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Investor relations beyond financials: Non-financial factors and capital market image building	[ "Investor relations", "Non‐financials", "Image", "Equity analysts", "Reports", "Corporate image", "Corporate communications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It's all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation (Gordon Gekko, Wall Street, 1987).Capital market participants like to perceive themselves as rational beings, driven purely by hard and reliable financial data. It may come as a surprise, therefore, that a wide range of studies point to a significant impact of non-financial factors on a company's market performance. Research in the area of behavioral finance has outlined the influence of cultural and psychological factors on financial decision-making processes (Shiller, 2000). According to Baruch Lev (2001), financial statements are becoming increasingly incapable of capturing the true market value of major corporations. Intellectual capital has been described as the single most important factor in wealth creation (Kiernan, 2005). A survey of analysts and investors conducted by the Ernst and Young Center for Business Innovation (1997) confirmed that financial metrics are usually a lagging indicator of a company's performance, whereas non-financials actually provide information about a company's future success.Capital market participants, in fact, regard a wide range of non-financial factors when analyzing a company (Gabbioneta et al., 2007). For this reason, organizations wanting to bolster their market performance by winning over the financial community need to regard their financial communication, or investor relations (IR) function, as more than just a tool for financial reporting. The practice of investor relations, according to the US National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), has to be understood as a:[...] strategic management responsibility that integrates finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company's securities achieving fair valuation (adopted by the NIRI Board of Directors, March 2003).In other words, the investor relations function provides the financial community with crucial input on the state, the success and the strategic development of a business, which goes beyond purely financial reporting. However, to better understand the role of investor relations in shaping a company's perception or image on the capital market - in other words, IR's image-shaping function - practitioners need to know which factors actually reach and influence their target audience.In this study, we employed a grounded theory approach in an explorative survey among professional capital market participants to identify those non-financial items that play a central role in corporate image-building on capital markets. By non-financials, we refer to data beyond core financial reporting (e.g. balance sheet and income statement data). In a second step, we conducted a quantitative survey among equity analysts and used exploratory factor analysis to group the weighted items into non-financial factors that can be understood as relevant elements of investor relations as an image-building function - factors that go beyond the mere reporting of financials. Based on this analysis, we discuss the implications of our findings for investor relations in the final section of this article.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Investor relations as a reporting function\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Qualitative analysis\n4. Empirical results: On the following pages, we will describe the non-financial factors identified in the factor analysis as driving the images held by equity analysts, including their underlying corporate characteristics. The description of these factors is based on the understanding of their elements gained through the qualitative interviews conducted in the first phase of this project. Where possible, analogies with current research are outlined.4.1 Stakeholder Relations\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Understanding investor relations as an image-building function is crucial to reaping all potential benefits of their activities. Management should not limit their IR departments to mere financial reporting. In fact, in most public companies, investor relations are the core access point of the financial community to the organization. IR departments manage the company's crucial relationship with capital market participants. By providing information on the state and development of the business, the IR department helps enrich the financial community's understanding of a company - it provides crucial input into the financial community's sensemaking efforts. A detailed, reliable and positive image of a company, in turn, represents the basis of investment decisions or recommendations.Accordingly, in this study we identified the quality of the IR department - its staff, instruments and activities - as one of the most important non-financial factors entering the financial community's considerations. This may be of little surprise given previous studies that showed the impact of high disclosure standards on capital market performance and shareholder interest (Healy and Hutton, 1999; Francis et al., 1997; Bushee and Miller, 2007). It should be noted, though, that the quality of communication in terms of our study also incorporates the competence, availability and experience of the IR staff. Hiring high-quality staff and ongoing training may therefore be key to a company's perception as a professional and reliable communicator. Capital market participants will judge information received from a company based on their appreciation of and respect for the responsible IR professionals. If an IR team has been able to establish its reputation as a professional and reliable point of contact, it will be better situated to collect relevant input from the capital markets, dispel rumors and false information, and manage the financial community's access to top management.Another important non-financial factor according to our analysis is also strongly supported by previous research: a company's corporate governance. Principal-agent theory holds that shareholders strive to control the actions and decisions of top management (Berle and Means, 1932; Fama, 1980; Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Given the information asymmetries between company insiders and outsiders, investors depend on governance structures that ensure a company's stewardship in accordance with shareholder interests (Karpoff et al., 1996; Jensen, 2000; Botosan and Plumlee, 2002). Our analysis was also able to show that capital market participants strongly believe in the power that a company's management team holds over the fate and success of its organization. Accordingly, the financial community is eager to form a personal impression of the people in charge of a business. In fact, managing the image of a company's top management may be crucial to a company's perception on capital markets - and thereby a core task of IR as an image-building function. Image management could include providing top management with presentation and communication training as well as regularly briefing corporate leadership on the mindset and expectations of the financial community.When forming an opinion on a company's management team, capital market participants desire to see a credible dedication to shareholder value and a high degree of consistency in the implementation of previously announced strategic plans. The financial community pays close attention to the persuasiveness of top managers, their personal appearance and their communication skills. Convincing leaders are expected to be able to deliver on their promises. When managers are more consistently able to execute their strategic plans, it is easier for the capital market to form a reliable understanding of their business and its development. The IR function should therefore strive to clarify the impact on shareholder value when publishing news as well as explaining how this new information ties into the overall development of the business.Despite its high regard for the power of a company's management, the financial community understands that the success of a business largely depends on the cooperation of a range of key stakeholders. In other words: stakeholder relations impact a company's bottom line (Freeman, 1984; Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Hillman and Keim, 2001). In line with this perspective, our study shows that capital market participants are strongly interested in a company's overall reputation and public perception as well as its relationships with specific stakeholders such as customers, employees or public authorities. Previous research has shown that a favorable corporate reputation helps a company become an \"investment of choice\", enhancing its ability to attract capital at lower costs, and generating a price premium for the company's shares (Fombrun, 2002; Larkin, 2003; Mazzola et al., 2006). Again, information on core stakeholder relations go beyond pure financial reporting, the factors identified in this study therefore underline the complexity of IR's image-building role. By providing data on employee and customer satisfaction, branding, customer service, employee turnover, or lobbying efforts, the IR department directly impacts the capital market's appraisal of a business. Seeing that the capital market's perception of a company is influenced by its overall reputation (e.g. as derived from its media coverage), it becomes obvious that the IR task cannot be isolated from that of other communication departments, such as public relations (PR) or marketing (Petersen and Martin, 1996; Laskin, 2009). A company's marketing, employee communication, PR or CSR activities influence the respective stakeholder relations and images and thereby its overall reputation (Hockerts and Moir, 2004). When addressing the perceptions of the financial community, IR should therefore align and integrate its activities with those of other core communication functions.It should be noted that we chose an explorative research approach to address the issues discussed above. Therefore, the categories and scales developed in our analysis need further validation and testing. As the bulk of our research was conducted before the recent financial and currency crises, it would be worthwhile to analyze how these events have impacted analysts' demand for non-financial information. As this study focused on the role of non-financials in image formation, further research should extend the analysis to the interplay and relative weight of financials and non-financials in this context. Such an approach might create a critical link to current research on the role of non-financials in company evaluations (Healy and Hutton, 1999; Bushee and Miller, 2007). Finally, more research needs to be conducted on the internal organizational structures and management processes necessary to supply the IR department not only with crucial non-financial data, but with the discretion to actively manage capital market images.In summary, our study confirms that the financial community's sensemaking efforts are directed at a wide range of issues and corporate characteristics, far beyond just financial data. It thereby outlines core elements of investor relations' image-building function (Dolphin, 2004). IR needs to provide information on a company's stakeholder relations and its efforts in managing these relations. IR also needs to pilot and shape top management's exposure to the capital markets. A well-trained staff and the quality of its activities directly impact a company's perception by the financial community. To positively influence the capital market's understanding of a company and ensure consistent messages and images, IR should closely coordinate its activities with those of other key communication departments, such as marketing, PR or employee communication.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - In this paper, the authors aim to identify a range of non-financial factors that play a role in the formation of a company's image, and ultimately its valuation, on capital markets. By identifying and highlighting their relative importance to the perceptions of equity analysts, the authors seek to show that investor relations are best understood as a strategic communication function rather than a mere purveyor of pure financials.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The findings are based on a two-tiered approach, relying on qualitative interview data collected among 42 equity analysts and a subsequent exploratory factor analysis performed on data obtained from a survey among 134 buy- and sell-side analysts.\nFindings: - The authors argue that equity analysts consider the following eight categories of non-financial information when forming an impression of a company: the stakeholder relations of an organization, its corporate governance, its corporate social responsibility, its reputation and brand, the quality of its management, and its strategic consistency. One of the most important factors, however, is the quality of a company's communication, which underscores the strategic role that the investor relations function should play in fostering positive capital market relations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Being explorative in nature, the categories and scales proposed need further validation. Furthermore, in future research, it would be worthwhile to explore not only the role of non-financials in image formation but also the interplay between financials and non-financials in image formation.\nPractical implications: - Investor relations professionals should consider the factors presented in this study in their work in order to ensure that they cater to the actual information needs of capital market participants. The consideration of non-financial factors enhances the quality of financial communications. It also enriches the understanding of the strategic communication tasks of the investor relations department.\nOriginality/value: - This paper describes an empirical analysis of the management of corporate relationships with financial audiences, a stakeholder group increasingly focused on by communications research. It represents a contribution to the further establishment of investor relations as a strategic communication function.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Department-specific collection assessment	[ "Collection management", "Collection development", "Collection analysis", "Academic library", "Library collection", "Collection assessment", "Collection building" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As a critical part of collection development, collection evaluation and assessment are seriously considered by libraries. For decades, many researches on assessment emphasized its importance. In 1998, Ronald F. Dow introduced the assessment program implemented at the River Campus Libraries of the University of Rochester. They determined to use the assessment of educational impact as an alternative measure to evaluate the quality of library services (Dow, 1998). The North Texas Regional Library System pointed out in its report that, to ensure that collections are relevant and meet the information needs of the community the library serves, collection evaluation with data analysis provides valuable insights into the collections' strengths and weaknesses (Evaluating your collection, 2015).\n2. Project background: Missouri Southern State University is a state-funded and four-year institution, located in Joplin, MO. The student population is approximately 6,220 with a large number of them being undergraduates. Moreover, the majority of the students are commuters and some of them live in rural areas without internet access from home. Spiva Library serves the MSSU faculty, students and community patrons in the Tri-state area (Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas).\n3. Computer information science department and its faculty and students: The LCMC first performed an environment scan on the department to understand the particular campus unit and the specific user group the CIS collection serves. According to the CIS website, the mission of the department is to provide opportunities for a broad undergraduate education in many aspects of computer hardware and software. The department offers nine degrees, including four Bachelor degrees, one Associate degree and four Minor degrees. To support the pursuit of these degrees, the department offers 32 courses, most of them provide instruction on fundamental computer-related knowledge and are intended to empower students with essential skills in data structure, operating systems and programming.\n4. Computer information science collection assessment activities, challenges and issues: One normal practice of analyzing existing library collections is to run various reports in disparate systems. These reports would help understand the CIS collection in response to the questions LCMC might want to ask. The committee members started working on this CIS collection assessment in 2017.\n5. Conclusions and future work: With all gathered data and reports analyzed through close collaboration between several library departments (e.g. Library Administration, Systems and Technical Services Department), the library had a much better understanding of the CIS collection in regard to its size, currency, quality and usage. These valuable analyses offered insights for the LCMC to make evidence-based collection management decisions and to craft future collection development plan.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the pilot project of collection assessment performed by an academic library for the Computer Information Science (CIS) Department specifically and share the experience involved in this assessment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this descriptive research, the library gathered and analyzed a set of evaluation reports for CIS-related print and electronic materials. This assessment includes analyses of physical items, periodicals, electronic resources, peers' databases, faculty syllabi, as well as departmental allocation fund.\nFindings: This project shows the importance of collaboration between the library and academic departments on collection evaluation and assessment. It demonstrates that the assessments of a department-specific collection can provide the library with insights into the quality of the collection and help librarians better understand the information requirements of the faculty and students in the department. By analyzing the data collected in the assessment, the library can spend the tight budget on the most needed core materials related to the curriculum and research of the department. This project provides a good example for future routine assessments.\nPractical implications: The procedure, results and future work of this assessment provide other academic libraries with insights into and practical solutions to department-specific collection assessments.\nOriginality/value: The study describes a set of collection assessment activities specific to a disciplinary department undertaken by Spiva Library. Few studies have been conducted to study department-specific collection assessments. This type of study can assist a university library to develop a core collection in support of teaching, learning and research for individual academic departments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance indicators of public private partnership in Bangladesh: An implication for developing countries	[ "Performance indicators", "Analytical hierarchy process", "Key performance areas", "Public private partnerships", "Weights" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction[1]: The public private partnerships (PPPs) concept emerged in developing countries in the mid-nineties. Since then, PPP investment has grown significantly. On average, US$95bn are invested annually in developing countries by private sector participation up until 2016 (World Bank PPI Database, 2018). This growing trend indicates the popularity of the PPP option among governments across developing countries. However, developing countries are featured by a relatively poor operating environment and reasonably more scope for opportunism and corruption, which, in turn, have an association with the success or failure of PPP projects (Hammami et al., 2006; Panayides et al., 2015). Governments often evaluate project success or failure considering the political purpose and governance strength of the project, rather than using utilitarian characteristics (Hodge and Greve, 2016). Given this context, performance evaluation of PPPs is critical. Weights of key performance areas (KPAs) and indicators that impact on the overall performance score need to be derived in the developing countries setting, where local elements and project features would be considered when selecting KPAs and indicators.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 PPP performance measurement in developing countries\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Overview of AHP\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 AHP questionnaire survey\n5. Contributions and policy implications: For Bangladesh, both attaching weights to the KPAs/indicators of PPPs and the application of AHP for deriving such weights represent an innovation and thus a contribution to the PPP performance literature. For other developing countries, deriving weights using Likert scale-based Delphi and other methods is somewhat commonplace, but the use of AHP in establishing such weights is novel. As a result, this study represents a unique example which could be used for future reference in other developing countries, especially in South Asia. Unlike traditional performance criteria, a prioritised set of performance indicators and KPAs for the PPPs of Bangladesh has been identified.\n6. Conclusions and limitations: The relative importance (weights) of KPAs and indicators is significant for measuring PPP performance in a setting of developing countries, especially in Bangladesh that has recently shown a growing interest of investment in PPP projects. PPPs look encouraging in the Bangladesh context but there is a lack of performance evaluation of PPPs so far implemented. By applying AHP, this research established weights for KPAs and indicators identified by a review of related literature. Our AHP hierarchy consists of the goal at its top, followed below by KPAs in the level 1, indicators in level 2 and sub-indicators in level 3. A large number of experts representing different sectors participated in a structured questionnaire survey based on the Bangladesh experience, and the judgements of the respondents have been found to be consistent, using CRs, a geometric CI and a one-way ANOVA test.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop weights of key performance areas (KPAs) and performance indicators for public private partnerships (PPPs) in Bangladesh. Since a variety of PPP arrangements is observable, different performance measurement approaches exist in the literature. However, analysing the relative importance of indicators influencing the performance score of particular projects using the perspective of developing countries remains unexplored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors' method involves application of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to develop weights for eight KPAs for which 41 contributing performance indicators have been developed. In total, 68 respondents (62 per cent of the PPP practitioners in Bangladesh) participated in a structured questionnaire survey and their judgements have been found to be consistent, using consistency ratios, a geometric consistency index and one-way ANOVA test.\nFindings: \"Feasibility analysis\", \"life cycle evaluation and monitoring\" and \"optimal risk allocation\" are the most significant performance indicators in Bangladesh. \"Financing\" is the most important KPA, followed by \"planning and initiation\" and \"transparency and accountability\". Interestingly, unlike the cost, time and quality measures of the public sector comparator analysis used in most developed countries, a different set of indicators and KPAs are found dominant.\nResearch limitations/implications: This suggests that performance indicators and their weights may differ for developing countries. Future research could usefully focus on testing this model in different countries and applying it to derive performance scores for individual PPPs.\nOriginality/value: An application of AHP in determining weights of the performance indicators represents a major contribution to the literature on PPP performance measurement in the developing countries including Bangladesh.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating sustainability in organisations with a fuzzy logic approach	[ "Stakeholder analysis", "Financial performance", "Fuzzy logic", "Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Since the work of Bowen (1953), who is considered to be the precursor of the modern corporate social responsibility (CSR) era (Carroll, 1979), the body of the so-called CSR related literature has incremented at an exponential rate. Moreover, issues related to modern enterprise strategic management theories and tools (Chakraborty and Sharma, 2007; Agle et al., 2008 or Smith, 2008, among others) as well as to the performance measurement topic (for example, Hyland et al., 2007 or Phusavat et al., 2007) are targeted both by the academia and the business world.Notwithstanding, the study of the CSR concept and its strategic integration is still at its embryonic stage and, as McWilliams et al. (2006) underscore, important issues such as the concept measurement and the elaboration of a widely accepted theoretical framework, are yet to be resolved. On the other hand, due to the complexity associated to the definition and measurement of the sustainability concept, it is currently still not possible to differentiate a generally accepted evaluation methodology for projects or policies (Lee, 2006).In this context, we used a sample of 52 Spanish listed firms in order to determine whether the strategic commitment of the organisation to its stakeholders leads to better social and financial results. Although some of the differences in terms of returns have limited significance, the main conclusion drawn from the analysis showed that the financial performance of the sectors or organisations with a greater stakeholder strategic commitment was not inferior to that of the sectors or organisations with a shareholder approach, thus rejecting the hypotheses supported by those theories that establish a negative relationship between social and financial performance.Building on the premise of this work, the objective of the present study focuses on the thorough examination of the abovementioned relationship by introducing, as a main contribution, the application of a fuzzy-logic-based methodology (Zadeh, 1965). Thus, not only will the robustness of the results be checked, but also the suitability of the methodology application to the study of CSR - related issues measurement will be assessed, along the lines of other studies which have used fuzzy logic in the sustainability quantification (Ducey and Larson, 1999; Phillis and Andriantiatsaholiniaina, 2001; Andriantiatsaholiniaina et al., 2004; Chiou et al., 2005).The paper is structured in five parts: this brief introduction is followed by the literature review. Then, the research design and the obtained results have been defined. Finally, the main conclusions of the study are presented.\n2 Literature review and conceptual framework: 2.1 Evaluation of corporate social responsibility of organisations\n3 Research design: In the Spanish context, to determine whether the corporate strategic stakeholder commitment was associated to better financial and social performance. In addition, it was analysed whether those companies that demonstrate a higher level of strategic consistency, in social responsibility terms, would equally generate a better economic-financial performance.As long as the stakeholder concept encompasses groups with different interests and needs beyond the strictly economic-financial ones, when the abovementioned strategic consistency was evaluated, what was taken into account was not only the integration of those interests into the company mission and corporate values but also the level of communication transparency as exposed in the triple bottom line reporting, i.e. its performance in terms of sustainability. Even though, as Reynolds and Yuthas (2008) note, public reporting cannot guarantee that all corporate interests are exposed, at least it provides the mechanism for making transparent some corporate actions. Thus, it is assumed that stakeholder commitment and consequently, the socially responsible performance is not limited to isolated actions but they are integrated into a strategic process that implies the whole organisation.The evaluation process of corporate sustainability reporting has been carried out according to a number of parameters. In the first place, once determined if the organisation has sustainability information at public disposal, it is assessed whether the latter can be qualified as a report. Then its level of compatibility to generally accepted guidelines is studied. Even though at present no consensus exists regarding this issue, the Global Reporting Initiative Guide 2002 (GRI, 2002) -currently, the G3 Guide (GRI, 2006) are applied-, due to its wide acceptance (KPMG and University of Amsterdam, 2005), has been chosen as the standard of reference. As far as the quality of the provided information is concerned, the GRI qualification \"in accordance\"[1] and the validation and verification or certification reports have served as guidelines in developing the analysis as regards the transparency of the corporate information disclosed.Once the evaluation process has been concluded, a Sustainability Reporting Index (SRI) is proposed. The latter, alongside the stakeholder strategic approach declared in the company's principles and corporate values (the corporate mission), makes it possible to classify the different organisations, object of the study, according to their degree of strategic consistency, i.e. in the so-called Strategic Consistency Index (SCI).Despite the scarce significance obtained in some cases, the major conclusion pertains to the fact that the financial performance of those sectors or organisations with higher stakeholder commitment is not inferior to the one displayed by those sectors or organisations that are mainly shareholder-oriented.Building on the premise of this research, the objective of the present study focuses on the thorough examination of the abovementioned relationship by introducing, as a main contribution, the application of a fuzzy-logic-based methodology (Zadeh, 1965).In order to generate the relevant corporate responsibility and sustainability indexes, to the previously defined, a new Business Sustainability Approach Index is added, which will sum up both the corporate strategic consistency in terms of commitment and social performance and the results obtained of the company's economic-financial performance (Figure 1). The computations have been executed by means of MATLAB's Fuzzy Logic Toolbox[2], where the sample of analysis is the one displayed in Table I.The inputs that result in the corporate Stakeholder Orientation Index (SOI), were generated according to the authors' opinion on the basis of the analysis of the corporate mission and values, in compliance with the methodology proposed by Roman et al. (1999). The results from the analysis of the sustainability reporting, gathered as of 31 December 2003, serve as inputs in the elaboration of the level of corporate actions transparency in sustainability terms (SRI). As Figure 1 shows, the proposed Sustainability Reporting Index, classifies the organisations as \"opaque\", \"pro-translucid\", \"translucid\", \"pro-transparent\" or \"transparent\", according to their accomplishment of the aforementioned parameters. In this sense, an \"opaque\" organisation does not provide sustainability information; on the contrary, the \"transparent\" organisation publishes a sustainability report, produced in accordance to the GRI guidelines and with an external verification.Both indexes (SOI and SRI) comprise the inputs for the fuzzy inference system created for the generation of the Strategic Consistency Index (SCI) of the organisation as an answer to the expectations and needs of a number of stakeholders, i.e. it discloses the company's approximation to CSR and sustainability values. In terms of this index, the organisation can be considered as \"shareholder approach\" (SA) or \"stakeholder approach\" (STKA), depending on its management orientation and commitment towards the shareholders or the stakeholders, respectively. The \"disconnected stakeholder approach\" (DSA) organisations are not strategically consistent in their stakeholder management.On the other hand, the financial and economic return ratios of the different companies calculated as of 31 December 2003 and obtained from the SABI and BANKSCOPE databases resulted in the Financial Performance index (FP), after having been submitted to a normalization process (Krajnc and Glavic, 2005) as a preliminary step to their introduction in the system: Equation 1 where, IN,ij+ is the normalized ratio i for a group of ratios j, IA,ij+ is the ratio i for a group of ratios j, I min, j+ is the minimum value for a group of ratios j, I max, j+ is the maxium value for a group of ratios j.Finally, SCI and FP make up the inputs for the last fuzzy inference system whose ultimate outcome is the so-called Business Sustainability Approach Index (BSAI).The defined membership functions for all cases are triangular membership functions, not only due to their simplicity (Lin et al., 2007) but also because they can approximate most non - triangular ones (Pedrycz, 1994).Expert knowledge formed the basis for the definition of the different systems' rules of fuzzy inference. The sum total of the generated rules comes up to 10 for the SOI, 8 for the SRI, 15 for the SCI, 9 for the FP and 11 in the case of BSAI. Table II displays an extract from the rule formulation succinctly presented here for reasons of brevity[3].As far as SCI rules generation in sustainability terms is concerned, more importance has been given to rule 1 than to rule 2, since the former discloses no information on the companies' sustainable development actions. On the other hand, new rules have been added for the differentiation of those cases where the SCI is classified as disconnected. These emphasize the fact that the companies are not strategically consistent from sustainability perspective and the importance given to each rule varies according to sustainable quality and stakeholder commitment of the enterprises.In the BSAI related rule generation, those cases that have shown low SCI, despite their not low financial performance, have been penalized. Conversely, in the sustainability context, a high SCI has been rewarded and a low one has been penalized.The FIS employed has been the Mamdani fuzzy inference system type, using the min-operator for the logical AND, the max-operator as an aggregation method, and the centroid as a defuzzification method. As Mendoza and Prabhu (2003) point out the minimum operator represents a conservative attitude towards sustainability.Following this methodology, Table III highlights the hypothesis tested in this research work.\n4 Analysis of results: The final results of the analysis are disparate for each sample organisation. The so - called Sustainability Reporting Index, used as a proxy variable in the social performance, serves as the first approximation to the sustainability disclosure study.The first hypothesis to be contrasted (Table III) dealt with the relationship between the stakeholder commitment of a company and its level of sustainability information disclosure. Like Gelb and Strawser (2001), we have also detected some positive relationship between disclosure level and advanced social goals. The results of Figure 2 display the existence of some clearly stakeholder - oriented sectors (technology and telecommunications and consumer goods), which additionally demonstrate a high quality of information disclosure. In the other extreme the \"financial services and real estate\" sector is mainly shareholder-oriented. As far as the \"petrol and power\" sector is concerned, the high level of information disclosure alternates with the miscellaneous strategic orientation of its components. This could indicate that due to the level of sustainability-related risks of the sector, the companies employ a pferding conduct and \"copy\" the information systems without having always a true strategic commitment.The second hypothesis to be contrasted (Table III) refers to the existence of significant differences of economic-financial performance among the sectors or organisations that display a higher sustainability - oriented Strategic Consistency Index (sectors 1, 3 and 6, i.e. petrol and power, consumer goods and technology and communication) as compared to the other sectors. Figure 3 exposes the lack of significant differences between both groups of companies, thus confirming the conclusions of the aforementioned work of Moneva et al. (2007), that is, the financial performance of sectors or organisations with a greater stakeholder strategic commitment, is not inferior to that of sectors or organisations with a clear shareholder approach.Finally, Figure 4 presents the results for the Business Sustainability Approach Index (BSAI) that has been proposed following the triple bottom line concept (economic, social and environmental) through the integration of the stakeholder business orientation, the disclosure level of sustainability and its economic results. Among all the economic sectors, Technology and Communication manifests the leading values, shared by some companies from the other sectors. Notwithstanding, it should be underscored that the sustainability orientation of the sample listed Spanish companies is never higher than 0.6 out of 1. Rules design has rewarded high strategic consistency more than high financial performance; this is the main reason to justify the small differences between companies with the same SCI, and different financial performance (FP). These results underlie the incipient stage of development of a clearly sustainability - oriented business management.\n5 Conclusions: Based upon the argument of a previous work on the listed Spanish companies (Moneva et al., 2007), this study has proposed different indexes in order to measure their strategic commitment with several stakeholders and its relationship with the financial and social performance. Moreover, integrating these three aspects related to the CSR into a sole index, it is possible to analyze the organization approach towards sustainability. To this end, a fuzzy - logic - based methodology has been conservatively used in the course of the whole process of evaluation and weighting. The degree of uncertainty that is associated to both the sustainability concept itself and the methodology that evaluates and guarantees a good quality of the information disclosure as an indicator of the companies' real contribution to achieve sustainability (available information, management commitment to the public, report validation, etc.) has called for caution when generating the rules which determine the companies' position in the elaboration of the various indices.The current results support the conclusions formerly obtained and simultaneously demonstrate that the big Spanish companies are at an incipient stage of development of a clearly sustainability - oriented management.More specifically, the \"technology and telecommunication\" sector stands out due to both its stakeholder orientation and its sustainability and TBL strategic consistency. In the other sectors we could talk about companies \"leaders\" in strategic consistency and financial -economic performance, which show positive results in the Business Sustainability Approach Index.The results obtained in this paper have several implications. First, in methodological terms, fuzzy logic can be seen as a useful methodology for the study of sustainability issues, not only in macroeconomic terms as aforementioned works show, but also in relation to the organisations' approach to the sustainable development, that is, in relation to the CSR. Moreover, considering the existence of investors who may be interested in invest in firms that engage in socially responsible activities (Mackey et al., 2007), the proposed indexes give them information about the consistency of this engagement. Finally, the study goes on with the emphasis on the relevance of the current stakeholders' theoretical and empirical approaches as a reference in the CSR research.In order to deep in the strategic behaviour of companies related to sustainability, a further research is required, not only to know the time evolution of companies, but also to improve the significance of variables to be considered in the analysis; this will be possible insofar as companies develop their CSR policies and strategies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim is to determine whether the organisations more strategically committed to their stakeholders present better social and financial performance and, based on this relationship, to determine the state of the art of the Spanish sectors' approach to sustainable development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper analyses the sustainability approach of a sample of 52 Spanish listed firms. This process is based on the study of different indexes generated in order to evaluate the company's commitment through its stakeholders, the social and financial performance of these organisations, and the relationship between them. Previous results showed a positive and not significant relationship between these variables and a positive financial performance. This paper replicates a former research by introducing a fuzzy- logic-based methodology in order to generate the aforementioned indexes.\nFindings: - The current results support the conclusions formerly obtained and simultaneously demonstrate that big Spanish companies are at an incipient stage of development of a clearly sustainability-oriented management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The unavailability of a long series of organisations' sustainability information is an obstacle for a broader analysis. This research could motivate the usefulness of the fuzzy logic methodology for analysing the business sustainability approach and to develop studies on the corporate social performance.\nOriginality/value: - The use of fuzzy logic methodology for the generation of indexes related to the organisation's social responsibility and sustainability results.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the nature of social capital to facilitate its inclusion in enterprise education	[ "Trust", "Social capital", "Information", "Enterprise education", "Enterprise mix", "Norms", "Vitamins" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Bridge has argued that, although social capital can be at least as important as financial capital in the enterprise mix, reference to it is generally omitted from enterprise education and other forms of business start training. However, in order to facilitate its inclusion, Bridge has also suggested that it should be explored further and its different possible forms and uses more clearly established (Bridge, 2013). This paper attempts some of that further exploration.\nExploring the concept of social capital: Social contact is very important in human society. John Donne (1623) famously commented that: \"No man is an island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main\". Our understanding of the interdependence of people has been reinforced recently by studies of the social nature of human society. Earls, in his book Herd, summarises some of this learning: \"if we were not a social animal of such sophistication and so deeply programmed to be together, our lives would be very different\" and \"we do what we do because of other people and what they seem to be doing\" (Earls, 2009, pp. 49/50, 55).\nExamples of the use of social capital in enterprise: What are the essential components of the enterprise mix - the recipe ingredients from which an entrepreneur might create a successful enterprise? Adam Smith (1776) referred to the \"component parts of price\" which he considered to be land or natural resource, labour and \"capital stock\" such as tools, machinery and buildings. Another list of the things traditionally thought to be important for a new or developing business is to be found in the structure of a standard business plan which usually has sections on the market and marketing, operations and staffing, structure and management and finance.\nExamples of the relevance of social capital: Case 1 - finding information\nCategories of social capital: Although suggestions have been made that social capital exists in a variety of forms - and the cases described above provide examples of diverse uses of different forms of social capital, there does not appear to be a definitive list of the different forms of social capital relevant to enterprise. That could be because, as in the case of vitamins, it is not until their relevance is recognised that a focused search for them can really start - and that is then likely to take some time.\nSupport for the vitamin analogy - and some implications: It is suggested that the social capital in each of the different categories identified above is not substitutable for that in any other category and there can be different non-substitutable forms within each category. For instance a source of one sort of information is not necessarily going to be able to supply other sorts of necessary information and normative influence is an aspect of social capital which is connected to the nature of a person's contacts - rather than the volume of those contacts. If a particular piece of information is sought then more sources with other information will not help and if contacts disapprove of enterprise then just adding more such contacts would not change that norm - that will require different contacts - and neither will it be changed by adding more of the sort of contacts that provide trust and/or information channels.\nThe relevance for entrepreneurship education: Exploring social capital in this way confirms that it is a key component for all forms of enterprise, and is not just relevant to social enterprise as some might have supposed. It also illustrates the variety of uses of social capital in an enterprise context and indicates that, at least in this context, social capital exists in a number of different, non-substitutable, forms with different effects - some of which are illustrated in the proffered cases and the suggested categories. It is further suggested that the importance and application of social capital, and the nature of all its effects, will not be fully appreciated without an understanding of those forms and the different ways in which they act - which is not yet complete.\nConclusion: This analysis suggests that social contacts do matter - but they are not necessarily always positive or fixed. The contract gardener example (Case 3) indicates that associates can be influential but it also suggests that if they are negative and not helpful they might be changed - but that is only likely to happen if their impact is noticed and understood for what it is.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of social capital in its applications for enterprise (and entrepreneurship) in order to facilitate its incorporation into the relevant education and training programmes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on examples from the literature and his own experience the author highlights a variety of different uses for social capital in an enterprise context.\nFindings: This exploration not only confirms social capital's relevance for enterprise but also illustrates and categorises some of the different forms it can take - for instance forms which provide access to relevant information; forms which facilitate trust, mutual obligations and/or credibility; and forms which promote shared norms of behaviour and commitment.\nPractical implications: Because these different forms can all be crucial but cannot be substituted one for another, they act in the enterprise mix rather like vitamins in a diet. Understanding the variety and uses of social capital is thus important for enterprise and communicating this should form a key part of entrepreneurship education.\nOriginality/value: While some attention is being paid to the relevance of social capital for enterprise, it receives less recognition as a component of the enterprise mix than factors such as financial and human capital - and is rarely included in enterprise education and training programmes. To help educators to correct this omission the paper supplements the theory by suggesting practical examples of the reality of social capital's varied forms and uses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How gratitude improves relationship marketing outcomes for young consumers	[ "Gratitude", "Customer–organisation relationships", "Cynicism", "Benevolence", "Affective commitment", "Satisfaction", "Trust", "Young consumers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Building strong relationships with customers is essential to the long-term success of any organisation, especially when the service provided takes place over an extended duration (Solem, 2016). Customers' perceptions of \"strength and longevity\" are critical to building and maintaining strong, durable and mutually beneficial customer-organisation relationships (Payne and Frow, 2017; Xie et al., 2017). In pursuit of strong relationships with their consumers, organisations invest substantial financial and non-financial resources to enhance consumer their relationships (Kim et al., 2006). Evidence suggests that customers' perceptions of the financial resources alone do not adequately predict their perceptions of the strength and longevity of the relationship they share with the organisation (De Wulf et al., 2001). It seems that a focus on just the organisation's economic investments is somewhat myopic, and overlooks the potential for consumer effect and emotions to offer a more nuanced psychological explanation of relationship strength and longevity (Seger-Guttmann and Medler-Liraz, 2016).\nTheory and hypotheses development: Grounded in social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), our theoretical model proposes that exchange partners seek to generate greater value from the social exchange process by maximizing their benefits and minimizing their costs. In a service context, benefits are represented by the relationship with an organisation (Huq et al., 2015), while costs can be financial, temporal and physical efforts (Sawik, 2015). For example, a consumer may be willing to pay for parking and line up for several hours to secure discounted theatre tickets (the value of the discount outweighs the temporal and financial costs). Similarly, the ticket seller will seek to minimise the cost of selling the tickets; that is, may only roster one team member on or will limit sales. Customers are likely to build and maintain a relationship with the organisation only when the value of the benefit outweighs the value of the cost (Wirtz and Zeithaml, 2018). In this exchange process, we postulate that a successful transaction warrants a positive emotional response, such as gratitude, so that cognitive-focussed outcomes, such as overall satisfaction and trust towards both the exchange process and the exchange partner, can be endured. In the example above, the consumer will feel grateful to have attained discounted theatre tickets, will be satisfied the discount outweighs the cost of parking and their time spent lining up and have faith in the transaction (the theatre will sell me discounted tickets, but I have to arrive early, pay for parking and line up patiently).