offering knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), such as computer software providers and engineering consultancies, have burgeoned on international markets in recent years (Ball et al., 2008; Rosenbaum and Madsen, 2012). Such firms ordinarily operate in niche markets (Bradley et al., 2006), typically requiring an international presence to achieve an operational critical mass (McNaughton, 2001). Consequently, many KIBS firms are international new ventures (INVs), which, despite limited resources, enter multiple markets from an early age (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). Much scholarly attention has been devoted to studying the phenomenon of INVs (Aspelund et al., 2007; Etemad, 2016; Rialp et al., 2005), including the challenges specifically encountered by KIBS INVs (Burgel and Murray, 2000; Zucchella and Kabbara, 2013).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Foreign entry mode choice for KIBS firms\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Choice of method\n4. Findings and discussion: Consistent with the longitudinal case study approach (cf. Marshall, 2004), our findings are presented chronologically starting with the initial stage of collaboration (section 4.1), followed by the implementation stage (section 4.2). The data pertaining to the initial stage were derived from the first and second phases of data collection, while the data relating to the implementation stage emanated from the third phase.\n5. Conclusion: While piggybacking has been often suggested as a form of FME for resource-constrained KIBS INVs (e.g. Moen et al., 2004), no previous empirical studies have examined the process through which piggybacking partners try to overcome inherent inter-firm diversity, which would typically attenuate mutual trust and the exchange of knowledge between partners and therefore threaten the viability of piggybacking as a FME mode. If piggybacking partners are unable to efficaciously manage this tension, then piggybacking is unlikely to be viable, especially in foreign markets where the need to share knowledge is even more paramount given heterogeneous and evolving legislative environments across multiple markets. The present paper attempts to address this deficiency in the literature by conducting a longitudinal study of the process of collaboration between an INV rider whose software offerings are marketed by a global carrier to customers in multiple international markets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the process by which piggybacking partners attempt to overcome the challenges of interfirm diversity when entering foreign markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors present a longitudinal case study following the collaboration between a rider (a small software developer) and carrier (a global player in software solution distribution) as a means of co-creating value for global customers in the pharmaceutical industry.\nFindings: The authors find that despite differential size and incongruent organizational cultures, top managers were still initially able to facilitate collaboration through various knowledge-sharing initiatives, but that these efforts were subsequently undermined by middle managers (due to misaligned incentives), which prevented both parties from reaping the gains of piggybacking on global markets.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings have a number of implications for academics and practitioners alike. Theoretical implications include treating piggybacking as a special case of indirect exporting with particular challenges for knowledge exchange and trust building.\nPractical implications: The authors offer managerial implications for reconciling divergent organizational cultures, partner selection and incentive alignment.\nOriginality/value: This appears to be the first paper to empirically assess the viability of piggybacking as a foreign entry mode by examining the crucial processes of knowledge sharing and trust development within piggybacking arrangements.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How responsible leadership predicts organizational citizenship behavior for the environment in China	[ "Responsible leadership", "Felt obligation for constructive change", "Organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment", "Supervisor-subordinate guanxi" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With global environmental deterioration, an increasing number of people are focusing on sustainable development management (Bansal and Song, 2017). In the sustainable management of enterprises, many scholars examine environmental behavior at the strategic level but neglect environmental behavior at the employee level (Galpin and Whittington, 2012). Because employees implement enterprise strategies, their environmental behavior plays an important role in promoting sustainable management at the enterprise level (Felin et al., 2015). In this context, organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) is here proposed. OCBE refers to environmental practices that employees perform in an organization that are not rewarded or required by the formal system of the organization; it supplements the environmental protection behavior of social citizens and the green development strategy of enterprises (Daily et al., 2009). Employees engage in OCBEs at work, concretely put environmental protection intentions and ideas into practice, and fulfill the requirements of the organization's green strategy and policy (Ramus and Steger, 2000). Employees' OCBEs can have a significant impact on environmental performance (Lamm et al., 2015; Paille et al., 2013; Paille and Mejia-Morelos, 2014; Temminck et al., 2015). Therefore, it is particularly important to explore the antecedents of employees engaging in OCBEs.\n2. Theoretical basis and research hypothesis: 2.1 Responsible leadership and OCBE\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Samples\n4. Data analysis: 4.1 Descriptive statistical analysis\n5. Conclusion and discussion: 5.1 Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of felt obligation for constructive change on the relationship between responsible leadership and organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) in a China corporate environment, and this paper also analyze the moderated mediating effect of supervisor-subordinate guanxi on indirect relationship between responsible leadership and OCBE via felt obligation for constructive change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper used 380 employee samples to analyze the relationship between responsible leadership and OCBE. Hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the data.\nFindings: The authors found that the felt obligation for constructive change plays a fully mediating role between responsible leadership and OCBE. The authors also found a positive interaction between responsible leadership and supervisor-subordinate guanxi on felt obligation for constructive change, and then the indirect effect of responsible leadership on OCBE via felt obligation for constructive change was stronger when employees perceived a high-level supervisor-subordinate guanxi.\nResearch limitations/implications: When responsible leadership stimulates employees to generate a high sense of constructive change, employees are more likely to engage in OCBE. This study provides evidence for cognitive evaluation theory. This study further demonstrated the importance of establishing high-quality supervisor-subordinate guanxi for responsible leaders and subordinates in China.\nPractical implications: In the management practice of the organization, the role of responsible leadership should be strengthened in terms of leadership development and, employee training and promotion, and high-quality supervisor-subordinate guanxi help to promote the effectiveness of responsible leadership.\nOriginality/value: This paper discusses how and when responsible leadership influences OCBE in a China corporate environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Diffusion of corporate social responsibility in the airline industry	[ "Developing country", "Corporate social responsibility", "Airline", "Diffusion of innovations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an area of growing interest for business organisations and researchers in recent times (Jamali et al., 2017; Linnenluecke and Griffiths, 2010; Carroll and Shabana, 2010). CSR is also promoted by various governments, non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society. Apart from these constituents, transnational organisations, such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation, the International Organisation for Standardization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank not only endorse CSR, but have also established guidelines to promote CSR (see Lee, 2008). A recent survey report (KPMG, 2017) reveals that organisations adopting CSR are growing around the globe. All of these suggest that the concept and practice of CSR have become widespread (Lee, 2008; Aguinis and Glavas, 2012; Carroll and Shabana, 2010).\n2. Background literature: CSR is defined as \"[...] actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law\" (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001, p. 117). Researchers hold two distinct views on CSR. From the shareholder perspective, Friedman (1970) argued that CSR destroys shareholder profit, and distracts managers from their assigned roles and responsibilities. On the other hand, advocates of CSR, who take a stakeholder perspective, argue that organisations should take responsibility for their actions and invest in socially and environmentally responsible behaviour even though it may reduce their immediate cash flow or profit (Mackey et al., 2007).\n3. Theoretical framework: In the diffusion of innovations literature, the term \"innovation\" is defined as \"an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption\" (Rogers, 2003, p. 12). In this study, CSR is perceived as a new management practice and innovation, which is still in an emerging stage in the context of developing countries despite being popular and growing in developed countries (Rogers, 2003; KPMG, 2011; Matten and Moon, 2008). Diffusion is described as \"[...] the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system\" (Rogers, 2003, p. 5).\n4. Research methodology: This study employs a qualitative research method by using a case study within a CO, an airline company operating in Nepal. As the purpose of this study is to enhance our limited understanding of internal diffusion within a single CO, a qualitative case study approach is deemed appropriate (Yin, 2009; Silverman, 2005), as this method allows an in-depth exploration of how CSR practices diffuse within the organisation and what factors influence the diffusion of CSR in the context of a developing country.\n5. Case findings: 5.1 CSR practices of the CO\n6. Discussion: This study provides a detailed insight into CSR diffusion through in-depth interviews with senior and middle-level managers and internal and publicly available documents of an airline company operating in Nepal. The findings indicate that the CO is engaged in a diverse range of CSR activities ranging from supporting communities by funding the education, sports and health sectors, to offering employees volunteer programmes, through to tree planting and cleaning campaigns in partnership with a number of NGOs. It may be partly because the airline industry has a responsibility towards a large group of stakeholders (PwC, 2011) that CSR is used by the CO as a strategy to meet the broader needs of various stakeholder groups, including customers and employees (Burke and Logsdon, 1996). Some of the CO's CSR activities, such as tree planting, cleaning campaigns and sponsoring popular sports, seem to be influenced by economically rational motivations (Abrahamson, 1991). These activities are meant to create value for the CO's shareholders as well as other important stakeholders. These findings are consistent with prior literature that suggests an appropriate strategic integration of CSR can be a source of innovation and competitive advantage (Porter and Kramer, 2006; Burke and Logsdon, 1996).\n7. Conclusion and contributions: This study makes a significant contribution in a number of ways. First, the present study contributes to the extant literature by identifying a number of factors, such as the perceived strategic benefit of CSR, cultural values and beliefs and top management support that influence the diffusion of CSR. The findings add to those of prior studies (e.g. Rodrigue et al., 2013; Lapsley and Wright, 2004; Perera et al., 2003; Baskin, 2006), which mainly consider government regulations, standards and supply-side factors that influence the adoption of CSR. Second, this study contributes to the literature by addressing the call for research on CSR in the airline industry, which is relatively less explored in both the developed and developing country context (Cowper-Smith and de Grosbois, 2011; Lynes and Andrachuk, 2008). Third, this study extends research on the diffusion of innovations literature by focusing on both the initial and post-adoption process (primary and secondary stage of diffusion) of CSR within a single airline company operating in a developing country, Nepal.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how and why corporate social responsibility (CSR) is diffused within the organisation and investigate the factors that influence the diffusion of CSR in the context of a developing country.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on the diffusion of innovations theory, data were collected from a Nepalese airline company through semi-structured interviews supported by relevant documentary scrutiny.\nFindings: The findings of this study indicate that the airline company's CSR practices are aimed at enhancing organisational performance. The adoption of CSR is also seen as a proactive strategy to avoid any future risk associated with their environmental impact. The findings reveal that organisations' strategy, cultural values and beliefs and top management support are important predictors of the adoption of CSR.\nPractical implications: The empirical findings of this study provide valuable insights into how CSR can enhance organisations' performance if CSR is used in a strategic way. The study also highlights the important role of cultural values and beliefs in the secondary stage of adoption (or internal diffusion), as successful implementation of CSR is highly unlikely to happen without focusing on appropriate culture within the organisation.\nOriginality/value: This study extends research on diffusion of innovations literature by focusing on both the initial and post-adoption process (primary and secondary stage of diffusion) of CSR within a single airline company operating in a developing country, Nepal.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Contesting commensuration: Public response tactics to performance evaluation of academia	[ "Academia", "Contesting commensuration", "Management accounting", "Public response tactics", "Performance evaluation", "Rankings" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Publically announced league tables, quality audits, accreditations and performance measurements are now extensively used to assess and rank as diverse organizations as universities (Guthrie et al., 2015; Mingers and Willmott, 2013; Modell, 2003; Northcott and Linacre, 2010), software producers (Pollock and D'Adderio, 2012; Pollock et al., 2018) and leisure and tourist companies (Jeacle and Carter, 2011). A common belief in the research literature is that such public performance evaluations create organizational reactivity (Espeland and Sauder, 2007; Espeland and Stevens, 2008) - a type of response through which evaluated organizations conform to expectations that are embedded in the performance measure (Davies and Petersen, 2005; Gendron, 2008; Gioia and Corley, 2002; Mingers and Willmott, 2013; Parker, 2011; Sauder and Espeland, 2009).\n2. Literature review: commensuration and its effects: Characteristics of commensuration\n3. Theory development: contesting commensurability: As noted above, there has also emerged a stream of research that has begun to problematize the \"reactive conformity thesis\" described in the previous section. For example, Pollock et al. (2018) investigated organizations exposed to multiple, even conflicting rankings and concluded that such a heterogeneous context provides greater room for strategic maneuvering where evaluated organizations deployed a number of response tactics. As they note, \"simply conforming would be implausible. An entity reacting equally and indiscriminately to increased and diverse pressures would risk being pulled in different directions\" (p. 56).\n4. Research context and method: Context\n5. Empirical findings: a taxonomy of commensuration management tactics: As suggested above, the public announcement of the new performance evaluation changed the since long established grouping of academic institutions within the business administration field, at least temporarily. Indeed, five of the educational programs in the very high quality group were given by members of the U6-group, but no less than three programs were given by so-called university colleges. And this latter result was commented by one of the interviewees in terms of; \"when we saw University College NN on the list, we were really surprised.\" But the same interviewee also continued by saying \"However, even more attention was devoted to those who 'failed' [i.e. those who were part of the inadequate quality group]. Take University NN, for example, I mean [...] that is one of the largest universities in Sweden.\" Along the same lines another interviewee noted with a certain amount of pleasure that the \"[U6-university NN] is the only university in Sweden that still has the highest accreditation [...] and they failed on five of eight educational programs.\" And in fact, half of the U6 universities received the rate inadequate quality on two or more educational programs in business administration. This meant that between 33 percent and fully 60 percent of the total number of programs given by these three U6 universities were considered as not fulfilling all of the learning outcomes stipulated in the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance.\n6. Conclusions and contributions: Public performance evaluations have proliferated in the last three decades and are now permeating the environment of many types of organizations (Jeacle and Carter, 2011; Pollock and D'Adderio, 2012; Pollock et al., 2018; Rindova et al., 2017). Research on such ratings and rankings has traditionally been focused on the consequences of commensuration. And an overall conclusion has been that commensuration typically feeds and forms processes of reactive conformance (see also Bogt and Scapens, 2012; Espeland and Sauder, 2007; Gendron, 2008, 2015; Martins, 2005; Parker, 2011; Sauder and Espeland, 2009). More recently, however, it has been argued that while \"[s]cholars typically present rankings as a materialised institution patterning action which organisations have little choice but to bend to [..., this] no longer seems to suffice in the case of more plural systems\" (Pollock et al., 2018, pp. 65, 66, emphasis added). The premise is, Pollock et al. argue, that multiple rankings foster greater interplay and entanglements between ranked organizations and their environments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how actors subjected to public performance evaluations may \"contest commensuration,\" i.e. may seek to influence how such ratings and rankings will be construed among important stakeholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative study of press releases, and interviews with department heads, is used as a basis for the analysis.\nFindings: The empirically derived taxonomy of public responses to a state-initiated performance evaluation of educational programs shows that actors may mobilize an array of commensuration management tactics so as to maintain or improve one's relative positional status. Such tactics may have at least three different foci, namely, on the comparison object (i.e. on the new grouping of actors), the comparison dimension (i.e. the standardized format for comparison) and the comparison rate (i.e. the rate received), respectively. The authors also find that not only are threats to positional status likely to spur commensuration management tactics, but also the opportunity to exploit a good rate.