\nResearch methods: Research context\nDiscussion: Mays (2015) proffers that young consumers are not necessarily ungrateful, but the expression of \"thank you\" for them may simply be an automated response, rather than something that is truly felt. Accordingly, the present study analyses young consumers' perceptions to gauge their receptivity for entering and fostering a relationship with the service provider, in this case, a university. The results unfold that younger consumers are forthcoming in responding positively to the relationship investments made by their service providers towards improving the mutually beneficial relationship. They perceive a sense of gratitude for the benefits received or anticipated and respond to these benefits by reporting their satisfaction with, trust in and commitment to the service provider.\nImplications: The customer gratitude model presented in this study has significant implications for both theorists and service organisation managers. Most models of relationship marketing emphasise the nature and role of an organisation's investments in affecting customer attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. However, relationship marketing literature does not explain what specific mediating mechanisms make these investments a success or a failure in achieving high degrees of mutually beneficial relationships between the organisation and their customers (see, for instance, van Tonder and Petzer, 2018). This study has examined this gap and contributes an alternative model that sheds light on one of those unexplained mechanisms - gratitude.\nLimitations and future directions: While no study is without its limitations, in turn, they create opportunities for future research. Firstly, to test the customer gratitude model, we captured data in one context: Millennials attending university. While the tertiary sector context is quite unique, it has several characteristics common in other service settings, such as the longitudinal nature of the relationship, as may be found in the banking, pharmacy and finance sector. The nature of the service provided by universities and other educational facilities has become very much aligned with other services in relation to intangibility (O'Brien and Deans, 1996), perishability (Mazzarol, 1998), variability (Mazzarol and Norman Soutar, 1999) and inseparability (Clemes et al., 2001). Despite these similarities, our customer gratitude model should be investigated across multiple contexts; that is, for example, food service, retail, banking and manufacturing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Relationship marketing is about developing, maintaining and sustaining mutually beneficial customer-organisation relationships as measured by economic gains. Yet, a purely economic focus does not fully offer a psychological explanation of relationship marketing outcomes. In this regard, this paper has considered gratitude as a significant component of personal relationships, which offers insights into a customer-organisation relationships. Accordingly, this study aims to examine gratitude as a mechanism to predict relationship marketing outcomes, such as overall satisfaction, trust and commitment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 1,093 millennial consumers across three university campuses.\nFindings: Results indicate that gratitude is a mediating mechanism that can explain the relationship between young consumers' perceptions of relationship marketing investments and overall satisfaction, trust and commitment. Perceived benevolence strengthens the relationship between perceived relationship marketing investments and customer gratitude.\nOriginality/value: The gratitude model contributes an alternative understanding of how young consumers' perceptions of an organisation's marketing investments are important in achieving a high degree of relationship marketing outcomes. This paper further incorporates the moderating roles of customer cynicism and perceptions of benevolence, key individual and relational characteristics, that influence the level of gratitude individuals to experience in response to the investments made by organisations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Accountant, heal thyself: Can accountants afford not to learn on the job?	[ "Accounting", "Work‐based learning", "E‐learning", "Career development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The debate on the worth of business schools has raged on into the early years of the twenty-first century, its enduring nature matched only by the ever-rising numbers of students attending management schools seemingly inured to the claims of some that the courses on offer lack both the relevance and types of learning they require for their careers. These doubts about a business school education's utility in the workplace have often slid by those pursuing more vocational management pursuits such as accountancy. However, the clamor for a more socially aware approach has been rising steadily.\nAccounting, auditing and accountability: Three broad issues have come to the fore in the last decade or so that have made would-be accountants sit up and take notice of the world beyond their spreadsheets and gray office walls. First, technology in accounting has progressed along with most other desk-based jobs, so that a grasp of basic software is no longer enough. An awareness of new products on the market, increased demands from stat-hungry management executives and new opportunities such as online reporting require new accountants to be adaptable to new technologies and how they infiltrate their profession.Second, the dreaded Enron scandal has meant that the focus on the accountability of companies and how they invest and generally go about their financial affairs has put the focus firmly on accountants and auditors. The latter group specifically have born the brunt of new legislation following Enron in the US, namely Sarbanes-Oxley, and this new wave of auditing activity is the final issue that has brought the ability of accountants to discharge their business accurately, accountably and, most of all, legally under the spotlight.\nOn the job: But are these \"3 As\" being taught in business schools? Should they be taught in business schools? The answers are broadly in the affirmative, although many people would like to see more ethical, social and environmental formal study as part of business school degrees. However, a more pertinent question is: who is teaching these issues after accountants have finished their studies?One answer to this question involves programs of \"workplace learning\". This is defined as the acquisition of skills that help develop the individual and the organization through activities completed as a function of their roles in the workplace. These activities include new tasks, team working, observation, informal networking, mentoring, business trips and a host of other tangible and intangible methods of acquiring useful knowledge that will benefit the individual and the firm. In vocational, white-collar professions, it is easy to see how this is done with doctors or dentists who shadow their seniors while reading medical journals and case studies continuously throughout their careers. But how do accountants ensure they are similarly infused with the correct current knowledge and attitudes to help them and their firm succeed in a very different corporate world than that they entered a decade or more ago?\nObstacles and drivers: There are several factors that hinder and help accountants who may wish to benefit from workplace learning in the modern firm. Obstacles include:* learning the wrong things;* poor access to relevant activities;* poor mentoring;* lack of resources; and* lack of motivation.On the other hand, successful workplace learning can be driven by:* the removal of obstacles such as those listed above;* structured approach to workplace learning* positive working environment;* job flexibility; and* office environment that facilitates workplace learning (e.g. range of formal and informal meeting areas).In order to discover what the factors were that determined the ability of accountants to engage in workplace learning, a study was conducted with accountants at trainee, management and partner level in Eastern Canada. Interviews and questionnaires sought to uncover what strategies were already employed, how effective they were, and what impact activities such as e-learning had on day-to-day learning on the job.\nThe real world: The results should be a shock to the professional-development programs that are invested in so heavily by firms across North America. Respondents favored learning by completing new tasks, team working and applying past experience, eschewing formal strategies and \"reading up\". Obstacles cited included lack of time and too many current tasks to complete, while resources and relative importance were not recorded as barriers to learning, while key drivers included pressure to keep up with accounting developments, informal discussions with colleagues and sheer curiosity. Furthermore, drivers differed for trainees, managers and partners in several interesting ways. For example, partners and managers thought having flexibility in their work drove their workplace learning, much more so than trainees, while trainees cited formal in-house programs as drivers, much more so than managers, and in turn managers more than partners.\nLearning curve: Overall, the results show that the best learning strategies in the workplace are informal, especially on new tasks and with colleagues, while formal strategies are favored by established partners. Looking to the future, it is evident that a mix of informal learning strategies and more flexible learning platforms such as e-learning are developed and integrated into the day-to-day schedule of young accountants, and not put to the back of the queue as a \"nice to have\" rather than a \"must have\" in the development of successful accounting professionals.Real world developments have forced individual accountants to source ways of keeping up to date with their jobs, with the \"3 As\" being typical of the main driver cited as \"pressure\" to keep on tops of events. If we are looking for a rallying call for accounting education among professionals, it could be \"The suit is dead. Long live the polo shirt!\". Formal learning needs to be put in its place, while informal learning should be embraced and directed as part of a flexible structure in the workplace.\nComment: \"Canadian accountants: examining workplace learning\", by Hicks et al. (2007) is a well focused, relevant attempt to explore just how much store is set by workplace learning in modern accounting firms in North America. Its results, while hardly surprising, reinforce the ideas behind the values of workplace learning, and it would be interested to see such a study take place in big US city law firms and also in other developed countries such as the UK or Australia.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is prepared by an independent writer, who adds their own impartial comments, and, places the papers in context.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the debate on the worth of business schools has raged on into the early years of the twenty-first century. Its enduring nature matched only by the ever-rising numbers of students attending management schools seemingly inured to the claims of some that the courses on offer lack both the relevance and types of learning they require for their careers. These doubts about a business school education's utility in the workplace have often slid by those pursuing more vocational management pursuits such as accountancy, however the clamor for a more socially aware approach has been rising steadily.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The paper 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" } ]
Effects of employee benefits on affective and continuance commitment during times of crisis	[ "Employee attitudes", "Benefits", "Compensation", "Recession" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employee compensation is critical both to achieve organizational goals and to increase employee well-being. It is proposed by many as the major tool of employers to increase positive employee attitudes and maintain a healthy organizational climate. In this study the focus is on tangible but non-monetary rewards, namely, the provision of goods and services that contribute to direct remuneration and that may significantly enhance total employee rewards. They have been referred as \"fringe benefits,\" \"benefits in kind,\" \"perks\" and \"perquisites,\" but here we adopt the term \"employee benefits\" to refer to this category of non-monetary rewards. These benefits have been shown to account for up to 30 percent of total employee compensation and constitute a large part of the operating expenses in most businesses.\nTheory and hypotheses: Organizational commitment refers to the psychological attachment of individuals to an organization (Allen and Meyer, 1996). According to the dominant approach, I distinguish between two forms of organizational commitment: affective commitment, which reflects \"an affective or emotional attachment to the organization, such that the strongly committed individual identifies with, is involved in, and enjoys membership in the organization\" (Allen and Meyer, 1990, p. 2), and continuance commitment, which refers to the bond between individuals and their organization as a result of contemplating the consequences (costs) of not being committed (taking into account the alternatives to being committed).\nSetting of the study: Greece and employee benefits during the recession: There is no evidence on how the macroeconomic environment defines the effects of employee benefits. However, research has already established that the institutional environment affects the implementation of employee benefit policies. Specifically, den Dulk et al. (2012) established that the welfare-state context explains how work-family benefits are adopted by employers. Furthermore, recent research on other employee compensation aspects has provided evidence that the macro-environment affects the adoption of pay-for-performance systems (Gooderham et al., 2015).\nResearch methodology: Repeated survey data on the provision and value of employee benefits to employees across sectors and professions were collected in three research rounds. The first round was conducted from April to June 2012 (n=1,123), and the second round was conducted one year later, from April to June 2013 (n=1,119). The research was repeated in 2015 to assess the effects of the deepening recession (n=1,256, March to June 2015).\nMeasures: Groups of employee benefits according to their subjective utility\nDiscussion: A key proposition of the current analysis is that employee benefits can be grouped in a meaningful way based on employees' perception of their utility. This proposition was adequately confirmed in the current analysis, which identified four types of employee benefits that are perceived similarly by employees. To date, studies of employee benefits have applied non-validated measures or taxonomies of employee benefits that focus on only one type of employee benefit (see for example, Casper and Harris, 2008; Muse and Wadsworth, 2012) or that are largely data driven (Artz, 2010). Taxonomies of employee benefits have been offered in textbooks, but their classifications have not been based on evidence. The proposition of a utility-based taxonomy of employee benefits, as proposed by early benefits researchers (Driver et al., 1981), could prove useful for a more systematic, evidence-based and comparable study of employee benefits in the future. The taxonomy proposed here accepts that insurance-related benefits differ from family-related or product- and tool-related benefits because employees perceive them as contributing in distinct ways to their overall utility. This approach agrees conceptually with classic theories on human needs classification, such as Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs.\nLimitations and future research: The current research findings indicated that the macro-setting is important for the relationships examined. However, because the study was conducted in a single country, inter-country effects were not examined, nor was the institutional setting. Recent research on employee rewards reveals that country-level and institutional factors have an important impact on employee rewards (Gooderham et al., 2015). In the future, cross-national and cross-sectorial research could more effectively reveal the effects of cultural and institutional variations that were not studied here.\nConclusions and implications: Employee benefits have been a complex topic in management literature and practice over the last 50 years. Supporters hold that employee benefits are an effective tool to foster a caring climate and indirectly achieve organizational goals. Opponents insist that employee benefits should be decreased in favor of direct employee rewards. Employee benefits have increased impressively in the USA and other countries since 1950, although their adoption has lagged in economic systems where social welfare has been the main responsibility of the state. Most European countries, including ex-communist states, have followed the second pattern of social welfare policy. However, during the 1980s and 1990s, the practice of voluntary, employer-provided benefits increased in European countries too (Papalexandris and Galanaki, 2012).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Employee benefits represent a large proportion of operational costs in most sectors, but discussions of their outcomes have been inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to decipher the effects of employee benefits on organizational commitment in a changing and largely uncertain environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three repeated large-scale surveys in Greece during the recent recession are used (2012, 2013 and 2015, total n=3,498).\nFindings: A new taxonomy of employee benefits based on employees' subjective utility evaluations is developed and applied. Availability of benefits and changes in the allocation policies of benefits are found to significantly but not powerfully influence organizational commitment. The setting in which this exchange is realized is critical for the relationships developed.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is conducted in a single country during the recession and trough phases of the business cycle and employee benefit allocation is measured with employee perceptions. Future research is called to couple present findings with international research at diverse phases of the business cycle and objective or company-provided measures of employee benefits.\nPractical implications: Employers are advised to draft long-term employee benefit strategies, avoid frequent adjustments and provide multiple types of employee benefits, to increase affective organizational commitment.\nOriginality/value: This is the first time employee benefits are treated as a whole, and effects of their allocation and of changes in their allocation are explored at the employee level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors that enable knowledge creation in higher education: a structural model	[ "Faculty", "Knowledge creation", "Higher education institutions", "Structural model", "Enabling factors", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As the world has transformed from the industrial age to the knowledge era, knowledge and its creation is becoming increasingly important to organizations that want to build a competitive advantage (Song and Kolb, 2013). Moreover, knowledge and its management are strategic needs for all organizations seeking to maintain or improve performance (Sanjaghi et al., 2013; Wright et al., 2001; Secundo et al., 2010, as cited by Rafieepour et al., 2015). An organization that has the ability to create knowledge on an ongoing basis has developed a capability that is dynamic and unique, and that potentially underpins continuous organizational learning (Mitchell and Boyle, 2010; Seo et al., 2016). Over the last 20 years, and since the recognition of the importance of knowledge creation (KC) to competitive advantage, there has been increasing interest in organizational KC among academics and managers and there has been significant progress in developing and testing many KC theories (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Mytica, 1998; Gasson, 2004; Nakamori, 2000; Ma et al., 2007, as cited by Kikuchi et al., 2007; Soo et al., 2002; Muina et al., 2002; Oinas-Kukkonen and Oinas, 2004; Sharkie, 2004; Lee and Choi, 2003). The literature reviewed shows clearly that most studies have aimed to examine the process of KC and its factors in various organizational settings, and especially in business (Smith et al., 2005; Nonaka et al., 2000, 2006; Choi and Lee, 2002; Chen, 2008; Pezzillo Iacono et al., 2012; Little and Deokar, 2016; Kazadi et al., 2016). In contrast to the significant successes and achievements of KC in the business area, it is only in recent years that state organizations such as universities and research centers have shown more interest in these issues. In fact, universities are viewed as the main centers for creating knowledge and training high-level staff; their major mission - as defined by UNESCO - remains solely KC (Rego et al., 2009). However, globalization, the emergence of the knowledge society and accelerating change require a new model of KC based on a systems approach to thinking and leading in higher education) Moravec, 2008). Little research has been carried out around the KC process and its factors in higher education (Nakamori, 2000; Ma et al., 2007; Kikuchi et al., 2007). For this reason, there is a lack of a comprehensive model capable of demonstrating and measuring the factors associated with the KC of academic staff in higher education institutions (Sunaryo, 2006), especially in Iran.\nLiterature review: Knowledge and KC\nAffecting factors in KC: Personal factors\nMethodology: Given the research objectives, an explanatory mixed methodology was selected to enable the study to benefit from the advantages of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data were gathered first - as is standard when using this research methodology - using semi-structured explanatory interviews. This enabled the hypotheses to be developed, which were subsequently used to gather quantitative data. In the next phase, the quantitative hypotheses were tested. In the qualitative phase, 14 authorities on KC were interviewed and the data gathered were subjected to content analysis. An initial model and research hypotheses were then developed, and a questionnaire created and sent to the faculty members of the technical, social and behavioral campuses of Tehran University to test and generalize the hypotheses. Finally, with the aid of SmartPLS, the data yielded were analyzed using structural equations and partial least squares (PLS). The target population consisted of all faculty members at the technical and social and behavioral campus, amounting to 688. We randomly distributed the questionnaires based on the Cochran model. There were 246 samples among faculty members, and 212 questionnaires were filled out and analyzed. The questionnaire was designed using a seven-point Likert scale. It was composed of 88 questions to evaluate KC factors.\nData analysis: Qualitative analysis\nDiscussion and conclusions: Universities face changes in their environment and can react to these changes and manage their processes through KC (Rowley, 2000). This study investigates the role of personal, institutional and support factors in facilitating KC. From the personal perspective, researchers have explained (Nonaka et al.'s, 2000; Tsai et al., 2013) that knowledge is produced through the interactions among people, between people or them and their environments .In addition, according to Kato et al. (2012), Jeong and Choi (2014) and Casanova et al. (2009), scholars' motivation and personal learning plays a critical role in creating knowledge and high-quality research. Although it is reasonable to emphasize the importance of personal aspects on KC, we cannot neglect the impact on KC of organizational factors, such as; organizational culture (Debowsky, 2006; Hendriks, 2004; Song et al., 2011, 2012, 2013; Song and Kolb, 2013; Mohammad Migdadi, 2009; vick, 2015; Von Krogh et al., 2000), top management, (Ab Aziz et al. (2015), organizational structure (Kim and Lee, 2010; Kogut and Zander, 1992; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995, as cited by Bratianu, 2015; Hendriks and Sousa, 2013; Syysnummi and Laihonen, 2014), social capital and networks(Kim and Lee, 2010; Bozu and Munoz, 2009; Akhavan et al., 2015; Bharati et al., 2015; Rego et al., 2009; Siadat et al., 2012; Ratten and Suseno, 2006; Chua, 2002; Hassanian et al., 2015; Sherif et al., 2012), collaboration (Lee and Schottenfeld, 2014; Cannella and McFadyen, 2013; Axelsson, 2010), research (Tsai et al., 2013; Hassanian et al., 2015; Hsu and Yuan, 2013), and information and communication technology (Teerajetgul and Charoenngam, 2006; Yi and Jayasingam, 2012; Hijazi and Kelly, 2003). Since previous researchers analyzed the factors related to KC only from a single viewpoint, either individual or organizational, but our study examines both of them on KC and also supportive aspects.\nImplications and recommendations: The findings of this study provide meaningful and practical insights for managers of universities and other higher education institutions, as well as recommendations to the academic community for further research in this area. First, they should recognize that faculty members are the main creators of knowledge in the university. However, they can neither create new knowledge nor provide added value to the university unless they are trained in the basic skills of KC. Training courses should therefore be introduced to empower and train faculty members.\nImplications and recommendations: The findings of this study provide meaningful and practical insights for managers of universities and other higher education institutions, as well as recommendations to the academic community for further research in this area. First, they should recognize that faculty members are the main creators of knowledge in the university. However, they can neither create new knowledge nor provide added value to the university unless they are trained in the basic skills of KC. Training courses should therefore be introduced to empower and train faculty members.\nLimitations and future research: Due to limited data availability, this study selected only the technical and social science and behavioral campuses at Tehran University. Further research on KC should therefore be conducted in other campuses at the university. We consider also that there needs to be research into the factors that hinder KC as well as support it. This study suggests further research on examining and documenting professors' successful experiences in the area of KC.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Knowledge is recognized as a valuable asset and universities are in search of a new strategy that allows them to build their knowledge and experience. To achieve this goal, it seems essential to find the factors associated with knowledge creation (KC) in universities. There is currently no comprehensive model that delineates the relationships between personal, institutional and support-related factors of KC. The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the factors that affect KC in higher education institutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is an explanatory mixed methods approach that consists of qualitative and quantitative stages. In the qualitative phase, 14 authorities on KC were interviewed and the data yielded were subjected to content analysis. A model and hypotheses were then formulated and a questionnaire was developed to test these. The questionnaire was submitted to faculty members of Tehran University. Questionnaire data were was analyzed using structural equation and partial least squares with the aid of SmartPLS.\nFindings: The results showed three main categories of KC factors: institutional, personal and support. A total of 19 sub-factors were identified within these main categories. According to the results, social capital (path coefficient=0.84) had the strongest correlation with the institutional; basic skills for KC (path coefficient=0.92) had the strongest correlation with the personal, and information and library resources (path coefficient=0.95) had the highest correlation with the support aspect of KC.\nOriginality/value: The study uses a multidimensional approach to test the effect of factors on KC, and can contribute to organizations (especially universities) through developing a more comprehensive model of KC. This research may lead to guidelines for universities, using Tehran University as a case study, which give more attention to the main factors of KC and improve and develop the KC process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Innovation and cause-related marketing success: a conceptual framework and propositions	[ "Innovation", "Brand innovativeness", "Cause marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today, the service sector is of great significance in developed economies, as it contributes over 70 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) (Salunke et al., 2013; Paton and McLaughlin, 2008; Hooley et al., 2003; Paton and McLaughlin, 2008; Santamaria et al., 2012; OECD, 2005). It is emphasized, however, that services are a significant overall contributor to productivity growth, especially as communication technologies and information have matured and continue to develop (Santamaria et al., 2012; Kitchen and Uzunoglu, 2014).\n2. Setting the context: According to Stremersch and Van Dyck (2009), although business scholars may wish to contribute new knowledge applicable to all industries, most have unique characteristics that yield specific challenges for businesses and thus require industry- specific knowledge development. In this respect, from the innovation literature, several researchers seem to advocate the aforementioned argument and underline the need for scholarly research to differentiate between sectors, mainly between services and manufacturing. The rationale behind this differentiation relies upon the fact that innovation, well investigated and established in the manufacturing industry, cannot be embedded in the service sector in the same ways (Ettlie and Rosenthal, 2011; Nijssen et al., 2006). In addition, researchers point out that sector differentiation is important, primarily because of the ways businesses establish development of innovations in each sector (Ettlie and Rosenthal, 2011). In the same vein, marketing and business scholars also point the need for industry differentiation when developing business and marketing concepts because several aspects of businesses, operating in different industries, are dissimilar when directly compared (Curran and Zignago, 2012; Jaklic et al., 2012). Nonetheless, authors have attempted to develop conceptual CSR models and apply these across multiple industries (Soana, 2011). However, such have led to contradictory outcomes and, hence, efforts to provide generalizable and cohesive conclusions have proved illusory (Soana, 2011). In addition, the literature, within diverse managerial disciplines, tends to assume that each nation has a distinctive, describable and influential culture which shapes everything; thus, it is necessary to take into consideration the cultural characteristics of individual customers, organizations and societies within a nation or region (Buckley et al., 2011), as these have a direct impact on behavior. Toward this perspective, a study conducted by Ackerman and Tellis (2001), noted differences in consumer shopping practice from dissimilar cultural groups, namely, from Chinese and American cultures. In a similar vein, Moon et al. (2008) indicate that the individualism dimension of culture significantly influences consumers' purchase intention. Likewise, other authors, such as Clark (1990), argue that characteristics of behavior within a nation are unique and unchangeable over time.\n3. Cause-related marketing and the dependent variable: An extensive systematic review of the CSR literature reveals that research has focused on two prevalent perspectives: normative - described by the notion of doing good for the sake of doing good, and the enlightened self-interest perspective, which is the business case in which organizations are doing good as a means for enhancing their level of profitability (Larson et al., 2008). CRM represents the latter perspective.\n4. Drivers of cause-related marketing success: CRM activity can be either strategic or tactical. With tactical CRM activity, a brand may tie-in with a cause for a limited time for a relatively narrow purpose. On the contrary, some brands view the CRM activity as a strategic component and the \"heart\" of the brand's positioning or image (Till and Nowak, 2000). Whether the CRM activity is strategic or tactical, marketers must identify and use those factors that will generate the desired consumer reaction. Given that no single coherent theory of the drivers of CRM success has been established (Sorribas, 2007), this section reviews CRM and identifies several product- and brand-related factors that promote success. However, the boundaries between these factors are ambivalent and some tend to be more strategic in nature than others. Nevertheless, these factors encapsulate most variables currently viewed as driving CRM success in a reasonably coherent way. In subsequent paragraphs, the role of each factor driving CRM success is briefly described. In addition, several research propositions are constructed that enable scholars to test those success factors on the multi-perspective aspect of CRM success, identified in the previous section. Each of the following research propositions in this and the next section of the paper relate to enhanced financial performance and positive corporate reputation.\n5. Innovation: Even though innovation is a topic of great research interest nowadays, this has not always been the case (Fagerberg et al., 2012). Indeed, in the early days of the twentieth century, minimal attention was given to this topic (and to many other management topics too). Yet, an exception to this trend was Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian - American economist, who developed a theory according to which economic development is the consequence of innovation (Archibugi et al., 2013). He also defined innovation as a dynamic force that occasions continuous transformation of social, institutional and economic structures (Fagerberg et al., 2012).\n6. Discussion and conclusion: Innovation is important for consumers, businesses and countries (Hauser et al., 2006), especially in the service sector because the majority of developed countries GDP now rely more greatly upon their service economies (Dominguez-Pery et al., 2013; Chae, 2012). Research on innovation has proceeded differentially in many disciplines. Some fit within the field of marketing and others are perceived as non-marketing topics. However, all can be enriched via a marketing perspective and, as empirical research has indicated, organizations need to constantly innovate for enhanced performance and sustainable competitive advantage (Dominguez-Pery et al., 2013; Chae, 2012). Yet, as also noted in this paper, there are some marked inconsistencies and theoretical and empirical gaps. Thus, the literature contains insufficient analysis of the relationship between innovation and CRM.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to illustrate how innovation typologies may lead to cause-related marketing (CRM) success when applied to services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hence, the paper identifies product/service and brand factors that underpin CRM success, undertakes an innovation theory application in CRM and examines its theoretical and practical significance.\nFindings: The paper develops a conceptual framework that may serve to facilitate CRM success.\nOriginality/value: Intended contributions include: a critical review of academic research related to CRM success; identification of underdeveloped connections between five innovation types and CRM success; enrichment of the innovation and CRM literature by developing a framework that combines these; managerial guidelines to achieve successful CRM practice in services; and an agenda for future research in CRM via a multi-dimensional concept of innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of customers in co-creating m-services in the O2O model	[ "Cognition", "Emotion", "Customer co-creation", "M-services", "O2O model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Did you check in today?While Cindy is at the beauty salon, she can use Facebook's check-in service to take a photo of her new hairstyle, post a comment about the salon or stylist, or tag her Facebook friends. The check-in record will appear on Cindy's timeline and her friends' Facebook newsfeeds. Cindy's Facebook friends can thus learn about the beauty salon and provide feedback (e.g. click \"Like\" or comment) on her new hairstyle.\nLiterature review: O2O model and m-services\nHypotheses: The research model in Figure 1 suggests that emotions (i.e. pleasure, arousal, and dominance) influence cognition (i.e. store environment and social enhancement), which in turn affect behavioral intention (i.e. recommendation intention and purchase intention).\nResearch method: Survey measures\nData analysis: Structural equation modeling in AMOS 21 and SPSS 22 was used to assess the psychometric properties of the scales and the structural model.\nFindings: Hypothesis testing\nDiscussion and conclusions: The idea that providing information through online channels can entice online customers to visit and enjoy offline stores is central to the O2O model. This study empirically investigated the factors that influence customer loyalty in the O2O context. By considering emotion and cognition, the study offers insight into which m-service factors attract customers and achieve customer loyalty. The type of message source was found to moderate the effect of cognition on customer loyalty. The findings enrich the existing knowledge of O2O models and m-services. The findings also have theoretical and managerial implications.\nLimitations and further research: This study has several limitations, which provide avenues for further research. First, this study addressed the first stage of the consumption process (i.e. pre-purchase) rather than the entire process. Emotions may affect behavioral intentions during any stage of the consumption process (Palmer, 2010), so to gain a comprehensive understanding of the complete shopping experience in the O2O context, future studies should extend this study's findings by examining the influence of emotions during other stages of the consumption process (e.g. delivery of goods and post-purchase maintenance). Second, this study focused on customers that move from online to offline. The O2O business model also includes movement from offline to online. A study of how customers' perceptions of service quality and trust in merchants could be transferred from the offline environment to the online environment would enrich the existing understanding of the O2O model (Xiao and Dong, 2015; Yang et al., 2011). Third, some elements of the servicescape, including individual physical facilities and the influence of other customers and employees, may affect customers' evaluations of services (Lin and Liang, 2011). This study did not measure these factors, so further research could study these factors to extend existing knowledge of the O2O model. Fourth, emotions are critical in the O2O context, so future studies could focus on how to enhance the emotional competence of frontline employees to perceive, understand, and regulate customers' emotions and improve the outcomes of O2O promotions (Delcourt et al., 2016). Finally, future studies could examine how different emotions, evoked by different promotional message designs in the online environment, influence consumers' online and offline behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate customer loyalty in the online-to-offline (O2O) model by conceptualizing and measuring emotion and cognition.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey was used to collect 514 questionnaire responses. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Three emotional factors influence two cognitive factors, which in turn affect customer loyalty. The type of message source acts as a moderator. In addition to pleasure and arousal, dominance is a key factor of emotion. The effects of social enhancement and store environment on customer loyalty reflect the O2O model's integration of online and offline environments.\nPractical implications: The moderating role of the type of message source implies that marketers of brick-and-mortar stores can promote positive offline experiences to attract online customers and then encourage these customers to disseminate personal messages in their social circles. By attracting online customers through appealing m-services and retaining these customers through favorable store environments, marketers can maximize the utility of the O2O model.\nOriginality/value: Three emotional factors and two cognitive factors are conceptualized to predict customer loyalty in the O2O model. This study shows that the relationships between cognitive factors and customer loyalty are moderated by the type of message source. When check-in activity messages are sent by friends, the perception of social enhancement can lead to greater customer loyalty. In contrast, when check-in activity messages are sent by unfamiliar sources, customer loyalty is driven more by cognition of the store environment than by online interaction. The findings enrich existing knowledge of the O2O model and m-services, and have implications for researchers and marketers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management adoption in times of crisis	[ "Knowledge management", "Problem solving", "Disasters", "Corporate strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organizations are threatened by business crises that may be prevented or lessened if critical knowledge is identified in advance. Many frameworks have been proposed for helping organizations deal with crises (Pearson and Rondinelli, 1998; Richardson, 1994; Salter, 1997). While these frameworks offer organizations valuable guidelines for managing crises, they typically overlook the importance of knowledge in the organizational performance during crises.It is proposed that knowledge management (KM) has a role to play in crisis management. Nevertheless, very few studies have been conducted to specifically examine the influence of the application of KM to crisis management on organizational performance. Consequently, this study aims to examine how KM practices affect organizational performance during business crises. A knowledge-centered crisis management framework that can help organizations apply KM concepts during crises is presented. A case study of an energy company's crisis is presented to demonstrate how this framework can help organizations become less vulnerable to business crises.\n2. Business crises: 2.1 Nature of business crises\n3. Crisis management frameworks: Generally, crisis management frameworks can be categorized according to those that focus on why crises happen, which is termed operation-oriented frameworks, and those that focus on how crises impact organizations and the tasks that need to be performed in order to lessen their impact, which is termed process-oriented frameworks. Operation-oriented frameworks are those that focus on crises that result from the regular operations of organizations (Dutton, 1986; Salter, 1997; Ratnasingam, 2007). Salter (1997) stresses the importance of analyzing the organization's vulnerability to crises and proposes nine information sets, such as emergency management and communication, which can mitigate organizational vulnerabilities.Process-oriented frameworks focus on how organizations can eliminate vulnerabilities to a crisis that they encounter at different phases of a crisis life cycle (Darling, 1994; Fink, 1996; Richardson, 1994). Mitroff's (1988, 1994) framework consists of five crisis phrases. In the signal detection phase, organizations focus on seeking signals that might warn of a crisis. In the prevention/preparation phase, organizations aim to eliminate their weaknesses so as to prevent a crisis or to be well-prepared for it. In the containment/damage limitation phase, organizations aim to control damage resulting from a crisis. Organizations mostly focus on fixing the damage caused by a crisis during the recovery phase. During the learning phase, organizations examine what happened during the crisis, and then identify what lessons they have learned. Organizations can then use their crisis experience to enhance their capabilities to prevent and mitigate the effects of similar crises in the future.Among all these frameworks, Mitroff's (1988, 1994) framework is preferred for this study since it is the only one that explicitly identifies the need for learning and hints at the need for KM. By learning from previous crises, organizations can create repositories of best practices that will be valuable in helping them manage their business crises (Pearson and Clair, 1998). Additionally, Mitroff's framework segments a crisis into five phases based on the most crucial tasks of organizations at different phases of a crisis. This provides the organization with information as to its knowledge needs to perform these tasks successfully.\n4. Crisis management and taxonomies of KM: Current KM methods have been comprehensively summarized by Earl's (2001) taxonomy of KM strategy, which classifies KM strategies according to seven schools. The schools are not mutually exclusive so that an organization might use several of these strategies simultaneously.4.1 Schools of KM strategy\n5. Research methodology: The method of case study is adopted for this study with intent to answer the following questions:* What kinds of KM strategies are developed in response to a business crisis?* Whether and why different kinds of KM strategies are developed and applied at different phases of a business crisis?A business crisis of a natural gas company was analyzed in order to examine the application of KM during business crises. Pseudonyms were developed and used to represent all the primary and secondary subjects to ensure confidentiality.5.1 Data collection\n6. Arena corporation's crocodile industrial park crisis: The Arena Natural Gas Corporation (ANGC) was founded to provide natural gas delivery services to the population of Chestnut City. The crisis investigated is ANGC's project of acquiring new business customers from the Crocodile Industrial Park. Originally, the companies in the Crocodile Industrial Park used heavy oil and liquefied petroleum gas as the main fuel sources. Because of the environmental pollution caused by burning heavy oil and unsatisfactory service from the liquefied petroleum gas providers, the companies sought alternative fuels. Consequently, ANGC executed the project to promote its natural gas.However, ANGC's sales representatives found that most of the companies in the Crocodile Industrial Park were not willing to use natural gas for two reasons, which were the cost-effectiveness and security issues of using natural gas. Consequently, ANGC could not obtain return on its investment in time, and was forced to officially declare a loss of 1.7 million US dollars. ANGC's president eventually took the responsibility and declared his retirement. Rumors regarding personnel transfer and demotion demoralized employees and decreased their productivity.6.1 The signal detection phase\n7. Research implications: 7.1 KM has a role to play in crisis management\n8. Conclusion: 8.1 Research contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Organizations are threatened by business crises that may be prevented or lessened if critical knowledge is identified in advance. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the role knowledge management (KM) plays in affecting organizational performance during crises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case study of a business crisis was conducted to investigate how KM helped mitigate damage caused by the crisis.\nFindings: - First, KM plays an important role in crisis management. Second, organizations have different knowledge needs that require the application of different KM strategies at different phases of a business crisis to achieve the best results. Finally, the experience handling crises makes organizations consider their incompetence and thus leads to the generation of organization-wide learning initiatives which facilitate knowledge acquisition, sharing, and institutionalization.\nPractical implications: - The proposed knowledge-centered crisis management framework can be used by organizations as guidelines to develop their KM strategies based on their concerns during business crises.\nOriginality/value: - Few prior studies have specifically addressed the role KM plays when encountering business crises. This study focuses on investigating how organizations can apply useful KM strategies based on their knowledge needs and thus achieve desirable crisis management outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evading economic reality: Real property access takings and the slippery slope of legal language	[ "Economics", "Real property law", "Language", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Without access to and from a public thoroughfare, most parcels of private real property lose most of their functional utility and their economic value. Access conditions impose what are called transaction costs. In real estate, as in many other areas involving economic analysis, transaction costs are seen in the context of property rights and institutional impacts on exchanges of property. This is true even in the context of physical movement research domains such as transport economics, wherein transaction costs are seen as search, negotiation and contract costs (Rietveld and Vickerman, 2006). Since the concept of transaction costs came into the currency of economic analysis several decades ago, it has expanded from property and institutional contexts to include spatial contexts. However, these spatial contexts have been geographic, at macro (metropolitan, regional and national) levels. No previous analysis using the concept of transaction costs has been applied to the micro level of the spatial environment where streets interface with real estate parcels.In the USA, access can be taken, completely or partially, through the police power or eminent domain subject to the limits of the Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Legislatures tell courts that real property should have \"reasonable\" access: to receive government compensation, access must be substantially impaired, not inconvenienced. It is only when access is judged to be substantially impaired that economic analysis can proceed. Thus there is no way to link changes in impairment to changes in spatial transaction costs. Consequently, while there are several thousand access takings annually, there is wide variability in the courts in determining what constitutes substantial impairment of access and considerable dissatisfaction with court decisions. While the extensive inconsistencies in the way access litigation is resolved are evidence of heuristic and bias types of judgment errors, underlying these judgment errors are ambiguities in the meanings of terms such as impairment, substantial and even access itself.This paper examines the language of access impairment to see why access issues can be so confusing and why they are resolved so unsatisfactorily. Classic rhetorical analysis in its contemporary form (Burke, 1965) and discourse analysis are employed to illuminate the orientations and limitations of legal language with respect to access. Discourse is language as social practice determined by social structures (Fairclough, 1989). Discourse analysis is a synthesis of modes of analysis that emerged mostly from linguistics and post-structuralism. In a more elaborated form than employed here, discourse analysis involves a recursive uncovering of statements to illuminate and critically assess the social structure from which they emerge. This analysis shows how language factors become the underpinnings for the great variability in legal judgments. The paper concludes by proposing that, because they are fundamentally non-discursive conditions, access conditions cannot be effectively analyzed through legal language and discourse. It then briefly examines alternatives proposed in behavioral law and economics research to relying on traditional economic assumptions and suggests that non-discursive character of access means that it must be represented using non-discursive approaches.\n2. The problem: what constitutes reasonable access?: While it is a common sense notion that a parcel of real property needs access to be useful, and that some forms of access are better than others, the myriad legal disputes about property access takings that reach appeals courts in almost every state court system of the USA indicate there is no clear agreement nor understanding of what constitutes \"reasonable\" access. The following commentary, found in the annotations to Section 15 of the Bill of Rights of the Colorado Constitution, identifies the core issues. (The commentary cites a number of legal cases not reproduced here.)Whatever permanently prevents the adjacent owner's free use of the street for ingress or egress to or from his lot, and whatever interference with the street permanently diminishes the value of his premises, is as much a damage to his private property as though some direct physical injury were inflicted thereon. ... Right of access to and from a general street system must be substantially impaired, not merely inconvenienced, by modification of the system... . The fact that a municipality may under its police power interfere to a certain extent with access to and from premises does not mean necessarily that such interference constitutes a \"taking\" for which under amendments 5 and 14, US Constitution, and under Section 25 of art. II, Colo. Const., and this section there must be compensation. Rather, to constitute such a taking there must be an unreasonable or substantial deprivation of access... . Mere inconvenience and mere circuitry of route necessary for access or egress occasioned by a public improvement are not compensable items of damage (State of Colorado (a), Constitution of Colorado, Article II - Bill of Rights, Section 15. \"Taking property for public use - compensation, how ascertained\", available at: http://64.78.178.12/cgi-dos/statdspp.exe?LNP&DOC=0-4-18).A typical concern is Montague's (1999): \"... the question that continues to puzzle even the best legal minds is just how substantial is substantial enough to warrant damages recovery in an impairment of access case\". Knowing the difference between access that is \"substantially impaired\" and that which is \"merely inconvenienced\" requires knowing when access is deficient, sufficient or perhaps even excessive. This means it must be measured.Access between a street and a parcel of real estate comes in two dimensions, what Montague (2000) calls on-off and to-from. On-off is ingress or egress onto or off of a parcel. But the scope of access control in state codes and constitutions is actually much broader and includes not just this interface but the overall network of streets. The \"general street system\" and the \"system of vehicular access to or from any public highway\" can include just about every street. At this level, the language is that access \"must be substantially impaired, not merely inconvenienced, by modification\". To mere inconvenience as a condition that does not warrant consideration of damages is added mere circuitry of route. What is not clear are the differences between convenience, inconvenience and mere inconvenience or the differences between circuitry of route and mere circuitry of route. What is also not acknowledged is that what are called modifications may very likely be major transformations, especially when successive modifications involving mere inconvenience and circuitry of route have accumulated over the years.The problem in dealing with access rights compensation is that courts rely on what is called \"reasonable\" access but have no consistent or systematic way of defining what \"reasonable\" access means. For example, in one of the rare systematic studies of access takings, Westerfield et al. (1995) reviewed access litigation and studies involving land values. Among their findings are the following:In most access litigation, acceptance of the view that only \"reasonable\" access need be provided is common. This allows states to liberally use their police powers as a means of controlling access, avoiding the need for eminent domain proceedings. Several factors come into play in determining whether reasonable access is provided to a property owner after a taking has occurred. Often, it is the combination of these several deciding factors which determines whether access or loss thereof, is compensable. Cases from different states, and even within a state, will often contradict one another even though they would seem to have similar deciding factors involved.Westerfield et al. (1995) conclude their review with the opinion \"that the definition of reasonable access is a purely subjective one. Inconsistencies in the analysis of reasonable access litigation indicate that no uniformity exists, and the individual judge may determine what he/she believes to be 'reasonable.\"' The importance of this conclusion, made by researchers in the Center for Transportation Research, University of Texas at Austin, must not be underestimated. Much of the research focused on surface transportation and related issues in the USA occurs at the two Texas public universities, the University of Texas and Texas A & M University.\n3. Causes of the problem: 3.1 Information structure\n4. The language of access: While many aspects of the legalese Mellinkoff criticized may have disappeared (Tiersma, 2005), there remain a sufficient number in the language of access to impede consistency in judgment. Terms such as impairment, substantial and even access itself are used in conflicting, vague and confusing ways.4.1 Impairment\n5. Language and categories: 5.1 Categories\n6. Conclusion: The law on access results in confusing judgments for several reasons. One is that the terminology of access is a victim of indifferent thinking in the principal disciplines (real estate and traffic engineering) that address the technical issues of access. Another is that, by relying on a categorical approach, the analysis of access is subjective, intuitive and inexact, thus inducing patterns of boundedly rational behavior. This paper has sought to show that addressing the problems of access analysis is like opening a set of Chinese boxes: that categories are contained in language which operates inside heuristics within a larger constraint of information structures.Jolls and Sunstein (2006) point out that when a particularly important aspect of bounded rationality is shown to exist, legal policy can be developed to address it. One alternative is attempting to reduce or to eliminate biases through what they call \"debiasing through law\", an approach that avoids paternalism. Another more common one is \"designing legal rules and institutions so that legal outcomes do not fall prey to problems of bounded rationality ( )\". What seems evident in the above discussion is that the source of inconsistencies in addressing access derives less from bias and more from framing effects inherent, not in the situation or context but, in natural language, a deeper cognitive factor inherent in human evolutionary psychology. Carruthers (2008) says language has evolved to play a quasi-executive function that influences attention and online goals. To the extent it is natural language itself, not simply framing or bias, what can be done to remediate the problem is more complex (McDermott et al., 2008).The economic reality of access and its impairment is that of transaction costs. Transaction costs are frictions and frictions occur at interfaces. Williamson (2007) proposes that transactions involve crossing \"a technologically separable interface\". A total access taking (that creates landlocked conditions) completely separates activity at movement interfaces and a partial one (that alters not only on-off but also to-from conditions) very likely increases the friction. But the terminology of access is unable to measure either the friction or its cost.In conclusion, the question here is at what point does a quantitative change (an increase in friction) result in a qualitative change of in access. The problem in defining \"substantial\" is a phenomenon known as Hegel's law of the transition of quantity into quality. Hegel used the example of the boiling or freezing of water which occurs as its temperature rises above 100C or falls below 0C. The quantitative change in its temperature leads to a qualitative change in its state or form: from liquid to gas and liquid to solid. Is this a substantial change - a change of substance or a formal change - a change of form? But change under many conditions is reversible. When a quantitative change occurs irreversibly, as in the case of impairment of a building's structural integrity, the resulting qualitative change may be one of form, not of substance. This is a question that cannot be answered directly using categories from natural language. Changes of form, particularly physical form (which is non-discursive), need to be analyzed using non-discursive techniques or methods in much the same way that the structural integrity of a building is analyzed. Thus an ontology of access needs to be developed. A variety of methods developed in recent years employing combinations of planar geometry, topology and discrete geometry can be applied to the access problem in order to establish its ontological reality. But to explain how this is done and how legal rules might accommodate it is beyond the scope of this paper.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is too analyze what causes judicial decisions about access impairment in American eminent domain and police power cases to be based on subjective interpretations instead of objective factual evidence about the spatio-material conditions of access.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Following a review of commentary on decision making and language in legal contexts, contemporary rhetorical analysis combined with discourse analysis are employed to illuminate inconsistencies of legal terminologies with respect to access.\nFindings: - The analysis finds that legal terminology of access takings sustains cognitive indeterminacies and prevents the use of standard quantitative approaches to measurement.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The implications of this research are that access conditions need to be considered in the context of transaction costs based on an underlying ontology of access phenomena.\nPractical implications: - This paper calls for changing legal policy so that objective measures of access can be used to evaluate impairment.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first paper to analyze underlying problems in access takings and sets the stage for a more objective and scientific approach to a long unresolved problem involving property takings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysing the impact of a business intelligence system and new conceptualizations of system use	[ "DeLone and McLean model", "Seddon model", "System use construct", "Impact of a business intelligence system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business intelligence (BI), one of the most important components of information systems (IS), is playing a very relevant role in business in this time of high competition, high amounts of data and new technology. Currently, companies feel pressured to respond quickly to change and complicated conditions in the market, needing to make the correct tactical, operational and strategic decisions (Chugh and Grandhi, 2013).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The Delone and McLean information systems success model\n3. Methods: The models used are quantitative, in which the individual User of the BIS, in a company that employs the system, is the unit of analysis. A Pilot Test was employed to test the tools, the questionnaire, and the model. Structural Equations were used for the analysis. The model is analysed with the DeLone and McLean model, the Seddon model, and the Modified Seddon model.\n4. Quantitative analysis: A previous analysis of the data was realised to check the main characteristics of them that could be observed in Appendix 2 and 3. Reviewing the correlation table we find that the correlations are between medium and high, and that is because the variables are related to business, and we are going to find high correlations between items of the same construct, but using structural equations of covariance (SEM) that is not a problem (Hair et al., 2006).\n5. Results: After completing the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the Structural Model was established. Figure 4 presents the structural model found with the DeLone and McLean model, including the relations between constructs and the variance, explained for each dependent construct through R2.\n6. The system use construct (system dependence): There are several studies related to system usage, user satisfaction and the individual impact that had controversial outcomes. Some authors indicate that there is a direct relationship between system use and individual performance (Goodhue and Thompson, 1995); others did not find any relation between those constructs (Lucas and Spitler, 1999). There is a direct relation between System Use and User Satisfaction (Iivari, 2005; Halawi et al., 2007-2008; Bokhari, 2005; D'Ambra and Rice, 2000), and other authors indicate that there is not that relation (Baroudi et al., 1986). Other authors find a direct relation between System Use and the Individual Impact (Halawi et al., 2007-2008; Rai et al., 2002; Yuthas and Young, 1998; Guimaraes and Igbaria, 1997). Other authors did not find that relation (Gelderman, 1998; Roldan and Millan, 2000).\n7. Discussion: The results received from this research indicates that the Seddon model performs and explains better what is happening with the BIS, compared to the DeLone and McLean model and with the Modified Seddon model. The fit is better than in the DeLone and McLean model (CFI of 0.958 vs 0.948; RMSEA 0.068 vs 0.076), the same goes for R2 Average explained (0.537 vs 0.522). The Seddon model has a significant relationship between the System Dependence (System Use) and the other constructs, whereas the DeLone and McLean do not. The Seddon model has five significant relations between the constructs, while the DeLone and McLean has only three. The Modified Seddon model obtains an almost as good result, as the Seddon model, with the only advantage that explains one additional significant relation between constructs (six in total).\n8. Limitations and recommendations for future studies: It is estimated that the sample includes more than 15 per cent of all the companies that use a BISs in Peru, so the size of the sample is adequate, but it is not entirely random and therefore limits the generalizability of outcomes. Besides that, a sample size that is bigger could be better for the sake of making a more detailed analysis, permitting the use of some items with less power, or the use of another statistical procedure for structural equations such as the Asymptotical Distribution Free, permitting a more detailed analysis (Hair et al., 2006).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In this study, three models were empirically compared, the DeLone and McLean model, the Seddon model and the Modified Seddon model, by measuring the impact of a business intelligence system (BIS) in companies in Peru. After that, the mediators and dependent constructs were analysed to determine if they were behaving properly (a good level of variance explanation and significant relations with others constructs). The study used a sample of 104 users of the BIS, from companies in several important economic sectors, in a quasi-voluntary context and with six constructs: information quality, system quality, service quality, system dependence (system use), user satisfaction and perceived usefulness (individual impact).\nDesign/methodology/approach: To interpret the results, the authors used structural equations. The idea was to look for the best fit and explanations for the outcomes. The main difference in these models is that the DeLone and McLean model considers system dependence (system use) as a part of information system success, but in the Seddon model, it is a consequence of it.\nFindings: The Seddon model seems to show the best fit and explanation for the outcomes. After that, a review of the system use construct was realised, because of its limited variance explained and the few significant relations with other constructs, to improve its explanation power in future research.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is estimated that the sample includes more than 15 per cent of all the companies that use a BISs in Peru, so the size of the sample is adequate, but it is not entirely random and therefore limits the generalizability of outcomes. Besides that, a sample size that is bigger could be better for the sake of making a more detailed analysis, permitting the use of some items with less power, or the use of another statistical procedure for structural equations such as the Asymptotical Distribution Free, permitting a more detailed analysis (Hair et al., 2006).\nOriginality/value: Business intelligence (BI), one of the most important components of information systems (IS), is playing a very relevant role in business in this time of high competition, high amounts of data and new technology. Currently, companies feel pressured to respond quickly to change and complicated conditions in the market, needing to make the correct tactical, operational and strategic decisions (Chugh and Grandhi, 2013). BI is one of the most important drivers of the decade (Gartner, 2013). Big companies of IS are creating special units specialised in BI, helping companies become more efficient and effective in daily operations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Bridging the social divides: a school-based model from India	[ "India", "Inequality", "Social inclusion", "Social policy", "Child participation", "School culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The current paper presents a case study of a school-based intervention in India that makes middle class students active stakeholders in social inclusion of children from significantly lower socio-economic strata. The paper makes the argument - analytically and empirically - that with purposive strategies for inclusion of disadvantaged children, schools for the privileged can help bridge the social divides in unequal societies.\nResearch context: While India has made important strides in fighting poverty, a stark reality of child poverty and deprivation continues in the country. In total, 42 percent of Indian children under five-year age are underweight - almost double the rate of sub-Saharan Africa - despite two decades of rapid economic growth (Naandi Foundation, 2011). Besides unequal income and spatial development (World Bank, 2011), gender and caste remain deep rooted markers of social exclusion in India (Govinda, 2011). The urban context of the current research - the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in Eastern India - is an embodiment of the promises and paradoxes that characterize India today in a globalized world.\nTheoretical perspectives: The literature on school culture provides a useful theoretical lens to explore the \"meaning-making\" by the LSS students of their participation in the Rainbow program.\nResearch methods: The current paper employs a case study research method to explore cross-class socialization of children in the LSS.\nFindings: Student responses to both close and open-ended questions in the research instrument revealed that an overwhelming majority of students viewed the Rainbow program favorably.\nDiscussion: The fact that all Loreto Sealdah girls - the future female professionals of India - are growing up with a deep appreciation and empathy for the needs of the less privileged in the society; is probably the most far-reaching impact of the LSS Rainbow model. This is a significant achievement since \"engaging a privileged population in the process of critiquing and dismantling its own privilege stem from issues far larger than what can be surmounted in a high school humanities classroom\" (Nurenberg, 2011, p. 61).\nConclusion: The research presented in this paper demonstrates that participation in Rainbow program has a profound and transformational impact on the relatively privileged students of the school. The fact that middle-class children are being socialized into whole new repertoires of cultural experience, and that they are beginning to question the entrenched inequalities and power imbalances of the society through their experiential learning - are significant levers for social justice and social change. As they grow into adulthood, the LSS girls would bring their empathy toward and friendship with the Rainbow children into their respective professional roles - as teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, politicians, informed citizens and mothers. This is the most sustainable foundation for building a just and equitable society. An enlightened and compassionate future generation of leaders in India - coming out of the elite Loreto school system - would be the biggest guarantor of human rights and human dignity of impoverished and marginalized children of the nation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the transformative potential of a school-based model in India that makes middle class students active stakeholders in the well-being of underprivileged children.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Employing a qualitative case study method, data were collected through a survey - containing close-ended and open-ended questions - that was administered to all students in grades 6 through 10.\nFindings: Overall, the data suggest that socialization with underprivileged children had a profound impact on the views of middle class children about social inequalities and their own agency in addressing them. While younger children observed more manifest differences between them and the poor children they engaged; the older children articulated those differences in terms of inequalities of opportunity and violations of rights.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research was based on a single school where the intervention was conceived and implement by its visionary leader. It would be important to examine the robustness of the model in a broader sample of schools.\nSocial implications: The study demonstrates that with purposive strategies and intentional organizational culture, schools for privileged can promote social inclusion of all children.\nOriginality/value: This paper makes the counter-intuitive case - analytically and empirically - that for social policies designed for poor children to be a force for social transformation, they should be purposively conceived in conjunction with the educational and developmental imperatives of children from more privileged backgrounds.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
OEE enhancement in SMEs through mobile maintenance: a TPM concept	[ "OEE", "Equipment", "Reliability", "TPM", "SMEs", "Mobile maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The role of maintenance in modern manufacturing systems is becoming even more important to companies adopting the maintenance as a profit generating business element. It is not uncommon that the maintenance and operations departments are the largest, and each comprises 30 percent of the total manpower and also energy costs, maintenance costs can be the largest part of any operational budget. The manufacturing industry is demanding higher change in market now-a-days. In this changing demand of manufacturing sector, small and medium scale enterprise (SME) act as specialist suppliers of components, parts, and sub-assemblies to larger companies.\n2. Literature review: Manufacturing plant and its maintenance were much more complex today than a few years ago and definitely will become more complex in the future (Sherwin and Jonsson, 1995). In total, 20 years ago, manufacturing organizations were using different maintenance approaches to improve maintenance effectiveness (Roup, 1999). The current situation of the maintenance system must be improved and developed an approach for designing a new maintenance system based on the concept of TPM for maintenance activities in order to eliminate losses that occur during production (Riis et al., 1997). The Organization should introduce a good maintenance system to improve and increase both product quality and productivity continuously due to customer requirement of good quality product, less product delivery time and low production cost. TPM is one of the best tools for making manufacturing industries competitive and effective, in the field of maintenance (Sharma et al., 2012; Paropate et al., 2011). Modem manufactures requires that, the organizations must be supported by both effective and efficient maintenance practices and procedures to become successful. TPM implementation initiatives have always contributed in Indian industry to meet the challenges posed by global competition (Ahuja and Kumar, 2009). TPM helps to establish a relationship between maintenance and production departments. Any stoppage in the production line due to failure of equipment decrease production rate as well as quality of product (Tsarouhas, 2007). Wakjira and Singh (2012), have concluded that the TPM implementation in any organization enhances the OEE by increasing equipment availability, decreasing rework, rejection. The overall productivity of the industry is also increased by TPM implementation. Ahmed et al. (2005), have concluded that a well conceived TPM implementation not only improve the equipment efficiency and effectiveness, but also brings appreciable improvements in other areas of a manufacturing plant. According to Jain et al. (2012a), TPM implementation is not only improving OEE of large industries but also improve OEE of small scale industries by improving availability, performance and quality rate of machines. To implement TPM the production unit and maintenance unit should work jointly. Sharma and Trikhab (2011), have concluded that TPM was chosen as an effective maintenance strategy to improve OEE of production machines. OEE can also be improved in any manufacturing company through the implementation of innovative maintenance strategy and reduce operating cost of industry as well. Patra et al. (2005), have concluded that TPM program is used to increase production and also improve employee morale and job satisfaction. The full commitment of senior management to the program is also essential. Communication among operators, maintenance people and engineers is very important. A better communication and teamwork are playing vital role in establishing autonomous maintenance team (Chand and Shirvani, 2000).\n3. Mobile maintenance: It is aimed to have trouble free machines and equipments producing defect free products for total customer satisfaction. Researcher proposed a TPM model in which mobile maintenance has got the place along with maintenance planning and that pillar rename as maintenance planning and mobile maintenance as shown in Figure 1. Maintenance may be preventive, breakdown, corrective, etc. pillar of maintenance planning consist two things, first is to plan the maintenance schedule in advance and second is which types of maintenance required for different types of failure in the organization. Now-a-days, Mobile maintenance is the new concept which is adapted especially by SMEs. Most of the SMEs is having fewer numbers of machines which requires very less maintenance as compared to large industries. Breakdown, corrective, preventive and other types of maintenance program are suited for large industries but SMEs needs less maintenance as compared to large industry. These SMEs requires only a preventive or mobile maintenance more frequently and sometimes require breakdown maintenance. The difference b/w preventive maintenance and mobile maintenance is that the preventive maintenance is having a predefined schedule of each machine on the floor, but mobile maintenance is not having any predefined schedule, maintenance personals are roaming along with a trolley of tools and spare parts on the shop floor to check any machine any time and try to find the defect or fault and also train the operators how to find the fault and how to eliminate these faults. SMEs as well as some large industries is also using the mobile maintenance. Mobile maintenance is one of the pillars of the TPM model for SMEs. The researcher is implementing this mobile maintenance concept in this case study. A researcher has found that few industries situated in Morena & Banmore industrial area are most probably using this mobile maintenance along with preventive maintenance strategy now-a-days. This mobile maintenance concept requires a few numbers of maintenance person with a trolley in which some important tools, standard size nuts and bolts, screws, oils, grease, brushes, safety cloth and spanners and important spare parts, etc. These maintenance personals along with trolley are moving on the floor to do oiling, greasing, cleaning of machines regularly and also to do maintenance of machines so that unplanned downtime of machines will reduce. Mobile maintenance is a very important strategy, especially in SMEs. Shop floor area of SMEs is small, so that this maintenance team can check and maintain each and every machine easily. Sometimes this mobile maintenance is sufficient to maintain machines at shop floor in small and medium scale industry. This mobile maintenance team can also train the operators of different machines for detecting errors as well as for routine maintenance of their machines and so that they can maintain their machines and minimize the unplanned downtime. This mobile maintenance team also increases coordination between operators and maintenance personnel for the overall improvement. This mobile maintenance concept plays a vital role as the first step in the autonomous maintenance implementation.\n4. Case study: Researchers have selected Company A, small scale industry manufacturing an irrigation pipe with a Capacity of 120 MT or Triple Sheet with a 120 MT in a day. The raw material for these products is low density or high density (LD\\HD) granules of Petroleum, which is easily available in bulk quantity in Delhi, Mumbai, Agra and especially in Gujarat. First of all reduce the size of available granules in a mixer which is operated with the help of electrical motor for further operation and after that the raw material of good quality is poured into smaller size funnel and low quality is poured in larger size funnel. The ratio should be maintained according to the quality required by the customer. Quality of product is directly related to cost. As the heating of granules takes place with the help of burner the heated up material flow through a pipe in which a spiral shaped shaft is moving to help the material flow further. As the material reaches the end of the pipe it passes through a die which is used for providing the required diameter of the pipe. Then, the manufactured product goes through a long water tank where the cooling of pipe takes place and the shape of the pipe is maintained. After that the pipe is rolled and sends for the packing.\n5. Conclusion: Today, the high quality of the product is playing a vital role to satisfy customers, which can be attained by adopting a good maintenance strategy to maintain machines on the shop floor. When machines are reliable to produce goods of higher quality than the customer will automatically satisfy. For maintaining machines, maintenance department should adopt either mobile maintenance or preventive maintenance strategy in small and medium size industries. These both strategies of maintenance are the part of the proposed TPM model. This irrigation pipe manufacturing plant has adopted this mobile maintenance and got the improvement in the productivity by reducing breakdowns. Availability, performance, quality rate and OEE have increased by adopting this new maintenance concept. Researchers have concluded that availability, performance, quality rate and OEE of the plant will increase by implementing this mobile maintenance concept and as shown in Table II. Table II show that OEE of all the machines was less than 50 percent before implementation and it increases up to the range of 60 to 70 per cent after implementation of the mobile maintenance concept. According to researchers, that was a drastic change in OEE of equipments in small and medium scale industry. Figure 2 shows that the reduction of breakdown time of machines and Figure 3 show that how OEE of machines will improve after mobile maintenance implementation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce mobile maintenance a new concept of total productive maintenance (TPM) implementation practice, especially in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). This study tries to introduce this new concept for SMEs in SMEs to help traditional maintenance program which is already available in particular industries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach is to study the role of mobile maintenance (a part of TPM program) in context of Indian industries either from small and medium scale to large scale industries through overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).\nFindings: Researchers evolutes a new maintenance concept of TPM implementation practice as mobile maintenance concept in SMEs for enhancing OEE of equipments to improve competitiveness of SMEs in a globalized market. This mobile maintenance strategy can reduce major breakdowns, setup and adjustment losses and improve productivity, product quality and OEE of equipments.\nResearch limitations/implications: In the dynamic and highly challenging environment, reliable manufacturing equipments are regarded as the major contributor to the performance and profitability of manufacturing systems. A researcher has found that some SMEs of Banmore industrial areas is also using mobile maintenance and preventive maintenance along with traditional maintenance process and getting improvements in the maintenance process as well as machine reliability and OEE of equipments. After the globalization of market, SMEs has got many opportunities to work on integration with large-scale organizations.\nOriginality/value: It will be very benefitted for the Indian SMEs. SMEs can improve machine availability and OEE by implementing this mobile maintenance concept especially in SMEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dealing with downstream customers: an exploratory study	[ "Market orientation", "Demand", "Product development", "Business‐to‐business marketing", "Channel relationships" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: Probably the most distinctive characteristic of firms supplying products to other firms, especially those positioned near the beginning of the supply chain, is that the demand for their products is derived from the demand for the customers' products and thus, ultimately, end user demand (Fern and Brown, 1984). But surprisingly, the extant literature all but ignores the problems caused by derived demand. Most business-to-business (B2B) marketing textbooks define derived demand, explain how it complicates demand forecasting, and argue that business marketers should look at both their immediate customers and the downstream markets served by them. But they fail to go beyond these general observations and offer insight into the consequences of derived demand, the managerial challenges it causes and solutions to deal with them. Similarly, the market orientation literature shows that market-oriented organizations are better able to fulfill customer demands and needs with superior products (Atuahene-Gima, 1995; Han et al., 1998; Li and Calantone, 1998), but popular conceptualizations of the market orientation construct only include immediate customers and neglect downstream customers (i.e. the customers' customers, their customers etc).The neglect of these issues in the extant literature is in sharp contrast to the problems many B2B firms experience in dealing with downstream customers. For example, a focus on immediate customers only may harm both product and firm performance. After all, even though immediate customers may be interested in a product, success frequently requires downstream customers to also acknowledge the product's value and invest in it. This is especially relevant for B2B suppliers of entering goods that become part of the customer's product. Extending one's view beyond the firm's immediate customers thus will contribute to product success and firm performance. This is in line with the original conceptualization of the market orientation construct (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990). As Narver and Slater (1990, p. 21) put it, a company \"must understand not only the cost and revenue dynamics of its immediate target buyer firms, but also the cost and revenue dynamics facing the buyers' buyers, from whose demand the demand of the immediate market is derived\". It is also in line with several calls for closer attention to other stakeholders than just the immediate customer (Greenley and Foxall, 1996; Maignan and Ferrel, 2004; Matsuno et al., 2005). Unfortunately, these calls have not been heeded yet; downstream customers are still ignored in market orientation studies, leaving B2B firms in need of actionable guidelines on how to deal with these downstream customers.This paper explores the neglected implications of derived demand. It investigates:* to what extent firms near the beginning of the supply chain are oriented towards downstream customers;* the problems they encounter in extending their market orientation to include downstream customers; and* how they deal with these problems.This study contributes to the extant literature on market orientation by showing how an extended market orientation differs from a traditional market orientation and what this means to firms.The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. First, it discusses the theoretical background focusing on the relationship between firms and their downstream customers in various streams of research. Next, it presents the methodology used in the exploratory study and its major findings. It concludes with a discussion of the study's implications and suggestions for future research.\nTheoretical background: Despite repeated calls for broadening the market orientation construct (Greenley and Foxall, 1996; Maignan and Ferrel, 2004; Matsuno et al., 2005) the question how firms deal with downstream customers has largely been ignored. In line with the concept of market-oriented behavior (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990), an orientation to downstream customers is here defined as the generation, organization-wide dissemination and responsiveness to intelligence about downstream customers. While this is conceptually very similar to traditional market orientation, an orientation to downstream customers is different because B2B firms are by definition separated from their downstream markets by their immediate customers. Especially for suppliers of entering goods (such as components and raw materials) that become part of their customers' products this may result in problems related to:* gathering information about supply chain structure and individual downstream customers (such as supply chain levels, key parties at each level, decision-making processes, product requirements and the level and variability of downstream demand) and disseminating this information to all relevant parties within the firm; and* providing downstream customers with relevant information, i.e. developing effective relationships and targeting them with marketing programs.In other words, the \"distance\" between a supplier and its downstream customers complicates their interaction. This suggests the need for a closer look at how the traditional market orientation concept may be extended.While the literature hardly mentions how firms should deal with downstream customers, certain elements of downstream customer orientation or related issues have been studied. For example, some authors discuss the influence of downstream customers by focusing on the bullwhip effect, referring to the phenomenon that \"orders to the supplier tend to have larger variance than sales to the buyer (i.e. demand distortion), and the distortion propagates upstream in an amplified form (i.e. variance amplification)\" (Lee et al., 1997, p. 546). This bullwhip effect complicates demand forecasting, increases costs and reduces customer service levels. McCullen and Towill (2002, p. 178) concluded that the bullwhip effect is still \"alive and travels well over long distances\". Others looked at specific methods to approach downstream customers. For example, the marketing literature on pull strategies describes how demand from immediate customers may be stimulated by targeting downstream customers (Paliwoda and Bonaccorsi, 1993) or by using ingredient branding, i.e. branding aimed at downstream customers (McCarthy and Norris, 1999; Venkatesh and Mahajan, 1997).The business network literature acknowledges the importance of indirect relationships (Mattsson, 1987), but largely ignores the role of downstream customers. For instance, while many researchers investigated the involvement of suppliers, competitors, distributors and other third parties in NPD (Gemunden et al., 1996; Hakansson, 1987; Ford, 1997), the role of downstream customers has been neglected. This is a glaring oversight because new products that do not fulfill the needs of downstream customers are not likely to succeed (Jones and Ritz, 1991; Mesak and Darrat, 2004).The supply chain management (SCM) literature explicitly addresses interactions between organizations at different levels of the supply chain. While some argue that firms may also flourish using a rather narrow \"customer horizon\", excluding most downstream customers (Holmen and Pedersen, 2003; Storer et al., 2003), SCM's central tenet is that firms in a supply chain affect the performance of other supply chain members (Mentzer et al., 2001). This implies the need to understand the entire supply chain and cooperate and coordinate with other member firms (Cooper et al., 1997; Spekman et al., 1998; Skjoett-Larsen et al., 2003; Gundlach et al., 2006, Soroor et al., 2009). For instance, Holmen et al. (2007) describe how firms may use supply network initiatives to create a supply network. The SCM literature also stresses the role and importance of power (e.g. Butaney and Wortzel, 1988; Hingley, 2005) and trust (e.g. Myhr and Spekman, 2005). But although a supply chain implies interaction between multiple actors, empirical studies typically take a dyadic approach focusing on buyer-seller relationships in the context of a supply chain and ignoring issues concerning the supply chain as a whole (Carter and Ellram, 2003). A notable exception is a study of the orientation of the whole supply chain on the end-consumer (Grunert et al., 2005). The present study extends this study by focusing on the orientation of one firm (rather than a whole supply chain) on all downstream customers (not necessarily the end-consumer) and investigating how firms deal with the intricacies of derived demand.\nResearch method: Treading on relatively unfamiliar grounds, this study used an exploratory research method. In-depth interviews with managers from upstream suppliers were used to investigate the extent to which they are aware of downstream customers and take them into account. To increase the likelihood that suppliers are aware of and working with downstream customers, we selected suppliers positioned near the beginning of their supply chains. In addition, the selected firms represent various industries (fibers, food ingredients, metal, plastics) to capture a diverse set of contexts.The study consists of two phases. The first phase used a rather broad approach to the topic, using a semi-structured list of issues to explore the role of downstream customers and identify relevant issues. The interviews covered firm demographics, supply chain structures, the extent to which suppliers work with downstream customers, problems experienced in dealing with downstream customers, strategies for dealing with them and their success.Because the first phase revealed that issues with downstream customers are especially relevant when firms are developing and marketing new products, the second phase zoomed in on the most relevant issues in this context. In each respondent firm, a recently introduced new product was selected and respondents were asked to discuss the roles of immediate and downstream customers in developing and marketing that product. Firms were added to the sample until the results converged and additional interviews yielded no substantial new insight (Eisenhardt, 1989). A total of 11 products from nine firms were investigated, including a coating, a robot for agriculture, an ingredient for cattle feed and a plastic. This second phase refined the findings from the first phase.In total, i.e. for both phases of the study, we interviewed 31 respondents from 21 firms. We asked for the person most knowledgeable about the firm's customers and marketing efforts as our respondent. In most firms, this was a senior manager with a job title that clearly indicated his/her involvement with the firm's markets and customers (such as business unit managers or marketing managers). In other firms, the most suitable respondent turned out to be a general manager or R&D manager. The interviews typically lasted one-and-a-half to two hours. All interviews were tape-recorded. Detailed interview reports were sent to the respondents, who checked them for mistakes or omissions and offered further explanation for ambiguous issues. The interview reports were coded using descriptive, interpretive and pattern codes (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Familiar techniques such as tables and flowcharts (Miles and Huberman, 1994) were used to explore ideas and shape the analysis. Following qualitative inquiry practices, we coded our data iteratively and constantly refined our interpretations on the basis of subsequent interview data. When subsequent data did not raise any questions about our interpretations or add anything new to our understanding, we agreed that we had reached saturation.\nResults: All respondents were well aware of the importance of downstream customers, but this awareness did not always cause them to pay special attention to them. Some managers accepted the influence of downstream customers as an inherent characteristic of their supply chains and felt that it was outside their control. In the words of one respondent: \"many people [in our firm] just focus on our customers and don't look any further. It would only make things more complicated and there is little we can do about it.\" Others realized that downstream customers complicate product development and marketing by requiring suppliers to look beyond their immediate customers. Firms found involving downstream customers problematic (or shied away from even trying) because of several barriers related to gathering information from and providing information to downstream customers. These barriers as well as how firms try to deal with these barriers are discussed below.Value of the product to downstream customers\nDiscussion: This study contributes to the extant literature about market orientation by investigating three related issues:1. the extent to which firms near the beginning of the supply chain are oriented towards downstream customers;2. the problems they encounter when extending their market orientation to include downstream customers; and3. the strategies to deal with these problems.This is the first study that expands the concept of market orientation to downstream customers and thus contributes to the extant literature on both market orientation and B2B marketing. It explores not only the extent of B2B suppliers' orientation towards downstream customers, but also the problems in implementing such an orientation and strategies that increase the likelihood of success. Our findings suggest that firms near the beginning of the supply chain know that downstream customers influence the success of their new products, and thus their long-term survival, but at the same time many fail to act on this. Thus, in terms of recognition firms near the beginning of the supply chain are fairly oriented to downstream customers, but not in terms of actual behavior. This reflects the market orientation literature, which conceptualizes market orientation from both behavioral and cognitive perspectives (Homburg and Pflesser, 2000) and which notes that several barriers may prevent a market-oriented culture from resulting in market-oriented behavior (Matsuno et al., 2005). This study contributes to this literature by showing that additional barriers prevent firms from extending the traditional market orientation concept and implementing an orientation towards downstream customers.Our study identified several barriers that may prevent a firm from implementing a downstream customer orientation, either related to downstream customers (the degree to which downstream customers recognize the value of upstream products), to the immediate customers (the degree to which immediate customers are unsupportive to the firm), or to the firm itself (capabilities needed for a downstream customer orientation). This emphasizes that, unlike the traditional market orientation, an orientation towards downstream customers requires a multi-actor perspective. A firm's ability to effectively work with downstream customers largely depends on the immediate customers' willingness to cooperate. Even when downstream customers are convinced of an upstream product's value, immediate customers may resist the supplier's downstream activities. This finding echoes the role of dependence as a key factor in understanding supply chain relationships (Grunert et al., 2005; Palmer, 2007).Managerial implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - In B2B markets, the demand for a supplier's products is derived from demand further down the supply chain. This complexity poses several challenges for B2B firms, especially when they are located near the beginning of a supply chain. This study aims to investigate to what extent firms near the beginning of the supply chain are oriented towards downstream customers, the problems they encounter in extending their market orientation to include downstream customers, and how they deal with these problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study uses an exploratory research method. It is based on in-depth interviews with 31 managers from 21 upstream suppliers.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that firms are aware of the importance of downstream customers, but frequently fail to establish effective relationships with them. The paper identifies several barriers that hamper an orientation on downstream customers and shows how firms may deal with these barriers.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper includes several implications for further research, including the suggestion to test a set of seven propositions.\nPractical implications: - This study identifies several barriers that may prevent a firm from implementing a downstream customer orientation as well as several strategies to deal with these barriers.