\nOriginality/value: The paper augments recent research that has problematized the so-called \"reactive conformance thesis\" by focusing on how evaluated organizations may directly try to influence external stakeholders through public responses. The study is also one of the first that analytically disentangles how they may skillfully exploit different forms of \"plasticity\" that are inherent in any type of commensuration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational socialization, career aspirations and turnover intentions among design engineers	[ "Career development", "Employee turnover", "Organizations", "Socialization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Voluntary turnover has long been a central focus among researchers (Lee et al., 1996). Although approaches to the study of turnover differ, most include the possibility that turnover is motivated by the disaffection of the individual with some aspect of the work environment (including the job, co-workers or organization), or the organization with some aspect of the individual, such as poor performance or attendance. Even if some forms of turnover are desirable (e.g. losing poorly performing employees), most researchers use this term to refer to the loss of valued employees, and thus, as a negative index of organizational effectiveness (Staw, 1980). Identifying the antecedent conditions to turnover is important for understanding and controlling it, but it is not simple.Many factors have often been used to explain turnover among engineers (Baugh and Roberts, 1994; Igbaria et al., 1992). Prior literature, however, suggests that some unique factors may exist in the engineering context (Robinson et al., 2005). Engineers, in fact, form a distinct occupational group because, while engineering does not fit the classic definition of a profession, there are many elements of professionalism within the field. Engineers have a strong need for growth and personal development compared to professionals in other occupations. They possess a high need for learning and have a strong aspiration to be challenged (Allen and Katz, 1995; Gordon and Bal, 2001). As a result of changes in economic, social and technological conditions, engineering managers are increasingly facing problems in retaining engineers. This, coupled with engineers' orientations and expectations to be treated as professionals, has caused considerable tensions and strains in the engineer-management relationship. This calls for changes in engineering management styles to maintain motivation and productivity.Kerr et al. (1977) have revealed that the relationship between organizational and professional commitment for engineers may be complementary rather than conflicting or mutually exclusive. Engineers high on both these factors are more likely to stay current in their profession and therefore more capable of job contributions. This suggests that it is particularly wise for an organization to encourage engineers to be both organizationally and professionally committed, and that the organization should have a process for encouraging and planning the engineers' professional development, while removing all obstacle for their sound integration within the organization. Thus, the concept of organizational socialization might be an important antecedent of turnover intention among engineers.Furthermore, research has found that engineers have diverse career aspirations that, in turn, may impact on job commitment and satisfaction (Allen and Katz, 1986, 1992; Goldberg and Shenav, 1984; Igbaria et al., 1999).Turnover and turnover intention are influenced by numerous internal factors, but also by external ones. As we entered the new millennium, both organizations and the labour market change continue at an alarming pace. As far as the external environment is concerned, most people will not leave their current position without probability of finding other employment in due course. Researchers can use the unemployment rate as a measure of the probability of a turnover intention, but employees, generally, does not know this rate. They will be more inclined to leave their present work if they perceive that there is ample opportunity for acceptable alternative employment.Based on these premises, we strive to gain knowledge on how and to what extent these specific features impact on the engineers' intention to remain in the organization for the near future and to address the reduction of dysfunctional turnover among engineering personnel.\nResearch model: The concept of career as the trait d'union between employees and the organization has been considered from both an internal and an external perspective. A vast body of research on technical professionals has tended to focus on the external aspect of career development, that is on the sequence of jobs and positions through which they progress (Debackere et al., 1997). Little attention has been paid to aspects of the internal careers of engineers, that is aspirations, values, perceptions and effective reactions to job experiences that, ultimately, might have a dramatic impact on engineers' commitment and satisfaction (Igbaria et al., 1999).To address such an objective, this study draws from two related research areas: the impact on career satisfaction of internal and external career anchors respectively.The research model of this study (Figure 1) synthesizes the relevant research in these two areas and suggests that three constructs (organizational socialization, external career opportunities, and individual internal career anchors) significantly influence the engineers' turnover intentions. In particular, one basic assumption of the present research is that an individual's turnover intention is determined not only by the internal career aspirations but also by the external career opportunities. In addition, the organizational socialization critical to career success has been considered as a critical issue.With this purpose in mind, our main objective is to understand the relationship between these variables and how they impact on turnover intention.Organizational socialization\nResearch hypotheses: In the human resources management literature, researchers in the last two decades have suggested that organizational socialization has a significant impact on engineers' career satisfaction and turnover (Greenhaus et al., 1990). As for the specificity of the engineering roles, Gundry (1993) has showed that engineers usually report a lack of clarity and consistency in work-related expectation. This fact may be problematic for engineers to profess a psychological need for clear role definition. If role requirements are not properly embodied in organizational norms (explicitly or implicitly), it is likely that the engineer will not share the same role vision as the manager and may, ultimately, will seek employment elsewhere.These arguments suggest the following hypotheses:H1. The level of organizational socialization is positively associated with the engineers' perceived external career opportunities provided by their organizations.\nResearch methodology: Sampling strategy\nData analysis: Model and hypotheses testing were undertaken only after a set of valid and reliable measures were established for each variable in the model as described in the previous section.A measure of how well a relation between two variables is described is obtained through the Pearson correlation coefficient that adds a sign to show the direction of the relationship. However, because Pearson correlations can be subject to spurious relationships, more convincing conclusions required the use of multivariate statistics.The research model and hypotheses were tested using Path Analysis, where a single indicator measured each variable in the model. In this study, path analysis was undertaken using structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques. SEM is a methodology for representing, estimating and testing a theoretical network of linear relations between variables. In the most common form of SEM, the purpose of the model is to account for variation and covariation of the measured variables (MVs). SEM-based path analysis tests models and relationships among MVs and it assumes that the variance and covariance of the independent variable are also to be estimated, in contrast to traditional path analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis tests models of relationships between latent variables and MVs which are indicators of common factors.The specific SEM-based technique used was the SAS's Covariance Analysis of Linear Structural Equations (CALIS) procedure. CALIS estimates parameters and tests the appropriateness of linear SEMs using covariance structure analysis. CALIS provides a series of indices of fit (reported and described in Table II). The standardized path coefficients, that is a numerical estimate of causal relationship between two variables, were used to test the research hypotheses.\nResults: With reference to the model shown in Figure 1, the Pearson correlations between the constructs (Table III) suggested a priori that there were many significant relationships.The theorized model fit the data, with a p value of chi-square 0.44 exceeding the minimum cut-off of 0.05, all the fit indices above 0.90 and a low root mean square residual (0.07), are shown in Table II.Moreover, the Lagrange Multiple test[1] did not suggest any additional effects to increase model significantly fit. However, the Wald test suggested that the direct effects of external career opportunities on internal career anchors and internal career anchors on turnover intentions were not significant.As far as the test of the hypotheses is concerned, in Table IV are shown the main results about design engineers' turnover intention effects.Organizational socialization had a significant and positive effect on external career opportunities which suggested support for H1. The standardized score for this effect was 0.37. The direct effect of organizational socialization on turnover intentions was negative and significant, supporting H2. The standardized effect was -0.16. The direct effect of career opportunities on turnover intentions was negative and significant, which suggested support for H3. The standardized effect was -0.41. The direct effect of career opportunities on internal career anchors was positive; however, the p value was not significant at the 0.05 level. Similarly, the direct effect of internal career on turnover intentions was negative (-0.09), again not significant at the 0.05 level. Thus, H4 and H5 could not be supported.The results of the correlations between the nine internal career anchors and career satisfaction are shown in Table V.Only two internal career anchors (job stability and geographical security) were significantly and negatively related to turnover intention. In addition, all the anchors had a negative relationship with turnover intention except the entrepreneurial creativity and the service anchors.\nConclusions and implications of the study: This paper reported a study of the relationships between the design engineers' turnover intention and the role of organizational socialization, internal career anchors, and external career opportunities. A sample of 442 design engineers completed questionnaires to indicate perceptions on scales representing the variables considered. Specifically, the research tested the hypotheses that organizational socialization, external career opportunities and internal career anchors impact on turnover intention.The results of SEM analysis yielded support for all the hypotheses except for two. Specifically, the analysis revealed negative relationships between the degree of external career opportunities and turnover intention, the level of organizational socialization and turnover intention, and positive relationships between the level of organizational socialization and the perceived external career opportunities within the organization. Not supported was a relationship between an engineer's internal career anchors and turnover intention and between external opportunities and internal career anchors.With regard to the organizational socialization variable, the results indicate it to be significantly correlated with and consistently stronger than predictors of turnover intentions. This is promising news for managers because organizational socialization is totally under the control of management. To take advantage of this, engineering managers can design socialization programmes that address all four aspects of socialization that are auspicious for engineers dealing with design concerns. For example, training programmes should be carefully designed to provide the skills needed by the design engineer to fulfil not only the organization's needs, but also the engineer's developmental needs.With regard to the role played by internal career anchors, this study seems to lend support to past research: for example, Igbaria and Baroudi (1993) found that four internal career anchors were significantly correlated with career satisfaction; however, they caution that \"the relationships are quite small and probably have little practical significance\". The results of the correlations analysis show that only the two internal career anchors \"job stability\" and \"geographical security\" were significantly related to turnover intention. One reason for the weak support found for this relationship may be the inclusion of the socialization variable in the model. It is possible, in fact that, even though there is a correlation between internal anchors and turnover intention, the effects are dominated by the more significant variables. Regardless of the reason, the results call for examining other career stages and other samples to determine the accuracy of previous results and to see if internal anchors overcome the dominance of these other two variables.As far as career opportunities are concerned, the continued importance of having a variety of career opportunities within an organization is confirmed. The number of career paths changes rapidly nowadays as research and development (R&D) organizations struggle to find effective internal structures for their organization. However, specific paths may not be as critical as a variety of creative opportunity for engineers. In any case, unless organizations hold some promise of advance, they will not retain or attract top-quality technical professionals.There are several managerial implications for the results obtained in this research. As mentioned earlier, the concept of turnover has received attention from a number of theorists, and intention to quit has to be considered as the strongest cognitive precursor of turnover. Turnover results from a lack of commitment to an organization, and it causes significant expense to an organization. Turnover costs include direct expenses related to replacing an employee and an indirect one related to loss of experience. Due to these reasons, it is extremely important to understand how to reduce turnover or the variable that is hypothesized to be directly related to turnover. Anything that can be done to reduce turnover intention (and, consequently, turnover) will lead to significant benefits to an organization.For instance, managers should monitor job satisfaction levels continuously and utilize different leverages to increase job satisfaction of design engineers. They can strive to improve job satisfaction by increasing the motivating potential score and especially by fostering co-worker support, which is often considered to be less important than training in their orientation programmes. In the context examined in this research, it proved to be effective offering to engineers both the opportunities and facilities to have pleasant social interactions, such as interest-group meetings during breaks or off-duty hours. Moreover, engineering managers can improve the satisfaction of design engineer by providing supervisor support for career development and by promoting organizational career opportunities. As far as career management systems of engineers staffed in design functions are concerned, managers should develop and encourage lateral career moves of design staff members, particularly for newcomers. It could be worthwhile the elimination of activities that create disharmony and cause conflict. Another aspect that emerged through this study, is that, due to continued rotation of job or team, design engineers are forced to face a wealth of tasks and responsibilities which expose them to different work style characteristics of other organizational functions. Design engineers' understanding of their jobs and how their companies work might also be a strong predictor of turnover intentions. Managers can alter unfavourable perceptions by sending culturally appropriate messages so that their subordinates learned what it is wanted them to learn.Admittedly, caution should be used in interpreting the results of the present study. One reason is that the path analysis model of Figure 1 implies a cause-effect relationship that a cross-sectional study such as the present one cannot actually confirm. In fact, other explanations for the relationships among constructs could be proposed. For instance, turnover intentions could be hypothesized as the cause rather than the effect. Moreover, some constructs are measured only on a perceptual base. What is of real concern to the design engineering managers are the actual provision of the external career opportunities and the actual turnover. On the other hand, previous research has shown that it is the perception of career opportunities that drives job satisfaction and that turnover intention is the best predictor of actual turnover.It is possible to highlight, however, two important strengths to the study. First, the sample used is large enough to make it possible a generalization of the empirical findings. Second, different multivariate measures of the constructs were considered rather than using single-measured constructs. Future research should be aimed at exploring the different patterns of turnover intentions of engineers with different career orientations and in organizations with or without rigid formalized career advancement systems.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Turnover intention is one's behavioural intention to quit. The purpose of this study is to compare the relative influences of organizational socialization and career aspirations on turnover intentions of design engineers and to address the design of more effective development programmes and the reduction of dysfunctional turnover.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A study of 442 engineers staffed within \"design and development\" units is presented, and a research model is tested using structural equation modelling techniques.\nFindings: - The analysis indicates that design engineers report lower levels of turnover intention when organizational socialization is prominent and an adequate range of opportunities that satisfy career aspirations exist within the organization.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The cause-effect relationships among constructs that are empirically derived from the analysis should be further supported by a longitudinal study. Future research should be aimed at exploring the different patterns of turnover intentions of engineers with different career orientations and in organizations with or without rigid formalized career advancement system.\nPractical implications: - Managers of technical staff are advised to put an effort to develop and encourage lateral career moves of research and development staff members, particularly for newcomers, by offering a variety of experiences, that is likely to speed up their prompt creation of a better defined self-concept.\nOriginality/value: - The originality of the research lies in that it addresses an explanation of engineers' turnover based on a theoretical framework that jointly combines internal career anchors as well as external career opportunities and socialization, thus striving to fill a gap in existing literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dynamics of the manufacturer-supplier relationships in emerging markets: A case of Thailand	[ "Supplier relations", "Partnership", "Automotive industry", "Emerging markets", "Thailand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In fast-growth industries in emerging markets, developing enduring manufacturer-supplier relationships is a critical element of a manufacturer's ability to gain competitive advantage. A partnership-style relationship is now considered the most preferred style of relationship between manufacturers and suppliers as it promotes the sharing of knowledge, which is considered a source of competitive advantage (Szwejczewski et al., 2005; Dyer and Hatch, 2004). This style is prevalent in the case of many developed countries, such as the USA, UK, and Germany (e.g. Martin et al., 1995; Bensaou, 1999; Szwejczewski et al., 2005). However, this style cannot be immediately and fully adopted in emerging markets like Thailand, as most local suppliers are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which mainly produce less complicated parts and need technical and financial support from automobile manufacturers to improve their infrastructure and production capability. In moving towards the partner relationship paradigm, developing suppliers' capabilities and manufacturer-supplier trust become critical issues.Although the issue of manufacturer-supplier relationships is considered important, only a few studies have been reported on this issue in emerging market, as compared to the case of developed market countries (e.g. Rubesch and Banomyong (2005), compared how Thailand and Mexico selected and worked with suppliers; Sandhya and Mrinalini (2002) studied changing buyer-supplier relationships in India). In order to fill this research gap, we have attempted to analyze the types of relationships and their evolution in Thai automobile industry. Thailand recently has been referred to as \"the Detroit of Asia\" because of its growing automobile manufacture industry (The Federation of Thai Industries, 2005; Asia Times, 2004). However, to live up to this sobriquet, it is necessary for international automobile manufacturers that are major drivers in this industry to establish good and strong relationships with their suppliers.\nObjectives: This study aims to analyze the nature of the relationships between international automobile manufacturers and their suppliers; analyze how the manufacturer-supplier relationships have been evolving; and examine the characteristics of Thai suppliers that influence the nature and the evolution of relationships.\nLiterature review: Nature of manufacturer-supplier relationships\nMethodology: This research is based on case research conducted in 7 leading automobile manufacturing companies in Thailand and 14 suppliers of these companies. The automobile manufacturers were: Toyota Motor Thailand Co. Ltd. (TMT); Hino Motors (Thailand) Ltd. (HMT); Honda Automobile Thailand Co., Ltd. (HATC); Isuzu Motors Co., (Thailand) Ltd. (IMCT); DaimlerChrysler (Thailand) Ltd. (DCTH), BMW (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (BMW); Auto Alliance (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (AAT). The profiles of all case companies are presented in Appendices 1-3.To ensure reliability and validity, two types of triangulations - methodological and data - were applied. Methodological triangulation was adopted by using multiple methods of data capture: in-depth interviews, plant visits, and analysis both of companies' internal documents such as suppliers list, suppliers selection form, part quality control form, supplier's performance report form, etc. and of documents such as auto parts industry analysis, profile of suppliers, etc. gathered from published sources. Such sources included publications issued by the Thailand Automobile Institute, the Thai Automobile Industry Association, the Thai Automotive Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries, and the Auto-Parts Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries. Visits were carried out at all plants for observation of the assembly line, including the implementation of manufacturing processes, supplier development processes, and part-management processes, such as stock, quality checking, and so forth.Several methods were followed to achieve data triangulation: cross-checking information from multiple sources within the company and with suppliers, interviewing both expatriate and Thai employees, and selecting interviewees from various relevant departments (e.g. purchasing, research and development, quality control, supplier development) and from different levels (e.g. president, managing director, vice-president, area manager, senior manager, department manager, assistant manager, officer). As detailed in the following paragraphs, the interview process included several measures to maximize the validity and reliability of the collected data, as described by Riege (2003).A total of 120 interviews were conducted over a three-year period from 2003 to 2006. First, based on the literature review, an initial interview guide was developed. This was pilot-tested at TMT and two of its suppliers. Based on the results of the pilot test, the interview guide was revised. The revised interview guide was then used to conduct the initial round of interviews at the seven manufacturers and their suppliers. At each company, the first interview typically was conducted with a top-level manager, such as managing director or vice-president of purchasing, to obtain information about company policies toward supplier development and management. Subsequent interviews were then conducted with middle-level managers, such as the senior manager in the supplier development, purchasing, or R&D department, to obtain information about how policies were implemented. Additional interviews were conducted at the operational level, such as with operational managers and purchasing staff, to obtain additional details about daily operations and determine the manner in which policies were implemented. At the same time, the same protocol was carried out with suppliers. The purposes of interviewing suppliers were, first, to obtain information from a different perspective, and second, to confirm the information given by the manufacturer.As the interview process proceeded, new questions and sub-questions arose. These were incorporated into the interview protocol, and return visits were made to manufacturers to obtain responses to the added questions to ensure consistency of data collection across all 7 cases. In this way, the interview protocol evolved over the three-year period of data collection. The final list of questions is included as Appendix 3.In each interview, permission was asked to tape record the interview. In such cases, the recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. Since majority of respondents were reluctant to have their interview recorded, the interviewer took detailed notes.After the conclusion of data gathering, each case study was written. Each case summary was sent to the respective manufacturer to allow it to verify the information contained therein. Upon verification of the case data, the cases were analyzed to identify cross-case patterns to address the research objectives.\nAnalysis and discussion: Types of relationships\nConclusion: The types of manufacturer-supplier relationships and the stages of relationship development identified in the literature are generally based on analyses of the developed market. These may not be fully applicable to international automobile manufacturers operating in an emerging market like Thailand because of the gap that exists between suppliers and manufacturers in these markets in resources, technology, and skills and the differences between them in working style and culture. Because of these gaps and differences, foreign companies must follow a step-by-step approach to developing local supplier networks. Manufacturers should provide resources and knowledge to raise the capabilities of the local suppliers.At any given point, a supplier's capabilities influence its stage in the development of its relationship with a manufacturer; therefore any factors that influence the supplier's capabilities will influence the development of the supplier-manufacturer relationship. Hence, the key to developing successful relationships that reach the partnership stage starts with supplier selection criteria that emphasize quality instead of price and further emphasize developing local suppliers' R&D capabilities. Evaluation of supplier quality covers both \"hard\" and \"soft\" quality issues. The former include, for example, the ability to produce good-quality parts and reduce defect rates and to produce and deliver parts according to schedule. The latter include the suppliers' perceived initiative in participating in localization - e.g. in adapting parts design, using local materials to improve quality - as well as their willingness to try new ideas and new procedures. The manufacturers in this study evaluated these supplier capabilities in part by examining the procedures they had in place for continuous quality improvement.The process of building partnership relationships consumes time and resources, so manufacturers should take a longer-term view of the Thai market. Awareness of cultural and working style differences and treating local suppliers with respect lead to trust-based relationships, which is considered a key success factor in the Thai market.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature and the evolution of manufacturer-supplier relationships in Thailand's automobile industry and to identify the factors that influence the evolution of these relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study is based on case research method involving in-depth interviews with 120 local and expatriates of 7 companies and their 14 suppliers.\nFindings: - In Thailand, the manufacturer-supplier relationship starts out as a market-exchange-type relationship, and then gradually moves to a partnering type. The stages in evolution involve constant efforts on the part of foreign manufacturers to develop the suppliers by offering resources, training, feedback and solutions. The supplier capability building programs, bridging of cultural differences and formation of trust provides the basis for enduring partnerships. These partnerships are symbiotic relationships in which manufacturers benefit from suppliers' knowledge of local production and market factors and suppliers benefit from manufacturer's technical and managerial support. Additionally, closer collaboration with suppliers helps to prevent the leakage of business intelligence and theft of intellectual property and to prevent suppliers from working with competitors, thus allowing manufacturers to devote undivided attention to smooth supply of parts without any shortage.\nPractical implications: - In emerging markets, the local suppliers play key role in the success of foreign automobile companies. However, the local suppliers need technical and managerial support from manufacturers. The process of building a network of competent local suppliers consumes time and resources, therefore manufacturers should take a long-term view of the market. The undeniable importance of overcoming cultural differences and building trust is the hallmark of successful partnerships.\nOriginality/value: - The paper highlights the importance and process of developing local suppliers in emerging markets using Thai automobile industry as an example.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Methods to enhance reflective behaviour in innovation processes	[ "Learning organizations", "Learning methods", "Learning styles", "Knowledge economy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In an economy where knowledge is dominant, daily operations in organisations should be designed to support the process of \"knowledge productivity\" (Kessels, 1996a, b, 2001). This process entails identifying, gathering and interpreting relevant information, using this information to develop new skills and applying these skills to improve and radically innovate operating procedures, products and services. Continuous improvement and radical innovation is needed for an organisation to be successful in a knowledge economy.Learning and innovating are closely related. Brown and Duguid (1991) link innovation with learning in day-to-day activity. Keursten et al. (2004) argue that learning lies at the heart of the processes needed for innovation: tracing relevant information, and developing and applying new competencies are based on powerful learning processes.If innovation is crucial for the lasting success of organisation, and learning is a key process in innovation, it becomes important to learn more about the kinds of learning processes that support innovation, about how to recognise these processes in practice in order to influence these processes is a positive way. By tracing the supporting learning processes, the innovation process can be positively influenced.However, participants often find it difficult to answer questions directly on when they learned, how they learned and what they learned. When their own learning is addressed, they experience difficulties as they tend to focus on explicit learning activities such as formal training and education, whereas key learning processes often take place implicitly, in informal settings while working and interacting with others (Kwakman, 1999; Marsick and Watkins, 1990; Van Lakerveld et al., 2000).Keursten et al. (2004), who analysed a series of innovation processes and their underlying learning processes, found that it was hard for interviewees to make explicit what exactly happened in terms of knowledge development. People are mainly concerned with the specific content and context of the innovation at hand. Learning processes that contribute to improvement and innovation occur at the workplace and it apparently requires specific reflective behaviour from the people involved to trace these. Direct questions on when, how and what people learned do not adequately stimulate this reflective behaviour. In addition, Van Lakerveld (2005) concludes that reflection is an activity that most suffers from lack of time. Another complicating factor is that most theories on reflection pertain to the context of education and adult education, rather than the world of work (Van Woerkom, 2003).Reflection at work upon learning processes is not a matter-of-course practice in many organisations. However, insight into these learning processes is valuable as it can stimulate the innovation and improvement processes at hand. Therefore, it is necessary to find methods that enhance the reflective behaviour of people at work in order to trace the learning processes that they go through while innovating. This paper traces these methods by means of a literature review.Finding methods that promote reflective behaviour also has a sustainable yield. Besides being able to trace learning processes and so influence the particular innovation process, it supports the participants in developing their ability to be knowledge productive. The better developed their meta-cognitive skills and reflective skills, the more innovative people can be. Because then, innovation is not solely the consequence of well-developed problem-solving skills or coincidence, but of being able to deliberately create the circumstances for oneself and the team that enable to be innovative.In this respect we refer to Bolhuis and Simons (2001), who argue that the better one's meta-cognitive and self regulating skills are developed, the bigger one's learning capacity is. Other authors explicitly link the development of meta-cognitive and reflective skills with the ability to improve and innovate in the work environment. McGivern and Thompson (2004) connect better meta-cognitive skills of workers with improvement of their work-environment. In the same line, Kessels (1996a, b) stressed the importance of developing reflective skills and meta-cognitions because it would be supportive in finding new ways to trace relevant information, to develop new knowledge and to make it applicable in innovations and improvements. Research done by Van Lakerveld et al. (2000) shows that the development of reflective skills is crucial for developing the capability to improve and innovate the work-environment.\n2. Problem statement: In a knowledge economy continuously improvement and radical innovation are of crucial importance for organisations to survive. Learning is a key process in innovation. It is important to recognise these learning processes, in order to positively influence them. Tracing these learning processes requires systematic reflection on these processes. However, in practice people are often prevented from continuous reflection. Therefore it is necessary to find methods that enhance reflective behaviour to trace and enhance learning processes in innovation processes.The research questions that follow from this reasoning are:1. In what way can we grasp the learning processes that occur in innovation processes and is it possible to offer practitioners tools to enhance these processes?2. What are the characteristics of such reflective behaviour in order to identify learning in innovation processes?3. What methods support the search for these learning processes?4. To what extent are these methods useful for practitioners to influence the innovation process positively?\n3. Research design: The research questions are addressed by means of a literature study. In the first phase of the study, literature is used to find characteristics that are important in the process of reflection in innovation processes. Since literature on how to promote reflection with teams that participate in actions of improvement and innovation is scarce, we also used literature with clear views on reflection in learning processes.In the second phase, literature is used to find specific methods suitable for identifying learning processes in innovation projects. For each of the methods it is defined to what extent these methods contain the defined characteristics. The methods are found through a review of literature on research methodology. In this we followed earlier researchers on this topic. Several authors investigated methods that are suitable for studying learning processes. Marsick (2001), and Simons and Ruijters (2001) investigated these methods in view of promoting informal and implicit learning.\n4. Results: This section contains three sub-sections that present the results of the extensive literature review that was conducted. The first section elaborates on reflection when it is used to trace learning processes in innovation processes. This results in a set of criteria the methods need to meet. The second section presents the methods that were found that promote this reflective behaviour. The third section offers an overview of the methods and the extent to which they contain the defined characteristics.4.1 Reflection on innovation processes\n5. Conclusion and discussion: In this section, conclusions are drawn by looking back at the research questions in hand.What are the characteristics of such reflective behaviour in order to identify learning in innovation processes?The literature research showed five characteristics that reflection needs to have in order to be helpful in tracing learning processes in innovation processes. These are:1. reflection needs to focus on daily practice and contribute to that in order to make it attractive for the people to work with;2. reflection needs to pay attention to personal stories and emotions in order to grasp the implicit learning that are at the basis of innovation processes;3. reflection needs to be appreciative, and should not only pay attention to things that go wrong: this encourages people to learn and to design next steps;4. reflection should take into account the social context in which the learning takes place; and5. reflection can have various starting points: it might use the past, the present and the future as a starting point.Much is expected from reflection that takes the future as a starting point in relation to the innovation process. It stimulates breaking existing patterns, which appears to play an important role in innovation.What methods support the search for learning processes in innovation processes?The review of research methodologies that might be helpful in identifying learning processes resulted in eight methods:1. storytelling;2. changes and developments in daily work;3. critical incidents;4. discontinuities;5. peak experiences;6. formative evaluation;7. time-interval sampling; and8. imagination.Comparison of these methods with the identified characteristics for reflection in innovation processes revealed that the method of working with peak experiences is the only method that matches all the characteristics. The method of formative evaluation is the least suitable for enhancing reflection since it does not focus on the daily practice but rather on preset goals, it has no attention for personal stories and emotions, nor does it use an appreciative approach. Except for the method of time interval sampling and the method of formative evaluation, all the methods can potentially be adapted to fit with the described characteristics.As for the last characteristic, the starting point for reflection, it is found that most methods use the past as a source for inquiry. There is only one method that uses the present, and only one that uses the future as a starting point.To what extent are these methods useful for practitioners to influence the innovation process positively?It is likely that the innovation process is positively influenced when the reflective activities invite the participants in innovation processes to:* work with cases from the participants' innovation practice;* start from strengths;* break with existing patterns;* bring in new concepts; and* facilitate a collaborative process of sense making.From an academic point of view an additional set of questions could be raised with reference to the explanation of the findings in this literature review. What might be the reason that most methods focus on learning in the past, instead of investigating current and ongoing learning processes, supporting innovation? A more daring and liberating proposition could be to take the imaginary stand of learning in and from the future.Another observation is that almost none of the methods have negative points or specific weaknesses when it comes to matching with defined and desired characteristics. The main reason for this could be that we selected methods that somehow are related to learning and to innovation processes. This might explain why most of them support reflective behaviour in one way or another. Implicitly, learning and innovation are regarded as closely intertwined with reflective behaviour.This literature study on methods revealing reflective behaviour in innovation processes leads to a set of new questions that need further investigation in new research, of which the following are some examples:* To what extent does the stage in which the innovation process is in influence the importance of the various characteristics of reflection?