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores the neglected implications of derived demand, one of the most distinctive characteristics of B2B marketing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competition in the sparkling wine market in the Czech Republic	[ "Oligopoly", "Time series", "Analytical economic model", "Bohemia Sekt", "Dominant company", "Sparkling wines", "Vine growing", "Vineyards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Vine growing for the production of wine constitutes one of the major areas of agriculture of the Czech Republic, and in recent years, it has been qualitatively improved. Of the total wine production in the Czech Republic, two thirds are white wine and one third is red wine. These ratios correspond to the ratio of vineyards planted with white and blue varieties. The total area of vineyards in the Czech Republic is over 18,700 ha. The share of the Moravian wine-growing region in the total area of vineyards in the Czech Republic is 96.4 per cent, whereas the share of the Bohemian wine-growing region is a mere 3.6 per cent. For this reason, most of the sparkling wines produced in the Czech Republic come from the Moravia region (Kraus et al., 2010). However, \"The Czech Republic is a country in which the production of wine meets approximately one third of the total demand\" (Tomsik and Sedlo, 2013). Nevertheless, most of the sparkling wines sold in the Czech Republic are produced by Czech producers (see Figure 7).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 How are sparkling wines produced?\n3. Materials and methods: 3.1 Definition of issues and methodology\n4. Research results: 4.1 The sparkling wine market in the Czech Republic\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Competitive fringe in the sparkling wine market\n6. Conclusions: The Czech Republic is a country in which the domestic production of wine meets approximately one third of the total demand. However, this does not apply to the sparkling wine market, where most of the consumer demand (more than three-fourth) is met by domestic production. Here, the sparkling wine market is characteristic of an oligopoly with a dominant company; and, in addition to the dominant company, Bohemia Sekt, other smaller domestic companies and in particular, foreign competitors with well-known, branded sparkling wines are operating in the competitive fringe in this market.\n7. Practical implications, limitations of the research and future research recommendations: 7.1 Recommendations for Bohemia Sekt\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Vine growing for the production of wine constitutes one of the major areas of agriculture of the Czech Republic, and in recent years, it has been qualitatively improved. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether oligopolistic market structures have come into being on the sparkling wine market in the Czech Republic, and whether some wine firms have a dominant position on the sparkling wine market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The purpose of this study is to find, compare and carry out a statistical analysis of data on the production and sale of sparkling wines in the Czech Republic, in particular the indicators of the sales and profits of the dominant producer, Bohemia Sekt. In retail chains in the Czech Republic, the price of domestic and foreign sparkling wines was then compared with a comparative analysis.\nFindings: The dominant seller of sparkling wine on the Czech market is Bohemia Sekt, which is also the largest domestic non-sparkling and sparkling wine producer. Bohemia Sekt sold 11 m bottles of sparkling wine on the Czech market in 2015 and maintained a 67 per cent share of the domestic market. Traditionally, Christmas time and the end of the year is the main season for selling sparkling wines in the Czech Republic, as more than one-third of the annual production of all wineries is sold at this time.\nOriginality/value: The paper presents a finding about the consistency of the prices of sparkling wines offered in retail chains in the Czech Republic. This confirms the validity of using the model of oligopolistic competition with a dominant company on the sparkling wine market in the Czech Republic. The dominance of Bohemia Sekt in the given market is mainly due to the loyalty of Czech consumers to this brand.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital efficiency and organisational performance: In the context of the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh	[ "Pharmaceutical industry", "Intellectual capital", "Emerging economy", "Organizational performance", "Corporate performance", "Value-added intellectual coefficient" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Value creation, in the knowledge-based economy, is mostly determined by the effective utilisation of intangible assets. These intangibles often referred to as intellectual capital are an organisation's knowledge-based assets that are a source of competitive advantage (Kweh et al., 2019; Ahmed et al., 2019; Ferramosca and Ghio, 2018; Dzenopoljac et al., 2017; Al-Musali and Ismail, 2014). Hence, intellectual capital management is a key function of the value creation process and performance improvement, which is an essential goal of any business (Campanella et al., 2014; Gigante, 2013).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Intellectual capital, intellectual capital disclosure and value creation\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Research gap and research questions\n4. Findings and discussion: 4.1 Intellectual capital performance of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies\n5. Conclusions, research implications and limitations: This study contributes to an ongoing dialogue among management and accounting scholars regarding the role of intellectual capital. In the absence of managerial practice and enthusiasm for disclosing and interpreting intellectual capital (as evident in the studies of Giacosa et al., 2017; Abhayawansa and Azim, 2014), information might make it difficult for the stakeholders to align intellectual capital efficiency with innovation and corporate performance (Campanella et al., 2014). Giacosa et al. (2017) created an effectively integrated framework by combining intellectual capital disclosure with performance measures such as value-added models. Consistent with Abhayawansa and Azim (2014), who found the intellectual capital reporting framework inconsistent in the Bangladeshi pharmaceutical industry, in this paper, we aim for an effective and consistent framework for intellectual capital disclosure, which will enable more decision facilitation or usefulness for all stakeholders, including global investors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, the first of its kind, investigate the relationship between the intellectual capital efficiency and organisational performance of the pharmaceutical sector in Bangladesh, an emerging economy that enjoys Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) relaxation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used hand-picked data from annual reports for five years. The relationship between efficient use of intellectual capital and corporate performance was examined through the practical use of human capital, structural capital and capital employed. Multiple regressions were used to assess their impact on financial performance - specifically, return on assets, return on equity, asset turnover and market-to-book value.\nFindings: Value-added intellectual coefficient components (i.e. human capital, structural capital and capital employed) significantly explained asset turnover and return on assets but failed to predict the return on equity outcome. Additionally, asset turnover was negatively influenced by structural capital and positively influenced by capital employed. The return on assets was mostly affected by variation in human capital. Intellectual capital did not predict market-to-book value or investment decisions.\nPractical implications: This paper provides useful resources for evaluating the financial performance and value creation of companies in emerging economies that enjoy TRIPS exemptions; this research could also be extended using cross-industry comparisons. The findings have theoretical and practical implications, particularly for the pharmaceutical industry in emerging economy contexts, and for managers globally.\nOriginality/value: This study is among only a few that have reported on the relationship between intellectual capital efficiency and value creation in emerging economy contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Team composition of new venture founding teams: does personality matter?	[ "Personality", "Entrepreneurial teams", "Team composition" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: More new ventures are created by teams rather than by sole entrepreneurs (Aldrich et al., 2004; Davidsson and Honig, 2003). Hunsdiek (1987) reports that new high-tech ventures in Germany have a median of 2.2 entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial teams are founders of 70 percent of the firms in the high-tech industries in the USA (Cooper et al., 1990). And team-started businesses account for a disproportionately greater number of high-growth firms (Kamm et al., 1990). The composition of new venture founding teams potentially shapes new business growth (Wright and Vanaelst, 2009), because the members of the team at the top make big decisions and shape the strategy, culture, and structure of the new venture (Finkelstein et al., 2009). Although recent research has paid increasing attention to the composition of new venture founding teams (Cooney, 2005; Harper, 2008; Zhou et al., 2015), significant research gaps exist regarding how new venture founding teams form and how team composition relates to new venture growth. A review of the entrepreneurial team literature (Zhou and Rosini, 2015) reveals three specific research needs.\nTheory and hypotheses: Since its conception, the Big Five model of personality (Costa and McCrae, 1988; Digman, 1990) has been commonly used to study the team personality composition (Stewart, 2006; Bell, 2007; Barrick et al., 1998). While meta-analytic evidence has witnessed the effect of Big Five traits on team performance, this link has been found to be weak (Bell, 2007; Peeters et al., 2006). And moreover, the study of personality traits on team performance in the context of entrepreneurship remains scarce (Zhou and Rosini, 2015). One possible explanation regarding the weak link between personality composition and team performance is how the trait scores were aggregated to the team level (Halfhill et al., 2005). Rather than studying Big Five personality traits, Halfhill et al. (2005) used a task-relationship dichotomy as a framework to aggregate the Big Five personality traits into two broad categories: task-oriented personality and relationship-oriented personality. This method is consistent with Rauch and Frese's (2007) claim that in the study of team personality composition researchers should ask if the trait is matched to the task or not. As a matter of fact, the notion of a task-relationship dichotomy in general team process is well established (McGrath, 1984) and has been adopted by recent meta-analytic reviews (e.g. Prewett et al., 2009). Therefore, in this study we propose that a good match between traits and the tasks of running a business allows for higher validities in the context of entrepreneurship research than personality traits not matched to entrepreneurship.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Hypothesis testing using task vs relationship dichotomy\nDiscussion: Research on personality composition of new venture founding teams remains limited (Simsek et al., 2007; Zhou, 2013). The findings of this study increase our understanding of how founding team personality composition influences new venture growth and provide guidance to leading entrepreneurs looking to find team members. Three main findings emerged from the current study. First, high level but low diversity of team task-oriented personality was beneficial for new venture founding teams. Second, diversity of team task-oriented personality would hurt the new venture growth more when the level of task-oriented personality was low. Third, relationship-oriented personality diversity, but not the level of relationship-oriented personality, influenced new venture growth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: First, using the task-relationship dichotomy as a framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine the direct effects of team personality level and team personality diversity on new venture growth. Second, the study examines the interaction effects of team personality level and diversity on venture growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample consisted of 154 teams in a technology incubator in China. Data were collected through an online survey.\nFindings: Results indicate that high level but low diversity of team task-oriented personality was beneficial for new venture founding teams. Diversity of team task-oriented personality would hurt the new venture growth more when the level of task-oriented personality was low. Relationship-oriented personality diversity, but not the level of relationship-oriented personality, influenced new venture growth.\nResearch limitations/implications: These findings advance research in entrepreneurship, groups, and teams, and provide practical policy implications as well.\nPractical implications: This study provides practical implications for policy makers regarding what supports should be provided in incubators and for entrepreneurs regarding team member selection.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first papers to study the personality composition of new venture founding teams.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The UK licensed trade: Making the case for a professional body and career framework	[ "Professional services", "Trade", "Ethics", "Professional ethics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Hall (1976) felt that the term \"career\" belonged to the professions. Liody (1956) identified three key characteristics in the professions: specialised intellectual training equivalent to at least an academic degree; standards of proficiency and success based on idealism and ethics rather than financial reward; and associations devoted to maintaining and improving the quality of the profession's services. Using such definitions, UK pub licensees belong neither to a career nor a profession. For census purposes, they are placed within a category that requires no academic qualifications. As Steven (2000, p. 27) put it \"the pub trade has often been seen as being at the lower end of the employment scale\". However, the industry is extremely competitive, so those running the outlets need to be competent to survive. Nevertheless, licensees are regularly criticised in the press for irresponsible service. There is a clear need for alcohol retailers to demonstrate that they are addressing the issue of anti-social behaviour caused by excessive alcohol consumption. One solution could be to introduce a professional body with high standards of proficiency, ethics and conduct which would deny membership to those contravening the code. Thereby, they would not be permitted to trade. This study is an attempt to investigate the viability of such a proposal and to offer practical suggestions on possible requirements for membership. As this would involve much investigation and consultation with the trade, the local authorities, which grant their licences, consumer bodies and the general public, the article is not intended as a definitive detailed proposal but as a catalyst for debate on a possible method of regulating excessive alcohol consumption.\nMethodology: This study collects data from a wide variety of secondary sources to outline the problems caused by alcohol and to consider methods of controlling sales in a responsible manner. This material is used to suggest and support a potential way of addressing the problems. Thus, the work employs only secondary sources. This does not weaken the discussion. The research interests of both authors lie within the field of licensed house management. This has given them an insight into the trade arising from primary research activity. Moreover, as Cowton (1998, p. 430) observed, \"secondary data might provide some useful material when it is simply not possible to gain research access for the gathering of primary data\". This is particularly pertinent in the study of ethics.\nThe problems of alcohol and the organisation of the industry: The results of excessive alcohol consumption\nOne solution - a compulsory professional body for the licensed trade: One way forward to provide greater protection for society at large in the licensed trade could be the creation of a trade association upon a model comparable with existing professions. The argument against business regulation is well rehearsed and is particularly raised in respect of small businesses. However Pratten and Lovatt (2005b, p. 661) have mooted the idea of greater regulation to provide public protection in this sensitive field of alcohol consumption. They espoused \"the need for greater control and the creation of a professional model to achieve optimum benefits for the trade and society\".There already exists a professional body for the industry. The British Institute of Innkeepers was founded in 1981, and has almost 17,000 individual members. It has its own awarding body with qualifications ranging from stage 1 for bar staff to stage 5 for senior managers. Many pub managers are members, having been suitably trained by the institute, but three quarters of licensees are independent operators, many untrained. There is no compulsion for these to become full members of the institute. This body could be an ideal vehicle to head a more professional industry. If membership involved academic knowledge and practical skills, and was compulsory to gain a personal license, then the entire sector would become better qualified and more able to tackle problems such as excessive alcohol consumption.Membership could include trade specific knowledge and skills such as:* Business affairs, including financial management, stock control, relevant taxation such as PAYE, VAT and national insurance, consumer protection and employment legislation.* Management, concentrating on knowledge and skills appropriate to practitioners such as customer relationship management, diplomacy and conflict resolution, managing staff and motivation and reward schemes.* Trade specific concerns, such as licensing laws, alcohol and drug abuse, hygiene and environmental legal requirements, food preparation rules with a strategy for dealing with food allergic conditions. These topics would complement specific product knowledge and strategies to cope with difficult customers. In addition, the ethical framework could be emphasised throughout, reinforcing the need for high standards of professional conduct.\nAdvantages of the proposal: This proposal addresses some of the key issues on an ethical and practical basis. Corporate social responsibility would be supported by the incorporation into the profession of a code of ethical behaviour (Boatwright, 1997). Regulations with strict enforcement procedures would tackle marketing and sales may at the moment encourage unethical behaviour (Farrell et al., 2002). Creating a code to enhance the impact for practitioners would be effective when written specifically for the licensed trade. The links between the use of the law to promote ethical behaviour and corporate social responsibility espoused by Lantos (1999) would also be addressed. The ultimate sanction available is that if a licensee were to be found to be in breach of the professional code he could be removed from membership and so it would become unlawful for him to trade. Schwartz (2002, pp. 29-30) has advanced a set of universal moral standards by which all corporate codes of ethics could be evaluated. These could be benchmarks for the future code to be incorporated into the new professional body:* Trustworthiness, including honesty, integrity and reliability could be fundamental.* Respect, including human rights, is already addressed by general legal requirements but could be made explicitly specific to the new profession.* Responsibility and accountability to the controlling body and the public at large which again forms an integral part of professional bodies' raisons d'etre.* Fairness is essential and would be demonstrated by the concepts of process, impartiality and equity. This would be dealt with by an appropriate complaints procedure that is made transparent embracing the rules of natural justice for the benefit of all parties.* Caring would be met by the principal aims and objectives of the professional body where avoiding harm to the public would be accentuated.* Citizenship would be accomplished as there would be greater emphasis upon linking the code of behaviour with legal sanctions.* Content should refer to stakeholders and should comply with moral standards that take precedence over profit.* Adequate and appropriate disciplinary rules for breach of the code that should be easily understood and achievable.The issue of excessive consumption on licensed premises would be met by the enforcement of the rules of the professional body. Needless to say this does not cover issues arising from off sales and private consumption. The need for greater emphasis upon education and training in trade related matters could be achieved through the compulsory qualification that licensees would have to hold in order to be permitted to trade. Securing increased compliance would now be solved to a large extent by the creation of the body and its regulatory code. The disciplinary rules and procedures could lead to the removal of the licensee from the profession which would mean that it would now be unlawful for him to trade. This would be closely scrutinised by the profession. A probationary period of membership could also be introduced as part of the process. The social responsibilities of the licensees to curtail binge drinking would be a key factor during this period.\nLimiting factors: Clearly there is a problem in the lengthy stage between the creation of the body, the date by which all new licensees must be members and the emergence of a fully qualified profession. Of greater concern is whether or not such a move would achieve its objectives. It would improve the academic knowledge and skills of licensees. Managers at the moment must receive training that brings them somewhere near the levels envisaged for membership. The independent sector would gain. However, several issues remain. Would an improved business framework ensure greater profitability? If this is not the case, then the temptation to break licensing laws would remain, in order to retain economic viability (Pratten, 2005). There might also be the temptation to ignore employment legislation, and omit the payments of holiday pay, the minimum wage, etc. (Pratten and Lovatt, 2005a). In addition, would the need to qualify formally deter good recruits from entering the industry?The member must ensure that staff behaves in exactly the same, correct manner, with breaches by staff punishable in the same way as breaches by the licensee. This could be introduced into standard terms and conditions of employment but would be another obstacle to be met. Antipathy to the proposal would be encountered with some parts of the trade that already object to or ignore over regulation.\nConclusions: There can be little doubt that the excessive consumption of alcohol can cause problems both to the drinkers and those around them. In the UK, the publicity relating to such excesses suggests that something should be done to address the problem. It is easy to blame those who actually serve drinks for all of the ills of alcohol. On the other hand, each retail outlet is run by someone licensed as fit and capable of performing the task adequately. There is already recognised a need for some degree of regulation with powers to control the behaviour of licensees. Those who fail to do so can have their licence removed. The suggestion is that this should be taken even further with a professional body created needing compulsory membership. The concept of some form of self-certification for licensees is rejected as it does not meet the needs of the trade or solve the problems identified previously. With a compulsory membership, breaches of the conditions of membership would result in the loss of licence. It would have the additional benefit of increasing the skills and knowledge of members, of reducing the possibility of business failure and improving the standards of service offered to the public by all licensees. It could be argued that such an arrangement represents little more than an extension of the existing arrangements into a nationally standardised system but with increased accountability.There is much room for further debate in this field. The government and its agencies would need to consult with the licensed trade and consider the views of its members. Further dialogue would be needed with the Local Authorities who grant the licences to premises and to persons and the public viewpoint should be sought through the various consumer bodies. The proposal for a profession is not a panacea but it does offer some solutions to the practical and ethical problems which affect the industry. In light of this the topic is worthy of further research, consultation and debate in the interests of society as a whole.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the need for the creation of a professional body whose membership would be essential for those wishing to hold a licence for the retailing of alcohol in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The Home Office and similar sources are employed to establish the problems of alcohol abuse. Trade information is utilised to consider the attitude of various stakeholders to this issue. Ethical texts examine expected responses from the sector. From these authoritative sources a solution has been proposed.\nFindings: - The results led to the proposal that the establishment of a compulsory professional body be considered.\nResearch limitations/implications: - There is a lack of empirical research to investigate the proposal. This would be necessary to progress the idea.\nPractical implications: - The proposal for a professional body whose membership would be compulsory for a licence-holder would be the subject of a major policy debate.\nOriginality/value: - This embryonic proposal is original and would be of interest to all stakeholders.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
To pay or not to pay: what matters the most for dividend payments?	[ "Dividends", "Business group", "Consistency", "Crisis", "Financial constraints", "Cash-flow uncertainty", "G21", "G23", "G31", "G34" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The distribution of residual profit among residual claimants is dividend payout decision. Dividend payout has important implications as it gratifies the existing shareholders and entices the newer ones. Dividend payout decisions are a trade-off between ploughing back the profits, for better future, by investment into growth assets or returning it, immediately to investors, it actually belongs. The extant literature reports different confounding annotations concerning dividend distribution and its impact on firm value. Veteran value investors like Graham and Dodd (1940) reported a direct relation between dividends and market price of the share. Walter (1963) recommended payout on the basis of life stage of the firms whereas, Gordon (1962) believed risk averse investors prefer certain returns, hence, use higher discount rate for future returns. As per signaling hypothesis, managers use dividends to communicate better prospect of the company as compared to the competitors (Bhattacharya, 1979). Clientele effects entail mangers using dividends as a measure to satisfy the demand of payouts from congregated investors (Allen and Michaely, 2003). Modigliani and Miller, in their well-known dividend irrelevance theory, reported dividends to be irrelevant for firm valuation. Although payout policy is an important corporate finance decision, its ir/relevance from the companies or investors viewpoint is an unresolved puzzle, as reported by Black(1976).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: The extant literature on dividends and its determinants reveals several facets of firms' payout policy. We present a summary of relevant existing studies in this area suitable for our investigation.\n3. Data and variables: The data used in the study are collected from the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy Prowess database, a publicly available firm-level database (Ghosh, 2016). Our sample covers all firms listed on National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange for the period of April 2001-March2016. We exclude financial firms, utility firms, and government firms as their decisions are largely influenced by regulations and government policies. We collect annual data for firm characteristics measured by different variables. Subsequently, we delete several firms from the sample such as extremely misreported data on some of the relevant variables, data of firms with no reported information on relevant variables, etc. We winsorize all variables at the bottom and the top at 1percent level to mitigate the effect of outliers. After these adjustments, the final panel consists of 29,189 firm-year observations.\n4. Empirical methodology and results: 4.1 Model specification\n5. Conclusions: The paper identifies the determinants of dividend payout and examines their consistency across time periods (stable, crisis and recovery) in a multivariate regression framework. The analysis is conducted using dummy variables for sub-periods and firm categories in a panel regression setting along several controls. Using all firms listed on stock exchanges in India for the period of 2001-2015, we find that firms exhibit stickiness behavior for dividends payout. Further, we observe that group firms on average pay 5.7 percent higher dividends as compared to standalone firms in all times. Firms that paid dividend last year pay around 15.5 percent higher dividend than others do in stable period. Moreover, these firms also cut on dividend during bad times and their group affiliation moderately matters for payout level decisions. Size and age affect payout levels positively. Leverage is a significant determinant of payout level only during stable time with a negative sign. The profitability of firms also has positive but varying effects on dividends level across times, whereas the effect of MB ratio turns positive during recovery period. NPNI effects on dividends differ significantly during crisis period as compared to other times. Average payout of the firm decreases with financial constraint of the firm. Group firm with uncertain cash flows pays significantly lower dividends (around 15 percent) compared to standalone firms, this can be attributed to the huge internal funding needs of member firms in times of high cash-flow uncertainty. Overall, we find support for all outlined hypothesis in the study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the stickiness of payout policy across times for Indian firms, by identifying the determinants of dividend payout (for amount of dividends as well as probability of dividends) and examine their predictive consistency through good and bad times, affiliation categories, amid controls for idiosyncratic characteristics. The authors also examine the scantly explored effects of financial constraints on firms' dividend decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use various regression models, i.e. panel, Tobit and logit models; and amid control for firm-specific characteristics throughout the analysis.\nFindings: The authors observe payout levels on average increasing with time for Indian firms. Further, group firms pay higher dividends compared to standalone firms. Firms' leverage, profitability, non-promoters holdings, growth prospects and dividend event are apparently the important determinants of payout ratio and are mostly, but not always, consistent through times and firms' categories, for both the amount as well as the likelihood of dividend payments. Financial constraints have an overall negative impact on dividends with significantly varying magnitude across periods of stability, crisis and recovery. Firms' age and size are positive and significant factors for dividends level decisions in Indian firms, which is consistent with the life-cycle theory. However, inconsistent size and age effect is observed in determining the likelihood of dividend payment.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study adds to the growing literature on the changing trends and contributing factors of firms' dividend payout policy.\nOriginality/value: This study provides evidence on predictive consistency of payout policy of firms and its determination with the change in the external economic condition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of perceived organizational support on emotional labor in the airline industry	[ "Emotional labour", "Emotional exhaustion", "Perceived organizational support", "Organizational outcomes", "Flight attendant", "Organizational performance", "Job commitment", "Employees turnover", "Employees behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Flight attendants' high-quality service for airline passengers is considered a key element to achieve competitiveness in the market since they provide customer service representing the airline, which provides a profound impact on customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions (Liang and Hsieh, 2007). Since flight attendants have direct contact with passengers for long periods of time, their manners and emotional attitudes toward passengers heavily shapes passenger perception of the airline's image. However, relatively little attention has been given to flight attendants' emotions, even though their emotional state has an immediate effect on service quality, and the nature of interactions with passengers (Chang and Chiu, 2009). Thus, systematic studies of flight attendants' emotions are necessary for improving the quality of service, and further developing the firm's competitive advantages over other competitors in the airline industry.In response to those needs, recent theoretical and empirical studies have focused on how employees should express and control their emotions, particularly those that are specific and desired by their organizations, referred to as emotional labor (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993; Hochschild, 1983; Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987). Hochschild (1983, p. 7) defined emotional labor as the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display. Along with physical and intellectual labor, emotional labor is considered to be the main psychological element of demand that regulates the display of one's own emotions in particular ways, and influences the organizations productiveness (Morris and Feldman, 1996).In the literature on emotional labor, engaging in emotional labor involves two kinds of emotional regulation strategies, referred to as surface acting and deep acting (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993; Hochschild, 1983; Grandey, 2000; Morris and Feldman, 1996). Surface acting involves faking or pretending to have the desired emotions, whereas deep acting engages in involving actually experiencing the expected emotions (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993). Especially, service employees in a hospitality organization (i.e. flight attendants) are under strict requirements to use these forms of emotional regulation strategies (i.e. either surface or deep acting) to control their overt behavior and private emotions in order to maintain positive interactions with customers.Establishing emotional bonds between service employees and its customers in a hospitality organization is essential in achieving its competitive advantages over competitors (Jain and Jain, 2005; Lam and Chen, 2012), but few studies have investigated how emotional labor influences service relationships, and particularly which factors affect the use of different emotional labor strategies among service employees (Lam and Chen, 2012; Riley, 2007). More specifically, we do not know why flight attendants might employ different emotional strategies (i.e. either surface or deep acting) when interacting with passengers.Drawing upon affective event theory (AET) that emphasizes organizational events as proximal causes of affective reactions, work contexts (i.e. organizational or supervisory support) influence not only affective states (i.e. anger, anxiety, unhappiness, and tiredness), but also behavioral reactions of service employees (i.e. emotional labor, service quality, organizational commitment, and turnover) (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). This study therefore postulates that perceived organizational support (POS) may be a strong predictor or antecedent for flight attendants to use different emotional labor strategies, which functions as a proximal cause of affective reactions, attitudes, and behaviors (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996).POS is defined as the perception of employees concerning the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their wellbeing based on social exchange theory (SET) (Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002). Since POS generates one's sense of obligation to care about the organization's welfare based on the reciprocity norm (e.g. Eisenberger et al., 2001), it may affect the decision-making of flight attendants' emotional regulation strategies; higher POS flight attendants posses, more deep acting they may perform due to an intensive obligation to repay their organization, which is actually experiencing organizationally expected emotions (Eisenberger et al., 2001).Based upon affective event theory (AET), and social exchange theory (SET), this study attempts to enrich literature in the field of hospitability management, especially for airline industry, by clarifying the roles of the work context (POS), and its effect on behavior (emotional labor), and affective reaction (emotional exhaustion) among flight attendants. This paper therefore proposes the model as shown in Figure 1 to examine whether the two forms of acting have different associations with POS and emotional exhaustion. Overall, this study attempts to investigate the role of POS not only as an antecedent on emotional labor, but also as a moderator of the relationships between emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. In addition, this paper demonstrates how two forms of emotional labor (i.e. surface and deep acting) affect emotional exhaustion, how emotional exhaustion relates to organizational commitment, and how organizational commitment influences turnout intentions (see Figure 1).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The conceptualization of emotional labor and its significance for the airline industry\n3. Research method: 3.1 Data collection and participant characteristics\n4. Results: 4.1 Data analysis\n5. Discussion: The purpose of this study was to examine how POS affects flight attendants' selection of emotional labor strategies, and whether POS plays a role as an antecedent and/or a moderator on surface and deep acting with regard to emotional exhaustion. In addition, this study was to examine not only whether surface and deep acting have different effects on emotional exhaustion, but also whether emotional exhaustion is directly related to organizational commitment, which is linked to turnover intention.Our results and findings generally supported our hypotheses. We found that POS had a significantly positive effect on deep acting (H1a), but no significant negative effect on surface acting (H1b). This study also found that POS worked as a moderator on both the relationship between deep acting and emotional exhaustion (H5a) and between surface acting and emotional exhaustion (H5b). Consistent with the AET that POS (work event) influences emotional regulation strategies (behavioral reaction), and the SET that POS strengthens employee affective commitment via the reciprocity norm (Eisenberger et al., 1986; Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002), our findings have demonstrated that POS is more likely to be associated with deep acting that demands higher levels of affective organizational commitment.This study also found that emotional labor regulations (i.e. surface and deep acting) have different impacts on emotional exhaustion, consistent with previous studies (Brotheridge and Grandey, 2002; Brotheridge and Lee, 2002). Results have shown that deep acting had a negative effect on emotional exhaustion (H2a), while surface acting had a positive effect on emotional exhaustion (H2b). Finally, as expected, this study demonstrated a negative relationship with emotional exhaustion and organizational commitment (H3), and a negative relationship with organizational commitment and turnover intention (H4).5.1 Implications for research and practice\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the present study was to examine whether and how the perceived organizational support (POS) influences emotional labor and the relationship between emotional labor and flight attendants' outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Structural equation modeling analysis provided support for the hypotheses from a sample of 256 flight attendants in South Korea.\nFindings: - The results showed that POS has a positive effect on deep acting. Furthermore, it was found that surface acting has a positive influence on emotional exhaustion, whereas deep acting has a negative influence on emotional exhaustion. In addition, emotional exhaustion has a negative influence on organizational commitment, while organizational commitment has a negative influence on turnover intention. Furthermore, POS moderated the relationship between deep acting or surface acting and emotional exhaustion.\nOriginality/value: - The current study broadened the conceptual work and laboratory studies in emotional labor by examining the role of POS on emotional regulation strategies related to emotional exhaustion. In addition, this study sheds new light on customer service management within the airline industry by examining flight attendants' emotional labor, particularly interactions with POS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational change and the psychological contract: How change influences the perceived fulfillment of obligations	[ "Attitude towards change", "Fulfillment of obligations", "Organizational change", "Psychological contracts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizational change is an inherent part of daily life in contemporary organizations. Combined with the recent economic downturn, it is likely that the new workplace reality will significantly redefine employment relationships and have an impact on individuals' psychological contracts (Guest, 2004; Freese, 2007; van den Heuvel and Schalk, 2009; Chaudry et al., 2011). A lot has been written about the consequences of organizational change (Bouckenooghe, 2010). Numerous studies have explored the positive consequences of change, such as readiness for change (Holt et al., 2007), commitment to change (Chen and Wang, 2007) and the positive aspects of resistance to change (Ford et al., 2008) as well as negative consequences such as increased levels of employee stress (Korunka et al., 2003). However, it remains unclear how organizational change affects the psychological contract and which factors really matter. In this article we provide new insights in how organizational change affects psychological contracts. There are several ways to study psychological contracts, e.g. the content-oriented approach that examines the specific terms of the contract, or the evaluation-oriented approach (Rousseau and Tijoriwala, 1998), which this paper focuses on. This entails studying the effects of organizational change on the perceived fulfillment of employer obligations. In short, the general research question addressed in this study is: Do organizational change factors affect psychological contract fulfillment and the employees' attitude towards change? This study differs from earlier work; first, it takes antecedents of change into account that have been neglected in previous studies. This yields more in-depth information on the dynamics of organizational change. Second, by studying the combined effects of antecedents of change we add to current research, which mostly focuses on the effects of a single change event. Third, this study addresses the role of the employee's attitude towards change as a variable that may influence the effects of organizational change on the psychological contract.\nTheoretical background: Psychological contracts\nThe relationship between the antecedents of organizational change and the psychological contract: Every organizational change process is different. The characteristics of the change events affect the way employees react. Employees may moreover be confronted with several change events within a certain amount of time. As stated in the introduction, this research takes account of four antecedent categories of change, as defined by Oreg et al.'s (2011). A conceptualization of the change content, of the perceived benefit or harm, and of the internal context is provided in the following section.\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: The central question in this research is: \"Do organizational change factors affect psychological contract fulfillment and the employees' attitude towards change?\" To answer these questions hierarchical multiple regression analyses were carried out. The first regression analysis tests the effects of the change antecedents and the attitude towards change on the fulfillment of the psychological contract (H1 to H5), and a second regression analysis tests the effects of the change determinants on the attitude towards change (H5 to H9). A Sobel test was carried out to test the mediating effect of the attitude towards change on the relationship between the change antecedents and the fulfillment of the psychological contract. First means, standard deviations and correlations are presented in Table I.\nDiscussion: The central question in this research was: \"Do organizational change factors affect psychological contract fulfillment and the employees' attitude towards change?\" The effects of the change factors on both the fulfillment of the psychological contract and the attitude towards change were considered. The mediating role of the attitude towards change in the relationship between the change variables and the fulfillment of the psychological contract was examined. The results show that both the frequency of change and the individual's change history have a significant (negative and positive) effect on the fulfillment of the psychological contract. Furthermore, the results confirm the positive effect of the attitude towards change on the fulfillment of the psychological contract. However, and contrary to what we expected, (see, e.g. Dahl, 2011), the type of change (transformational change) and the impact of the change had no significant effect on the fulfillment of the psychological contract. A recommendation for future research would be to collect more in-depth information on what type of change people were confronted with and how this was perceived by the respondents. The lack of empirical support for the effects of \"impact of the change\" on the fulfillment of the psychological contract may lead to the conclusion that this variable is not relevant as a predictor of psychological contract fulfillment. However, given the strength of the theoretical support for these variables, additional tests using other samples are recommended before drawing any substantive conclusions. A strength of our study is that we assessed several change antecedents. Since these antecedents are related, insignificant effects of some variables might be caused by the overlap between antecedents.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine how organizational change and attitude towards change affects the fulfillment of the psychological contract. The influence of type of change, impact of change, former change experiences and frequency of change on fulfillment of the psychological contract is assessed, as well as the influence on the employee's attitude towards change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Regression analyses were carried out to test the effects of the change antecedents and the attitude towards change on the fulfillment of the psychological contract and to test the effects of the change determinants on the attitude towards change. The data used in this study are from 161 respondents working for different organizations who completed an online questionnaire.\nFindings: The results show that type of change, impact and former experience with organizational change influence attitude towards change. With respect to the fulfillment of the psychological contract, only frequency, former experiences and the attitude towards change had an impact.\nResearch limitations/implications: A limitation is the cross-sectional design of the study. A recommendation for future research is to further explore the results by using case studies or longitudinal research.\nPractical implications: This study contributes to managers', HR professionals' and change professionals' understanding of the change factors that have the highest impact for employees.\nOriginality/value: This study highlights the effects of organizational changes on the psychological contract and includes the role of attitude towards change. Empirical research in this area is scarce.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trolls in the cafeteria: managing political speech in the workplace	[ "Social media", "Apple", "Diversity", "Workplace", "Polarization", "Starbucks", "Freedom of expression" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Political polarization in the workplace is a phenomenon that does not respect industries or borders. Since the election of President Trump, Brexit and the ascent of nationalist politicians in numerous countries around the world have focused new attention on this longstanding problem. In today's fast-paced, collaborative business culture, however, this intensification presents new problems that companies choose to ignore at their peril. Do they provide safe spaces for political activism of every stripe? Do they join with a segment of their employees to applaud or oppose policies of the government in power? The challenges presented by these choices are not limited to internal corporate harmony. Increasingly, customer-facing employees, like many citizens, are using their own social media channels to signal their \"tribal\" affiliations. Customers with equally passionate partisan views are pushing back, urging boycotts of the businesses where these employees work. With the exception of mainstream media organizations, whose rules on public partisanship by employees are well established, the world of employee politics and how companies should handle these issues is increasingly murky. Because it is unlikely that the fever of political polarization is unlikely to abate in the near future, we need new ways of thinking about the increasingly contentious workplace.