* Would a review of literature other than that on research methodology offer new methods to enhance reflection in innovation processes?It would be most exciting to design a research framework in which professionals are invited to deliberately apply the most promising methods in existing innovation projects. Does this lead to increased reflective behaviour in comparison to projects where these methods are not in use? What capabilities are necessary to apply the selected methods in a proficient way? Is it possible to link specific methods to specific categories of innovation projects?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to trace methods that help to develop the reflective behaviour that is necessary for identifying and describing learning processes in organisations that focus on improvement and innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An extensive literature review results in the characteristics of reflection when reflection is used to trace learning processes in innovation. This results in five characteristics. Literature on research methodology is reviewed in order to find methods that promote this reflective behaviour. These methods are analysed to find out to what extent they contain the characteristics for reflection in innovation processes.\nFindings: - The literature review leads to five elements that characterise reflective behaviour in innovation processes. It offers a description of several methods that can be used to identify learning processes. The main conclusion is that hardly any method contains all five characteristics for adequate reflective behaviour.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The current study mainly reviewed research methodologies and no other methods that actively promote reflection.\nPractical implications: - The findings offer concrete guidance for practitioners how to encourage reflective behaviour and innovation processes.\nOriginality/value: - The paper refers to the interest of both research and practice. From the research point of view it presents a variety of methods for analysing learning processes in order to deepen our knowledge with respect to these processes. From the practice point of view, it offers concrete methods that enable participants to develop reflective skills that help them to become more knowledge productive.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A trustworthy network or a technologically disguised scam: A biblio-morphological analysis of bitcoin and blockchain literature	[ "Bibliometric analysis", "Networks", "Morphology", "Bitcoin", "Macroeconomics", "Blockchain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The year 2008 witnessed the advent of the cryptocurrency bitcoin with Satoshi Nakamoto (presumably a pseudonym) initiating a payment system in the electronic mode underscored by the cryptographic proof in its transactions. A transaction of such a cryptocurrency is defined as a data structure that codifies the value transfer between users within a bitcoin network (Fauzi et al., 2017). The transactions of bitcoin were facilitated without the monitoring of a third-party regulator (Cuccuru, 2017). Though bitcoin shot to fame from its initiation, there were certain inherent concerns which were restricting its propagation, including its sustainability. Giungato et al. (2017) emphasized on the sustainability of the bitcoin considering the economic aspects, environmental issues and the social impacts.\nIntroduction: Bitcoin runs on a fully decentralized peer-to-peer framework (Courtois et al., 2016) with the blockchain being the underlying technology. The blockchain technology ensures an entrenched audit trail, superior security and privacy underscored by data provenance (Kuo et al., 2017). Bitcoin transactions are much similar to cheques but are signed in a cryptographic way. All such transactions have evolved and moved out from transactional internet banking with definite differences (Dandapani et al., 2018). These transactions undertaken are broadcast to the particular peer-to-peer network and they get verified by each node in the network. The accounting is done with the aid of a public ledger called a \"blockchain\" which records all these transactions pseudonymously. Being an owner of bitcoin indicates that a user may spend bitcoins associated with the certain specific address (similar to a bank account).\nTheoretical background: Satoshi Nakamoto tried to establish the bitcoin as a gamechanger. But the popularity the currency has gained over the last decade is more glued on a negative spirit of speculation, fraud and hype. Still, there are studies which try to cut a strong case for this electronic payment system and its underlying blockchain technology. Hong (2016) establishes bitcoin as an alternative investment mechanism increasing the credibility of the cryptocurrency. The different improvements in the underlying technology over the timeframe has given high-end versions of the blockchain. Kuo et al. (2017) have compared the benefits of blockchain technology to the traditional distributed databases. The study also establishes that the improvement in the blockchain technology can be used in various other fields including health-care and biomedical research. The pace and efficiency of the biomedical research can be increased manifold coupled with prompt insurance claim process and high-end medical record management (Thomas and Issac, 2018).\nOverview of literature: Cryptocurrency such as bitcoin is fairly a new inclusion into the lexicon of Economics and International Financial transactions (Ram, 2019). It indeed underlines the technological advances in the field of finance (Shahrokhi, 2008). The interest in the area of bitcoin and blockchain technology is steadily increasing over the years with the scientific world recognizing the importance and benefits of the blockchain technology. The narrow outlook on bitcoin and other cryptocurrency is giving way to the untapped possibilities of the blockchain technology. Such a progression in the research on the bitcoin and blockchain technology is corroborated by Figure 1 which outlines the chronological progress of the number of studies conducted.\nMethodology: The biblio-morphological approach is a novel attempt which combines the bibliometric analysis with the morphological approach of classification of available literature. The bibliometric analysis is conducted mainly with the aid of the VosViewer software (Eck and Waltman, 2009). Such a technique helps to make meaningful conclusions on the past studies carried out on the topic of interest (Issac and Issac, 2019; Lichtenberg, 2013). Bibliometric analysis is carried out on the basis of different criteria. The main criteria adopted in this study for the bibliometric analysis are the:\nBibliometric analysis: The entire list of work done in the area of bitcoin and blockchain was looked upon in the database of Scopus through a primary search of keywords; bitcoin, bitcoins, blockchain and their combinations. The initial search gave a list of 986 documents; lion share of the same being associated with the field of computer science. A similar search was done in the Web of Science database which yielded a list of 360 documents. These published works in the area of bitcoins and blockchain were taken as the input for the bibliometric analysis with the aid of VosViewer software.\nMorphological analysis: Morphological analysis dissects the topic; bitcoin and blockchain technology into various parameters (dimensions). These dimensions are further classified into different options. These options are cross matched in a matrix arrangement known as the cross-consistency matrix. Such a matrix would inevitably detail out the areas under the ambit of bitcoin and blockchain technology, where the studies have been done and the areas which are not investigated (Vijaya Sunder et al., 2019). Therefore, such a cross-consistency matrix is the real output of the morphological analysis which beams on the research gaps. This acts as a vade mecum for future researchers.\nDiscussion: broad areas of future research: The search in the databases of Scopus and Web of Science has clearly indicated the dearth of studies and analysis in the bitcoin and blockchain literature. The applications of blockchain technology are not restricted to just bitcoins. The technology has huge potential to be unleashed in fields of documentation, medicine and cloud. Such a niche area has to be investigated in greater detail so that the predictability on the performance of the technology increases. This paper attempts to find out the amount of knowledge that is available in the area. From the initiation of bitcoin, there are concerns regarding the security of transactions. As the bitcoins started gaining value, these concerns became issues.\nConcluding remarks: implications for practice: Many parts of the world have started accepting and using bitcoins. Though the usage is more prominent in the western part of the globe, the popularity of bitcoins is slowly catching up. Though the usage of cryptocurrency has already picked up, the available information is very less. This paper is an attempt to segregate the signals from the noise. The bibliometric analysis coupled with the morphological approach provides an outline on where we stand in terms of the understanding of bitcoin and underlying blockchain technology. The initial part of bibliometric analysis culled out the keywords and decided on the boundaries of research. It also gave the idea of the leading countries and individuals who have consistently produced results in the studies of bitcoin and blockchain technology.\nLimitations and future directions: The literature related to bitcoin and blockchain technology was mainly taken from the Scopus and Web of Science index. All the available literature related to the topic at this point is duly considered for the study. As time passes, the list keeps on getting updated which critically makes the study a non-exhaustive one on a future timeline. Also, this study has not considered valuable and relevant work related to bitcoin and blockchain published in other outlets such as individual and corporate websites, white papers, discussion notes, newspaper articles, etc. Further, the above MA framework incorporates only those dimensions and options which looked most relevant from the authors' perspective. Hence, it may reflect subjectivity bias. Different dimensions and new options can emerge if such an analysis is undertaken independently by others. Hence, the awareness on bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology will get more refined and exhaustive, if researchers repeat the exercise of morphology with different dimensions and options.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The initiation of cryptocurrency such as bitcoin has invoked a general curiosity in the international financial regime. Bitcoin works in a peer-to-peer framework with no third party acting as a monitoring agency. This brings in both positive and negative spirit to the table. Though generic understanding is available, the studies done on bitcoin and blockchain are far and few. The purpose of this paper is to decipher the level of understanding the scientific world has on bitcoin and the underlying blockchain and thereby to find out the pertinent research gaps existing in this field.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A biblio-morphological analysis is undertaken which underscores a comprehensive framework characterizing the bitcoin and blockchain literature in terms of dimensions and options. This was developed as a result of extensive scanning of the relevant literature.\nFindings: The biblio-morphological analysis broadly outlines the present status of the research on the topic. The morphological analysis brings out the 169 research gaps that exist in the area of bitcoin and underlying blockchain technology. The cross-consistency matrix underscores the fact that this novel technology bears large research potential.\nResearch limitations/implications: The biggest contribution of this paper would be to underline the present status of the literature on bitcoin and blockchain technology. This study attempts to make this document a vade mecum for both the industry and the academia in the area of bitcoin and blockchain technology. The blockchain technology and its effects and influences on other disciplines can effectively be explored by taking cues from the gaps identified by this biblio-morphological analysis. Such unique combinations can open up new avenues of research in the broader realm of business and economics.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is a first comprehensive biblio-morphological analysis on bitcoin and underlying blockchain technology, which characterizes blockchain literature and thereby offers to reduce redundant research by delineating the possible avenues in the area of blockchain technology.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collaborative open strategic planning: a method and case study	[ "Open innovation", "Strategy", "Collaboration", "Case study" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Open strategic planning (OSP) is a recent paradigm in strategic planning characterized by applying the principles of inclusiveness, transparency, and the use of information technology (IT) tools (Tavakoli et al., 2015). The concept of OSP has its roots in the notion of open innovation within the information systems (IS) discipline (Chesbrough and Appleyard, 2007; Grotnes, 2009), and advances in social technologies known as Web 2.0 (Haefliger et al., 2011). IT tools including a crowdsourcing model are reported to play an important role in the success of OSP practice (Amrollahi et al., 2014; Dobusch, 2012; Matzler et al., 2014; Stieger et al., 2012).\n2. Research background: 2.1 Strategic planning models and methods\n3. Proposed method of OSP: Based on a review of the literature, a method of OSP is proposed to address the identified shortcomings of implementation: a processual perspective (through a sequence of activities), identification of stakeholders in charge of each activity, and providing details on how the crowdsourcing model can be leveraged for the purpose of OSP (through the identification of a set of governing rules). A review of strategic planning methods, crowdsourcing, and open strategy helped frame the development of the OSP method. As illustrated in Figure 1, the three components of method development were drafted based on a review of strategic planning methods and the crowdsourcing literature.\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Research approach\n5. The findings and discussion: In our primary discussions with the top and middle managers in our case company, they expressed their need for an IT-enabled solution in long-term planning for their organization. These technologies are expected to facilitate the participation of people in various locations (university campuses) and lead to time and cost savings for the organization (through avoiding brainstorming and decision-making sessions).\n6. Conclusion: This paper proposed a method for OSP and reported on a case concerning the use of crowdsourcing techniques to implement open strategy. This approach helped an organization to maintain managerial supervision over the strategy process (through approval functions) whilst simultaneously widening the search for ideas. The results of implementing the proposed method indicate its potential for use in the context of other universities and similar organizations. The crowdsourcing model helped the proposed OSP method to develop phases of collaborative strategic planning and also assisted the research to identify stakeholders relevant in the strategy process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how collaborative information technology (IT) tools and a crowdsourcing model can be leveraged for the purpose of strategic planning. To achieve this objective, a formal method of open strategic planning (OSP) is proposed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a review of the literature a set of activities, stakeholders, and governing rules are identified in the form of an OSP method. The proposed planning method is implemented in a case study of strategic planning in an Australian university. Observations by the research team, and archival records were used to ascertain the relevance of the used method.\nFindings: A method for OSP is presented and assessed. The method contains four phases: pre-planning, idea submission, idea refinement, and plan development. These phases cover the activities required from conceptualization to preparing and publishing the strategic plan. The findings clarify how the principles of OSP helped the organization to include more stakeholders and provided the opportunity to make the planning process transparent through use of a collaborative IT tool.\nPractical implications: The study provides managers and planning consultants with detailed guidelines to implement the concept of open strategy.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the few to propose a method for OSP based on empirical research. The study also shows how collaborative IT tools can be used for high-level organizational tasks such as strategic planning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A model of demand in a repeated purchase situation: A simulation of the Champagne wine market	[ "Simulation", "Wines", "Consumer behaviour", "Repeat buying", "France" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Forecasting consumer choices is difficult because the choice factors used in the decision-making process are generally unstable over time and according to circumstances. Two types of problem must be solved to reach a satisfactory model of behavior: to identify, according to the nature of the products, the crucial criteria, and to understand how they are used in the decision-making process when the environment is unstable. Experimental economics solves the first part of the problem. It helps to clearly identify the salient attributes of a product and eventually establish relations between them. However, because it is a transverse approach, it contributes little to the knowledge of the decision-making process when time or circumstances are taken into consideration. This paper shows that numerical simulation as a longitudinal approach, may constitute an original contribution in order to better understand the decision-making process. It allows a more effective description of the dynamics of behavior from a less limited number of parameters. Moreover, these parameters may be modified without limit to study what is not possible from experimental studies. The market of Champagne wine serves as a support for the application. It is an attractive market for many reasons. It is a commodity that is taken on trust. This means that for most of its attributes it is not possible to make any precise and certain evaluation of the quality. The fact that some attributes are used more frequently in the decision-making process does not make them infallible. In any case, the consumer can only have relative confidence in his choice of quality indicators. The criteria selected in the decision-making process therefore vary over time. Champagne wine purchases are relatively repeatedly made (contrary to house purchases), allowing past experiences, habits, to be considered as choice factors. The environment of the Champagne wine consumer, particularly the suppliers, may be described simply, and this helps reduce the number of parameters.\nTheoretical background: According to the cognitive school the consumer plays a role in his choices. His decisions are principally based on personal perception followed by a personal interpretation of cues sent by the environment (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Fazio, 1985).Products (which belong to the consumer's environment) are no longer considered as a whole but as sets of cues perceived differently according to the individual (Lancaster, 1966) and according to the ability of the cues to produce commodities (Ironmonger, 1972; Becker, 1981).In the marketing literature, we usually use the name \"panel of attributes\" in order to define the set of those product characteristics which are important for the buyer and which are in particular used as an argument in sales rhetoric. These terms (attributes or cues) will be used from now on. Because of the limited calculation ability of humans, and of the increasing cost of the transaction with increasing number of parameters, the consumer will set store by only a few attributes. When consumers have these attributes in mind at a given time and provided they finally reach a decision, we refer to them as salient attributes. The decision-making process is not universal. The subset of salient attributes finally taken into consideration varies considerably both quantitatively and qualitatively according to the nature of the products and according to the personal characteristics of the consumer. In line with the cue utilization theory, the selection of an attribute by the consumer is based on two parameters: the predictive value (PV) and the confidence value (CV). The first parameter refers to the quality of the attributes held by the product and indirectly to the nature of the product. The PV expresses, in fact, to what extent the consumer associates the attribute with the expected product's quality. This is the diagnostic capacity of the attribute, in other words its precision and the probability of its yielding a successful solution to the attempted task (finding the right product). The second parameter refers to the consumer's characteristics. The CV of an attribute expresses the extent to which the consumer trusts his capacity to use or consider the attribute with accuracy (Cox, 1967; Olson and Jacob, 1972).Effect of the nature of goods on the decision-making process\nApplication to the wine market: The purpose is to dynamically model the Champagne wine market by the multi-agent simulation process. The behavior of the producers varies over time according to very simple relations designed to put the buyers in a progressive context. On the other hand, the dynamic behavior of the buyers - the key feature of the model - is subject to a more detailed representation. The dynamic process of the buyers' choice is impacted by various factors. In our model, we give a priority to the influence of habits (arising from past purchases). To simplify the simulation, the players are described by a limited number of variables and parameters. Below, we justify our choices concerning the variables and parameters which characterize products and consumers.Salient attributes of wine\nScope of the simulation: The proposed simulation forms a closed multi-agent system (participants do not vanish). The agents studied are virtual consumers of Champagne wine who take decisions (buy or not buy) according to a scheduled behavior and according to the environment made up of sellers proposals (sales price), who adapt to the demand.The characteristics and behavior of the producers\nNumerical results: The set of global characteristics of wine merchants and wine growers is summarized below ( Table I). These parameters are determined in order to reflect the numbers of the two categories of sellers.Each wine producer offers a unique product of quality k. A product is therefore identified by the producer. Figure 3 is an example of encoding the characteristics of a producer in a matrix form. Only price and cumulated sales vary during the cycles of offer for products to consumers. All the other parameters remain stable. Quality in product, quantities offered on the market do not vary with time.In the same way, Figure 4 presents the encoding of the characteristics of a consumer in a matrix form. Only the personal capital of the consumer and his purchases vary with time. His income is stable.During a cycle, a buyer is chosen at random and chooses among the available offers the product that provides the highest positive surplus. If no bottle provides a positive surplus, then no purchase is made. Otherwise, a purchase is recorded by deducting the bottle chosen from the available stock of products of the seller concerned. Another buyer is chosen at random and follows the same process. The cycle terminates when the last buyer makes a decision. There are as many offer-demand confrontations as buyers. At the end of the cycle just introduced, the sellers adjust their prices according to the sales and results obtained during the last two periods of sale.At the same time the buyers change their personal capital according to the purchase made or not. Consequently, we proceed in several steps. The first step is an initialization of the starting conditions. This consists in creating tables of buyers and bottles (or sellers since a seller produces only one type of product). The following steps are offer-demand confrontations, which lead to the change of buyers' personal capital and to the change of supplier's price ( Figure 5).In our model, the buyer is placed 1,000 times in a purchase situation.Calculations are assessed on the basis of 1,000 periods of time. To take into account disturbances linked to conditions when we began, we ignored the results obtained during the first 200 cycles. We also made tests on a very large number of cycles without obtaining substantially different changes in results.Minimum price = 0, 1; Nv = 20; Qmaxv = 25; Nn = 5; Qmaxn = 400; Na = 5,000.These parameters are determined in such a way as to respect the reality of the Champagne wine market, particularly the representativeness of categories of sellers and their market share.Results with suppression of the effects of involvement and of evolution of personal capital (a=0, b= 0, d= 0)\nConclusion: Taking Champagne wines as an example, we demonstrate that a market cannot be described by a static model in which the characteristics of the offer are determined and the consumer makes discrete choices. In these conditions, the market is extremely unstable. Sales vary only according to chance meetings between individuals, more or less demanding and wealthy, with more or less famous and expensive products, without reaching any equilibrium. Reputation as a common system of reference pre-organizes the decisions of the consumers and gives the system a temporary point of equilibrium. However, in the long term, we should logically reach an equilibrium situation, which privileges products with a high quality-reputation level. The quality-reputation sets the preference order of all the consumers, and then each one will choose the product with the highest reputation available corresponding to his purchasing power. The distribution of sales would then be modeled on decreasing order of quality reputations, from the highest to the lowest, according to the available incomes. Now, this situation is not observed, since the consumers with high incomes may prefer products with a lower reputation than that corresponding to their purchasing power. We demonstrate that in a repeated purchasing situation, personal capital and involvement somehow reduce the impact of the main determinants (reputation, price) used by the consumers, and generate a widening and a certain stability of the market. The possibility of the taking of a share of the market by the wine merchants does not happen, even if the weight granted to reputation favors the sales. These results bring clarification to the contradictions which could appear in a situation of discrete choice, about the importance of this or that determinant in Champagne wine demand.Opens in a new window.Figure 1.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for consumer demand for vertically differentiated products. The approach is resolutely dynamic. Consumers are especially placed in situations of repeated purchases. They may reflect their past purchases in their decision. The suppliers adapt to the demand by amending their offer price. A simulation of the model of consumer behavior is made on the Champagne wine market. It results in a stable market that validates the theoretical choices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The methodology used is multi-agent simulation. It is little used compared to cross-cutting approaches such as multiple regression, joint analysis and constrained optimization. The multi-agent simulation is a metaphor of the real world that makes virtual agents (consumers and suppliers) compete; these agents are provided with features that can vary over time and with predetermined behavior. This longitudinal approach allows in particular the capture of the effects of time on the choices observed in the habit phenomena, and also allows a description of nonlinear relationships.\nFindings: - The use of a variable personal capital leads to the creation of a simple dynamic model of consumer behavior and fulfils the simulation of the demand in a market of vertically differentiated products.\nOriginality/value: - The originality of this work is based both on the formalization of the dynamic decision process and the methodology used, based on multi-agent simulation. It helps to explore the evolution of the behavior of agents in the long term by taking into account past experiences. The simulation allows us to show that, in situations of repeated purchase, habits and involvement put into perspective the impact of salient cues of choice (reputation, price).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of extrinsic cues on willingness to pay of wine: Evidence from Hong Kong blind tasting experiment	[ "Wine", "Willingness to pay", "Blind wine tasting experiment", "Extrinsic cues", "Novice and experts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Wine is a product with multiple attributes such that evaluation of wine in either a tasting or purchasing setting is often considered complicated and perplexing for the consumers. It has been found in previous studies that the type of attributes (cues) utilized in the evaluation of wine differs depending on the consumers' culture, knowledge and experience of wine (Barber et al., 2007; Bruwer, 2014; Bruwer et al., 2017; Lockshin et al., 2001; Lu et al., 2016; Saenz-Navajas et al., 2014; Orth et al., 2005). A number of studies document that there exist large variations in quality perception of wine among consumers regardless of degree of wine knowledge and experience (Hodgson, 2008; Hopfer and Heymann, 2014), suggesting that a wine experience is a function of multiple factors that may include highly subjective experiences and memories of the taster. These findings indicate the importance of empirical studies in identifying heterogeneous and often time-varying consumer segments for better producer understanding of consumer wine consumption and behavior. In this study, we use data from a Hong Kong based study to estimate the role of extrinsic cues on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for tasted wine. Although studies have shown systematic differences in wine preference and knowledge between western and Asian cultures (Jia-Gui et al., 2011; Somogyi et al., 2011; Yoo et al., 2013), there is a lack of studies that evaluate effects of specific attributes on the consumption behavior of Asian consumers.\n2. Method: 2.1 Data\n3. Results: 3.1 Descriptive statistics\n4. Discussion: As mentioned previously, quality perception is a function of consumers' assumed knowledge, involvement in wine drinking and nationality of origin (Lu et al., 2016; Saenz-Navajas et al., 2014).The rapidly growing Asian wine market necessitates studies be conducted on Asian consumer taste preferences as this is important information for both consumers and producers.\n5. Conclusion: This study examines the effect of extrinsic cues on wine consumers' WTP using data from a blind wine tasting experiment conducted in Hong Kong. It should be noted that although the experiment was conducted in Hong Kong with the sample population dominated by Chinese Hong Kong residents it also included Europeans and North American participants. The findings of the present study show that general patterns in the effect of extrinsic cues on WTP of wine are consistent with the previous literature that was mostly conducted in Western countries. However, the results do show that Hong Kong Chinese consumers place a higher premium on a bottle of wine than their Western counterparts. The novice group also places an extra premium on a bottle of wine vs the experienced drinker group. These results suggest that, in general, extrinsic cues play a bigger role in evaluation of wine in the Asian market especially with novice wine drinkers than they might in western societies. Our estimated extrinsic cue effect on WTP may be more pronounced in the real consumption setting where quality assessment is only limited to the extrinsic cues that are available through the information on the bottle of wine (Mueller et al., 2010). One possible reason that consumers in Hong Kong rely more heavily on extrinsic cues for WTP than their counterparts in western societies is risk reduction behavior in the presence of uncertainty (Lacey et al., 2009; Johnson and Bruwer, 2004). Additionally Chinese consumers might have a cultural incentive to minimize the risk of choosing bad wine and deviation from the norm (Somogyi et al., 2011) and therefore rely on extrinsic cues that over time have formed quality images in their mind of wine produced in different regions of the world.\n6. Limitation: This study seeks to answer empirical question whether extrinsic cues affect Hong Kong consumers' average WTP based on blind tasting experiments. Although the experimental design of the study alleviates some of the concerns in making any causal links between the extrinsic cues and consumers' WTP, there are two limitations that might hamper causal interpretation of the main findings. First, it should be noted that our experiment is not based on a complete randomized assignment of the treatment status, due to multiple practical limitations. This might bias our estimates if our experimental design systematically affected the unobserved characteristics of groups who participated in the different stages of the experiment. The second limitation concerns the generalizability of the findings of this study due to the fact that the study sample was largely limited to the guests of the boutique hotel, who might not be representative of the general population in Hong Kong.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of extrinsic cues on wine consumer's willingness to pay (WTP) based on a blind tasting experiment conducted in Hong Kong.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from a three-stage blind wine tasting experiment, the authors examine how an average consumer's WTP for a bottle of wine changes as a result of knowing prior to tasting extrinsic information such as the country of origin or grape variety of an otherwise identical product.\nFindings: The findings of this study align with previous research that finds subjective utility experienced by tasters can be significantly influenced by the belief or information given prior to the tasting. Sub-group analysis using a stratified sample based on the frequency of wine consumption and the wine taster's prior experience with wine (grouped into expert and novice categories) suggests that it is the novice consumers that have a stronger response to the pre-tasting knowledge when evaluating wine. Experienced wine consumers, on the other hand, do not seem to respond strongly to the pre-tasting knowledge of the extrinsic attributes in their evaluation of wine.\nOriginality/value: The studies of taste preference and role of extrinsic characteristics in wine evaluation and consumption in the rapidly growing Asian market is increasingly important for the wine industry. The evidence from this study suggests the importance for producers and marketers to consider consumer heterogeneity and product differentiation when pricing and distributing their wine.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organisational communication as trespass: a patient safety perspective	[ "Patient safety", "Boundaries", "Ancillary staff", "Hospital personnel", "Trespass", "Workaround" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last two decades, patient safety has become an influential field of interdisciplinary and cross-institutional practice, one that attracts significant research and organisational funding around the globe (Donaldson, 2009; Kalra et al., 2013). It is, nevertheless, a field in which the desired outcomes have not been realised. Rates of medical and associated error have not fallen significantly over two decades (Shojania and Thomas, 2013) and, although some notable reductions in errors have been achieved (e.g. Bergs et al., 2014; Cohen et al., 2016), they represent exceptions to the status quo. There is growing awareness that while the current focus on clinico-technical solutions to errors may be necessary, it is clearly not sufficient for reducing the rates of errors overall.\nBoundaries and borders in healthcare: Healthcare systems can be understood as comprising a number of competing claims, with the demarcation of different professional and organisational territories reinforced by social and cognitive boundaries between professional communities of practice (e.g. Ferlie et al., 2005). It is well understood that medicine and nursing as professions, for example, make claims to the production of expert knowledge and singular practices; other health professions, such as pharmacy or physiotherapy, have circumscribed their own territorial claims in negotiation with medicine (as the dominant paradigm) (Goldman et al., 2016). The bounded domains of professions are generally respected through formal and informal negotiation and agreement on limits to practice (e.g. Martin et al., 2011). Professional groups, such as those in healthcare, often develop internal learning while at the same time blocking \"externally oriented sources of change and learning\" (e.g. Ferlie et al., 2005, p. 131). In this sense, boundary practices in healthcare can operate at multiple levels with potential consequences for limiting potential improvements to patient safety knowledge and practice. Managerialism and administrative claims over the control of financing and resourcing equally form conditional territorial claims, mediated through political, professional and other channels of influence in healthcare environments (Baldwin, 2007).\nPatient safety errors as territorial failures: One of the most pervasive \"causes\" of errors in patient care is invariably identified as communication failure (Weller et al., 2014). Many patient safety inquiries in the UK and elsewhere identify failures of communication (too poor, too little and too late) as sitting at the centre of errors leading to poor patient outcomes including disability and death (e.g. Francis, 2013; Dingley et al., 2008; Garling, 2008; Hindle et al., 2006). Communication is therefore central to the landscape of patient safety, the errors that occur, as well as in how effectively they are or are not addressed and the timeliness of interventions.\nTransgressing boundaries in healthcare systems: While clinical staff hold to well-established professional hierarchies that regulate various aspects of individual and collective behaviour within healthcare organisations, they can be seen to transgress when they trespass professionally demarcated communication boundaries. The right of any individual to communicate out-of-order (e.g. when reporting dangerous or unprofessional behaviour) exists both in practice and in legislation. Yet clinicians continue to self-regulate, preferring to remain silent than challenge the status quo (e.g. Schwappach, 2018), both because they have been enculturated and because to communicate outside these norms is a form of trespass.\nTrespassing on professional boundaries: is not patient safety everybody's business?: Traditional approaches to patient safety have both maintained existing boundaries and created new ones around who is responsible (and accountable) for patient safety. Current/existing boundary practices tend to exclude consumers and particular professional groups from influencing the dominant discourse in this field. We can observe these boundary establishments and associated policing practices as representing a fear of trespass by individuals and groups whose knowledge risks destabilising the dominant agenda (e.g. Braithwaite, Iedema and Jorm, 2007). Central to this process of enclosing patient safety as a field of expert knowledge is the exclusion of particular voices and types of information. This, in turn, creates a highly mediated pattern of communication, which disavows trespass even to the detriment of the patients whose safety is at risk. This can be seen in the often highly abstract incident reporting systems that focus on technical medical issues to the exclusion of staff and patient interactions, experiences and characteristics and which restrict access to these systems by some personnel.\nTrespassing on professional boundaries: the role of non-professional and clinical healthcare workers: One of two types of trespass presented below can be illustrated by examining the need for ancillary staff to trespass professionally demarcated communication boundaries in order to contribute to patient safety. The formalisation of roles and existing professional boundaries normalise the demarcation of responsibility for patient safety to some specific healthcare professions. Structures and processes that support the current patient safety movement continue to focus on professional solutions to iatrogenic harm, largely ignoring the potentially pivotal contribution of other service providers to both patient harm and patient safety (Walton, 2006). As a result, this exclusionary, technical model of patient safety practice limits the communication potential within and between a number of healthcare staff categories whose knowledge is actually essential for improving patient safety outcomes.\nTrespassing professional boundaries: workarounds as a case study: Technology introduces boundaries around who can access information about patients and their prescribed care. The second type of trespass presented in this paper explores the impact of technology in excluding some providers from the communication loop. Technology legitimises access to patient information by professional role and permanency and excludes some staff who deliver patient care. The exclusion of these staff from the communication loop can in fact compromise care. Practices that work around barriers are framed as a type of trespass.