\nClearly spelled out policies: Having a clearly spelled out policy on workplace expression may seem like a straightforward exercise but there are a number of reasons why companies should pay close attention to communicating both the law and their own perspective. The first is that many employees do not fully grasp the limitations on their right to free speech in the workplace and need to have these limitations clearly explained. The second is that in the age of the internet and social media, the lines between private and public speech have essentially been erased, creating many ambiguous situations. Perhaps the most notorious recent example involves the Google software engineer James Damore who posted a ten-page \"manifesto\" on an internal Google message board disparaging the company's attempts to close the gender gap. Damore was fired by Google for \"perpetuating gender stereotypes\" and although he ultimately failed in his lawsuit against the company, it subsequently issued new guidelines to promote greater civility in issues-based employee communications (Elias, 2018). It empowered internal message board administrators to quell and remove \"hostile\" speech. Lest companies think that this is a simple matter of civility, Wired Magazine has reported that, in the months leading up to the Damore manifesto, \"Google employees told WIRED that a small group of coworkers was using these online forums to incite outsiders to harass them, and to goad them into inflammatory statements as way to \"weaponize HR\" (Tiku, 2018). Even at a highly self-aware company such as Google, there is a great concern that the new guidelines not inhibit open discussion of issues by employees. As an internal FAQ on the new policy stated: \"The important aspect to consider is how you're communicating your views--you should be debating the issue, not attacking the person. Your tone and words matter, especially in a workplace as uniquely collaborative as Google, and we want to continue to see a culture of constructive discourse in our interactions with one another.\"\nModeling behavior from the top: There is, perhaps, nothing more important in managing political discourse in the workplace, as in many other areas, than the tone from the top. Well-crafted messages that are authentic to the spirit and culture of a company can give employees a clear sense of what to expect as they engage in political discussions with co-workers and express their own political views in social media.\nAppropriate intervention: Not surprisingly, appropriate corporate intervention to stem hostile speech in the workplace requires active monitoring of message boards, email and public commentary by employees about the company. Most employees now understand that this type of monitoring is appropriate and leading practitioners regularly remind employees that this type of monitoring is taking place. If an issue does become overheated, it is critical to refrain from immediately creating more heat by calling out potential offenders publicly. Remember that even hostile speech often stems from passionate political beliefs and the surest way to reduce tensions in the workplace caused by such speech is to start by counseling the individual employee or group of employees involved. Make sure they understand both their rights of free expression and the limitations on that expression in the workplace and demonstrate that you understand where their energy is coming from.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the unique challenges posed to corporations by the explosion of political speech in the workplace and proposes best practices for handling them. The polarization of opinion taking place across many countries and the use of social media to propagate and debate these opinions has created huge new pressures for employers dealing with political speech in the workplace. Regulating political discussion in a work setting while preserving freedom of speech requires employers to walk a fine line, especially when that speech is critical of corporate policy. Enlightened consistency, clarity and common sense are key.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses a variety of recent controversies on the subject of political speech in the workplace in different countries to suggest some rules for managing this increasingly contentious topic.\nFindings: A review of real-world cases suggests that political speech in the workplace will always be messy, but employers can mitigate the damage that can be done by enlightened consistency and, above all, clarity about what is permissible.\nResearch limitations/implications: By definition, the sample of incidents reviewed is limited, and the conclusions drawn are the subjective views of the author.\nPractical implications: By following the principles proposed, employers should be able to regulate political speech in the workplace in ways that preserve individual freedoms without jeopardizing the enterprise.\nSocial implications: In a world in which private and public personas are no longer separate, having sensible and effective rules about political speech in the workplace should lead to reduced tensions and a greater feeling of empowerment for people with strongly held beliefs.\nOriginality/value: While the subject of political speech in the workplace has received considerable attention, the author is not aware of any treatment that proposes new principles for employers in handling such speech.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of downsizing on organizational practices targeting older workers	[ "Downsizing", "Older workers", "Human resource management", "Training", "Retirement", "Canada" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Almost one-third of the working-age population in developed countries will be aged 50 or over by 2050 (United Nations, 2007). Workforce aging, projected labour shortages and the need to retain older workers in the labour force are major themes in the aging workforce literature. Much has been written concerning the policies and practices employers need to implement to retain their older workers. However, the research shows that to date few employers have taken steps to encourage older employees to continue working (Baltes and Young, 2007; Callanan and Greenhaus, 2008; Parkinson, 2002; Rappaport et al., 2003; Thorpe, 2008). In a survey of over 28,000 employers in 25 countries (Manpower, 2007), only 21 percent of the respondents reported that they had strategies in place to retain their older workers. The retention of older workers is uncharted territory for most employers. Traditionally, they have encouraged their older workers to leave, frequently well before the official retirement age (Taylor, 2006). Apart from negative age stereotyping, age discrimination, and individual preferences to retire early, organizational-related factors can act as barriers or constraints to implementing retention strategies that would encourage older employees to remain with the organization. We identified organizational downsizing as one such factor. There is considerable research on organizational downsizing but there is little empirical research on the influence of downsizing on organizational practices specifically tailored to older workers.The purpose of our research was to examine the role that downsizing may play in the implementation of organizational strategies designed to retain older workers. We conducted two studies with workers aged 50 and over from diverse occupational classifications employed in a broad range of organizations. In Study 1, we compared those respondents in organizations that had downsized their workforce in the last five years with those in organizations that had not downsized during this period on their organizations' human resource practices targeting older employees. In Study 2, we compared respondents in organizations that had downsized with those in organizations that had not on variables associated with a supportive training and development climate for older workers.The Canadian legal context\nStudy 1 Method: Participants and procedure\nStudy 1 Results: Respondents employed in organizations with more than 500 employees reported their organization was significantly more likely to have downsized in the last five years (kh2=26.58, p < 0.001) and that the downsizing involved early retirement incentives (kh2=16.21, p < 0.001) than respondents in organizations with fewer than 500 employees. Respondents who were represented by a labour union reported that their organization was significantly more likely to have downsized in the last five years (kh2=4.04, p < 0.05) than respondents who were not represented by a labour union but there was no significant difference between these two groups for the provision of early retirement incentives (kh2=077, p > 0.05). The means, standard deviations and correlations for the human resource practices are presented in Table II. All of the means were below the midpoint of the scale indicating that most of the respondents' organizations were engaging in the human resource practices targeting older employees only to a limited extent. Organizations were least likely to have the compensation and retirement practices in place.The means, standard deviations and ANCOVA F-values for downsizing/no downsizing are shown in Table III. There was a significant overall downsizing effect (F(7,389)=2.18, p < 005). There were significant differences for six of the seven human resource practices targeting older workers. Respondents in organizations that had downsized in the last five years indicated that their organizations were significantly less likely to be providing training and development opportunities, job design options, recognition and respect, compensation options, flexible work arrangements, and retirement options tailored to older employees compared with their counterparts in organizations that had not downsized during this period. There was no significant difference between the two groups for performance evaluation practices.The means, standard deviations and ANCOVA F-values for downsizing with ERIs/downsizing without ERIs are presented in Table IV. The overall ERI/no ERI effect was not significant (F(7,193)=1.09, p > 0.05). The individual ANCOVAs showed significant differences for only two of the seven human resource practices. Respondents in organizations that had offered early retirement incentives indicated that their organizations were significantly more likely to be engaging in the compensation and retirement practices than their counterparts in organizations that had not relied on early retirement incentives as a downsizing strategy.We conducted additional analyses comparing the employed respondents with a group of respondents who had completed the questionnaire for people who were retired and no longer active in the workforce. We had provided retired respondents with a list of reasons that influence people's decision to retire and asked them to indicate which of these reasons were most important in influencing their own decision to retire. One of the reasons was \"Urged to retire due to organizational downsizing.\" We limited the sample to those who had retired in the last five years. There were 57 respondents who indicated that being urged to retire due to downsizing was most important in influencing their decision to retire. These respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which the organization they retired from provided training and development opportunities, job design options, performance evaluation, recognition and respect, compensation options, and flexible working options. In comparing the three groups, we found an overall significant group effect (F(12,928)=7.66, p < 0.001). Tukey post hoc comparisons showed significant differences between the retired group and the no-downsizing group for flexible working arrangements and job design options. In regard to the group who retired because of organizational downsizing, these respondents reported the organization they retired from was significantly less likely to be engaging in flexible work arrangements and job design options tailored to older workers compared to respondents in organizations that had not downsized. The only significant difference between the retirees and the respondents in organizations that had downsized was for training and development practices. In this case, retired respondents reported the organization they had retired from was significantly more likely to have been providing training and development opportunities to older employees than those respondents who were currently employed in organizations that had downsized in the past five years.\nStudy 2 Method: Participants and procedure\nStudy 2 Results: Respondents employed in organizations with 500 or more employees were significantly more likely to report that their organization had downsized in the last five years (kh2=9.06, p < 0.01) and that the downsizing involved early retirement incentives (kh2=24.14, p < 0.001) than respondents in organizations with fewer than 500 employees. There was no significant difference in downsizing status (kh2=0.13, p > 0.05) or the use of early retirement incentives (kh2=2.29, p > 0.05) between respondents who were represented by a labour union and those who were not. The means, standard deviations and correlations for the training and development climate variables are presented in Table V. Respondents indicated lower levels of organizational support compared with managerial and job support.The means, standard deviations and ANCOVA F-values for downsizing/no downsizing for the training and development climate variables are shown in Table VI. There was a significant overall downsizing effect (F(3,379)=3.24, p < 0.05). There were significant differences for two of the three supportive training and development climate variables. Respondents in organizations that had downsized their workforce in the last five years indicated significantly lower levels of managerial and job support than those in organizations that had not downsized.The means, standard deviations and ANCOVA F-values for downsizing with and without early retirement incentives are presented in Table VII. The overall ERI/no ERI effect was not significant (F(3,204)=1.93, p > 0.05) and the ANCOVA F-values for each of the supportive training and development climate variables were also not significant.\nDiscussion: From its study of over 28,000 employers in 25 countries, Manpower (2007) concluded that employers were doing little to retain their older workers. Our findings are consistent with this conclusion. Respondents indicated that their organization, regardless of the organization's downsizing history, had few practices in place tailored to the needs and preferences of older workers. On average, organizations were engaging in the seven human resource activities only to a limited extent with compensation practices and retirement options, such as phased retirement, being the least likely to be offered. For the supportive training and development climate variables, respondents indicated that their organization was least likely to have organizational support practices such as reward systems and resources for older employees to acquire and apply new knowledge and skills.Farr et al. (1998) claimed that downsizing has important implications for older workers. Our results suggest that downsizing is detrimental to organizational practices that the aging research literature identifies as important to older workers. The findings showed that organizations that had downsized were significantly less likely to have human resource practices specifically tailored to the needs of older workers and to have a less supportive training and development climate for older workers. Organizational downsizing may put these organizations at a competitive disadvantage in the future when many organizations will need to recruit and retain older workers (Hedge et al., 2006; London, 1992). Downsized organizations' lack of investment in their older employees also has implications for older workers themselves. Not being given the opportunity to update current skills or acquire new skills and not having access to challenging and meaningful assignments are likely to result in older employees in these organizations experiencing greater skill obsolescence and reduced employability making them more vulnerable to losing their present job and limiting their ability to find employment elsewhere (Greller and Stroh, 2003).There was no support for P2 and P4 that organizations whose downsizing involved offering early retirement incentives would be less likely to have human resource practices to accommodate older workers and less likely to have a supportive training and development climate geared to older workers than organizations whose downsizing did not include early retirement incentives. We derived this proposition based on the fact that early retirement incentives specifically target older workers for downsizing. Eligibility for an early retirement incentive is determined by a formula based on a combination of an employee's age and years of service. However, whether or not organizations had used early retirement incentives as a downsizing strategy had no overall significant effect on the human resource practices and the training and development climate variables. As a reviewer pointed out, these results should be viewed as positive because they suggest that early retirement incentives did not affect the provision of human resource practices designed to accommodate the needs of older workers and a supportive training and development climate for older employees. In fact, it is possible that organizations that have practices designed to support older workers may be more likely to develop early retirement programs.Although there was no significant overall effect for early retirement incentives, the ANCOVA results for two of the human resource practices in Study 1 were significant. Respondents in downsized organizations that had offered early retirement incentives indicated that their organization was significantly more likely to be engaging in the compensation and retirement practices than their counterparts whose organizations had not relied on early retirement incentives. It should be noted that respondents identified these two human resource practices as the least likely practices their organizations had in place regardless of downsizing history. However, this does not explain the significant early retirement incentive effect for the compensation and retirement practices. As a possible explanation, we first looked to see if there were significant relationships among the covariate variables, organization size and union representation, and early retirement incentives and these two human resource practices. We found no significant associations. We then examined the relationship of two variables that we had assessed in the questionnaire but had not included in this paper because of the small number of respondents in some of the categories. The first variable was location. We asked respondents to indicate if their organization was located in a large city or metropolitan area or a small community or rural area. We found a significant location effect for the compensation practices. Respondents in organizations offering early retirement incentives whose organization was located in a large city or metropolitan area reported that their organization was much more likely to have compensation practices in place tailored to older workers than their counterparts whose organization was located in a small community or rural area and respondents in organizations not offering early retirement incentives in either location setting. It may be that organizations in large cities or metropolitan areas that offered early retirement incentives still need to remain competitive as well as retain their remaining older workers. It could also be the case that these organizations were more likely to have these practices in place prior to any downsizing.The second factor that we examined was age composition of the organization's workforce. We asked respondents if they would describe the age composition of their organization's workforce as a primarily younger (18-34) workforce, a primarily middle-aged (35-49) workforce, a primarily older (50 and over) workforce, or a workforce that was evenly distributed across age groups. There was a significant relationship between age composition and retirement practices. Respondents who described their organization as having a primarily older workforce reported that their organizations were more likely to be providing retirement options such as phased retirement or rehiring retirees than those respondents who described their organization as having a primarily younger workforce. Caution is warranted in drawing conclusions from these subsequent analyses because of the small numbers in some of the categories but these findings suggest that future research should investigate the role that an organization's location and age composition may play in providing human resource practices targeting older employees in the context of early retirement incentives.Practical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between organizational downsizing and the extent to which organizations are engaging in human resource practices tailored to the needs of older workers (Study 1) and are providing a supportive training and development climate for older workers (Study 2).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Study 1 data were obtained from 449 employed individuals aged 50 to 68 years. Study 2 data were obtained from 395 employed individuals aged 50 to 70 years. Respondents were from a broad cross-section of occupations and organizations across Canada.\nFindings: - Respondents in downsized organizations indicated that their organizations were significantly less likely to be engaging in human resource practices tailored to older workers and that their organizations had a less supportive training and development climate than their counterparts whose organizations had not downsized.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings are based on older workers' perceptions of organizational practices, which may or may not be an accurate reflection of what organizations actually have in place.\nPractical implications: - Organizations, especially those that have downsized, will be at a disadvantage if they continue to ignore the needs of older workers. Employers will have to change how they view older workers and put in place organizational practices geared to older workers such as those examined in the paper. Ensuring that older workers have the requisite skills and competencies to extend their working lives may require government involvement.\nOriginality/value: - The paper illustrates that downsizing is detrimental to organizational practices that the aging workforce literature identifies as especially important to older workers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The art and science of job satisfaction: Much of it comes down to decent management practice	[ "Retention", "Job satisfaction", "Employee satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Job satisfaction is among the most researched and discussed topics in human resource management and organizational behavior - a recent database search of the terms \"job satisfaction,\" \"work attitudes\" and \"organizational commitment\" yielded more than 34,000 entries - yet many of us know less about it than we believe.\nThe job-satisfaction-work-performance connection: We take a broad view as we consider not only job satisfaction but also employee happiness at work and employee hopefulness regarding work and organization. The content of these attitudes has much in common.\nPersonality and job satisfaction: What the employee personally brings to the job is important. The personality factors of extraversion (being outgoing, active and expressive) and conscientiousness are strongly related to self-reported attitudes of job satisfaction. The two factors are also useful predictors of job satisfaction. Interestingly, conscientiousness is often strongly related positively to job performance.\nWorkplace influences on job satisfaction: Other factors widely reported to affect job satisfaction are:\nSuggestions for practitioners: Actions to enhance job satisfaction may be initiated to influence an individual employee or some departmental or larger grouping of employees. Hence, we might have initiatives at the level of a manager or at a company-based level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review current information and research concerning job satisfaction in the workplace. It also provides a brief overview of what is generally and currently known about job satisfaction, personality and job satisfaction and workplace influences on job satisfaction and offers suggestions for practitioners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It examines a large sample of research and opinion from the past several years.\nFindings: It reveals that there is much empirical research about individual job satisfaction, a considerable amount of which is situation-specific. Generalizations concerning research findings are difficult. There is, however, much reported data and statistics that give indications of why employees find satisfaction with work, colleagues and the organization. This information may provide some practical guidance for practitioners.\nPractical implications: It gives a broad overview and summary of recent research and opinion on job satisfaction that is not readily available in other sources.\nSocial implications: It advises that, other things being equal, organizations should aim to recruit employees who are somewhat extraverted, conscientious, expressive of a belief in their skills and who demonstrate a positive disposition.\nOriginality/value: It provides current information that may guide practice and policy development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The miracle of coaching	[ "Coaching", "Organizations", "Human resource management", "Employees development", "Mentoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Back in 2004 I was a relatively new member of a corporate training team and was invited to join a group of colleagues who were about to undertake a coaching and mentoring qualification.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to share the author's viewpoint on coaching and its benefits. It also aims to cover using coaching as a development tool and how reciprocal coaching can be of benefit to organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The author's approach to this paper is to consider how she became involved in coaching and the developments that evolved.\nFindings: - The paper provides insights into coaching as a development tool and how to \"grow\" coaches within organisations.\nPractical implications: - The paper includes development of a coach as manager strategy, as well as the development of a coaching and mentoring network.\nOriginality/value: - The paper describes the value of coaching within organisations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding gender dimensions of climate-smart agriculture adoption in disaster-prone smallholder farming communities in Malawi and Zambia	[ "Agriculture", "Climate change adaptation", "DRR", "Climate-smart agriculture adoption", "Gender and DRRM", "Gender policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As disasters linked to climatic change are projected to increase in frequency and magnitude, efforts should be directed to building resilience and adaptation for smallholder farmers (Joshua et al., 2016). In 2010, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) was introduced, whose pillars are: increased productivity and incomes, building resilience and adaptation to climate-related extreme-weather events, and mitigation achieved through reduced greenhouse gas emissions (FAO, 2013). Therefore, based on these pillars, CSA is considered a disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy (Lei, 2014; Mathews et al., 2018). DRR involves policies, strategies and practices systematically developed and applied for the minimisation of vulnerabilities, hazards and anticipated disasters in communities, ultimately contributing to sustainable development (UNISDR, 2004). However, CSA adoption by women smallholder farmers in Africa remains low, yet they are in majority and more vulnerable to climate change impacts (Asfaw et al., 2015).\n2. Theoretical underpinnings of gender mainstreaming in CSA: Understanding contemporary gender discourse in CSA adoption by SHFs in disaster-prone regions remains important for policy makers and programme designers in Africa. Emergent gender discourse suggests need for the local contextualisation of gender, recognising heterogeneity of both men and women (Jost et al., 2016), and going beyond just adding women to make up targeted figures (Asfaw et al., 2015). Critical to gender in CSA adoption is understanding interactions of socio-cultural factors with adoption (Nyasimi et al., 2017), and men and women's common but differentiated realities (Perch and Byrd, 2015) influencing CSA adoption decisions.\n3. Methods and materials: 3.1 Study areas\n4. Findings: In both countries, characteristics of different farmer typologies in each CSA adoption category were established. CSA technologies common between both sites included conservation agriculture (CA) (mainly basin in Chikwawa and both basin and mechanised in Gwembe), improved seed varieties and livestock improvement. Irrigation schemes were unique to Chikwawa, while unique to Gwembe were energy-saving stoves and aquaculture, although the implementation of the latter was not fully underway.\n5. Discussion: Findings provide critical insights into gender-differentiated profiles of adopters, dis-adopters and non-adopters of CSA. Heterogeneity exists among men and women; thus, this paper submits that approaches focusing only on male/female gender binaries are both passe and insufficient to address gender issues in CSA adoption. Men and women smallholder farmers exist in complex local realities marked by socio-cultural factors which interact to influence adoption as established by the study. Theoretically, the study was underpinned by feminist theories of gender mainstreaming. Findings shared in the paper indicate the application of WID and GAD to eliminate patriarchal privilege and women's subordination,; for example, when energy-savings stoves distribution specifically targets women only. However, this also may be an indication of bias towards addressing practical gender needs. Qualitative findings at local district level highlight perceptions that gender issues have fizzled out (Davis, 2008) and gender mainstreaming in CSA simply fulfils donor requirements. Sentiments that Western gender approaches were not fully applicable to local contexts were echoed throughout the study. This paper argues that while there is progress in women's empowerment through traditional gender frameworks, gaps still remain especially in addressing strategic gender needs.\n6. Conclusions: The study examined gender-differentiated profiles of smallholder farmers who are adopters, dis-adopters and non-adopters of CSA. Furthermore, underlying socio-cultural factors shaping real-life experiences of farmers thereby influencing their adoption decisions were explored. The heterogeneity of farmer profiles and complexity of socio-cultural milieu within which CSA adoption should occur demand more inclusive and diversified strategies and policies tailor made for farmers. While contemporary gender paradigm cannot single-handedly address pervasive gender issues in CSA, this paper proposes an integrated approach. Integrating traditional and contemporary gender approaches paves a way for the inclusion and consideration of multifaceted local contextual realities that frame farmer profiles. Thus, CSA adoption can be improved by a holistic approach and future gender-focused CSA adoption studies should explore engendering DRR models and formulation of context-specific, gender-sensitive adoption framework.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Through the application of traditional and contemporary feminist theories in gender mainstreaming, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to emergent debate on gender dimensions in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption by smallholder farmers in disaster-prone regions. This is important to ensure that CSA strategies are tailored to farmer-specific gender equality goals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory-sequential mixed methods research design which is qualitatively biased was applied. Key informant interviews and farmer focus group discussions in two study sites formed initial qualitative phase whose findings were explored in a quantitative cross-sectional household survey.\nFindings: Findings shared in this paper indicate the predominant application of traditional gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA focusing on parochial gender dichotomy. Qualitative findings highlight perceptions that western gender approaches are not fully applicable to local contexts and realities, with gender mainstreaming in CSA seemingly to fulfil donor requirements, and ignorant of the heterogeneous nature of social groups. Quantitative findings establish that married men are majority adopters and non-adopters of CSA, while dis-adopters are predominantly de jure female household heads. The latter are more likely to adopt CSA than married women whose main role in CSA is implementers of spouse's decisions. Access to education, intra-household power relations, productive asset and land ownership are socio-cultural dynamics shaping farmer profiles.\nOriginality/value: By incorporating African feminisms and intersectionality in CSA, value of this study lies in recommending gender policy reforms incorporating local gender contexts within the African socio-cultural milieu. This paper accentuates potential benefits of innovative blend of both contemporary and classic gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA research, practice and technology development in disaster-prone regions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumers' perceptions towards Thai rice: A cross-cultural comparison between easterners and westerners	[ "Customer loyalty", "Cross-cultural", "Perceived value", "Consumers’ perceptions", "Rice products" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In Thailand, more than 4m households are engaged in rice cultivation, producing enough rice for both domestic consumption and international export (The Government Public Relations Department, 2017). Rice is one of Thailand's major exports. On average, 10m tons of white rice are exported annually, resulting in 150bn baht per year in foreign exchange (The Government Public Relations Department, 2017). Thailand has long been a top-three rice exporter, accounting for 30 per cent of the global rice market and 45-50 per cent of total world-wide production (Office of Agricultural Economic, 2018). In addition to Thailand, the primary exporters of Thai rice in 2017 included Benin, China and South Africa (Thai Rice Exporters Association, 2018). Thai Jasmine rice is perceived to be a high-quality product, as indicated by the title of World's Best Rice in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016 and 2017 (Thai PBS, 2017).\nMaterials and methodology: Instrument and measurement\nResults: T-test and one-way ANOVA analysis results\nDiscussion: In the past two decades, Thailand has faced severe water shortages, with the lowest levels of irrigation water availability since 1994. To cope with the water shortages, the Thai government urged the public to use water sparingly and even asked farmers to reduce rice cultivation (South China Morning Post, 2016). Reducing rice cultivation is clearly problematic for Thailand given its reliance on rice to feed its citizens and for export to drive revenue. To supplement this loss, one alternative would be to capitalise on by-products generated from rice cultivation. For instance, the rice milling process generates by-products such as rice straw, rice hull, broken rice, rice germ, rice bran, rice bran oil and wax (Triratanasirichai et al., 2017). These by-products could be further processed into value-added and functional products. As an example, rice husk ash could be processed into an absorbent for water purification, or a type of silica could be extracted for use in the semiconductor or glass industries for environmental and industrial purposes (Kumar et al., 2016).\nConclusions: Understanding the needs of customers is critical to appropriate positioning and marketing of value-added Thai rice product. Micheels and Boecker (2016) indicate that a successful company could meet changing customer needs through adopting new products, services and unique marketing mix bundles. This study highlights the importance of better understanding customers' perspectives on Thai rice, and preferences towards innovative Thai rice products. The findings reported herein show that eastern and western customers' perceptions of marketing mix variables positively impact their perceptions of value, and in turn build their loyalty to Thai rice. Since Thailand exports rice to many countries around the world, these results should be beneficial to members of the international rice industry, Thai rice exporters, the Thai government, and to academics. This study represents one of the first attempts to integrate marketing mix decisions, CPV, and loyalty within a Thai rice purchase behaviour context across eastern and western customers. Nevertheless, this study is subject to several limitations related to the representativeness of the samples and to the generalisability of results. The first limitation concerns the scope of the study. Specifically, we only conducted surveys during a two-month time period in 2018; the sampling sites were limited to several shopping malls in Bangkok; and we surveyed a high proportion of young, single, educated participants. The second limitation pertains to the selection and adaptation of constructs and their observed variables (such as the 4P indicators). Most of the observed variables were selected based on a literature review and the opinions of the scholars who participated in this study. Future research could expand the sample to include other timeframes, populations, and locales (e.g. residents of other big cities in both eastern and western countries) to improve the generalisability and applicability of the results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer preferences towards innovative rice products, and cross-cultural determinants of customers' perceived value and loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A self-administered survey was designed to obtain participants' perceptions about Thai rice, and preferences towards innovative Thai rice products. A total of 937 surveys were distributed and 908 valid surveys were returned, yielding a 96.7 per cent overall response rate. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assure the reliability and validity of the measures used in the survey instrument. Structural equation modelling was employed to assess the five hypothesised relationships between the four elements of the marketing mix, customer perceived value, and post-purchase behaviour, and to compare the path coefficients across the two cultural groups.\nFindings: The findings reported herein show that eastern and western customers' perceptions of marketing mix variables positively impact their perceptions of value, in turn, enhancing their loyalty to Thai rice. A successful marketing strategy should meet changing customer needs through adopting new products, services and unique marketing mix bundles. Such strategies should be tailored to the differing needs across cultures, and can address issues arising from changing competitive and environmental landscapes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The first limitation concerns the scope of the study. Specifically, the authors only conducted surveys during a two-month time period in 2018; the sampling sites were limited to several shopping malls in Bangkok; and the authors surveyed a high proportion of young, single, educated participants. The second limitation pertains to the selection and adaptation of constructs and their observed variables (such as the 4P indicators). Most of the observed variables were selected based on a literature review and the opinions of the scholars who participated in this study.\nPractical implications: These results should be beneficial to members of the international rice industry, Thai rice exporters, the Thai government and to academics. Long-term success will be supported by focused attention on target segments and launch of innovative rice products that match differing preferences across nationalities.\nOriginality/value: Understanding consumers' perspectives and preferences are critical to appropriate positioning and marketing of value-added Thai rice products. This study represents one of the first attempts to integrate marketing mix decisions, customers' perceived value and loyalty within a Thai rice purchase behaviour context across eastern and western customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What initiatives do healthcare leaders agree are needed for healthcare system improvement? Results of a modified-Delphi study	[ "Quality improvement", "Consensus", "Leadership", "Organizational innovation", "Healthcare delivery" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Quality improvement initiatives have been prolific for many years across every part of healthcare systems (Grimshaw et al., 2003; Loeb, 2004; Dixon-Woods and Martin, 2016). Despite (or because) of this, healthcare leaders struggle to identify which initiatives are successful and in which context, and then to implement their own versions. While work is emerging to provide guidance (Ovretveit, 2017), the practical impact of the gap between what is known and what should and can be implemented is compounded by a context in which the health outcomes and financial costs long predicted by the ageing (and increasing chronically ill) populations of higher income countries are now profoundly affecting providers, funders and people (Tinetti et al., 2012). The need for healthcare leaders to respond to this context is immense, as is their desire to do the right thing by working to improve population outcomes, efficiency and patient experience.\nMethods: A multi-stage modified-Delphi process was used, blending the Delphi approach of iterative information collection, analysis and feedback, and the option for participants to revise their judgments (Robert et al., 2014). The study included an online information gathering stage, a workshop session for participants intended to accelerate decision making and reach a consensus on the day of the workshop, followed by two rounds of participant feedback on the workshop consensus summary.\nResults: The modified-Delphi process resulted in agreement from participants on five recommendations for healthcare improvement: be disruptive and embrace change; train people to work in teams; people should be equal participants in health and well-being; funding should be value-based, not output-based, and linked to reliability and consistency; and focus on equity as a key concern. Why these five recommendations were agreed by participants to be important, and the related specific and actionable initiatives, are summarised in Table I and elaborated further in this section.\nDiscussion: This multi-stage modified-Delphi study found five areas that healthcare leaders agreed healthcare systems should concentrate on to improve quality, performance and patient experience. To recap, these were: system leaders should be disruptive and embrace change; professional training should be reoriented to focus on team work; patients should be regarded as equal partners in the care design process; funding should be value-based; and equity should be central to all policy and service delivery considerations. These areas, individually, do not contribute much by way of new knowledge. Indeed, there is considerable literature illustrating the importance of each of these areas, as has been documented in this paper.\nConclusions: The quest for system improvement is germane to leadership agendas in high-income countries, with numerous possibilities for what healthcare system leaders might look to implement. Those seeking to redesign both the principles underpinning their systems as well as administrative arrangements face a potentially confusing landscape. The modified-Delphi study reported in this paper sought to produce a defined list of five areas for action, drawn from healthcare system leaders. The task now is for healthcare system leaders to act on the study's findings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify five quality improvement initiatives for healthcare system leaders, produced by such leaders themselves, and to provide some guidance on how these could be implemented.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multi-stage modified-Delphi process was used, blending the Delphi approach of iterative information collection, analysis and feedback, with the option for participants to revise their judgments.\nFindings: The process reached consensus on five initiatives: change information privacy laws; overhaul professional training and work in the workplace; use co-design methods; contract for value and outcomes across health and social care; and use data from across the public and private sectors to improve equity for vulnerable populations and the sickest people.\nResearch limitations/implications: Information could not be gathered from all participants at each stage of the modified-Delphi process, and the participants did not include patients and families, potentially limiting the scope and nature of input.\nPractical implications: The practical implications are a set of findings based on what leaders would bring to a decision-making table in an ideal world if given broad scope and capacity to make policy and organisational changes to improve healthcare systems.\nOriginality/value: This study adds to the literature a suite of recommendations for healthcare quality improvement, produced by a group of experienced healthcare system leaders from a range of contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The direct and spillover effects of liner shipping connectivity on merchandise trade	[ "Liner shipping connectivity index", "Merchandise trade", "Spatial lag" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and theoretical background: The mainstay of international trade is maritime transport. It carried about 80% of all trade globally, and more than 70% of the global value was transported by sea to ports around the world (UNCTAD, 2015). Global trade relies on the shipping industry to promote economic activities between economies across different geographical regions. Liner shipping services form a global maritime transport network, which moves most of the international trade in manufactured goods. Liner shipping connectivity was a crucial determinant of global trade (Chen et al., 2016; Fugazza and Hoffmann, 2017; Tovar et al., 2015). According to a global survey of express carriers and freight forwarders, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) created a liner shipping connectivity index (LSCI) (maximum value in 2004 = 100). Its aim is to measure each country's shipping connections to the network. The LSCIs of 157 economies provide an annual, comprehensive and timely account of this connectivity worldwide. Economies that exhibit a higher index are more easily able to join the global transport system for international maritime freight. The LSCI can, therefore, measure both the connection to the maritime shipping network and indicate the ability to be involved with international trade. It also reflects container shipping lines' ability to maximize revenue through market coverage. The index was generated as follows. For each country, the average is calculated for five components as follows:\n2. The liner shipping connectivity index and merchandise trade around the world: An abridged list of merchandise trade and the LSCIs of 157 economies globally in 2016 is to be found in the Appendix. The average world LSCI was 27.44. LSCIs ranged from 1.25 for the least connecting economies to 170.85 for the highest connecting economies in 2016. Some economies with more international trade than average, such as China, achieved a good LSCI, while economies with little international trade, such as Micronesia and Palau, had low LSCIs. Was there a correlation between merchandise trade and liner shipping connectivity? Noticeably, Sri Lanka and Malta achieved good LSCIs in spite of having low international trade. At the same time, some economies with lower LSCIs had fairly high merchandise trade, such as Ireland (LSCI = 11.83; merchandise trade = US$2.06E + 11).\n3. Regression with the spatially lagged variables: The preliminary results demonstrate that the merchandise trade spread exhibited spatial agglomeration in such a manner that economies had a greater probability of higher merchandise trade if surrounded by other economies that had high merchandise trade. Though some of the agglomerations in merchandise trade could be attributed to spatial agglomeration in LSCI, consecutively positively related to merchandise trade, we have demonstrated that spatial agglomeration in the merchandise trade data did not completely fade away when we conditioned it on an economy's LSCI. Given that the spread of merchandise trade still exhibited spatial agglomerations even when conditioned on an economy's LSCI, we searched for feasible alternatives to integrate this spatial dependence in our regression model.\n4. Direct and spillover effects: Having calculated the maximum likelihood estimates for the spatially lagged merchandise trade model, we explored the direct and spillover effects of LSCI on merchandise trade. This required considering the impact that a change in country i's LSCI would have on other economies. Because of the network matrix, this could cause a chain reaction in other economies, which would circle back to affect country i's merchandise trade via the spatially lagged item. To determine the expected value of country i's merchandise trade or the direct and spillover effects of LSCI, we considered the spatial multiplier (I - rW)-1. This multiplier would tell us how much of a change in the country i's LSCI would spill over to other economies j and, in turn, the special lag would have an impact on a country i's imports plus exports. Direct effects are the effects of the spatial unit on itself; that is, the effect of \"LSCI of i-th economy\" on \"trade of i-th economy.\" Spillover effects are the effects spatial units have on other spatial units; that is, the effect of \"LSCI of i-th economy\" on \"trade of j-th economy.\" To calculate the direct and spillover effects of a single difference in a few LSCI observations in the country i(xi), we multiplied a vector of Dxi, while holding the value constant for the other economies j, by (I - r W)-1 b. Because economies' connection to other economies varied from high to low, it seemed logical that the effect of a change in the country i's merchandise trade would also vary depending on which country was involved.\n5. Conclusions: We evaluated whether merchandise trade is related to spatially or clustered and how these connections are related. Using the model with data on spatially lagged merchandise trade was markedly more accurate than the conventional linear regression model. The spatially lagged model had a higher log-likelihood than the OLS model, which assumed that observations are independent. This supported our premise that the spatial lag of merchandise trade contributes to specifying the spread of merchandise trade far more accurately than just using an economy's LSCI. This model assumes that the merchandise trade of country i influence those of country j, which, in turn, influence those of country k. Going full circle influences the merchandise trade of country i. Different merchandise trade values for country i circulate through all of the economies in the network. Although the LSCI was not fully able to account for variances in merchandise trade in our empirical results, the association of one country's merchandise trade and those of its neighbors were extremely close.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to address the following questions: is good liner shipping connectivity a requisite for merchandise imports plus exports? What is the average of merchandise imports plus exports of the countries neighboring China? Do the merchandise imports plus exports of these countries correspond to each country's own merchandise imports plus exports or liner shipping connectivity index (LSCI)?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors spatially analyze liner shipping connectivity and merchandise imports plus exports using 2016 data and a common framework for linear regression to establish the relationship amongst a country's LSCI and its merchandise imports plus exports and between its merchandise imports plus exports and those of its neighbors. Merchandise imports plus exports of countries are not necessarily independent of each other, and countries that are contiguous may produce similar observations.\nFindings: North America and Western Europe comprised clusters of countries that participated more actively in the international trading system, while Africa's countries had less international trade than average. The study identifies and quantifies the geographical ripple of transport infrastructure on merchandise trade from a national perspective. Notably, a spatially lagged term improved the model's ability to account for variations in merchandise imports plus exports across countries.\nOriginality/value: The spatial lag of merchandise imports plus exports can contribute to specifying the spread of merchandise imports plus exports beyond what the authors would anticipate from a country's network of liner shipping.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Why share expertise? A closer look at the quality of motivation to share or withhold knowledge	[ "Motivation", "Knowledge sharing", "Autonomous motivation", "Knowledge withholding", "SDT" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Knowledge sharing (KS) is a critical behavior in knowledge-based organizations and, therefore, a crucial element of knowledge management (KM). The organization is reliant on effective utilization of its collective knowledge pool, particularly its knowledgeable employees, which is why KS is a highly desirable behavior from an organizational perspective (Cabrera and Cabrera, 2005; Ipe, 2003). KS is, however, potentially dilemmatic for an individual. Sharing with others what makes one valuable for the organization is not in every instance rational behavior (Milne, 2007; Riege, 2005). KS contains a lot of discretion, and the more tacit the knowledge is, the more room there is for an individual to make behavioral choices that are meaningful from his/her personal perspective but not necessarily for the organization (Wang, 2004). This stresses the importance of understanding what motivates an individual to share or, alternatively, to withhold knowledge in knowledge-based work environments.\n2. The quality of motivation and knowledge sharing: 2.1 The human dimension of knowledge management: Knowledge sharing among employees\n3. Hypotheses and the research model: In their recent article, Chemolli and Gagne (2014) demonstrate with the help of empirical research that the motivation types as per SDT do not fall on a single continuum. Hence, it makes sense to treat the different qualities as distinct motivational regulations and investigate how they might differently influence behavior (Chemolli and Gagne, 2014; Gagne et al., 2014). Similarly, Burton et al. (2006) have stressed that while intrinsic and identified motivation may operate in a complementary fashion, they are nevertheless distinct and influence behavior differently, which they also demonstrate in their study. This study distinguishes between external, introjected, identified and intrinsic motivation. Integrated motivation has been difficult to operationalize distinctively from identified motivation, and it was even omitted from the SDT-based work motivation scale (Gagne et al., 2014).\n4. Method: This survey-based study was conducted in a large public sector expert organization in Finland. Its operations are entirely knowledge based, and consequently, KS is critical for its performance, further challenged by external pressures in the sector to improve efficiency. Hence, it was considered ideal for the study.\n5. Results: 5.1 Measurement model evaluation\n6. Discussion: The aim of the study was to shed light on how the quality of motivation predicts KS. More precisely, the authors sought to investigate how different qualities of motivation, beyond the typically used intrinsic and external motivation, might differently drive KS and its quality. The study also investigated how KS motivation may be reflected in its dysfunctional companion, knowledge withholding. The analyses demonstrated that except for external motivation, all qualities of motivation were associated with KS in work meetings. Furthermore, they suggested that identified motivation, the sense of importance, was a clearly better predictor than the other qualities, thereby supporting H1. The assumption (H2a) that autonomous motivation would better predict the quality of KS (tacit KS) than controlled motivation was not entirely supported. It was only true for identified motivation, which was the best predictor of tacit KS, lending support to H2b. It was further established that external KS motivation, sharing to gain something, was associated with knowledge withholding as expected, supporting H3. The authors additionally discovered that identified motivation was also associated with knowledge withholding, albeit negatively. To sum up, the analyses suggested that identified motivation, which expresses a sense of personal importance for the goals of an activity, was the best predictor of both KS (at work meetings) and its quality (tacit KS). It was negatively associated with knowledge withholding suggesting that if the sense of importance is missing, then this may result in knowledge withholding.\n7. Conclusions: The present study set out to investigate how the quality of motivation might differently predict KS, using four different qualities of motivation as predictors. The findings suggest that identified motivation, the sense of importance, was the most important motivational driver of KS in work meetings. The sense of importance was also the best predictor of the quality of KS, and furthermore, it was negatively associated with the tendency to withhold knowledge. On the contrary, external motivation, an expectation that there must be something to gain from sharing, was not at all associated with KS. It was, however, positively associated with knowledge withholding. These findings were in line with the hypotheses.\nAcknowledgement: This study was supported by The Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Finland, for the part of corresponding author's doctoral work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of motivation for knowledge sharing (KS) by assessing how four qualitatively different motivation types, as per self-determination theory (SDT), predict KS, its quality and its undesirable counterpart, knowledge withholding.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was carried out as a survey (n = 200) in an expert organization. The analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Autonomous type of extrinsic motivation (identified motivation) was the strongest predictor of KS (in work meetings) and its quality, whereas the other motivation types (intrinsic, introjected and external) had no independent contribution to variance in KS. Knowledge withholding was negatively associated with identified and positively with external KS motivation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Single organization limits the generalizability of the results. Future studies should further investigate the role of identified motivation for various KS behaviors.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that autonomy-supportive management practices known to facilitate self-determined behavior can improve KS. Fostering external motivation by incentivizing KS may be both ineffective and have undesirable consequences.\nOriginality/value: Few prior studies investigate KS motivation beyond external and intrinsic motivation or apply SDT to KS using SDT-based scales. This study distinguishes between four different motivation types and is the first to investigate their differential impact on KS and its quality. It is also the first to demonstrate the importance of identified motivation for KS. It further elucidates how the quality of KS motivation is reflected in knowledge withholding, an overall underinvestigated behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emergent risks in business process change projects	[ "PLS", "Case survey methodology", "BPC performance", "Business process change", "Emergent risk" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Despite the considerable experience gained over the last two decades, managing risks induced by improving business processes is still an on-going challenge for business process change (BPC) practitioners and researchers alike (Trkman, 2010; Cao et al., 2001; Strebel, 1996; Kliem, 2000). An example of BPC failure due to the imposed risk of client change was the initiation of implementing an ERP system by FoxMeyer Drug Company striven for a competitive advantage. FoxMeyer invested in their change project $65 million expecting a save of $40-$50 million annually, as well as to gain competitive advantage (Jesitus, 1997). However, after its major client, Phar-Mor went bankrupt FoxMeyer signed a major new client contract, which required major changes to the projects. After the costs run over $100 million the project was declared as failure and within some time FoxMeyer went bankrupt (Jesitus, 1997). The literature provides many other examples of business process change failures due to imposed risks and concludes that most companies have no longer the luxury of funding BPC projects that are not showing the expected performance (e.g. Hammer and Champy, 1993; Al-Mashari et al., 2001; Trkman, 2010). Delivering the expected performance from BPC initiatives thus remains a critical challenge for many organizations (Hill and McCoy, 2011).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: In the following section we describe our research model of emergent risk and the corresponding hypotheses.\n3. Research method: We investigated these hypotheses using case survey methodology, which is a suite of quantitative techniques to synthesize research findings across multiple case studies (Glass, 1976; Hunter and Schmidt, 2004; King and He, 2005). Case survey methodology, also known as meta case analysis or content analysis is a widely accepted methodology in related research domains such as management, IT outsourcing, or recently in IS research (Jurisch et al., 2013). According to several authors (Glass et al., 1981; Hunter and Schmidt, 2004; Rosenthal and DiMatteo, 2001) case survey methodology enable researchers to estimate more reliable effect sizes than traditional review procedures, such as narrative or descriptive reviews. Furthermore, the results from case survey methodology are often treated as reliable, replicable and therefore suitable for theory development and hypotheses testing (Bullock and Tubbs, 1990; Rosenthal and DiMatteo, 2001). The choice of case survey methodology for our research satisfies four criteria proposed by Larsson (1993). First, the research domain produces a vast number of case studies (Yin and Heald, 1975), in our case BPC research field provides a large number of case studies reporting successes and failures of BPC initiatives. Second, this method is helpful if the unit of analysis is the organization (Larsson, 1993), i.e. the organization performing the BPC project. Third, if a number of impact factors is of interest (Jauch et al., 1980). Fourth, if it is difficult to obtain primary data in the research domain. Following the recommendation by Larsson (1993), the process of our case survey analysis was performed in three major steps: literature search, coding, and analysis.\n4. Results: The following section provides the results of the measurement model and the results of the structural model.\n5. Discussion: Our results reported above make a number of contributions to research on emergent risks in BPC projects. First, our results suggest that organizational support risks have direct impact on BPC project performance, which indicate that higher user participation and higher top management support substantially improve BPC project performance. Furthermore, our results suggest that organizational support risks positively influence project management practices. These results thus partially confirm the findings reported by Gemino et al. (2008), who reported that organizational risks positively influences the project management practices, but on the other side do not have a direct impact on project product performance, which is in contrast to our findings.\n6. Conclusion: This study was motivated by the insufficient understanding of emergent risks as one of the major cause for the high failure rates in BPC projects (Trkman, 2010; Cao et al., 2001; Strebel, 1996; Kliem, 2000). The findings reported above make four main contributions to research in BPC domain. First, we extended the theory of BPC by identifying emergent risks impacting BPC project and process performance. More specifically, our results suggest that user participation, top management support, governance volatility, and target volatility are critical emergent risks in BPC projects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Even today still many business process change (BPC) initiatives fail and cause high overruns for organizations undergoing BPC initiatives. It is therefore important that BPC practitioners and researchers understand the risks inherent in BPC projects, and that they adapt their risk management processes to account for and mitigate these risks. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate which emergent risks matter in BPC project.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors adopted case survey methodology and investigated data from 130 case studies to show the nature and magnitude of relationships between organizational support risks, volatility risks, and BPC project and process performance.\nFindings: The results show that organizational support risks influence both the overall BPC project performance and process performance. Whereas, volatility risks influence project performance but appear to have no direct impact on the process performance. Both organizational support risks and volatility risks show influence on project management practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study show several limitations that might be assigned to the case survey methodology, such as use of secondary data or publication bias.\nPractical implications: The authors provide considerable support which emergent risks matter in BPC projects.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of this study takes several forms. It fills a gap in the literature concerning emergent risk factors inherent in BPC projects. The authors provided theoretical explanation of the effects of emergent risks on BPC project and process performance. And lastly, the authors have demonstrated the usefulness of case survey methodology in BPC research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Risk capital constraints to innovation in services	[ "Innovation", "Small enterprises", "Service industries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The paper represents an empirical exploration of the extent to which a particular type of small firm (technology-based knowledge-intensive business services - t-KIBS) views access to equity funding as a barrier to innovation and, within this group, the factors that are associated with greater \"neediness\" (i.e. stronger perceptions of inadequate access to equity). To this end, the paper is driven by two common observations:\n2. Innovation and venture capital in small firms: Returning to the first of our two \"observations\": a common caricature sees small, would-be, innovators as behaviourally advantaged yet materially constrained (Madrid-Guijarro et al., 2009). Although flat management structures, effective internal communications and nearness to customers promote flexibility, these are often set against a lack of technical and managerial expertise, limited information processing capacity and an inability to hedge risk through portfolio investments. This final point may be of a particular concern. Whilst large firms may diversify their innovative projects to obtain more stable cash flows (Stoneman and Canepa, 2002), small firms are, more often, constrained to \"put all their eggs in one basket\", developing single research projects that require considerable funding relative to the turnover base (Giudici and Paleari, 2000). Importantly, innovation is an essentially speculative process. In the main, resources must be committed prior to the (uncertain) receipt of revenues that these resources hope to generate (Brophy and Shulman, 1993; Hall, 2005). Capital expended is capital risked, and the risks are likely to be greater for the smallest firms.\n3. Technology-based knowledge-intensive business services: Turning to our second observation: studies of innovation in services frequently bemoan the implicit (and ongoing) manufacturing bias in innovation studies in both developed (Drejer, 2004) and developing nations (Ndubisi and Iftikhar, 2012). The relative neglect of services should give cause for concern. As Gallouj (2002, p. 144) notes, such a position may:\n4. Data: The data presented here were collected as part of a wide-ranging \"Survey of Enterprise in Northern Britain\". For the present purposes \"Northern Britain\" encompasses Scotland and the Northern English counties of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, Teesside and Cumbria. Details of this project and dataset can be found elsewhere. In style and substance, it followed the model established by the successful Cambridge studies of UK SMEs (beginning with SBRC, 1992) and was driven, in a large part, by concerns over inadequate regional coverage in these earlier studies[2]. Again, in common with the Cambridge studies, the sample frame used in constructing the database was the Dun and Bradstreet UK Marketing Database. This database has its origins in the credit-rating business and, as such, it is likely that it over-represents expanding firms in search of finance. It is also known to under-represent single-person self-employed, sole proprietors and partnerships in comparison to the overall enterprise sector (Bullock and Hughes, 2000). In the context of the current paper, the principal consequence of these biases is likely to be an overestimation of population levels of R&D expenditure, exporting and so on. However, when this caveat is borne in mind (i.e. that the survey did not seek to represent, in any isomorphic manner, the notional population), then the legitimacy of the subsequent analyses should not be compromised.\n5. Model and preliminary analysis: As noted, a preliminary concern is with the relative perceptions of access to venture capital (or, strictly, external equity) as a barrier to innovation. Relative, that is, to other possible constraints, knowing the extent to which equity access is a more or less pressing obstacle (at least from the perspective of sample firms) provides important context for the inferential analysis that follows and for the debate on the exigencies of equity funding for small firm innovation more generally. These data are presented in Figure 2.\n6. Multivariate analysis: Logistic regression, in common with all varieties of multiple regression, is sensitive to high correlation among the independent variables. However, various tests for multicollinearity (using correlation matrices and multiway frequency analysis) suggest little problem in this respect. Table I details the simple bivariate correlations between the independent variables used in our regressions equation. From this, there appear to be few collinearity concerns. Only in the case of the correlation between perceived managerial and marketing constraints to innovation is the coefficient higher than one might like. However, this is to be expected and it equates to a variance inflation factor of 1.89, substantially below 10 that is normally taken to indicate collinearity. Moreover, as the data in Table II indicate, the model appears to be a reasonable predictor of \"neediness\" - significantly improving upon \"constant only\" prediction at the 1 per cent level and explaining around 43 per cent of the variance. On the whole, the model seems to have a number of satisfactory properties.\n7. Concluding remarks: Drawing on data from a sample of 264 t-KIBS, the paper was concerned with identifying the perceived relative importance of access to external equity as a barrier to innovation (for the sample as a whole) and, within the sample, the characteristics of firms recording the highest perceptions of equity as a barrier. In this sense, the paper presents a relatively uncommon demand-side perspective. With respect to the former issue, and relative to a cafeteria of resource choices, it is clear that access to external equity figures low on the list of impediments for most firms. In general, sample firms are more likely to identify skill and knowledge constraints than financial constraints. There is plenty of empirical precedent for this finding in the innovation studies literature (albeit largely relating to manufacturing firms - for example Freel, 2000; Hewitt-Dundas, 2006) and noting it here may be considered unremarkable. However, that a similar pattern is evident in a particular set of service firms is more noteworthy, further underscoring presumed similarities between t-KIBS and high-technology manufacturing (Howells, 2000) and raising concerns over the relative neglect of the former in academic studies and policy discussions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to understand the factors associated with perceptions of venture capital as a barrier to innovation in an important subset of knowledge-intensive service firms - technology-based business services. A general and longstanding neglect of services in studies of innovation and a common focus of innovation studies on the availability of, and demand for, risk capital has been noted.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In exploring these issues, the authors draw on survey data collected from 264 technology-based service firms located in Scotland and Northern England. The data are subjected to bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses to help explore the extent of demand-side risk capital concerns.\nFindings: It was found that smaller, faster growing and R&D-intensive firms perception greater equity barriers. Moreover, firms who are relatively happy about the managerial competencies available to them, but who identify deficiencies in marketing skills and the availability of external debt finance (which may say something broadly about their financial neediness), are shown to be \"needy\".\nOriginality/value: Studies of venture capital demand are relatively rare. Studies involving innovative service firms are rarer still. Given the prominent role of service firms in advanced economies and the changing perspective of the role of services in innovation, studies of financial constraints to innovation in services are timely. Innovation policy in advanced economies continues to be premised on patterns identified in manufacturing industries. This paper contributes to a broader perspective that views [technology-based] business services as dynamic innovation actors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The roles of self-disclosure, modesty, and self-monitoring in the mentoring relationship: A longitudinal multi-source investigation	[ "Self assessment", "Mentoring", "Employee behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Mentoring refers to a one-on-one relationship between a less experienced (i.e. protege) and a more experienced (i.e. mentor) person, which prototypically is intended to advance the personal and professional growth of the less experienced individual (Noe et al., 2002; Wanberg et al., 2003). Prospective studies over several decades have demonstrated that mentoring relationships in youth and young adulthood predict creative achievements and midlife mental health (Westermeyer, 1998; Yamada and Yu-Wen Tam, 1996). Additionally, as several meta-analyses have shown (Allen et al., 2004; Ng et al., 2005; Underhill, 2006), mentoring is important to an individual's success in organizations and to career success in general; specifically, mentoring is positively related to compensation, promotions, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and career commitment.\nBackground and hypotheses: An established definition of a mentor (Ragins, 1989, p. 2) is:A mentor generally is defined as a higher ranking influential individual in the work environment who has advanced experience and knowledge and is committed to providing upward mobility and career support.Thus, mentors are individuals who take an active interest in helping to advance another's career. Mentoring relationships enhance both individuals' growth and advancement by offering the possibility that early career employees find the opportunity to talk openly about concerns that detract them from productive work. The mentor provides a sounding board for self-explorations, offers personal experience, and helps resolve problems through feedback and active listening. This is called the counseling function of mentoring (Kram, 1985).Although this form of personal exchange is pivotal to mentoring, only recently has research examined how employees might initiate this form of interaction, and what consequences of this initiation may have in mentoring relationships (Ensher and Murphy, 2005; Wanberg et al., 2007). Research has examined self-disclosure as one way to initiate these forms of personal exchange relationships. Self-disclosure is the act of revealing personal information about oneself to another, and is regarded as central to the development of close relationships (Collins and Miller, 1994).Self-disclosure and mentoring\nMethod: Sampling procedure and respondents\nResults: Table I reports the means, standard deviations, intercorrelations, and coefficient alpha (a) internal consistency reliability estimates of the variables. The Cronbach's alphas of the scales ranged from excellent to marginally acceptable. The values of all variables of those who participated in the second wave and those who dropped out in the second wave were compared with respect to their values in the first wave of the study. There was only one variable that showed a systematic difference between these two groups: The mean of the received mentoring in the drop out group in wave two was slightly lower in wave one (M=4.23) than in the group of those who participated in wave two (m=4.47, p<0.05).Hypotheses testing\nDiscussion: In the present study, the effects of early career employees' self-disclosure, modesty, and of the interaction between employees' modesty and self-monitoring on subsequent changes in informal mentoring were investigated for the first time. The study used a longitudinal design over a period of two years. Three data sources were used, namely employees' assessments, employees' mentors' assessments, and assessments by employees' peers.In line with the hypotheses, employees' self-disclosure was associated with mentoring after two years, as assessed by both the employee and the employee peer. Second, employees' modesty predicted mentoring received, as assessed by the employee, as well as mentoring given, as assessed by the employees' mentors. Third, the interaction between employees' modesty and self-monitoring predicted mentoring given, as assessed by the career-supporters, and the number of mentors, as assessed by the early career employees.Implications of the study\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of protege self-presentation by self-disclosure, modesty, and self-monitoring in mentoring.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study used three data sources (i.e. employees, peers, and mentors) and a longitudinal design over a period of two years.\nFindings: - Employee self-disclosure and modesty at time 1 predicted an increase in mentoring received and mentoring given at time 2. Further, self-monitoring moderated the modesty-mentoring given relationship such that employees high in self-monitoring had the strongest positive relationship between modesty at time 1 and mentoring given two years later. Also, modesty interacted with self-monitoring at time 1 to influence the number of mentors involved with employees. That is, the modesty - number of mentors relationship was positive for those high in self-monitoring, and negative for those low in self-monitoring.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Employees can exercise influence over the amount and type of mentoring experiences they receive based on the style on interaction they utilize with potential mentors, with specific reference to self-monitoring and the use of modesty.\nPractical implications: - It is modesty, and early career employees' ability to present it well, that will lead to positive affect (i.e. liking) and behavior (e.g. benevolence and generosity) by senior managers.\nOriginality/value: - Investigates the role of protege self-presentation by self-disclosure, modesty, and self-monitoring in mentoring.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge acquisition via internet-enabled platforms: Examining incrementally and non-incrementally internationalizing SMEs	[ "Internet", "Internationalization", "Knowledge", "Knowledge acquisition", "Internet-enabled experience", "Small and medium-sized enterprise" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Information communication technology (ICT), such as the internet, has profoundly transformed the international business environment, particularly regarding the flow of information and the way in which knowledge is created, shared and organized. Yet, the extent of this transformation is still underappreciated. The internet has transformed the international business environment (Petersen et al., 2002; Loane et al., 2004; Glavas et al., 2017) by progressively reducing the barriers to internationalization (Glavas and Mathews, 2014), enabling firms to collate information and engage in innovation (Liao et al., 2009), and connect with supply chains instantaneously by improving the efficiency of network relationships (Sigfusson and Chetty, 2013), thus, increasing the number of international market transactions (Gabrielsson and Kirpalani, 2004). Subsequently, the number of firms, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) extending their reach beyond the domestic market has risen (Glavas and Mathews, 2014). Numerous factors have been identified as having an impact on the firm's progression to internationalization (e.g. entry mode strategy, spatial and geographical factors, financial capital, industry and sector growth rates); however, knowledge for internationalization has been found to be particularly influential, playing a leading role in explaining the international market progression of firms (Clarke et al., 2013). Tacit forms of knowledge have been found to be influential for the internationalization of firms (Petersen et al., 2002). Specifically, \"tacit\" forms of knowledge are about \"knowing how\" (Polanyi, 1966); such forms of knowledge are difficult to formalize, communicate and transfer (Nonaka et al., 1994).\n2. Theoretical foundations: 2.1 Knowledge acquisition\n3. Research method: 3.1 Multiple case study methodology, including case selection\n4. Findings: 4.1 Within-case analysis of SMEs\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The internationalization literature has for many years highlighted that knowledge plays a dominant role in the internationalization process the firm (cf. Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Erramilli, 1991; Reuber and Fischer, 1997; Clarke et al., 2013; Le and Kroll, 2017). While an increasing number of studies have attempted to examine knowledge and internationalization processes, the nature and role of knowledge in the internationalization process is still largely unknown (Gulanowski et al., 2018). In recent years studies focusing on the knowledge gained from internet-enabled environments have become increasingly prevalent (Coviello, 2015; Dillon et al., 2017). For instance, past research has, for example, suggested that technological platforms such as the internet have created a need and an opportunity to re-classify the ways in which owner/founders acquire new knowledge (Maula, 2000). Considering the aforementioned discussion and given the autonomous nature in which many firms are emerging, the purpose of this research to examine the ways in which information and knowledge for informing internationalization processes is acquired, specifically through internet-enabled experiences. In addressing this question, this research addresses a key limitation of past studies which overlook the strategic use of technology as an important source for the acquisition of knowledge. Consequently, the empirical findings of this research offer important implications for theory development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Technology has profoundly transformed the international business environment, particularly regarding the flow of information and the way in which knowledge is acquired and shared. Yet, the extent of this transformation is still underappreciated. The purpose of this paper is to examine how small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner/founders acquire and utilize knowledge for internationalization via internet-enabled platforms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical analysis draws on multiple case study methodology to examine 13 Australian SME owner/founders and the knowledge they acquire from utilization of internet-enabled platforms.\nFindings: The analysis reveals four differing types of internet-enabled experiences: \"technical internet-enabled experiences,\" \"operational internet-enabled experiences,\" \"functional internet-enabled experiences,\" and \"immersive internet-enabled experiences.\" The findings indicate that internet-enabled experiences can generate both explicit and tacit forms of knowledge for the pre, early and later phases of internationalization.\nPractical implications: The findings provide a structured approach by allowing SMEs to \"plot\" themselves against the classification of internet-enabled experiences to denote their level of technological involvement, and for discerning the types of knowledge that can be acquired. The findings are particularly helpful for owner/founders, highlighting that internet-enabled platforms are affecting the ways in which knowledge can be acquired and applied to international businesses processes.\nOriginality/value: The findings extend the conventional notion of knowledge acquisition for international business by highlighting how information and knowledge can be acquired via internet-enabled platforms. The findings lay the necessary groundwork for building an evidence base and theoretically extending the concept of knowledge acquisition via internet-enabled platforms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Instruction through virtual reference: mapping the ACRL framework	[ "Academic libraries", "Reference services", "Library instruction", "Information literacy", "ACRL framework", "Virtual libraries", "Virtual reference" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Answering requests for information is a traditional part of the librarian's skill set. As technology has progressed, many of those questions, which used to be asked face-to-face are now being asked by telephone, email, online chat clients, fillable forms and text messaging. Though the growth of the internet has allowed many to bypass the reference librarian and look up the information themselves, academic libraries still receive questions from students seeking help beginning their research on a topic or requests for specific items and documents. In addition to technology changes, the staffing models for academic reference desks have changed as well. More institutions are moving toward tiered staffing models (Faix, 2014), wherein students or other non-degree-holding library staff handle initial questions. As reference questions come in varying levels of difficulty and work on the part of the answerer, this tiered system allows the front-line staff to answer simple questions quickly and refer more complex requests to a librarian - whether the subject specialist for a specific area or the librarian who is on-call to assist the desk staff. Each library has its own criteria to determine at what point a question should be referred, though some may use an existing or modified version of a scale such as the READ(c) or Reference Effort Assessment Data Scale (Gerlich, 2019). In any case, using a tiered staffing model allows academic librarians to maximize their reference time by devoting it to research requests rather than directions to the restrooms or help to print a document.\nLiterature review: With seeds of the idea beginning throughout the 1900s, at the turn of the past century, there was a surge in researchers who concluded that reference work can be more than answering straight-forward \"ready reference\" questions (especially true in the age of the internet when so many of those factual questions have readily available answers) and also that instruction was not limited to the classroom environment. Beck and Turner (2001) and Elmborg (2002) both discussed the importance of the \"teachable moment\" at the reference desk, taking students' requests for information as an opportunity to teach them how to conduct research for themselves. Ward (2004) and Avery (2008) agreed, advising librarians to take advantage of the teachable moments not only at the physical reference desk but also during chat reference transactions as well. Dempsey (2017) notes that a reference transaction may be the only opportunity of teaching information literacy to a student and that librarians should take advantage of it; while unmediated, these \"microteaching\" moments are nevertheless timely at the point of need and highly personalized (Rutledge and LeMire, 2017, p. 351).\nBackground: Academic distance education librarians at Central Michigan University (CMU) serve a large population of remote graduate students, mostly in the areas of education and business leadership. These students are studying either at remote class centers or through online programs. The students are required to write several research papers that are scaffolded toward their final capstone project and are required to use scholarly journal articles as sources for those papers. Many of the research methods courses receive an instruction session from one of the distance education librarians, and the contact information for those librarians is often included in the syllabi of the courses. At the time this research began, these distance students could submit reference questions specifically to the distance education librarians via a special queue, with their own email address, phone number, texting number, chat interface and fillable form. In January of 2017, the two information services departments at CMU Libraries merged; after that point, the distance education librarians and the on-campus librarians were answering questions from every student rather than their distinct populations.\nMethodology: The author took screenshots of each librarian's template and copied the text of each into Word Documents to examine their contents. While each librarian's template varies slightly, the author determined that all contained the same basic content sections; see Appendix for the standard template. The author then mapped the instructional content of these sections to the knowledge practices and dispositions of the ACRL framework. After review by the CMU institutional review board, this project received a determination of not human subject research.\nResults: Template\nDiscussion: These example questions show that there is ample opportunity for librarians to take advantage of the teachable moments of virtual reference and instruct students in the basics of information literacy, both using the template and adjusting it to the student's information needs. As an example, consider sample question 15. Like all the sample questions, it uses the template as a base and conveys instructional content as outlined in Table II. It also contains the following additional instructional content pieces: instructions to broaden the topic; resources for composing a bibliography in APA style; specific search strategies; and instructions to check reference lists for more articles. This question thus addresses aspects of: Research as Inquiry (adjusting the topic based on too few results found); Information Has Value (correctly citing others' work); Scholarship as Conversation (using the reference list to find other related articles); and Searching as Strategic Exploration (broadening the topic with fewer keywords and phrases, as well as using the suggested search string) (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2016).\nConclusion: There are numerous examples of how to use the threshold concepts of the ACRL framework to assess student learning during traditional library instruction. As this study has shown, however, instructional intent can also be measured when that instruction has been requested at point-of-need by the user asking the librarian for help through a virtual reference. This initial request for information or for help by the student is not necessarily present during library instructional sessions, which are normally requested by an instructor or initiated by a librarian. Though they may appreciate it after the fact, students receiving a one-shot instruction session or an embedded librarian in their classes are not usually the ones requesting such intervention. And while much of the focus in the literature has been on instruction through chat, instruction through email or fillable forms also lends itself to teaching, perhaps even more so. While on chat and by the nature of the platform, librarians must often balance the user's expectation of a quick answer while also giving them instruction for finding information on their own in the future (Jacoby et al., 2016). This added stress of a time crunch isn't usually present when replying to an emailed request. The distance education librarians in this case study have a stated reply window of two business days. Even without such a statement, it is likely that students understand an email to the library will have a longer response time than a chat message.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine teaching intent of information literacy threshold concepts via asynchronous reference transactions. Instructional content in academic librarians' replies to research requests are analyzed for and mapped to threshold concepts contained in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author mapped the instructional content of a research request reply template to the content of the ACRL framework, then took a random sample of research requests using the template during the calendar year 2016. Additional instructional content provided in the sample replies was also mapped to the framework.\nFindings: In providing written instruction for students to create searches from keywords and search subject-specific databases, every frame is at least partially addressed in the template except Scholarship as Conversation. However, individual librarians adapt the template to teach as needed and there are examples in this case study of teaching aspects of all six frames asynchronously.\nPractical implications: This study provides support for librarians to teach the threshold concepts of the ACRL framework asynchronously at the point of need during virtual reference, and the effective use of a research reply template to accomplish this instruction.\nOriginality/value: Few recent studies examine instructional intent in asynchronous/email reference. This study examines teaching the ACRL framework via reference rather than instructional sessions. A portion of this research was presented as a poster at the 2017 ACRL Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Legitimating reputation/the reputation of legitimacy theory	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Corporate image", "Risk management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The emergence of corporate social responsibility (hereafter CSR) reporting in a stand alone format is one of the striking features of corporate activity over the last 10 to 15 years and commands the attention of, inter alia, social and environmental accountants. CSR reporting is a widespread (see Kolk, 2003, 2005), but by no means universal (see, Erusalimsky et al., 2006 and Milne and Gray, 2007), phenomena that is under-explored in terms of the characteristics of these reports, who produces them, how they sit within organisational routines and how they are experienced by those outside of producing organisations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to respond to commentaries on Bebbington, Larrinaga-Gonzales and Moneva, by Unerman and by Adams, published in Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 21 No. 3.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reviews and discusses the points suggested/contested by the commentary papers.\nFindings: - That given the current state of our understanding of corporate social responsibility reporting in stand alone (and other) formats, openness to a multitude of theoretical perspectives is appropriate. Further, that concepts of legitimacy and reputation can and should be distinguished from one another.\nOriginality/value: - The authors put forward their views, beliefs and reservations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Archetypes of incumbents' strategic responses to digital innovation	[ "Business model innovation", "Strategic response", "Digital innovation", "Incremental and radical innovation", "Incumbents" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper explores how incumbents adapt their business models when dealing with a digital innovation the impact of which is either incremental or radical and that may come from either their own industry or indeed other industries. Digital technologies (DTs hereafter) have disrupted companies for over a decade, driving changes of industrial and organisational activities, as well as of the underlying processes, competencies and intellectual capital strategies (Rindfleisch et al., 2017; Nickerson and Silverman, 1997). Despite the breadth of DTs, one of the main challenges rests on exploring how these technologies are transforming organisations. Firms are facing strong competition from direct competitors who may opt for a low-cost strategy or competitors from other sectors that rely on new or different technologies and/or business models (Markides, 2015; Teece, 2010; Tongur and Engwall, 2014).\n2. Theoretical background: In this section, we review the main literature on digital technologies and their impact on business models. In particular, we discuss prior works on incumbents' response to different types of technological innovation.\n3. Business model innovation in response to digital innovation: 3.1 Towards a model of firms' strategic responses to digital innovation\n4. Concluding remarks, managerial implications and future research avenues: The current paper explores an interesting and current issue on how incumbent firms change their business models to cope with radical and incremental digital innovation. By doing so, we engage with the scholarly debate about the impact of DTs on business model innovation (Baden-Fuller and Haefliger, 2013; Fitzgerald et al., 2013; Rogers, 2016). More specifically, the evidence discussed above has shed new light on how incumbents differently innovate their business models to the challenges posed by the emergence of DTs, depending on their nature (incremental vs radical) and origin (coming from the same or different incumbents' industry). Our study reveals how there is not a right or wrong strategy that firms could pursue to adapt their business model, rather their strategic approaches may differ depending on the resources or assets (including intellectual capital) that need mobilising. In fact, more often than not, business model changes and innovations require full reconfiguration of a firm's activity system and knowledge management strategies (Casadesus-Masanell and Zhu, 2013; Nickerson and Silverman, 1997); hence, one business model may be preferred to others depending on how burdensome the reconfiguration process will be.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how incumbents adapt their business models in response to digital innovation whose impact is either incremental or radical and source industry is either their own industry or other industries. The authors propose a conceptual matrix that is built on these two dimensions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors build examples of four multinational incumbents operating in different sectors and known for their forefront approach to digital innovation to populate the matrix. Cases were chosen because of their polar nature that could provide variation in the two dimensions. The authors draw on a variety of qualitative secondary data sources to build the cases.\nFindings: The study reveals how incumbents' response to digital technologies (DTs) may differ depending on the resources or assets (including knowledge-based ones) that need mobilising. Business model changes and innovations may require full reconfiguration of a firm's activity system; hence, one business model may be preferred to others depending on how burdensome the reconfiguration process will be.\nResearch limitations/implications: As the study is exploratory in nature, the anecdotal evidence provided in the paper are only some of the possible strategic responses of firms. Future studies may further into the dimensions the authors identified by empirically testing their validity with primary data.\nPractical implications: The research offers managers and executives of incumbent firms a clear indication as to which elements of their business model ought to be adapted given the opportunities as well as the challenges brought about by DTs.\nOriginality/value: This research has explored incumbents' response to DTs by primarily focusing on the nature and source industry of the underpinning innovation, besides any consideration of the drivers or processes that may lead to business model change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving customer satisfaction of a healthcare facility: reading the customers' needs	[ "Benchmarking", "Quality function deployment", "Customer satisfaction", "Hoshin Kanri", "Lean tools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The healthcare industry, like many other areas of business, has been impacted by the noteworthy increase in the local and international competition in the last decade. The tough global economy has motivated the organizations to change their operational standard procedures. As highlighted in previous research, it is critical to listen to customer expectations (CEs) in order to effectively satisfy the customer; such expectations can be obtained from the basic feelings of the market (Friesner et al., 2009; Yufeng and Lihong, 2014; Roger, 1996; Jaakkola et al., 2015; Jeong and Oh, 1998). Hospitals all across the USA are facing a growth in demand and must provide superior customer service and operate efficiently if they intend to maintain or increase their level of customers (Bazzoli et al., 2003). This increase in demand is leading to the development of more hospitals, but also smaller, specialized doctor's offices and urgent care facilities that directly compete with the hospitals. Medical centers (MCs) have come a long way in improving the level of care and the quality of the patient experience (Anil, 2011; Gaucher et al., 1991; Garver, 2012; De Felice and Petrillo, 2011). Any action executed for the purpose of customer satisfaction will increase levels of loyalty and higher profits (Iqbal et al., 2014; Chieh-Peng et al., 2015; Einspruch, 2006; Pimentel and Major, 2016).