\nDiscussion: The need to recognise and respond to the reasons for trespass and transgression is, we argue, part of the next phase of patient safety. Just as \"blame and shame\" were left behind in the move to systems approaches to patient safety, so too must the role of professional communicative boundaries. What is needed is more, improved communication of every type, at all times and from all individuals. Increasingly this needs to be seen as having a conventional analogue and a growing digital dimension. Patient safety is now enmeshed in multimodal communication processes and pathways. Traditional borders and boundaries are clearly insufficient to address existing limitations to the patient safety agenda, and even less so the emerging socio-technical interactions described here.\nConclusion: Improvements to healthcare organisations and, more specifically, their patient safety performance, may actually demand acts of trespass. There is a need to increasingly systematise and embrace acts which were once seen as \"illegal border crossings\" in a professional and organisational sense. If vulnerable patients are to be protected against the risk of communication failures and related behavioural or systemic deficiencies, we may need to institutionalise or open up spaces for transgression against the types of persistent borders and boundary objects discussed here. Healthcare is replete with organisational change programmes, but few of them situate the need for change through acts of trespass. We argue that the very act of trespass may be the gateway to effectively understanding and implementing necessary patient safety reforms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Significant, sustained improvement in patient safety has proved an intractable goal. Attempts to address persistent problems have largely focused on technical solutions to issues conceptualised as clinical, cultural or system based. While communication is at the core of many remediation strategies, the focus has remained largely on communication between clinicians or between clinicians and patients, and on creating centralised guidelines as communicative mechanisms to transmit approved practice. Yet, current attempts at improvement have had limited impact. The purpose of this paper is to highlight vital new ways of conceptualising and exploring the relations and actions that are meant to constitute safety within organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Utilising theory from social sciences, the authors reconceptualise trespass and transgression, traditionally positioned as infringements, as acts of resistance: mechanisms for intrusion which intentionally or unintentionally disrupt the territorial claims of professions and organisations to enhance patient safety.\nFindings: Drawing on the literature, research and professional experience, two forms of trespass are discussed: the intrusion of largely invisible and understudied ancillary staff into the world of clinicians; and the use of workarounds by clinicians themselves. In both cases, transgressors intend to increase rather than decrease patient safety and may, upon further examination, prove to do so.\nOriginality/value: Trespasses and transgressions considered in this light offer the opportunity to make visible people, relationships and actions which have previously remained hidden in our understanding of, and therefore proposed solutions to, patient safety.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationship between quality management, innovation and competitiveness. Evidence from Greek companies	[ "Quality management", "Product innovation", "Competitive advantage", "Process innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The world market is a competitive place full of turbulence where both quality and innovation are playing crucial roles in companies' surviving (Zeng et al., 2015). It is assumed that a firm can improve its competitiveness by improving its innovativeness (Liao and Wu, 2010; Hung, 2007). If innovativeness is embodied in a firm's culture, then competitive advantage and enhanced performance will be achieved (Gunday et al., 2011; Rhee et al., 2010). Many studies contend that quality management (QM) could be one of the prerequisites for innovation (Kim et al., 2012; Hoang et al., 2006; Perdomo-Ortiz et al., 2009). For this reason, since the early 2000s, researchers have conducted empirical studies on the relationship between QM and innovation (Kim et al., 2012). Despite of all the findings of previous research, it is still very important to rethink the value of QM and its role in offering competitive advantages, particularly innovation, in the future business competitive environment. According to Zeng et al. (2015) a practical management issue emerges: Does QM foster or hinder innovation? However, literature fails to provide a clear answer to this question (Prajogo and Sohal, 2006).\n2. Theoretical background and conceptual foundation: 2.1. QM practices\n3. Development of hypotheses: Many researchers have empirically investigated the relationship between QM and innovation. Prajogo and Sohal (2006) after an extensive review of the related literature, reached the conclusion that the relationship between QM and innovation is rather complex and ambiguous. According to the results of Santos-Vijande and Alvarez-Gonzalez (2007), TQM is a management system capable of creating an open and receptive to innovation organizational culture. Feigenbaum and Feigenbaum (2009) claim that companies with more effective QM systems place greater emphasis on speedier, more systematic quality processes that help them introduce and develop new, competitively strong, high-value products. The findings of Kim et al. (2012) support the notion that organizational efforts to establish and improve QM practices relate positively to innovative products or processes in both an existing market and an emerging market. In the same way, Hoang et al. (2006) confirm that QM - considered as a set of practices - has a positive impact on a firm's innovativeness. They found that leadership and people management, process and strategic management, and open organization have a positive impact on a firm's performance in relation to innovation. The Abrunhosa et al. (2008) findings also prove that QM principles have a positive relationship with technical innovation, while Prajogo and Sohal (2004) found that QM has a significantly positive relationship with both product quality and product innovation. Furthermore, Ovientary (2014) supports that product quality improvement can provide competitive advantage to a firm; while the implementation of a TQM system creates a fertile environment for innovation development (Martinez-Costa and Martinez-Lorente, 2008). Sethi and Sethi (2009) justified this opinion reporting that \"quality improvement can affect exploration and thus the development of innovative new products.\" Based on the above studies, the following two hypotheses were developed:\n4. Research methodology: 4.1. Research instrument and sample\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1. Construct reliability and validity\n6. Discussion: The present study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the relationship between QM, innovation and competitive advantage, extending the existing research and exploring issues that have been missing in prior studies. More specifically, the study offers a reliable and valid second order model that demonstrates the importance of successful QM implementation. The model introduces the second order factor \"QM,\" which can be indirectly assessed through the assessment of its five sub-factors (QM practices), which in turn can also be indirectly assessed through the assessment of their indicators, which are directly measured. The proposed model is a first attempt to consider simultaneously the effect of QM on the development of technical innovation and its consequences on competitive advantage. Innovation and QM in organizations has received significant attention from academics all over the world providing interesting insights (Palm et al., 2014). Thus, the first contribution of the present study is the close examination and better understanding of these relationships.\n7. Conclusions: This study seeks to fill the gap in literature on the quality-innovation-competitiveness relationship. For this reason, a theoretical model was developed and tested on Greek manufacturing and service companies. All scales were thoroughly tested through rigorous statistical methodologies. In summary, the present study contributes to literature by examining, in a single model, the links between QM practices, innovation and competitive advantage. Since the relationship between QM and innovation is rather controversial, the study concentrated on those QM practices that are potentially more supportive of innovation. Two distinct dimensions of firms' innovation have been identified. These dimensions are characterized by process or product innovation activities. QM becomes a \"precondition\" for product and process innovation in order to achieve a real competitive advantage. As such, it is strongly suggested that organizations must focus on specific QM practices, in order to improve technical innovation performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which five core dimensions of quality management, as a single factor, are associated with product innovation and process innovation; and finally how these two affect a firm's competitive advantage in the market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis followed in order to investigate the relations between the constructs of the proposed model, includes an initial exploratory factor analysis (EFA), followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and finally structural equation modelling (SEM)\nFindings: According to the study findings, quality management (QM) directly contributes to product and process innovation. Furthermore, product and process innovation have a direct impact on companies' competitive advantage. Thus, the study proves that QM is an opportunity for a firm to improve its innovation and consequently its competitiveness.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study relies on the perceptions of the respondents to operationalize the survey instrument. In addition, all variables are measured in the year that the survey was carried out. However, since the research exams the relationship between QM, technical innovation and competitive advantage across various organizations, it would be interesting to conduct a longitudinal study within these organizations.\nPractical implications: Our study offers clear implications for managers, proving that they should give higher emphasis on QM and innovation in order to prioritize their product, production and technology strategies, to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.\nOriginality/value: Based on the multi-dimensional structure of QM, this empirical study determines the contribution of QM to specific innovation performance and overall competitiveness of companies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Embarrassed customers: the dark side of receiving help from others	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Altruistic motivation", "Customer engagement behaviours (CEB)", "Customer-to-customer interactions (CCI)", "Embarrassment", "Inter-customer helping" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The current economy is encouraging customers to engage with service firms in many ways. Customer engagement behavior (CEB) is necessary for service platforms such as Airbnb and Uber, where customers themselves provide and receive services without service workers. Customers also engage with firms through involvement in product development and product support activities (Nambisan and Baron, 2009), and these voluntary, discretionary, and helpful behaviors are called \"customer engagement behaviors (CEBs)\" (van Doorn et al., 2010). In a similar vein, replacement of traditional service encounters with self-service technologies (SSTs) such as ATMs and self-checkout services at grocery stores is also encouraging CEBs (Rayport and Sviokla, 1994). During these service encounters, customers are not only engaging in services, but also frequently interacting with other customers through providing and receiving help. Such inter-customer relationships influence customers' attitudes and behaviors toward firms (Gupta and Harris, 2010), and thus firms and academia should pay closer attention to the new phenomenon.\nLiterature review: CEB\nStudy 1: Study 1 was conducted to examine the effect of the sources of help on satisfaction (H1), the mediating role of embarrassment in the relationship between sources of help and satisfaction (H2), and the moderating role of CFF (H4).\nStudy 2: The results from Study 1 suggest that embarrassment mediates the relationship between sources of help and satisfaction. However, because Study 1 used a measured variable for the mediator, the causal relationship of the mediation effect was not demonstrated. To further support the causal mediation effect of embarrassment, the moderation-of-process approach (Spencer et al., 2005) was employed by manipulating embarrassment in Study 2. In the moderation-of-process approach, if this mechanism is correct, then boosting embarrassment should attenuate the effect of sources of help on satisfaction; by boosting embarrassment, all participants will show heightened embarrassment. Study 2 was conducted to experimentally test the causal relationship between embarrassment and satisfaction. Specifically, it is predicted that an embarrassment boost will attenuate the effect, whereas if no boost is applied, the effect will replicate the results from Study 1.\nStudy 3: In addition to an affective process discovered in Studies 1 and 2, a cognitive process might also play a role in the relationship between sources of help and satisfaction. In particular, perceived altruistic motivation of the helper is a cognitive process suggested to mediate the relationship between sources of help and satisfaction. In addition, to ensure external validity, Study 3 employed a different sample that was composed of real customers at a major movie theater, who were in fact using the SSTs. Furthermore, additional customer responses (i.e. intentions to revisit the theater and intentions to use the SST) other than satisfaction were examined.\nConclusion: Theoretical contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that customer engagement behavior may not always be a positive experience for customers. Specifically, the paper examines the effect of sources of help (employee vs customer) on customer satisfaction, and the underlying mechanism behind such an effect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three studies were conducted to test the hypotheses, and bootstrapping was used to analyze the proposed mediation and moderation models.\nFindings: The results from the studies demonstrated the effect of sources of help (employee vs customer) on customer satisfaction. Specifically, compared to those who have received help from employees, customers who have received help from other customers showed lower satisfaction toward the firm. The relationship between sources of help and satisfaction was mediated by an affective factor, embarrassment, and a cognitive factor, altruistic motivation. In addition, the relationship between embarrassment and satisfaction was moderated by concern for face.\nPractical implications: Firms should devote more resources toward minimizing customers' embarrassment during service encounters and demonstrate altruistic motivation to provide voluntary help to lead customers to reciprocate helping.\nOriginality/value: The current research provides a new perspective on customer engagement behavior during service encounters. This research highlights the negative outcomes of receiving help from other customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Process validation: coping with three dilemmas in process-based single-case research	[ "Qualitative research", "Business-to-business marketing", "Process validation", "Quality criteria", "Single-case research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is an increasing interest in case studies of processes in business marketing (Halinen and Tornroos, 2005; Halinen et al., 2012; Dubois and Gadde, 2014). There are several good reasons for this. Business markets are featured by ambiguity, fuzzy boundaries and continuous change, and the research methodologies issued by researchers have to adjust to reflect an unfolding and changing reality (Bonoma, 1985; Langley, 1999; Gummesson, 2001). Also, consumer marketing increasingly encompasses process-based approaches to understanding marketing phenomena (for recent examples, Giesler and Thompson, 2016).\nProcess-based single-case research in business marketing: Process-based single-case research has played a key role in the development of research on business marketing and purchasing phenomena (Dubois and Araujo, 2004; Dubois and Araujo, 2007; Easton, 2010). According to Easton (1995, p. 480):\nThree dilemmas in the validation of process-based single-case research: Based on the notion that validation for single-case research is about matching theory and empirical observation and that this matching is dynamic and ongoing, we need to see process validation as an integral and ongoing part of conducting process-based single-case studies. To this end, we identify three particular issues with which the single-case researcher has to cope and suggest three dilemmas relating to these issues. Pointing to these issues as dilemmas differs from, for instance, Riege (2003) and Yin (2014) in their search for a design or blueprint for conducting and writing up single-case studies. Such an approach is not useful in process-based case research. Rather than a recipe, and more in alignment with the notion of a journey into an unknown territory, an operative overview is offered of the dilemmas the researcher faces when conducting and validating process-based single-case research.\nConcluding discussion: The paper has presented an argument for strengthening the standing of process-based single-case research in business marketing and highlighted particular process issues with respect to producing \"good\" single-case research. Validity claims can either be ignored on the basis that the validity concept is inherited from traditional positivistic research ideals (see, for instance, Creswell, 1998; Lincoln and Guba, 1985) or can be developed and used as a term for how well a single-case study has coped with matching theory to empirical observation, which is the perspective sided with here (Anderson and Herr, 1999; Kvale, 1997). However, this matching, and the process through which it is achieved, is associated with particular challenges for single-case researchers. Process validation is therefore suggested as a concept for the assessment of how well a process-based single-case study copes with these challenges. The paper has identified three specific issues that process-based single-case researchers always have to deal with: arbitrariness, richness and messiness. These issues are interrelated and concern the casing as such, the communication of the case to an audience and the description of how the process-based single-case study is carried out. Table II summarizes these issues and the related dilemmas that the researcher needs to handle and points to key references and exemplars.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Recent research suggests that the interest in process-based single-case studies is increasing in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This paper aims to discuss research validity issues and dilemmas encountered by process-based single-case researchers in B2B marketing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a methodology paper that builds on an integration of experiences, ideas and literature.\nFindings: In the paper, three dilemmas are suggested that researchers need to deal with in process-based single-case research. These relate to the casing process: crafting the case, communicating the case and describing the process of the study. Furthermore, process validation is suggested as a research quality concept concerned with how these dilemmas are handled.\nResearch limitations implications: Based on the notion of process validation, the authors provide suggestions for how casing, as a process-based single-case approach, can be conveyed and advanced in its own right.\nPractical implications: This study can be used to convey insights that can help new and experienced researchers in conducting single-case studies in B2B.