\nLiterature review: This study explores three Lean tools, evaluating each of them in the service area and explain in the following section. QFD has proven a successful way to organize and develop a better method of making products more customer-focused. The Japanese created the basics of QFD in the 1960s. Mizuno and Akao wanted to develop a methodology that could help to produce a product that will fully satisfy the customers' expectations before it were produce (Akao, 1972; Hauser and Clausing, 1988; Zafar et al., 2015).\nMethodology: As were stated previously, the objective of this research is to identify, understand and incorporate into corporate strategy the customer needs and the way to satisfy them in a medical facility, thus improving the responsiveness and effectiveness of the MC in the areas that the customers consider strategic. The methodology used in this paper is known as action-research, the study was developed in a medical facility (in a prior agreement with the company, the firm name will not be revealed). We applied action-research approach (the author participated in the development, training and implementation of the method). All the information collected from the facility under study, as well as the other two facilities, was collected using participant-observer format; therefore, the reliability, construct validity and internal validity are much stronger than found in a typical case study.\nResults: the QFD process: Administrative efficiency and customer service categorization\nConclusions: Healthcare organizations need to line up the customer requirements and characteristics that provide a maximum impact on their competitive performance. It is critical for providers of medical services to identify the customer needs and expectations in order to produce the best services to increase customer satisfaction. The HOQ shows that the best strategy for the MC is to employ specialized workers that help to improve efficiency. The MC's main local competitors are MUSC after hour care and Doctors Care. Each of these MCs has their own area of specialty that draws their patients in from wide distances. MUSC has a well-known and respected reputation for research and their children's healthcare services. Doctors Care strives to provide the friendliest care and to be a good workplace. By employing specialized doctors and improving their systems, the MC can fill the need for a quick and efficient MC in the area.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Customer satisfaction refers to the extent to which customers are happy and satisfied with the products and services provided by a business. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to integrate lean tools in the analysis of customer satisfaction and, second, to examine its implications for research and practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author proposes the combination of three lean tools in order to design a service quality system that has customer expectations (CEs) as the first input. These tools are quality function deployment (QFD), Hoshin Kanri planning process (HKPP) and benchmarking. The author uses a case study to show the functionality of these tools and the final design of a service quality system for a medical center.\nFindings: Interaction between the service provider and the customer is the primary core activity for service-oriented businesses of different natures. A key relationship between trust in service quality and customer satisfaction cannot be ignored in interpersonal-based service encounters. However, there is a gap in the literature in terms of standardized lean-based procedures or methodologies that lead to improved customer satisfaction that are based directly on CEs.\nResearch limitations/implications: Given the variety of the population, the authors developed several methodologies to standardize the customer responses. Using several total quality management tools, the standardization allows the authors to separate the different CEs. The gathering of customers' expectations (voice of the customers) allows the companies to focus on the real problems expressed by the users of the service, increasing their loyalty and, most importantly in the field under study, the customer's satisfaction with the service received.\nPractical implications: For practitioners, this study helps with the use of lean tools such as QFD, benchmarking and HKPP and attempts to bridge such a gap with an evidence-based real case.\nSocial implications: With the incorporation of all the customer needs, additional elements must be considered in the design of new services. Availability for all and sustainability play an important part of the CEs.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents a real application of QFD and Hoshin Kanri and how they may help the service organizations with future development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A comparison of sodium contents on nutrition information labels of foods with and without nutrition claims marketed in Brazil	[ "Nutrition labelling", "Salt", "Food marketing", "Low-nutrient food", "Nutrient content claims" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increased consumption of processed food products in addition to a more sedentary lifestyle are examples of factors associated with an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, obesity and systemic hypertension (World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization, 2003; Monteiro et al., 2011; Popkin et al., 2012). The increased consumption of processed food reflects in the increased consumption of salt and sodium in many countries worldwide (Anderson et al., 2010; Sarno et al., 2013).\n2. Methods: 2.1. Data collection\n3. Results: The resulting database of the census consisted of 4,538 processed foods, of which 1,089 were excluded, as shown in Figure 1. These exclusions were due to lack of information on the weight of the portion (n=4) or the sodium content (n=108) (information not presented in the packaging), presence of claims as regards sodium reduction (n=67), or because only AR (n=31) or conventional (n=879) versions were available (n=910), precluding a comparison.\n4. Discussion: The main finding of this study is that food products with nutrition claims suggesting an absence or reduced levels of nutrients marketed in Brazil have higher median sodium contents than the corresponding conventional products. This result is similar to those of other studies in which only some groups of food products, such as soft drinks, were compared (Ferrari and Soares, 2003; Guimaraes et al., 2009).\n5. Conclusions: In this study, it was found that food products with nutrition claims suggesting the absence or reduced levels of nutrients (AR) have higher sodium levels than the corresponding conventional food products and that salt was present more frequently as the first ingredient listed. Furthermore, the majority of groups that presented a higher median of sodium content in the AR food products have a significant contribution in the sodium presented in the diet, as dairy products, cookies, crackers, complete seasonings and processed snacks. Thus, there is a need to reduce the supply of sodium in AR foods sold in Brazil, in order to avoid health risks to consumers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the sodium content displayed on the labels of conventional processed food products (C) and of those with nutrition claims suggesting the absence or reduced levels of nutrients (AR).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional study analyzing the ingredients list, nutrition facts and nutrition claims on food labels. Subjects: all processed food products with added salt or additives containing sodium that were for sale in a large supermarket in Brazil from October to December 2011.\nFindings: All 3,449 products were analyzed and categorized into 66 groups according to Brazilian legislation. The median of sodium content in the AR was 42.7 percent higher than in the C (p=0.007). In 33.3 percent of the groups there was difference in sodium content between AR and C (p\nOriginality/value: Comparisons of sodium content of conventional and AR processed food are scarce in the literature, especially covering all food for sale in a large supermarket. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first census making this comparisons in Latin America.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fujitsu Services develops the reputation for great customer satisfaction: Program puts employees in tune with brand values	[ "Organizational change", "Brand identity", "Employee attitudes", "Organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Revenue has grown six times faster than the market average, customer satisfaction has increased, and recruitment, selection and training processes have improved since the launch of a \"reputation\" program at Fujitsu Services, developed to change the behavior of employees so they genuinely live Fujitsu Services' brand values.\nThe challenge: In 2002, the company previously known as ICL took a fresh direction following the acquisition by Japanese IT giant Fujitsu and was renamed Fujitsu Services. The company has rebuilt itself and the transition has resulted in strong, sustainable growth. However, its brand was in a state of flux. Fujitsu Services recognized the importance of reinvigorating its brand, beginning with the identification of brand essence and attributes. It also realized that the success of the brand was dependent on consistent behaviors running through every aspect of the company's activities and initiatives. Its aim was for customers consistently to describe their experience of Fujitsu Services in terms of the brand attributes.Fujitsu Services felt it had reached the limits of its organic-growth capability. In a hugely competitive marketplace, it needed to differentiate itself in order to achieve its financial targets. The IT industry is notorious for over-promising and under-delivering. Fujitsu Services wanted to gain a reputation for getting things right first time, on time and to budget.\nThe solution: In 2004, Fujitsu Services carried out independent surveys across its employee and customer base. Spearheaded by David Courtley, the company used the findings to develop its reputation model - a combination of the company's essence and attributes to create a distinctive position.Ian Humphries is the Fujitsu Services head of communications. In partnership with senior management, his team identified realism as the essence of the Fujitsu Services brand. This reflected the company's honest, straightforward, common-sense view of how it helps client businesses to develop, while also helping to differentiate it from the competition.Focus turned to the attributes Fujitsu Services wanted to be known for and what could be delivered through the people responsible for its brand - its employees. These attributes, underpinning its realism essence and supported by the company's differentiators, are:* in-tune;* straight-talking; and* tenacious.\nConsulting activity: Academee helped to facilitate the reputation model during late 2004 and early 2005. Program research and design took place in spring 2005.A team of eight Academee consultants and project managers worked in partnership with Fujitsu Services. Key roles and tasks were divided between the two organizations based on individual strengths. Initially, 100 \"champions\" were nominated by Fujitsu Services to roll out the program across Europe through a series of \"reputation sessions\". Academee consultants trained these champions. Academee also project managed the program and designed, produced and piloted the program materials.The program began with a series of Academee-led discussion groups with champions and people managers, to communicate the culture and behaviors associated with the reputation model. These were also embedded into wider corporate initiatives such as the behavioral-competence framework, induction, training academies and internal communications. Work is currently under way to embed the reputation program in core HR processes.All employees have now engaged with four separate elements of the program:1. Session 1: July to December 2005.2. Session 2: January to June 2006.3. Session 3: July 2006 to October 2006.4. Session 4: November 2006 to February 2007.By session 4, each individual employee had invested a minimum of one day reflecting on his or her role in Fujitsu Services' reputation.The number of champions across Europe has now grown to 150, and these have equipped 2,000 people managers to deliver the program to their teams as well as continuing to run sessions themselves. More than 2,500 reputation sessions have now taken place. The program is on track to achieve its aim of 22,000 employees taking part - approximately 15,000 in the UK and an additional 7,000 across Europe. Some 420 new starters have attended the reputation experience day as part of their induction. The 2005-2006 graduate-induction event enabled 140 graduates to experience the principles of reputation. Management-development programs are now aligned to the reputation model.Academee also developed the reputation website, which provides an online booking system. The website produces management information about the numbers of people booked on to briefings, numbers of people who actually attended, and feedback from the champions and people managers.Academee provides a full-time project co-ordinator to manage implementation. The program runs across Europe in Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Academee helps each country to localize the material to match its reality, and also assists with translation.\nThe benefits: The program has shifted relationships with Fujitsu Services customers.The Home Office had been a failing account, but only six months into the reputation program, it became a hugely successful one. The Home Office currently rates Fujitsu Services 8/10 for service against 4/10 in early 2005, and the service desk receives half as many problems as it did 12 months ago. The reputation program was adapted to play a key role in transforming the Fujitsu Services account team in order to achieve this turnaround.Transport for London wrote to David Courtley to thank Fujitsu Services for its outstanding service during the London bombings and referred to the company as straight-talking, in-tune, and tenacious - without any prompting.Fujitsu Services is now looking at more account-building activities based on the reputation program.The customer-satisfaction interview program, designed for use in accounts with more than PS1 million annual revenue, includes a section introduced in November 2005 entitled \"perceptions of Fujitsu Services\". This assesses the impact of the reputation program. Overall customer satisfaction has improved, and the top three characteristics customers associate most closely with Fujitsu Services are:1. Honest in what they say and do (82.7 percent).2. Realistic in their promises (75.0 percent).3. Strongly focused on customer needs (69.2 percent).Recent client quotes include:\"In the last 12 months, my impression of Fujitsu Services is that it has discovered the direction in which it wishes to move as a company.\"\"Fujitsu Services manages our expectations around what is achievable and what is not.\"\"The company is very attuned to our culture ... and our attitude, and I've had a good working relationship with Fujitsu Services.\"\"They take time to listen to you, and I think that has been a massive difference, in that they actually listen, and take on board, now, what is being said.\"\"They haven't done what other suppliers have tended to do, which is promise something and then fail to deliver on it. They have tried to manage our expectations very well and strongly, even if it meant that we did not like the answers.\"The scale and speed at which Fujitsu has implemented the program is unusual in the IT industry.The reputation program has been short-listed for a 2007 Management Consultancies Association (MCA) award and was a finalist in the 2006 Personnel Today awards.To date, the reputation-program team has:* engaged with every Fujitsu Services employee each quarter in a series of structured-dialog sessions;* developed a common and consistent language for Fujitsu Services;* conducted structured feedback interviews with Fujitsu Services customers to ensure that the company is abiding by its values and reputation; and* implemented measurements to assess achievement, including brand health-check surveys, service-level agreements and employee-opinion initiatives that are continually fed back into the program.Feedback from the champions helps continually to refine and evolve program design and logistics.Support from senior management has helped to ensure the success of the program. A steering group, which includes David Courtley, Ian Humphries, functional directors and leaders of each business unit, met every month for the first six months of the program and now meets every quarter. This group adds authority, helps to set direction and acts as role model. Operational reviews now include reports on the progress of the program within each business unit. Each quarter, 250 senior managers get together for business reviews which focus on the impact of the program.The program has had a wide impact throughout the organization:* It has improved the recruitment and selection process, particularly graduate recruitment. Fujitsu Services secured the highest ever new entry in the Times top 100 graduate recruiters league table this year.* It has strong links to the Fujitsu Management Academy, the value in people program and wider professional community events.* Reputation values are embedded into internal communications such as annual reports, magazines, website portal and brand \"pulse check\" research of people having been through the program.* Induction training is focused on reputation.* Reputation is strengthening the clarity and consistency of customer bid support.Champions and people managers are fully supported to ensure the continued success of the program. Expertise and resource investment from marketing, HR and Academee provide presentations, CD-ROMs, posters, handouts, booklets and logistics arrangements to guarantee that goals continue to be met.During the first year of the program, the company has achieved record profits up by 45 percent to PS122.5 million. Revenue is up 15 percent to PS2.3 billion, in a period when the IT services market in Europe has seen growth of only 2-3 percent. The Fujitsu Services order book is also at a record high of PS6.5 billion.\nThe Fujitsu Services/Academee relationship: Academee was strategically involved in facilitating the new brand values and helped to clarify the reputation model, simplifying and rationalizing the values and making them more accessible. The company also highlighted the importance of aligning external and internal values. Fujitsu Services had previously worked successfully with Academee on other major programs. A relationship of trust had already been built, which has now extended across the organization.\"Academee's experience, insight and understanding of getting people aligned with the brand has been immensely helpful, and has contributed significantly to the success of the reputation program\" commented Philip Oliver, European group marketing director, Fujitsu Services.\"Academee is challenging and helping to set expectations. It has helped our team to work more effectively together from day one. It has also assisted in building cohesion across Europe and in uniting the company to deliver a consistent customer experience.\"\"From the onset of the program, Academee worked hard to determine where it could consistently add real value,\" said Ian Humphries, head of communications, Fujitsu Services \"Invariably it got it right, with the ideas, the execution, but most importantly the people. The Academee people have been fantastic and relevant to the tasks in hand. We all work together as a virtual team, we all depend on each other, we all trust each other and that means we get a great deal more achieved than you might imagine. The scale of this program is massive and Academee's contribution is clearly recognized.\"\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article. For more information on Academee, visit www.academee.com or call +44 (0)1625 540540.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article describes the Fujitsu Services \"reputation program\", developed to change the behavior of employees so they genuinely live Fujitsu Services' brand values.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Highlights the challenges the company faced, the ways in which it went about tackling them, and the benefits the program has brought.\nFindings: - Details the ways in which consultancy and learning partner Academee helped to facilitate the reputation model; how Academee consultants and project managers worked in partnership with Fujitsu Services; and how the program was rolled out across Europe.\nPractical implications: - Demonstrates that, during the first year of the program, the company achieved record profits up by 45 percent, revenue up 15 percent (in a period when the IT services market in Europe saw growth of only 2-3 percent) and the Fujitsu Services order book at a record high.\nOriginality/value: - Shows that customer satisfaction has increased, and recruitment, selection and training processes have improved, since the launch of the program.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Re-examining manufacturing strategy from knowledge advantages: A task domain perspective	[ "Manufacturing strategy", "Knowledge advantage", "Market-based tasks", "Task domain perspective" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ever since the seminal work of Skinner (1969), the manufacturing strategy has been treated as a critical issue in the management field. Past studies particularly put forth much effort on examining competitive priorities, including cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery (Hayes and Wheelwrights, 1984; Swamidass and Newell, 1987). Studies regarding the manufacturing strategy have been extensively connected with related fields such as marketing and new product development (Minor et al., 1994; Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2001). The manufacturing strategy plays a critical role in management academia.\nTheoretical background: Market-based task domain: focus and breadth\nTheoretical model and hypotheses: Moran and Meso (2008) reviewed major studies and concluded that the most primary competitive priorities are cost, quality, delivery, and flexibility. Our study employs these four as the basis of competitive priorities for investigative efforts.\nMethodology: Measurement\nResults: Table III exhibits the results of hierarchical regression. The DW values in all the 12 models are located between 1.75 and 2.25, indicating insignificant autocorrelation. VIFs range from 1.11 to 2.01, indicating low multicollinearity.\nDiscussions and conclusions: The empirical study herein targets the top 1,000 manufacturers in Taiwan as the sample population with the results from 131 observations signifying the following. First, firms' priorities on cost and delivery are positively associated with task focus, but not related to task breadth. Second, priorities on quality and flexibility are positively associated with task focus and breadth. In further detail, the b coefficients of task focus in both regression models are relatively higher than those of task breadth (0.31>0.25 in Model 4 and 0.33>0.22 in Model 7). The empirical results support H1a-H4a.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: During this current era of the knowledge economy, knowledge activities have greatly impacted manufacturing activities, with knowledge being treated as a critical factor that creates and sustains competitive advantages. Past studies tended to relate knowledge works with organizational tasks and assumed that knowledge workers implement those tasks to achieve organizational goals. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to employ the perspective of task domain as the basis to clarify the impact of manufacturing task domains on the manufacturing strategy, as well as the mediating effects of knowledge advantage on such an impact.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors follow Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal's (2001) task which focus/task breadth dichotomy as the basis to define market-based task domains, employs Leonard-Barton's (1995) T-shaped skill as the theoretical base to construct knowledge advantages, i.e., knowledge depth (I-shaped skill), diversity (hyphened skill), and convergence (T-shaped skill), and uses the conventional typology to measure the manufacturing strategy (i.e. cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery). The empirical study is conducted via a questionnaire survey and selects Taiwan's top 600 manufacturers as the population and accordingly collects 131 effective observations.\nFindings: The empirical evidence indicates that firms' priorities on cost and delivery are positively caused by the focus orientation of the tasks, while their priorities on quality and flexibility are positively caused by both focus and diversity orientations of the tasks. The results also signify that knowledge advantages perform complete mediation on the previous relationships. In more detail, knowledge depth presents mediation on focus orientation, and knowledge convergence exhibits mediating effects both on focus and breadth orientations. The statistics point out that knowledge depth has the highest impact on the manufacturing strategy, but knowledge diversity fails to significantly explain the manufacturing strategy.\nOriginality/value: Literature assumed that knowledge activities are task-driven issue; this study hence examines knowledge advantage based on the task domain perspective to clarify the architecture and contents of knowledge advantages.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Data-efficient model building for financial applications: A semi-supervised learning approach	[ "Learning", "Learning methods", "Financial modelling", "Credit" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Most investors rely, at least to some extend, on quantitative models when allocating their assets. For example, hedge funds often use quantitative trading strategies, and loan officers often utilize quantitative evaluations of credit risk, usually in terms of default probabilities (PDs) and probabilities of loss given default (LGD). There is a myriad of approaches to building quantitative models for financial applications, many rely on statistical methods for deriving probabilities from data. In the context of credit-risk evaluation, practitioners often estimate (conditional) default probabilities by means of logistic or probit regression (e.g. Falkenstein, 2000) or minimum relative entropy methods (e.g. Zhou et al., 2006). Conditional LGD probabilities are often estimated by fitting a parametric distribution such as the beta distribution. All of these learning methods belong to the class of supervised methods, which rely on so-called labeled data, i.e. a set of observations with known values for the output variable.The fact that supervised learning methods rely on labeled data limits their applicability. For example, a bank that wants to build an LGD model might have only a small set of data points with actual LGD values, or a PD modeler might have only a small set of obligors (of a certain type or from a certain country), for which he knows if they defaulted or not. In these situations the modeler has only a small set of labeled data to his disposal. Unlabeled data, on the other hand, are often much easier and more cheaply to obtain. The LGD modeler from the above example might have a large dataset corresponding to life loans, and the PD modeler might have a large historical database containing obligors' balance sheet data but no information on whether the obligors defaulted or not. Learning methods that could make use of these unlabeled data along with the labeled data seem beneficial; such methods are called semi-supervised learning methods.Semi-supervised learning, also called learning from partially labeled data, has been a topic of recent interest in the machine learning community (see, for example, Zhu, 2006; Seeger, 2000, for a review). It has been shown that semi-supervised methods outperform their supervised counterparts in many practical applications, for example, in the context of text classification. The reason for this outperformance is that, when there are many more labeled than unlabeled data available, semi-supervised learning is better able to learn and exploit existing structures in the explanatory variables than supervised learning would be.In this paper, we introduce a new semi-supervised learning method, which is a generalization of the minimum relative entropy (MRE) approach to supervised learning. The latter approach was introduced by Jaynes (1957) and applied to a problem from statistical physics; it has been used by financial theorists and practitioners to calibrate option pricing models to market data (see, for example, Gulko, 2002; Avellaneda, 1998; Frittelli, 2000; Cont and Tankov, 1999) and to estimate conditional probabilities from real-world data (see, for example, Golan et al., 1996; Zhou et al., 2006; Friedman and Sandow, 2003c). An interesting feature of the supervised MRE approach is that it provides a probability measure that is robust from the viewpoint of an expected-utility maximizing investor who uses this measure to allocate his assets in a complete market (see Friedman and Sandow, 2003a). In this paper, we show that this property also holds for our semi-supervised MRE method. This provides a financial interpretation for our learning method.In order to demonstrate that our method can outperform the usual supervised MRE approach, we applied it to an artificial dataset that was created from a known probability distribution. We found that, as measured in terms of the log-likelihood on a test dataset, our method performs substantially better than standard (supervised) MRE if there is only a very small number of labeled data in the training set. We observed that our algorithm outperforms standard MRE even in the absence of additional unlabeled data.As a practical application of our semi-supervised learning method, we estimate the conditional probabilities of LGD given a vector of credit factors. Our experiments indicate that our algorithm, when used with or without unlabeled data, outperforms standard MRE, while unlabeled data do not seem to add anything to model performance in the examples we considered.This paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we specify the learning problem we solve subsequently. In section 3 we review the minimum relative entropy approach to supervised learning, which we generalize in section 4 to the semi-supervised setting. In the latter section, we first introduce our semi-supervised MRE approach, provide a financial interpretation, and discuss some implementation details. In section 5 we apply our method to an artificial dataset, and in section 6 we apply it to LGD estimation. Section 7 contains concluding remarks.\n2. The learning task: We aim at learning the relationship between the random variable Y with values y in the finite state space Y and the random variable X with values x in the finite state space X[1]. For practical applications to credit risk evaluation, Y could be either LGD or a default indicator, depending on whether we want to learn LGDs or default probabilities, and X is a vector of credit factors such as an obligor's balance sheet numbers or economic indicators.In particular, we aim at learning the conditional probabilities of Y given X. We assume that there are two datasets available for this task: the so-called labeled dataset with the (labeled) observations (xi, yi), i=1...Nl and the so-called unlabeled dataset with the (unlabeled) observations xi, i=Nl+1...Nl+Nu.We denote probability measures on X by qX (or pX, ...), i.e. qX={qX,xex}. Similarly, we denote conditional probability measures by qY\|X, i.e. qY\|X={qy\|x, x e X, y e Y} and joint probability measures by qX,Y, i.e. qX,Y={qx,y, x e X, y e Y}.\n3. Review of supervised MRE approach: The minimum relative entropy (MRE) method is a well-known approach to supervised learning. It was introduced by Jaynes (1957) and applied to a problem from statistical physics. It has been applied to various problems in finance, such as to the calibration of option pricing models to market data (see, for example, Gulko, 2002; Avellaneda, 1998; Frittelli, 2000; Cont and Tankov, 1999) and the estimation of conditional probabilities from real-world data (see, for example, Golan et al., 1996; Zhou et al., 2006; Friedman and Sandow, 2003c).The intuition behind the MRE method relies on the fact that relative entropy can be viewed as an information-theoretic distance measure between probability measures[2]. By minimizing the relative entropy with respect to a prior probability measure, one chooses that probability measure that is closest, in an information-theoretic sense, to the prior probability measure among all probability measures that are consistent with a set of constraints. The MRE method also has a financial interpretation: it provides a probability measure that is robust from the view point of an expected-utility maximizing investor who uses this measure to allocates his assets in a complete market (see Friedman and Sandow, 2003a).The MRE method can be formulated as follows.Problem 1 (standard supervised MRE problem):Find the measure Equation 1 where: Equation 2 Here: Equation 3 is the conditional relative entropy, pX,Y~l (pX~l) is the empirical measure on XxY(X) corresponding to the observed labeled data. The measure qY\|X0 is a prior probability measure. The function f, the so-called feature function, is a Jf-dimensional vector-valued functions on XxY. aY\|X>=0 is a parameter. \|\|...\|\| denotes the l2-norm.The above problem is a particular version of the MRE problem. A commonly used, more basic, version is obtained from problem 1 by setting aX=0.Another useful version is obtained by defining \|\|...\|\| as the l[?]-norm.Problem 1 is a convex optimization problem, which has a unique solution if the feasible set, k(pXl), has interior points. This solution is the same as the solution of the dual problem of problem 1. Solving this dual problem amounts to an l2-regularized likelihood maximization for an exponential family of probability measures (see, for example, Lebanon and Lafferty, 2001).\n4. The semi-supervised MRE approach: 4.1 General idea and the primal problem\n5. Example: learning from an artificial dataset: In this section we demonstrate how the semi-supervised MRE method works on an artificially constructed dataset. We consider a two-state random variable Y that can take values in Y={0,1} (Y could be a default indicator) and a random variable X that can take values in X={0,1/M,2/M, ... ,1},M=100 (X could be some credit factor such as an obligor's balance sheet number).We randomly sampled labeled datasets with Nl=20 (Nl=50, Nl=200, and Nl=5000) observations and an unlabeled dataset with Nu=1000 observations that can be used for model training. We show particular sampled labeled datasets with Nl=20 and Nl=200 in Figure 1. We also generated a pure holdout dataset with Nh=10000 labeled observations that can be used for testing model performance[7]. In all of these sets, the X-data were sampled from the distribution, pX, shown in Figure 2, while the Y-data were sampled from the distribution, pY\|X, shown in Figure 3.In order to benchmark our learning method, we apply the following three algorithms to learning the conditional probabilities of Y given X.5.1 Algorithms\n6. A practical application: LGD modeling: In this section, we apply our algorithm to modeling loss given default (LGD) using data from Standard and Poor's LossStats database, and benchmarked it against standard MRE. The purpose here is to demonstrate the practical applicability of our learning algorithm rather than to build the best possible LGD model.We used three explanatory, i.e. X, variables: collateral type, debt cushion and US aggregate default rate. The dependent variable, Y, is the discounted ultimate recovery rate (see, Bos et al., 2002; Friedman and Sandow, 2003c, for more details). The collateral type is a nominal variable and can take 16 values. We discretized the debt cushion into ten equally sized bins, and we discretized the aggregate default rate into bins of size 0.5 percent between 0.5 and 4 percent, a single bin for values below 0.5 percent and another single bin for values above 4 percent. We discretized LGD into 11 bins.We applied our algorithm and standard MRE with a uniform prior qY\|X0 (and a uniform qX0 for the semi-supervised MRE algorithm) and with the following feature functions: Equation 29 Equation 30 Equation 31 Equation 32 and Equation 33 where x(xi) denotes the number of the bin in which the i-th component, xi, of x lies. Here, Nbins(i) is the number of bins corresponding to the i-th component of x, and y-=0.6. That is, we have chosen single-variable bin-indicator and bilinear g-features, and f-features linear in the components of x and up to second order in y. In addition, we have chosen f-features that are local to y=0 and y=1 to reflect the large concentration of observations at these values.We trained models with the three algorithms listed in the previous section. The dataset we used has 2,880 labeled observations. We randomly selected 1,880 labeled observations for a hold-out sample and used the remaining 1,000 labeled observations to construct training samples. For each algorithm, we performed 20 experiments. In each experiment, we used 50 of the 1,000 training samples as labeled training observations and the complementary 950 observations as unlabeled training observations. We determined the hyper-parameters k and a via five-fold cross-validation. We measured the performance of each model in terms of the log-likelihood-ratio, D, (see, equation (28)) on the hold-out set.Table III shows, for each algorithm, the mean and standard deviation of the log-likelihood-ratio. The semi-supervised MRE algorithms, algorithm (ii) and (iii), performs similarly, and each of the two is much better than the standard MRE algorithm. It should be noted that in nine out of the twenty experiments algorithm (i) yields over-fitting models, but none of models trained with the semi-supervised algorithms over-fits.\n7. Conclusion: In this paper we introduced an extension of the minimum-relative-entropy (MRE) method. The new learning algorithm falls into the class of semi-supervised methods. That is, by means of this algorithm one is able to exploit unlabeled data for the learning of conditional probabilities. We tested this learning method on an artificial dataset. For this example, the method clearly outperforms the standard MRE method when there is only a small number of labeled training data available. In this case, additional unlabeled training data increase model performance. We also applied our algorithm to estimating conditional probabilities for loss rates of defaulted debt. Here too, the algorithm outperforms standard MRE, although it does not seem to be able to make use of the unlabeled data in our example.It would be interesting to further explore under which circumstance the semi-supervised MRE approach works well and when it does not. It is possible but not obvious that the working of this approach is related to the existence of clusters in the data; further research is required to answer this question. It would also be interesting to apply our method to other financial examples where labeled data are sparse but unlabeled data are readily available. One such example might be a statistical credit-scoring model trained on a small dataset of analyst-rated debt combined with a larger dataset of obligor information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Investors often rely on probabilistic models that were learned from small historical labeled datasets. The purpose of this article is to propose a new method for data-efficient model learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The proposed method, which is an extension of the standard minimum relative entropy (MRE) approach and has a clear financial interpretation, belongs to the class of semi-supervised algorithms, which can learn from data that are only partially labeled with values of the variable of interest.\nFindings: - This study tests the method on an artificial dataset and uses it to learn a model for recovery of defaulted debt. In both cases, the resulting models perform better than the standard MRE model, when the number of labeled data is small.\nOriginality/value: - The method can be applied to financial problems where labeled data are sparse but unlabeled data are readily available.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
E-book adoption behaviors through an online sharing platform: A multi-relational network perspective	[ "Machine learning", "Social commerce", "Online sharing platform", "Multi-relational network", "Predictive model", "E-book adoption" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The \"sharing economy\" is a transformative model that has changed the modern human lifestyle and reshaped traditional ways of doing business by combining online and offline resources and serving people by enabling the rental, sharing or exchanging of property without any permanent transfer of ownership (Grieco and Cerruti, 2018; Taeihagh, 2017). Academics have posited that rather than distinguishing between the ownership of goods and services, sharing highlights the features that are \"ours\" (Belk, 2007; Lamberton and Rose, 2012). The sharing economy has created huge economic benefits in the business market around the world. Some well-developed sharing economy companies, such as AirBnB (www.airbnb.com) and Mobike (https://mobike.com), have already topped the industry by beating competitors that depend on traditional operating patterns (Cheng, 2016). According to a report released by the Chinese National Information Center, the market scale of the sharing economy in China reached more than US$700bn during 2017, which amounted to an increase of 47.2 percent from the prior year (National Information Center of China, 2018). An individual is a consumer as well as a creator in a sharing economy; therefore, the success of the business model emphasizes the high level of consumers' involvement and value co-creation.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Sharing economy and value co-creation\n3. Methods and results: 3.1 Data collection and data cleansing\n4. Discussion: According to the results of Section 3.2, we first identified the factors impacting the product adoption behavior of users from the multi-relational network. The outcome of the sub-network visualization was consistent with the descriptive statistics that are shown in Table II, which describes the sub-networks featuring different patterns on this social commerce platform. Specifically, the producing network had the lowest number of links, meaning that only a few users used the platform for revenue. The similar pattern between the commenting network and rating network was very likely because users on the online sharing platform rated and commented on a product at the same time. Yet, some users preferred an easier way to click the ratings rather than type text content word by word, which led to a higher number of links in the rating network. By contrast, the purchasing network had more nodes with a degree higher than 100 compared with other sub-networks, and it presented as the densest of all the sub-networks, which means that the purchasing behavior was logically different from consumer rating, commenting, and producing behaviors.\n5. Limitations: This study examined multi-relational networks summarized from a social commerce platform in the era of sharing economy. The study explored the factors impacting users' product adoption intent and built a predictive model to forecast the purchase behavior of user-generated e-books on the platform. Although the decent performance of the classifier indicated the effectiveness of the design, there were still some limitations of the study. First, the generalization of the model should be further confirmed. Specifically, the research was only conducted in ReadDouban, a sharing economy e-book application. It is unclear whether the outcome of this study can also be applied to other social commerce platforms. Second, the data set was compiled within a short time period and used to build a static multi-relational network. Without dynamic data, we were unable to observe the order of the rating, commenting, and purchasing behaviors. In other words, we could only identify the co-occurrence of product adoption and other collaborative behaviors rather than tracking the sequence of these actions.\n6. Conclusions and future work: As a typical application of the sharing economy, a social commerce platform serves people and creates economic value by facilitating collaboration. In this study, we constructed one aggregated multi-relational network over five social sub-networks based on users' different behaviors in the ReadDouban e-book application. The multiple identities of nodes and relationships resulted in the identification of various topological characteristics across five sub-networks. From the perspective of social analyses, the outcome of the study attested to the high correlation between users' purchasing decisions and collaborative behaviors such as rating and commenting. The limited value of the follower-followed relationship was also recognized on this platform. By introducing network features, we built a predictive model with decent performance in forecasting a user's purchase behavior toward user-generated products.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to construct a multi-relational network for an online sharing platform in the age of the sharing economy, to identify the factors impacting users' product adoption behavior and to predict consumers' purchases of user-generated products on the platform.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study conducted multi-relational network analyses of five different sub-networks in identifying influential factors for e-book adoption. Meanwhile, the study adopted machine learning methods with different classification algorithms and feature sets to predict users' purchasing behaviors.\nFindings: The authors found that an individual's adoption of a product was correlated with his or her purchasing habits and collaboration with others on the online sharing platform. Through the inclusion of network features, the authors were able to build a predictive model that forecasted consumers' purchases of user-generated e-books with reasonable accuracy.\nResearch limitations/implications: The interdisciplinary approach used in the study can serve as a good reference for identifying factors impacting the product adoption behavior of users in the online sharing platform, through employing different sociological and computational methods.\nPractical implications: The outcome of the study has provided important managerial implications, especially for the design of social commerce platform in the age of the sharing economy.\nSocial implications: The authors verified the social influence impacting consumers' product adoption behavior and shed light on the value of collaboration in the age of the sharing economy.\nOriginality/value: The study was the first to identify user-generated e-book adoption on an online sharing platform from a multi-relational network perspective. The idea and the approach supplied a new method of behavioral analysis in the context of a sharing economy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of knowledge absorptive capacity on shared value creation in social enterprises	[ "Shared value", "Knowledge management", "Social enterprises", "Knowledge absorptive capacity", "Social value" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the years of economic crisis, social enterprises (SEs) have arisen as a more resilient business model, as they show lower mortality rates and higher capacity to keep the employment compared to the average of firms' population (Staber, 1993; Perotin, 2004). SEs play a very important role in terms of jobs creation and keeping in times of crisis. Due to that reality, it can be interesting to analyze and determine the dynamic capabilities that are a source of sustainable competitive advantage for social business. That is, the dynamic capabilities that are able to create shared value (SHV) for the organization and its customers (both internal and external).\n2. Theoretical background and research hypotheses: Initially, Cohen and Levinthal (1990), conceptualized KAC, focusing on two key aspects: externally generated knowledge assimilation and exploitation. Zahra and George (2002) review such definition by adding two other essential aspects: internal knowledge sharing and integration, so that, absorptive capacity relates to a set of organizational routines and strategic processes through which organizations acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit external knowledge to create organizational dynamic capabilities. From this approach, Zahra and George (2002) modify the original model from Cohen and Levinthal (1990) based on three key dimensions (acquisition, assimilation and exploitation or application) by adding the fourth dimension: knowledge transformation capacity. Subsequent studies (Lane et al., 2006; Todorova and Durisin, 2007; Camison and Fores, 2010) collect and justify such fourth dimension, as they develop KAC from a dynamic or process approach (Camison and Fores, 2011).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection procedures and sample profile\n4. Results: The analysis and interpretation of results in PLS-SEM requires a two-stage approach. Firstly, it is necessary to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and finally, we must evaluate the structural model. This order warrants that the construct's measures are valid and reliable before attempting to draw any conclusions regarding relationships among constructs (Barclay et al., 1995).\n5. Conclusions: The present study analyzes the relationship between KAC and SHV creation. A number of papers have been published on KAC and organizational value, but few have focused on the reality of SEs and none of has focused on SHV. So, our study fills this gap. SEs, unlike investor-owned firms, are aimed at the attainment of social goals. In this sense, the study, as it differentiates in the analysis two types of value (social and economic), fits better SEs' reality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In downturns, social enterprises (SEs) arise as a resilience business model. The authors focus on knowledge absorptive capacity (KAC) as a key dynamic capability to create shared value (SHV). The purpose of this study is to analyze whether it exists a cause-effect relationship between KAC and SHV creation in SEs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research model relates KAC and SHV creation. SHV creation involves two components: economic value (EV) and social value (SV). The authors argue that KAC has a positive effect on EV and SV creation, considering SV as a mediator variable. The model is tested by means of PLS-SEM.\nFindings: The results reveal the existence of a positive and significant relationship between KAC and SHV creation, as well as the mediating role of SV creation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample comprises 127 SEs from the Euro-Mediterranean region (euro-region comprising areas from France and Spain), it would be interesting to include other euro-regions in future research.\nPractical implications: The authors confirm KAC as an important antecedent of SHV creation and also that SEs create EV by means of SV, pointing to the existence of direct and indirect effects. This way, confirming the existence of a mediating effect.