\nOriginality/value: Coping with issues of research quality in B2B marketing is of relevance to researchers dealing with process-based single-case research and process validation issues, as well as to journal reviewers evaluating the qualities of process-based single-case research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A scheme to improve the international inter-library loan service in the National Library of China	[ "China", "Interlibrary loan", "Interlending", "Document supply", "International interlibrary loan", "National Library of China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With increased access to faraway databases and resources, more and more patrons are requesting materials that are found only in foreign libraries today (Hilyer, 2006). International interlibrary loan (ILL) service has become the most common resource sharing activity between libraries around the world (Atkins, 2009; McGrath, 2009). The National Library of China (NLC) is the largest library in Asia and as such it holds one of the largest and richest collections of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world. International ILL has more than 50 years of history in the NLC. As the nation's center for international ILL, the NLC plays an important role on behalf of China. International ILL service is a critical part of document delivery in the NLC. It meets all the information needs of domestic and overseas users by combining traditional reference skills and advanced information and network technology. To date, the NLC has also formed partnerships with 557 libraries in 117 countries and regions for the exchange of publications.\nIssues for international ILL in the NLC: International ILL has remained a persistent topic in the NLC. With the rapid development of information technology - for example, the Internet of things, mobile connectivity, big data and cloud computing - libraries and library users can easily identify resources from all around the world. This ease of discovery raises new issues for international ILL. To enhance and improve the internal ILL services of the NLC, issues that concern request communications, copyright and payment methods are analyzed.\nProposed scheme: It is critical to develop the international ILL service to best meet the increasingly diverse user needs. This scheme to improve the international ILL service provided by the NLC is proposed as a response to the issues in the heading of \"Issues for international ILL in the NLC\".\nChallenges and innovation: In the current information age, libraries of all types have been profoundly transformed by the rapid development of computer, communication, networking and other information technologies. They are undergoing drastic changes. Users can access library resources at any time and anywhere via the use of diverse devices, such as computers, smart phones and other handheld mobile devices. As a result, requests from international ILL users have grown ever more diverse. They reach out to a wide spectrum of providers, from library collections to all types of resources obtainable from cyber space (Atkins, 2009; McGrath, 2009; Percy, 2013; Baich et al., 2009). They include, but are not limited to, books, serials, digital resources, gray literature and other resources that can be searched via the Internet. The library, as a conduit for information, should play a critical role in meeting a wide spectrum of information seekers (Fagbola et al., 2011). International ILL providers must innovate to meet the challenges. A comprehensive platform incorporating mobile access and searching is essential. The platform should combine micro blogging and instant messaging with Web site access for requesting by and responding to patrons. The architecture of document delivery incorporating mobile access is proposed in Feng and Zhang (2013).\nConclusion: This paper gives a brief introduction to international ILL service in the NLC, and some issues that hinder the development of that service are analyzed. A scheme to improve the international ILL service is proposed. Finally, a challenge to international ILL, driven by the development of information technology, is analyzed. The NLC must innovate to meet the challenge. This is a long-term, but vitally meaningful, task for all librarians.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a scheme to promote and improve international interlibrary loan (ILL) service at the National Library of China (NLC). The NLC is the center for international ILL in all of China, but as user needs change in response to the rapid development of information technology, it is necessary to investigate how to recast the international ILL service of the NLC.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a systematic case study approach. First, a brief introduction to international ILL practice in the NLC is given. Second, issues that concern request communications, copyright and payment methods are analyzed. Next, a scheme to modernize and improve international ILL is proposed as a response to the aforementioned problems. Finally, new challenges to international ILL are analyzed.\nFindings: The NLC should make the following efforts to improve international ILL service: enhance and expand the number of request transmission methods, update the legacy ILL and document delivery system, create a Chinese interlibrary loan alliance and fashion more reasonable copyright and payment policies. In addition, it should foster sustained innovation to meet the ongoing challenges to international ILL in the information age.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers practical solutions for Chinese libraries engaged in international ILL activities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The moderating effects of organizational culture on the relationships between leadership behaviour and organizational commitment and between organizational commitment and job satisfaction and performance	[ "Leadership", "Organizational culture", "Job satisfaction", "Performance management", "Malaysia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: In 1998, a Fortune survey among the CEOs of most admired companies indicated that corporate culture was believed to be the most important lever in enhancing their key capabilities. Recent organizational crises have emphasized the need for leadership from decision makers which, then, become more critical for achieving organizational success (Earle, 1996).There exists a substantial amount of research on antecedents and outcomes of organizational culture, leadership behaviour, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employee performance. For example, work ethics (Yousef, 2001), person-organization fit (Silverthorne, 2004), national culture (Lok and Crawford, 2004), task structure and role ambiguity (Tan, 2005), and turnover (Poh, 2002). Much of these focused on independent relationships, such as culture and performance, or commitment and performance (Rashid et al., 2003). Only a handful looked into identifying precise relationships between multiple areas of organization behaviour and the application of such findings to the corporate firms. These have practical implications for managers and consultants in management development, and ultimately could bring about superior performance in their respective organizations.With increasing globalization, greater knowledge of the interactions between these factors in non-western cultures can be beneficial for assessing the effectiveness of current theories, as well as benefiting practicing leaders and decision makers. Only a handful of researchers focused on the Asian setting, and very few are relevant or specific to Malaysia. This study intends to contribute to the existing knowledge base, in particular, from a Malaysian perspective.The objective of the research is to examine the moderating effects of organizational culture on the relationships between leadership behaviour and organizational commitment and between organizational commitment and job satisfaction and performance in the Malaysian setting. For the purpose of this study, Li's (2004) conceptualization of the relationships between these variables has been partially adapted.It is noted that the use of convenience sampling is a major limitation of this study, as findings from the study sample cannot be confidently generalized to the population. However, the benefits of time and cost-effectiveness, and the fact that adequate information about the study population is not readily available for probability sampling, are taken into account when deciding the sampling method for this study.\nLiterature review and theoretical framework: Antecedents and independent variables\nResearch methodology: Development of hypotheses\nResults and discussion: Summary statistics of respondents\nConclusion and recommendations: Summary of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of organizational culture on the relationships between leadership behaviour and organizational commitment and between organizational commitment and job satisfaction and performance in the Malaysian setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were gathered from 238 Malaysian UM MBA part-time students and the researchers' working peers. Data on the respondents' organizational culture and leadership behaviours, and how they affect organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employee performance, were collected using the OCI, leadership behaviour questionnaire, ACS, single global rating for job satisfaction and overall performance questionnaire, respectively. Descriptive statistics were reported, followed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation and hypotheses testing using hierarchical multiple regression.\nFindings: - Generally, and with a few exceptions, leadership behaviour was found to be significantly related to organizational commitment, and organizational culture played an important role in moderating this relationship. Organizational commitment was found to be significantly associated with job satisfaction, but not with employee performance. However, only supportive culture influenced the relationship between commitment and satisfaction. Possible causes and implications for managers are discussed.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contributes to the existing pool of knowledge on the relationships between leadership behaviours, organizational culture, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employee performance. Different aspects of these variables were tested, so as to provide a wider and more comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect organizations and employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Face, fate and brand equity: service recovery justice and satisfaction	[ "Justice perceptions", "Post-recovery satisfaction", "Face", "Fate", "Brand equity", "Telecommunications services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A service firm's success depends heavily on its ability to consistently deliver satisfying customer experiences. However, even a customer-oriented organization with a high-quality program will still occasionally commit errors in service delivery (Hu et al., 2013). When errors occur, it is important to have an effective recovery program in place to restore customer satisfaction and promote retention (Allen et al., 2015). Justice recovery has been highlighted as a key factor for restoring customer satisfaction mainly in Western cultures (Fatma et al., 2016). With the globalization of markets, services are increasingly being provided cross-culturally (Tam et al., 2016). Cultural variables such as collectivism may influence the effectiveness of service recovery efforts in restoring customer satisfaction in Eastern societies (Sharma and Wu, 2015). Most service recovery episodes involve social interaction, so it is reasonable to assume that a customer's cultural orientation will influence how they perceive the justice of a recovery effort, and thus, their satisfaction (Prasongsukarn and Patterson, 2012). For instance, consumers from collectivist societies such as China are relatively sensitive to criticism and to the interpersonal treatment they receive. This is exemplified by the importance of \"saving face\" in Chinese collectivist culture (Siu et al., 2016). A loss of face is to be avoided at all costs. That is a good example of how the perceived justice of a recovery effort depends on cultural factors.\nLiterature review: Justice perceptions\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Measure validation\nDiscussion: Theoretical contributions\nLimitations and future research: The research has advanced an understanding of the moderating impact of three cultural variables, namely, concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity, in the justice perceptions - satisfaction link. Nevertheless, each cultural variable, representing complicated ideology and concept, could include more than one dimension. For example, Kim et al. (2014) found the different impacts of malleable and fixed fates on consumption behavior. Further research exploring the multiple dimensions of the key cultural constructs is, therefore, warranted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Can we always expect that service recovery justice leads to satisfaction? Literature has shown that a number of moderating factors impact the recovery justice-satisfaction link in different cultures. However, there is a dearth of research that has indicated the key cultural variables that play a moderating role. This study aims to attempt to fill the research gap by investigating the moderating role of concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity in the relationship between perceived justice and satisfaction in Chinese culture during service recovery.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The hypothesized relationships are tested using data from interviews with 600 persons who have recently complained about their telecommunications services. Structural equation modeling is applied in analyzing their responses.\nFindings: Concern for face is found to strengthen the relationship between interactional justice perceptions and satisfaction, but to weaken the relationship between distributive justice perceptions and satisfaction. Belief in fate weakens the link between perceptions of interactional justice and satisfaction. Brand equity positively moderates the relationship between perceptions of interactional justice and satisfaction, but it negatively moderates the relationship between perceptions of distributive justice and satisfaction.\nPractical implications: The cultural variables, namely, face, fate and brand equity, are found to serve as a moderating role in the relationship between recovery justice dimensions and satisfaction. They are more salient when it is related to social element. Face and brand equity, as interpersonal constructs, aggravate the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction. Fate, as non-social factor, weakens the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction. It is argued that managers should provide staff training in product knowledge and customer service as a preventive measure against damage to the brand. Regular customer satisfaction research and benchmarking exercises should be conducted to understand how customers perceive interactional justice.\nOriginality/value: This has been the first research to examine the impact of concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity in the relationship between justice perceptions and post-recovery satisfaction during service recovery.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards an operations strategy for product-centric servitization	[ "Service operations", "Services marketing", "Operations management", "Product management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Servitization[1] is now widely recognised as the process of creating value by adding services to products (Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988). Since, this term was first coined in the late 1980s it has been studied by scholars to understand the methods and implications of service-led competitive strategies for manufacturers (Wise and Baumgartner, 1999; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003; Slack, 2005). During this same period there has been a similar growth in research on such related topics of product-service systems (PSS) (Goedkoop et al., 1999; Mont, 2000; Meijkamp, 2000; Manzini and Verzolli, 2003), services operations (Chase and Apte, 2007) and services-science (Chesborough and Spohrer, 2006). This increasing body of research indicates a growing interest in service-led competitive strategies by academia, business and government. One reason for this is the belief that a move towards servitization is a means to create value-adding capabilities that are distinctive, sustainable and easier to defend from competition based in lower cost economies. Indeed, many governments see such moves downstream as key to competitiveness (Hewitt, 2002). As a consequence, more and more western manufacturers are seeking an ever-increasing percentage of their revenues from services (Wise and Baumgartner, 1999).To succeed with servitization, a manufacturer will require new guiding principles, structures and processes for their production and support operations (Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). These are likely to be different to those associated with traditional manufacture. Authors such as Voss (1992) and Chase and Garvin (1989) suggest that there is a subtle and distinct mix of organisational structures and processes which are appropriate to a servitized manufacturer. In this paper, our particular interest is product-centric servitization. This is the term we give to the phenomena where a portfolio of services is directly coupled to a product offering. In other words, an integrated product and service offering where the product itself is central to the provision of an integrated set of services (e.g. maintenance, repair and/or support). Examples include Xerox's move from selling printers and copiers to delivering \"Document management\" (www.consulting.xerox.com), and Thales's training and simulation business with \"pay as you train\" (Mulholland, 2000). For traditional manufacturers providing these types of offerings into the marketplace necessitates the transformation of existing organisational structures and processes. This topic has yet to receive the detailed attention of researchers. Indeed, even contemporary management text books give insufficient treatment to the detailed integration of manufacture and services at the level of the configuration of internal resources to deliver the servitized offering (Heineke and Davis, 2007).The research reported in this paper therefore proposes a set of operations principles, structures and processes for the delivery of product-centric servitization. We have based these characteristics on an analysis and synthesis of the wider literature, supplemented with empirical data collected via an exploratory case study with a leading servitized manufacturer (Section 3). To achieve this, our research programme has followed three steps. First, we establish the key definitions and literature sources that underpin the debate on servitization (Section 1). In doing this we briefly revisited definitions of product, service and services. The second step was to develop a theoretical framework that categorises the key characteristics of differing forms of business operations (Section 4). Finally, we populate this framework deductively, based on the existing literature and informed by the case study data (Section 5). Through this programme, we prepare a foundation onto which future studies can test, refine and expand our understanding of how manufacturers need to change if they are to execute a servitization strategy.\n2 Background: 2.1 Industrial context\n3 Research design: 3.1 Research question and programme\n4 Structuring the framework for product-centric servitization: This section summarises the principal constructs of the theoretical framework, which was then used to guide the case study investigation.4.1 Scope of characteristics within the framework\n5 Populating the framework: As outlined above, the theoretical framework has three principal categories covering scope, value and operations characteristics. In this section we populate this structure and develop the full framework through an analysis and synthesis of the literature with data collected from the case study organisation.5.1 Scope of the framework\n6 Concluding remarks: Servitization is now widely recognised as the innovation of a manufacturer's capabilities and processes to move from selling products, to selling integrated products-service offerings that deliver value in use. Such a strategy is advocated as a means by which western manufacturers can face-up to the challenges of competition from lower cost economies. However, to deliver this offering to the marketplace, we typically find that product manufacture and service delivery are largely decoupled. This approach is unsatisfactory as it results in a myriad of issues and challenges emerging for the traditional product manufacturer. A more integrated operations strategy is desired.This paper has set out a series of indicative characteristics for servitized manufacture. In summary, with a product-centric servitized offering the business focus is likely to be a blend of transactional activities supported by a customer management function that is configured to deliver the core product and the services related to supporting the use of the product. Structurally, this delivery system will tend to be configured around product assembly, with test and repair capabilities located near to customers. There will be a focus on response time with heavy reliance on their associated supply chains. Internal structures are likely to be cross-functional. Planning and control will emphasise the optimisation of product availability for the servitized offering. Employees will have high levels of product knowledge, blended with customer management and relationship development skills. Finally, product ranges are likely to be limited and consist of similar products combined with differing \"bundles\" of supporting services.The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it proposes a set of theoretical constructs for the effective and efficient delivery of products and their associated services. This contribution is reflected in our framework presented in (Table II). This framework bridges the gap between models and classifications that focus on either pure product or pure service operations, by exploring the configuration of resources to deliver product-centric servitization. Second, it provides a basis from which to construct a set of guidelines to assist practitioners in moving their organisations up the value chain with a servitized offering.The work is based on a review of the literature supported by data collected from an exploratory case study. Whilst we believe it provides an essential platform, we recognise that our work may be limited by the use of a single, although in-depth, case study. Taking evidence from a single case does not, necessarily, imply that the findings are true of a wider set of organisations. In our case, ServitCo may not yet have completed it's servitization journey such that it represents an optimum solution. There is, however, little to suggest that their progress is insufficient to inform the basis of the theoretical framework that we propose in the is paper. The challenge now, therefore, is to use this framework as a basis for further empirical work. To do this we will target and study in-depth a selection of international organisations who are succeeding in the delivery of product-centric servitized offerings. The data captured will then be analysed and synthesised to allow us to propose a generic service delivery system strategy, or indeed strategies. We look forward to reporting on this work in future papers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present a framework that will help manufacturing firms to configure their internal production and support operations to enable effective and efficient delivery of products and their closely associated services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - First, the key definitions and literature sources directly associated with servitization of manufacturing are established. Then, a theoretical framework that categorises the key characteristics of a manufacturer's operations strategy is developed and this is populated using both evidence from the extant literature and empirical data.\nFindings: - The framework captures a set of operations principles, structures and processes that can guide a manufacturer in the delivery of product-centric servitized offering. These are illustrated and contrasted against operations that deliver purely product (production operations) and those which deliver purely services (services operations).\nResearch limitations/implications: - The work is based on a review of the literature supported by data collected from an exploratory case study. Whilst it provides an essential platform, further research will be needed to validate the framework.\nOriginality/value: - The principal contribution of this paper is a framework that captures the key characteristics of operations for product-centric servitized manufacture.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The determinants for sustainability of an employee suggestion system	[ "Innovation", "Suggestion schemes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An employee suggestion system (ESS) is one of the oldest form of an employee involvement tool that plays a pivotal role for organizations wishing to become more innovative (Buech et al., 2010). It is a tool widely used to encourage employees to think innovatively and creatively about their work and work environment and to produce ideas which will benefit the organization (Du Plessis et al., 2008). It primarily consists of administrative procedures and infrastructure for collection, judging and compensating ideas which are conceived by the employees of the organization (Van Dijk and Van den Ende, 2002). It will elicit suggestions from employees, classify them and dispatch them to the \"experts\" for evaluation. After this, the suggestion might be adopted, in which case the suggestion may well be rewarded. But even if the suggestion is rejected, the suggestion maker may still be rewarded with a token gift. \"Experts\" are either managers or dedicated committees who evaluate the suggestions and implement the ones that work (Chaneski, 2006).\nLiterature review: The history, nature and significance of suggestion systems\nEmpowerment: Suggestion schemes incur transaction costs and implementation costs. Therefore, employees should be able to evaluate their own ideas before making a suggestion, as suggesting many ideas does not necessarily mean greater cost reduction and at the same time it could be an added responsibility to process and may cause delays (Wynder, 2008). So employee empowerment driven by communication openness and employee long-term orientation is a condition for suggestion schemes success (Recht and Wilderom, 1998). This can lead to obtaining more quality ideas.\nMethodology: This paper adopted quantitative method and used a survey approach to collect the data. The survey strategy allows collecting quantitative data which can be analyzed quantitatively using descriptive and inferential statistics. The purpose of this survey was to determine how industry experts and the users of suggestion system feel about the chosen indicators that are either inhibitors or enablers to suggestion schemes. Therefore, questionnaire surveys are the ideal means of providing quantified information through literature review and refined after pilot study and tested using questionnaire survey. The output of the literature review provided 32 indicators discussed above which helped to develop the survey instrument. The types of questions used in the questionnaire were mainly of the close question type which enables the respondents to give answers that fit into categories that have been established in advance by the researcher.\nData analysis and results: The data collected through the web survey was exported to the Microsoft Excel and was merged with the tabulated data from traditional survey. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the main features of the collected data in quantitative and thus, give an overall sense of data being analyzed. Reliability analysis was used to determine the reliability of the data collected from the questionnaire survey. Factor analysis was used to describe the variability among the indicators initially identified.\nThe discussion: The above results yielded extraction of five factors. First the system effectiveness emphasizes on the benefits of the suggestion system. The indicators included in this factor depict the outcomes of a suggestion system in terms of profitability, customer satisfaction, employee productivity, product quality and process improvement. These variables increase the effectiveness of the suggestion scheme.\nConclusion and future research: This paper focussed on extracting the crucial factors to determine the sustainability of a suggestion scheme. Based on the quantitative data obtained from the suggestion scheme practitioners and its analysis five major factors have emerged. The sustainability assessment scale thus indicates that the various determinants to assess the scheme comprise these five major factors. The five factors contribute to determine the \"meeting the target of initiative,\" \"continuous existence\" of the scheme, \"profitability,\" productivity and competence management. The factors relate to the definition of the sustainability that states \"the achievement of stakeholders stated goals involving competence management, profitability, employee productivity and continuous process improvement now and in the future.\" The five factors visibly underpin the economic benefits, competency, employee productivity and the continuous process improvement. It has further explored the importance levels of each factor. It is evident that the improvement program first and foremost requires the leadership to realize their potential benefit and support it for its success. Indeed, unless the leadership establishes a mechanism for its employees to make their suggestion, no results can be attained. Employees indeed require being motivated and as such it should generate mutual benefits that may include profitability and work environment. These arrangements would continue to exist if there is organizational encouragement and if organizational impediments. For example if the team work is facilitated rather than competitions and if flexible job conditions exist rather than strict job control would be a supportive environment for suggestion schemes to flourish.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although the corporations widely use the suggestion schemes to elicit the creative ideas of their employee, sustaining a suggestion scheme is still a challenge. Employee suggestion schemes have been studied from many perspectives to illustrate its objectives, nature, content, process, significance and the benefits. Arguments have also been made with respect to the success and failures of the suggestion schemes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors to assess the sustainability of a suggestion system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper thus explores the critical success factors of suggestion scheme through a literature review and filters the critical determinants for sustainability of suggestion using factor analysis. The data collection was done using a survey technique.\nFindings: The results identity the five major factors as determinants to sustainability of a suggestion system as reported in the paper.\nOriginality/value: This paper has made an attempt to explore the determinants to assess the sustainability of a suggestion system and has contributed toward the new knowledge in terms of sustainability of a suggestion system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Entrepreneurship as a preferred career option: Modelling tourism students' entrepreneurial intention	[ "Bangladesh", "PLS", "Entrepreneurial intention", "Tourism entrepreneurship" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurship refers to the recognition and exploitation of opportunities, which lead to the creation of new ventures (Hisrich et al., 2013). There is growing evidence in the entrepreneurship literature regarding the significant relationship between entrepreneurship, economic growth and poverty reduction; hence, entrepreneurship is deemed to be an effective mechanism for economic development and poverty alleviation (Gielnik and Frese, 2013). Since entrepreneurship development is a potent instrument for nurturing the economic growth of a nation, many developing countries are taking steps to promote entrepreneurship among their people, especially among the younger generation. Bangladesh, being a developing nation, is no exception to this global trend. Entrepreneurship has been earmarked as a tool to fight unemployment and poverty, especially among the youth. According to the National Youth Policy of Bangladesh, the age group of 18-35 years is considered \"youth\" in Bangladesh, and they are the most productive segment of the total population (Department of Youth Development of Bangladesh, 2015). They comprise nearly 9 per cent of the country's population and 23 per cent of the labour force. Unfortunately, unemployment is especially dominant among these people (UNDP, 2015). With the increase in public expenditure on education and the increased quality of education provided to the youth in Bangladesh (UNESCO, 2000), fostering entrepreneurship could boost the country's economy and remedy the problem of unemployment. The projection of a potential rise in the number of prospective entrepreneurs among youth in Bangladesh can be made feasible by examining the entrepreneurial intention of this cohort.\nLiterature review: Tourism sector in Bangladesh\nModel development: Theory and constructs identifications\nMethod: A sample of 137 students participated in this study. It is very common in the entrepreneurship literature to utilise a sample of university students given that this cohort falls within the prime age that demonstrates the highest propensity to venture into entrepreneurial activity Ahmad et al. (2013). Gpower software was used to calculate the minimum sample size with a predictive power 0.95 by following the research of Mahmud et al. (2017) and Alzahrani et al. (2019). The model had maximum of two predictors, we set the effect size medium (0.15) and power needed as 0.95. The sample size required was 107. But we set out to collect data which was slightly larger than the required number. A total of 152 questionnaires were distributed to students who are currently enroled in the Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management programme. Of these, 137 were returned, yielding a response rate of 90.13 per cent. The distributed questionnaire consists of two sections. In the first section, we asked respondents about their gender, age, parent's information as entrepreneur and their preference to include an entrepreneurship course within their degree curriculum. In the second section, questions related to our model were asked. Attitude was measured through a Liker scale with five items adopted from Kolvereid and Isaksen (2006). Measurements for subjective norms and PBC were adopted from Solesvik et al. (2012), perceived desirability and perceived feasibility were measured using six items adopted from Kickul and Krueger (2004), and six items measuring entrepreneurial intention were adopted from Solesvik et al. (2012).\nData analysis: Common method variance needs to be examined when data are collected via self-reported questionnaires and, in particular, both the predictor and criterion variables are obtained from the same person (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Podsakoff and Todor (1985, p. 65) also noted that \"Invariably, when self-reported measures obtained from the same sample are utilised in research, concern over same-source bias or general method variance arise\". Several remedies to this issue are suggested in the literature. One of the common methods used to detect this issue is Harman's single-factor test. This is done by entering all the principal constructs into a principal component factor analysis (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). Evidence method bias exists when a single factor emerges from the factor analysis, or one general factor accounts for the majority of the covariance among the measures (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Look at the principal constructs' inter-correlations using the correlation matrix: if any of the correlations are substantially large - that is, if r > 0.90 (Bagozzi et al., 1991) - then there is evidence of a common method bias.\nDiscussion: Findings\nConclusion: Governments all over the world have realized the significance of entrepreneurship in fostering a country's economy. This study contends that efforts to alleviate poverty and the unemployment rate among youth in Bangladesh through entrepreneurship activities is of pivotal importance given that youth are the major contributors to economic activities in the country. This study is important as it confirms the applicability of the TPB and the EEM in predicting entrepreneurial intention and the commonalities of factors influencing entrepreneurial intention across countries - be it developing or developed countries. It is based on the premise that policymakers should undertake initiatives to augment the inclination among youth to be self-employed through entrepreneurship courses, especially as entrepreneurship education has been lauded as one of the key promotion tools for entrepreneurship (Linan and Chen, 2009).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Building upon the theory of planned behaviour and the entrepreneurial event model, the purpose of this paper is to test the effects of the following covariates in predicting entrepreneurial intention among tourism students in Bangladesh, namely, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), perceived desirability and perceived feasibility.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 137 private university students participated in the study by means of questionnaire. The hypotheses were tested using partial least squares (PLS) analysis.\nFindings: Findings indicate that attitude and subjective norm significantly influence perceived desirability. It was also found that subjective norm and PBC positively influence perceived feasibility. Interestingly also, both perceived desirability and perceived feasibility predict entrepreneurial intention.\nOriginality/value: The study proves the robustness of the integration of the two intent models in explaining entrepreneurial intention in a developing country. The new PLS predict algorithm has been used to generate and evaluate predictions from the path model estimations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring governance issues among boards of directors within state-owned enterprises in Barbados	[ "Public sector", "Corporate governance", "Board of directors", "State-owned enterprises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Bozec and Dia (2005, p. 1) state that \"corporate governance refers to the process and structure for overseeing the direction and management of a corporation so that it carries out its mandate and objectives effectively.\" Several researchers discuss corporate governance (CG) (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997) particularly following the demise of companies such as Enron Corporation, WorldCom Inc. and the 2008 collapse of the global financial system within the corporate world (Solomon, 2010). Thus, regulators, stock exchanges and corporate boards sought to revamp governance practices. However, little empirical research has focused on governance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in emerging economies which have been criticized for poor performance. SOEs experience unique issues and challenges (Grossi et al., 2015) which make the transition to reform more difficult than the private sector.\n2. Literature review and theoretical framework: 2.1 Theoretical framework\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Research design\n4. Results: 4.1 Roles and responsibilities of the board\n5. Conclusion: This study examines BODs of SOEs in Barbados. Using data collected from a number of stakeholder groups in Barbados, findings show that directors perceive that they perform their roles and responsibilities in an efficient manner, influence decision making and control in the SOEs; moreover, have regular and well-organized meetings. Results further identify several contradictions and dilemmas which include monitoring problems, government interference, appointment problems, inadequate disclosures, lack of independence, little CG training and education and no orientation programs. There is also a lack of training in financial matters, unclear accounting and auditing guidelines and lengthy board meetings that result in excessive delays in decision making.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine corporate governance (CG) issues among boards of directors (BODs) in Barbados' state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by utilizing agency and institutional theories as the theoretical framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research adopts a mixed methods approach using quantitative and qualitative methods. Data are collected in five stages including data initially from a governance workshop attended by BODs. The findings are presented and feedback obtained in subsequent stages including several seminars attended by BODs, government officials, regulators and other stakeholders.\nFindings: BODs perceive that they perform their roles and responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner, influence decision making, exercise control in SOEs and conduct well-organized meetings. However, respondents from the various stages report that there is lack of accountability and transparency, inadequate disclosure, lengthy board meetings resulting in excessive delays in decision making, unclear accounting and auditing guidelines, and a lack of training in financial and CG matters. Political interference, board appointment and composition are also cited as major concerns.\nResearch limitations/implications: Suggestions include reduced political interference, increased training, following OECD (2005) best practices and greater accountability.\nOriginality/value: The paper extends the literature on CG in BODs in SOEs in emerging economies. This study utilizes the agency and institutional frameworks to understand the phenomenon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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