\nOriginality/value: It points the importance of KAC in SEs, something that has not been addressed before by the literature. It also goes beyond performance by considering SHV creation as a measure of SEs' outcomes, as well as the definition of the variable SHV including not only social related issues but also environmental (green) issues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mastering the art of corroboration: A conceptual analysis of information assurance and corporate strategy alignment	[ "Information control", "Strategic alignment", "Corporate strategy", "Data security" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today, many organisations are realising that information is one of their most valuable assets (Armstrong et al., 2002). As businesses become increasingly reliant on their information, the responsibility for protecting what is now often referred to as information assets becomes more important (Austin and Darby, 2003; Dutta and McCrohan, 2002). This growing awareness is driving greater thought about the role of information guardians within organisations. The broadening of this responsibility is the reason why information assurance (IA) seems to be emerging as the preferred terminology for the range of activities involved in the role. IA is not just about protecting the systems that carry information, but also requires consideration of the information content itself. Information assets are at least as important to success as physical assets. Indeed, Kovacich (2001) suggests that the roles of the corporate security officer and the information systems security officer should merge to create a new senior position called the Corporate Information Assurance Officer. His or her role would be to \"develop, implement, maintain, manage and administer a corporate-wide information assurance programme to include all plans, policies, procedures, processes, assessments and authorisations\" (Kovacich, 2001, p. 303).The growing responsibility for ensuring information plays its part in corporate success, however, is not always being matched by an increased strategic approach to IA. In many organisations there is a lack of alignment between information assurance policies and corporate strategy (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2003). Board members and information systems specialists lack a common understanding, resulting in limited dialogue and inadequate definitions of what comprises successful performance for information assurance issues (Birchall et al., 2003).This paper examines the key areas of information assurance and presents a conceptual model illustrating how IA strategy can be aligned with corporate strategy. The first two sections will discuss the importance of information assurance to organisations and the value of aligning IA policies with corporate strategy. From these two sections, it can be concluded that establishing and measuring the extent of alignment between organisational strategy and information assurance policies should be an urgent priority for many organisations. This leads us to a new conceptual model of IA alignment. Lastly, we present some implications for managers and researchers derived from the analysis.\nWhy information assurance is strategic: Defining information assurance\nThe concept of strategic alignment: The importance of strategic alignment\nImplications for research: The literature on information assurance suggests that a strategic approach is needed. IA is vital to achieve good corporate governance, retain customers and generally strive for competitive advantage. There is evidence, however, that this is not being achieved at three levels:1. Boards and senior executive still take little sustained interest in the matter (Dutta and McCrohan, 2002; Information Assurance Advisory Council, 2003).2. There is a lack of alignment between business and information assurance strategies (Kovacich, 2001; Von Solms, 2001).3. Measuring the success of information assurance in order to ensure its alignment with business strategy is difficult. Few frameworks exist, and there is evidence that those that do are not applied widely (Dutta and McCrohan, 2002; Von Solms, 2001).The first step in addressing why this may be the case is to define what exactly \"alignment\" would mean in the context of information assurance. To our knowledge, no study has considered the alignment of information assurance with business strategy explicitly, or what form alignment or fit should take. Figure 3 illustrates, using Venkatraman's (1989) classification, what each definition of \"fit\" would mean in an information assurance context. Many of the potential research models that are illustrated in Figure 3 are inspired by the work of Bergeron et al. (2001). In addition, Figure 3 presents some potential research questions on each area of fit as it relates to IA. In Figure 3 we have deliberately used the word \"performance\" as a more \"vague\" dependent variable than \"business performance\", which is the dependent variable traditionally used in the IS alignment literature. This is because we can conceive circumstances where a more focused measure of performance is needed (e.g. customer service performance, or user acceptance).Some of the verbalisations of alignment in the context of information assurance given in Figure 3 indicate the need to profile an organisation's information assurance state. Birchall et al. (2003) discovered five key strategic trade-offs inherent in information assurance strategy decisions:1. procedural controls versus creativity - the need to maintain secure processes within the organisation versus the need to develop novel and innovative ideas;2. top-down control versus trust - the need to control information sharing versus the need to trust employees with sensitive information;3. exposure versus ease of doing business - the need to reduce the exposure to security incidents versus the need to allow stakeholders (customers and suppliers) to undertake business with ease and without restriction;4. insourcing versus outsourcing - the need to undertake information security in-house versus the need to outsource it to another organisation; and5. reputation versus the bottom line - to ensure that the company maintains a reputation for security and ease of doing business versus the need to reduce cost and increase revenue.By considering how each trade-off is affected by business strategy, a clearly defined vision of requirements can be communicated to IA practitioners. This should allow IA policies to be established that do not restrict the ability of the organisation to implement the overall corporate strategy (see Figure 4).We can therefore suggest that there is scope for further research at two levels:1. While there is theoretical and practitioner support for the idea that information assurance should be aligned with business strategy, we need to understand what model of alignment is most appropriate. Because no studies have been undertaken around the topic, this could start with an investigation of alignment dynamics. What do practitioners think of the alignment between information assurance and business strategy? What impact do they see IA alignment having on organisational performance? How do they think it is achieved in their organisation, and how could the process be improved?2. In order to test the impact of alignment, we need to understand how the success of information assurance can be best measured and communicated at a strategic level in organisations. Different stakeholders in a business will have different requirements from information assurance. The success of alignment will therefore need to be explored from different perspectives. In practice this points towards the need for research into what drives perceptions of success in information assurance and how this success is measured.\nImplications for managers: The literature reviewed suggests that there is a need for a comprehensive framework to help managers align information assurance with business strategy. As with all frameworks of this kind - for instance Kaplan and Norton's (1996b) balanced scorecard - it is necessary to start from a shared understanding of the goals of the organisation and how they are reflected in the needs of its stakeholders.Working from this shared platform of understanding, specific IA goals could be developed and tested to ensure that they are fully aligned to the organisation's corporate vision. Research has shown that alignment can be encouraged and improved by developing both formal and informal lines of communication between IA and business functionaries (Chan, 2002; Chandler-Wilde and McFadzean, 2004). In addition, both the business and IA personnel must develop an understanding of each other's requirements as well as recognising that each party has important and valuable goals. Studies have shown that a lack of understanding about requirements and the importance of the other group's needs can lead to a breakdown in communication and a misalignment of goals (Chandler-Wilde and McFadzean, 2004; Luftman and Brier, 1999). Finally, the two groups must recognise that both the business and security environments are constantly changing and therefore the goals for each area will need to be reviewed on a continuous basis (these factors are illustrated in the conceptual model presented in Figure 1).After the IA/business alignment has been agreed both the IA function and the business function can define the critical success factors (CSFs) that would indicate attainment of their goals. Appropriate operational metrics to measure progress towards those CSFs could then be determined. The metrics themselves may overlap from one goal to another, or they may include non-technical measures. However, this process would ensure an important transition towards a focus on measuring what is important to the business, rather than what can easily be measured. From the model shown in Figure 1, appropriate roles and responsibilities can be given to all the organisation's stakeholders. This includes encouraging employees, suppliers and customers to remain vigilant with their passwords or other security devices and to be aware of potential security risks.\nConclusion: We can understand the very notion of alignment only thanks to our (tacit) knowledge of the messy world (Ciborra, 2002, p. 23).Although few of the papers we have reviewed as part of this paper would be as blunt as describing information assurance as \"messy\", it is clear that the topic is still in its infancy. This means that few practitioners or academics understand fully the strategic consequences of IA, let alone the impact of poor alignment between IA strategy and business strategy. It is, however, clear that information assurance is an important function within organisations. Unfortunately, much of the IA literature focuses on the operational level where researchers generally explore IA metrics, privacy issues, new methods for counteracting threats, risk analysis and trust amongst others.Nonetheless, it is not sufficient to show that there is theoretical and practitioner support for the idea that IA should be aligned with business strategy. We also need to understand what model of alignment is most appropriate. All the six models of fit proposed by Venkatraman have face validity when applied to corporate and IA strategy. We suggest that in order to ascertain which would be most appropriate, researchers should start by an investigation of alignment dynamics: What do practitioners think of the alignment between IA and business strategy, how do they think it is achieved in their organisation, and how could the process be improved?Secondly, in order to test the impact of alignment, we need to understand how the success of IA can be best measured and communicated at a strategic level in organisations. Different stakeholders in an organisation will have different requirements from IA. The success of alignment will therefore need to be looked at from different perspectives. In practice this points towards the need for research into what drives perceptions of success in IA, and how success is measured.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to investigate how the information assurance (IA) efforts of organisations should be aligned with their business strategy. From this analysis, a conceptual model of alignment is presented. This framework shows several organisational factors that can influence alignment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A number of published works on alignment are discussed in order to develop a conceptual model of IA fit. In addition, Venkatraman's six perspectives of alignment are used as a framework to suggest future research in this area.\nFindings: - The paper presents a definition of information assurance and proposes various reasons why IA is a strategic issue and should be aligned with both IT and corporate strategy. From the literature, a conceptual model illustrating the variables that can influence alignment is presented.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A clear conceptualisation of alignment is needed. Six potential research models and associated research questions are proposed.\nPractical implications: - The paper concludes with a number of management and research implications. In looking at the implications for managers, it is argued that any alignment framework should include adequate metrics for checking the strategic fit on a continuous basis.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is an initial attempt to fulfil an identified gap in the literature, namely the lack of research undertaken on IA and corporate strategy alignment. It offers practical help for management so that they can improve the fit between IA and business strategy. It also offers several avenues of potential future research using Venkatraman's six perspectives of fit.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
MC 2.0: testing an apparel co-design experience model	[ "Customization", "Online", "Apparel", "Co-design", "MC 2.0", "Effects on behavioural intention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Mass customization (MC) is a manufacturing effort that involves a user (the customer) in the co-design of an individualized product (Pine, 1993) and has been widely adopted in the apparel industry (e.g. Levi's, Land's End, Zazzle, and NIKEiD). MC provides a solution to fundamental problems associated with mass production such as uncertain consumer demand, uniform product offerings, high inventories, and markdowns (Anderson, 1999) because the final product is individualized and placed into production only after the user places an order.\nTheoretical framework and research hypotheses: To address our objectives we hypothesized a co-design experience model based upon the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), and research on online co-design. Extant literature is reviewed below that provides rationale to the development of each hypothesis. We took a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach, which enables the modelling of structural relations (i.e. hypotheses in our study derived from extant body of knowledge) pictorially and thus provides a clearer conceptualization of theory (Byrne, 2009).\nMethods: Stimuli\nResults: Measurement model evaluation\nDiscussions and implications: Our research uncovered the factors that affected the construct of apparel online co-design experience with 0.82 of its variance explained by the four identified exogenous variables (i.e. PEOU, enjoyment, social presence, and attitude towards the co-designed product).Our research also suggested that users' attitude towards their co-design experience is one of the most critical predictors of their behavioural intention (with 0.68 of its variance explained by the three antecedents) towards the MC sites. Our research makes an important theoretical contribution by extending the traditional TAM model (Davis, 1989) to incorporate both the variables \"enjoyment\" and \"social presence\" to apply to a specific online apparel co-design context. Furthermore, a unique contribution of our research is that it is one of the first to conceptualize and identify user perception of MC 2.0 features (i.e. social presence) as one important predictor of a user's attitude towards online apparel co-design experience. Our results provide insights into practical decisions relating to enhancing consumer's online apparel co-design experience and upgrading to MC 2.0.\nLimitations and future directions: We drew a convenience sample from college students, although careful measures were taken to minimize systematic error, subjects' familiarity with and need for MC might affect how they relate the variable PU to behavioural intention, which were not taken into account in our structural model to ensure model parsimony. The research setting might also influence our results. For example, our subjects' - female college students - main purchase motivation for apparel products might take a hedonic orientation. And the products that subjects designed were t-shirts and shoes, which might be considered \"feeling\" products instead of \"thinking\" products. If men's suits were used for co-design by male subjects, the utilitarian aspects of online MC might become salient in predicting usage behaviour. Thus, the generalization of our results should be limited to the consumer group and product category used in our study. Furthermore, measurement error may also be present when subjects were asked to interact with other users on the MC sites and respond to questions about their experiences. For example, depending on their computer literacy they may not fully experience the social arenas provided by the MC 2.0 sites as a regular user would. So, further research could consider recruiting real users of MC 2.0 and 1.0 sites for a better understanding of their experience. Although not actual MC site users, in our research, subjects actually co-designed a product and participated in social interactions with other users when their assigned sites allowed it. But we only measured their behavioural intention towards the MC sites instead of their actual behaviour. Factors such as price and time might influence their actual behaviour. Thus, our results only apply to the interpretation of consumer behavioural intention instead of actual behaviour. Future research might be able to measure subjects' actual usage and purchasing behaviour on these MC sites.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test an online apparel co-design experience model and to investigate six determinants (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, enjoyment, level of personalization, social presence, and attitude towards the co-designed product) of online apparel co-design experience and effects on behavioural intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Female college students (n=265) were surveyed after an actual online apparel co-design experience in a computer lab and interactions with other users wherever such arenas were provided. structural equation modelling was used for data analysis.\nFindings: The findings revealed that subjects' apparel co-design experience was positively affected by enjoyment, attitude towards the co-designed product, perceived ease of use, and social presence. And behavioural intention towards the mass customization sites was positively affected by subjects' attitude towards the co-design experience, subjective norm, and enjoyment.\nOriginality/value: The research makes a unique theoretical contribution by conceptualizing MC 2.0 (MC sites that provide arenas for user interaction) and by incorporating and confirming the significance of both \"enjoyment\" and \"social presence\" variables as predictors of online apparel co-design experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Toothbrushing at school: Effects on toothbrushing behaviour, cognitions and habit strength	[ "Behaviour", "Beliefs", "Schools", "Health education", "Personal hygiene", "Cognition" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Because consumption of sugar-containing soft drinks, snacks and sweets has considerably increased, tooth decay is a growing health issue among children in The Netherlands (Voedingscentrum, 1998). Frequent consumption of, in particular, sugar-containing foods is associated with an increase in dental caries in childhood. The detrimental influence of an unfavourable diet on dental health is less when oral hygiene and the use of fluoride are adequate (Sheiman, 2001; Touger-Decker and van Loveren, 2003). Oral health promotion is known to have a positive effect on caries incidence, attitudes and behaviour. However, the effects of these actions on cognitions (such as attitudes and perceived behavioural control) and frequency of toothbrushing behaviour have not been extensively studied (Kay and Locker, 1998).The present paper reports on the impact of a school-based toothbrushing intervention, \"toothbrushing at primary school\", on cognitions, toothbrushing behaviour and habit strength. Before describing and discussing the methods and results of the study, we will first describe the theoretical background, content and organisation of the intervention.In the field of health education and health promotion it is now advocated that health behaviour theories are used when designing and evaluating interventions aimed at changing health behaviour and related behavioural determinants (Glanz et al., 2002; Bartholomew et al., 2001). To study health behaviour, behaviour change, and to explain the effects of health promoting interventions, social cognitive health behaviour models are often used, such as the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1988) and the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986). Attempts have been made to integrate the insights from these models (e.g. Armitage and Conner, 2000). According to these models, people's actions are based on more or less rational decision making. The models generally assume that people will more likely intend to act when they perceive more, and more important, positive than negative consequences of performing the behaviour, are convinced of being able to engage in the behaviour, and perceive a positive encouragement from important others to perform that behaviour (Armitage and Conner, 2000).However, to be able to act on these more or less conscious intentions, it is important that the healthy behaviour should be achievable. There should be few barriers to healthy behaviour or such barriers should be easy to overcome. Indeed, over the last decade more emphasis has been given to the role of environmental determinants of health-related behaviours, in addition to individual social cognitive factors (e.g. Booth et al., 2001). Dual processing models such as the elaboration likelihood model predict that environmental change on its own may also induce behaviour change, surpassing intentions and elaborate cognitive processing (Bargh and Chartrand, 1999; Petty and Cacioppo, 1986).Another model that can be considered as a dual process model is a theoretical model of habit formation (Aarts et al., 1997). This model postulates that initiation of health behaviour is the result of a deliberate decision-making process that includes an evaluation of the perceived consequences of the behaviour, the perceived social influences, and the perceived behavioural control. Because these individual decisions occur in a social and physical environment, environmental factors may also effect health behaviour-related decisions. According to the model of habit formation, once the behaviour is performed regularly, a more automatic process then develops which determines the behaviour. Therefore, cognitions may then become less important, and the behaviour is more likely to be automatically activated by specific environmental cues.A main feature of the intervention \"toothbrushing at primary school\" was to encourage daily toothbrushing in a school environment by means of standardised toothbrushing repeated at regular time points. By combining health-promoting strategies (including changes in the school environment, social encouragement and education), children aged seven to ten years were encouraged to brush their teeth daily at school over a three-year period. First, toothbrushes, toothpaste, washbasins and mirrors were made available in the schools in order to provide a toothbrushing friendly environment and to facilitate toothbrushing. Second, a toothbrushing routine was introduced, i.e. by providing a brushing break, at the same time each day, assisted by teachers. Finally, during each intervention year, on three separate occasions the children received instructions at school on effective toothbrushing (Terstegge et al., 2000).We hypothesised that the environmental changes would induce more frequent toothbrushing and eventually make toothbrushing habitual. However, since habits may be strongly dependent on environmental cues, a school-based environment may also form a hazard for longer-term continuation of toothbrushing habits. When children leave school or when toothbrushes and toothpaste are no longer available, the environment changes, the habit-inducing cues may thus be absent, and habits may be discontinued.The present study explores the long-term effects of \"toothbrushing at primary school\" on toothbrushing behaviour, related cognitions and habit strength by applying constructs from cognitive health behaviour models and a model of habit formation (Aarts et al., 1997).\nMethod: Design, procedure, and participants\nResults: Differences at baseline\nDiscussion: This study indicates that a primary school-based toothbrushing intervention that provided children with the time and opportunity to brush teeth during school time, resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of toothbrushing. However, after cessation of the intervention the effects on toothbrushing were not maintained, and no effects on habit strength or toothbrushing-related cognitions were found.Habit theory predicts that repeating behaviour over time increases the likelihood that this behaviour will become habitual (Aarts et al., 1997). However, habit theory also posits that environmental cues are needed to trigger habitual behaviours. Although in the present study more frequent toothbrushing was indeed induced by the intervention, the fact that toothbrushing was done at school may have prevented the formation of stronger toothbrushing habits after the intervention finished. The absence of habit-inducing environmental cues after the intervention may explain this result. Unfortunately, we were not able to measure habit strength during the intervention, i.e. when the children were still in the environment in which toothbrushing was facilitated (Terstegge et al., 2003). Although no effects on habit strength were found, the results indicate that the self-report habit strength scale developed by Verplanken and Orbell (2003) is applicable in children aged 10-11 years.The toothbrushing promotion studied is an example of an \"environmental intervention\", i.e. the intervention was aimed more at facilitation of the healthy behaviour than on convincing the children in the target population of the pros of toothbrushing. Nowadays, the health promotion literature emphasises the inclusion of environmental changes in interventions in order to make \"the healthy choice, the easy choice\", especially related to smoking cessation and obesity prevention (e.g. Booth et al., 2001; Hill and Peters, 1998; Lantz et al., 2000). The present study provides evidence that environmental changes may also help to improve dental hygiene behaviour among primary school children.Improved dental hygiene during the primary school period is expected to lead to less tooth decay at an early age. In order to extend this positive intervention effect to later years, the environmental intervention may need to be continued in secondary schools.Some strengths and weaknesses of the present study need to be discussed. Questionnaire research among younger children is difficult and the parents had to provide us with information about toothbrushing during the intervention, since most participating children were only seven to eight years of age at the start of the intervention. Parent reports are often used to deal with low-reliable reports given by children (Schmidt et al., 2002). However, the post-intervention questionnaires were completed by the children themselves, because we considered them to be old enough at that time. Since we also wanted to collect information on cognitions and habit strength, we needed the children as respondents. Although comparison of measures obtained indirectly (i.e. via the parents) with more direct measures may be biased, the separate study to validate parental reports indicated strong associations between measures of toothbrushing behaviour obtained from parents and their children. Because the intervention was school-based, a community intervention trial was conducted with schools as the unit of randomisation, instead of a true randomised controlled trial. The present study showed that our design did not result in equal groups and we thus adjusted for baseline differences in gender distribution between intervention schools and control schools in the analyses.Cognitions and habit strength were only assessed once, one year after the intervention was finished. This period might have been too long to reveal differences that may have been present during the intervention, and a measure of cognitions and habit strength in the last year of the intervention would have improved the present study.Unfortunately no reliable scale could be formed for subjective norms. This might indicate that subjective norms depend on the reference persons mentioned in the separate questions. Further research on the different subjective norms related to different family members would be interesting.In conclusion, providing primary school children with the opportunity and routine to brush their teeth during school hours resulted in more frequent daily toothbrushing behaviour whilst exposed to the intervention, but did not result in more favourable behaviour, attitudes, perceived behavioural control, intention or habit strength after cessation of the intervention. Our results on toothbrushing may be generalised to indicate that the effect of environmental changes on behaviour is limited when habit-inducing cues cease, and habits may be discontinued. Therefore, we recommend that habit strength be assessed when environmental interventions at school are implemented and evaluated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To assess the impact of a school-based toothbrushing intervention aimed at encouraging primary school children to brush their teeth daily at school, on cognitions, toothbrushing behaviour and habit strength.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The effects of an intervention were examined in a quasi-experimental trial among 296 fifth-graders in seven schools. The schools were randomly assigned to be an intervention group or a control group. Children in the intervention schools brushed their teeth at school under supervision. Effects on toothbrushing behaviour were assessed with written questionnaires before, during, immediately after, and one year after the intervention period. Effects on cognitions and habit strength were assessed one year after the intervention period. Analyses of variance were conducted to detect differences in frequency of toothbrushing, cognitions about toothbrushing, and habit strength.\nFindings: - During the intervention period, brushing teeth at school resulted in a significant increase in frequency of toothbrushing. However, these effects had not been maintained at one-year follow-up. No effects on cognitions about toothbrushing or on habit strength were found.\nResearch limitations/implications: - When supports that facilitate healthy behaviour are implemented we recommend evaluating effects on habit strength, by assessment both before and after the intervention.\nOriginality/value: - This paper suggests that when habit-inducing supports and cues cease then people find it hard to sustain change. This may be of importance when designing and evaluating health-promoting interventions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring customer loyalty with multi-item scales: A case for caution	[ "Customer loyalty", "Customer satisfaction", "Service climate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customer loyalty has become an increasingly prevalent construct in marketing and service-related research. As the corpus of loyalty knowledge grows - in terms of typologies, empirical studies, and managerial literature - one is struck by the richness of this construct, in the sense that the customer can express his or her loyalty in many different ways (Backman and Crompton, 1991; Day, 1969; Jacoby, 1971; Jacoby and Chestnut, 1978; Magi, 1999; Narayandas, 1998; Pritchard and Howard, 1997). Indeed, several authors have noted that there is no consensus on the conceptual definition of loyalty (Knox and Walker, 2001; Rundle-Thiele and Mackay, 2001). This richness means that the researcher who wishes to capture customer loyalty in an empirical study is faced with important decisions regarding which particular loyalty dimensions to include and how to deal with their interrelatedness.Today, such decisions are often made in the context of a multi-item measurement approach. It appears to be inspired by influential articles such as Churchill (1979) and further encouraged by the development of structural equation modeling approaches which typically demand several indicators for each construct (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Yet some researchers do not appear to understand the two main multi-item measurement models which are based on different assumptions regarding both item selection and assessments of measurement properties: a reflective model and a formative model (Bollen and Lennox, 1991; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer, 2001; Jarvis et al., 2003; MacKenzie, 2001; MacKenzie, 2003). Indeed, the main point of departure for this paper is that confusion regarding these two models characterizes many attempts to capture customer loyalty with multi-item measures. Another point of departure is that this confusion has not merely cosmetic consequences; it may reduce theoretical progress and the level of diagnosticity in practitioners' attempts to come to terms with customer loyalty.What, then, are the main characteristics of the two measurement models, and why are these reasons to speak about confusion in a loyalty context? Consider, first, the reflective measurement model. The basic assumption is that covariation among the measurement items is caused by variation in one underlying factor (the latent construct). Thus, each individual measurement item to be included in a measure (usually referred to as a multi-item scale) should adequately reflect the same latent construct, which means that the validity of the measure is not supposed to change much if a single item is removed (or added). In other words, and in the reflective model, it is assumed that the indicators are unidimensional (Bollen and Lennox, 1991; Gerbing and Anderson, 1988; Jarvis et al., 2003). Moreover, given that unidimensionality is confirmed, Cronbach's a can be used to assess the reliability in terms of internal consistency. It should be noted that Cronbach's a does not provide information about unidimensionality; other means, typically confirmatory factor analysis, are needed for this assessment (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988). Several dimensions of loyalty have been captured in the spirit of the reflective model, such as repatronage intentions (Gotlieb et al., 1994; Oliver et al., 1997; Patterson et al., 1997; Taylor and Baker, 1994), intentions to deal with the same salesperson again (Oliver and Swan, 1989), and preference for one particular retailer (Lee and Overby, 2004). Such studies, then, are examples of an approach in which one particular and discrete loyalty aspect is in focus, and it is captured by one multi-item measure consisting of items carefully selected so that all of them reflect the same aspect. An extension of this approach, but less common in the loyalty field, is when the researcher develops separate multi-item measures for several discrete loyalty aspects (Bloemer et al., 1999; Lam et al., 2004). Studies of this type are straight-forward applications of a reflective measurement model and not the subject of the confusion we deal with in this paper.Turning to the formative measurement model, the individual measurement items are hypothesized to cause changes in the latent construct - which is typically conceptualized at a higher hierarchical level than the measurement items. This approach is consistent with the notion that the items are completely uncorrelated; thus there is no need for unidimensionality in this approach. Indeed, the reason why one uses a formative approach is usually that the relevant construct is seen as comprising different dimensions and that different measurement items are needed to tap into them. Consequently, a high level of internal consistency of individual measurement items is not what one seeks in this case, and Cronbach's a is not a useful estimate of reliability (Bollen and Lennox, 1991; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer, 2001; Jarvis et al., 2003). Studies with an explicit formative approach to measuring customer loyalty are very rare (one of the few examples we found is Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003).In contrast to these two models, however, a prevalent practice of using multi-item measures in a loyalty context is characterized by:* the use of individual measurement items that from a theoretical point of view appear to tap into different aspects of loyalty,* no formal assessment of unidimensionality,* the calculation of Cronbach's a as an estimate of reliability in terms of internal consistency, and* the computation of an average of the scores from these items to obtain one single loyalty variable (given that a has reached an acceptable level) or the use of the items as reflective indicators of one single latent loyalty construct in a structural equation model.This approach, then, mixes ingredients from both a reflective and a formative approach, and by doing this it obscures what model the investigator is using and ultimately also the conceptual assumptions about the loyalty construct (or constructs) in a study. The most frequent item mix is the use of repatronage intentions items and word-of-mouth intentions items in the same multi-item measure of loyalty (Andreassen, 2001; Boulding et al., 1993; Brady and Robertson, 2001; Brady et al., 2002; Cronin et al., 2000; Dabholkar et al., 2000; Ganesh et al., 2000; Guenzi and Pelloni, 2004; Hong and Goo, 2004; Mattila, 2004; Olsen and Johnson, 2003; Pont and McQuilken, 2005; Pullman and Gross, 2004; Salgaonkar and Mekoth, 2004; Selnes, 1993; Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002; Tsai, 2001, Wong and Sohal, 2003; Zeithaml et al., 1996). In this paper, we refer to the use of measurement items and procedures in this way as the cocktail approach to capture customer loyalty. We use the notion of a cocktail in two respects; the approach mixes guidelines from two different measurement approaches (the design of reflective and formative measures), and it mixes loyalty aspects that appear to reference discrete aspects of loyalty (e.g. word-of-mouth intentions and repatronage intentions). That is to say, it appears as if many scholars have used what ought to be formative loyalty measures in a reflective way. It should be noted that the cocktail approach often produces high as - and significant associations between the loyalty measure and predictors of loyalty such as satisfaction. So why bother?A problem with the cocktail approach is that it does not address explicitly, with proper means, the extent to which the measurement items represent different discrete constructs. If such items do represent different discrete constructs, however, the aggregation in the cocktail approach obscures the conceptual richness of loyalty. And by doing so, it may produce empirical results that conceal more than they reveal; the aggregation will hide the possibility that one particular antecedent and one particular consequence of loyalty may be related to various loyalty constructs with unequal strength. It will also hide the possibility that some variables in the nomological net of loyalty may be uniquely related only to some loyalty constructs and unrelated to others. In other words, given that several discrete constructs may be involved, the cocktail approach underrepresents the conceptual domain and creates low construct validity (MacKenzie, 2003). Moreover, when measurements and constructs do not correspond, the estimation of causal parameters (often the ultimate aim for a researcher interested in loyalty) may be inconsistent; this estimation may confirm a relationship where in fact none exists, it may mask an underlying relationship, and it may overstate or understate a relationship (Bagozzi and Phillips, 1982). A Monte Carlo simulation by Jarvis et al. (2003) suggests that misspecification of the type represented by the cocktail approach may have serious consequences for theoretical conclusions, yet very little is known about such outcomes in a loyalty context and in terms of data from real respondents.The purpose of this paper, then, is to highlight the use of a cocktail approach by an examination of two of the most common aspects of loyalty included in a cocktail approach, word-of-mouth intentions and repatronage intentions, as well as their relationship to customer satisfaction (the perhaps most common determinant of loyalty in existing research). This examination will be made with data from two service settings and in terms of a comparison between:1. a disaggregated and reflective approach in which separate items are used for word-of-mouth intentions and repatronage intentions measures and2. an aggregated cocktail approach in which word-of-mouth intentions items and repatronage intentions items are included in the same measure.We expect that the disaggregated approach would produce a better fit with data - and we also expect that it would reveal that satisfaction does not impact repatronage intentions and word-of-mouth intentions with the same strength (it should be noted that the potential for such inequalities are concealed by a cocktail approach). If these expectations are confirmed, they are consistent with the call for caution in using multi-item measures expressed by previous authors (Bollen and Lennox, 1991; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer, 2001; Jarvis et al., 2003; MacKenzie, 2001) which hitherto, however, have received only limited attention in research on customer loyalty.\nConceptual framework: Overview of the framework\nMethod: Research design\nAnalysis and results: An initial examination of the measurement outcomes\nDiscussion: Summary of the main empirical results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The contemporary interest in customer loyalty has resulted in a proliferation of multi-item scales containing an aggregated mix of items that appears to reflect different aspects of loyalty. The most common application of this aggregation approach is to include two specific loyalty facets, repatronage intentions and word-of-mouth intentions, in the same loyalty measure and to proceed as if they reflect the same underlying construct. The purpose of this paper is to examine - and question - this practice in conceptual, methodological, and empirical terms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Two empirical studies in service settings were conducted and multi-item measures were used to collect data on repatronage intentions, word-of-mouth intentions, and satisfaction. A structural equation model approach was used to compare an aggregated measurement approach with an approach which models the two loyalty constructs as two separate factors.\nFindings: - The results indicate that repatronage intentions and word-of-mouth intentions can indeed be seen as two discrete constructs.\nPractical implications: - The results indicate that caution is called for when the investigator is measuring customer loyalty with multi-item measures. Indeed, the lumping together of such facets as repatronage intentions and word-of-mouth intentions is likely to conceal significant aspects of loyalty per se and its relation to other variables in the nomological net.\nOriginality/value: - Only a very limited number of existing studies measure customer loyalty with multi-item scales and with an explicit assumption that several discrete facets of loyalty exist.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From Manhattan to Tenochtitlan: identifying ethical commercial norms	[ "Ethics", "Business history", "Norms", "Qualitative methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This study contributes to efforts to find and analyze historical texts that involve managerial practices that occurred, or that are occurring, outside of Western societies (Barnett and Cahill, 2006; Dagher et al., 2015; Starbuck and Rindova, 1997). Our goal is exploratory: we aim to identify and describe ethical norms of commerce that developed in a society that existed almost completely separate from the influence of Western business practices. Ethical norms are prescriptions for what should be done because it is the right thing to do (Donaldson and Dunfee, 1994). We search for commercial ethical norms, rather than business ethical norms to broaden our exploration beyond classic, Western-oriented business contexts to those involving trade and the creation of goods and services. The particular context in which we search for commercial ethical norms is the sixteenth-century Nahua world, which encompassed the Aztec Empire and was located in what is now central Mexico. Just as Manhattan is a commercial hub of modern-day North America, Tenochtitlan was a commercial hub of the sixteenth-century Latin America. Yet, while Manhattan is steeped in Western ethical business norms, the ethical norms that shaped commerce in Tenochtitlan were indigenous norms, which evolved from internal processes rather than external influences.\nTheoretical background: ethical business norms: One of the prominent platforms for discussing ethical business norms is ISCT (Donaldson and Dunfee, 1994, 1999). ISCT seeks to identify universal norms, which it calls \"hypernorms,\" as well as to understand how, in the face of hypernorms, there can be a diversity of norms at the local level. Hypernorms are the \"norms by which all others are to be judged\", while local norms are bounded to particular communities (Donaldson and Dunfee, 1999, p. 44). These universal norms form a core morality that transcends specific cultures (Donaldson, 1996; Walzer, 1994). According to Donaldson and Dunfee (1994, 1999), researchers can identify hypernorms from within ethical theory or empirically by looking for an \"overlapping consensus\" of local norms (Rawls, 1971). Thus, universal norms should represent a convergence of local norms (Kung, 1998). Embedded in the idea of an empirical \"overlapping consensus\" is the convergence of local norms across space.\nMethodology: This section is divided into four parts. First, it describes the context of the study, which is the sixteenth-century Nahua society. Within this society, the study focuses on commercial practices, as they were represented in The Florentine Codex. While our interest is in the ethical norms that governed Nahua commerce, the Codex does not specifically refer to \"commerce\" (or \"business\"); instead, it refers to \"merchants\" and \"artisans\". Thus, this study focuses on merchants and artisans, which together we call the \"Nahua commercial sector\". Then the second section shifts to elaborating the methods through which the data in the Codex were collected during the sixteenth century, and further describes the Codex itself. The third part details the grounded theory methods through which we analyzed the data, and the final part elaborates a technique we used, i.e. \"qualitative degrees of freedom\" (Campbell, 1975), to enhance our confidence in the validity of our findings.\nFindings: Through the methodology elaborated above, this study identifies six overlapping ethical norms that, according to Sahagun's proto-ethnographic work, shaped the attitudes and behaviors of the commercial sector in sixteenth century Nahua society. These norms are, in order of the extent of their occurrence in Book 10 (the book that most pertains to commerce), \"care for others\", \"exercise prudence\", \"tell the truth\", \"be respectful of others\", \"show reverence to the gods\" and \"be humble\". Our approach to presenting these norms from the past is not to make the normative claim that they should be followed in the present, but simply to elucidate what was previously obscured. Thus, in the following, we present norms that demanded behaviors as felicitous as being humble and protecting others, and as egregious as slavery and human sacrifice. We do not pick and choose which norms to include in our findings based on our contemporary ethical schemata; rather, we report the norms that our methodology selected. Just as one apparently did not preclude the other in Nahua society, presenting reprehensible behaviors of the past does not mean that more appealing behaviors should be ignored.\nDiscussion: Our study of the ethical norms that organized attitudes and behaviors in the sixteenth-century Nahua commercial sector provides three contributions to the literature. The first contribution is descriptive in that it identifies and elaborates six ethical norms that shaped the sixteenth-century Nahua commerce. The second contribution is methodological in that this study offers a grounded theory-based recipe for deriving commercial norms from qualitative data. And the third contribution is empirical in that they study's context is a historically isolated Latin American society, which in turn expands our understanding of norms beyond largely modern Western contexts. The following describes each of these contributions.\nConclusion: This study makes the case for the voice of history in identifying local, and potential universal, commercial norms. It does this by using one of history's foundational ethnographic-oriented texts, The Florentine Codex. In doing so, this study treated the Codex as a source of qualitative data, to which grounded theory-based analytical methods were applied to identify norms that shaped ethical attitudes and behaviors in the sixteenth-century Nahua commercial sector. Identified norms were then compared to present-day commercial norms, and this comparison makes the case for history having a voice in identifying ethical commercial norms. Further, the analytical work of producing the six authentic norms contributes to qualitative research methodology in business history.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the sixteenth-century Nahua society of central Mexico to answer the question, what commercial ethical norms operated in the sixteenth-century Nahua society? After decades of trying, Western business models and managerial theories have not met expectations in terms of fostering a socially and environmentally sustainable future. Qualitatively different approaches are needed, and one way to find them is to look at business models, norms and practices that operated in societies that were isolated from Western influences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper contributes to efforts to find and analyze historical texts that include business practices. In particular, this study uses grounded theory techniques to examine the presence of ethical commercial norms in one of history's foundational ethnographic texts, The Florentine Codex, a sixteenth-century study of Nahua society.\nFindings: This study identified six commercial ethical norms that structured Nahua commerce: \"care for others,\" \"exercise prudence,\" \"tell the truth,\" \"be respectful of others,\" \"show reverence to the gods\" and \"be humble.\" Confidence in these findings was enhanced by their \"qualitative degrees of freedom,\" whereby these norms were found to operate in other sectors of Nahua society.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating ethical norms of commerce that can emerge in isolation from Western cultures; providing a rigorous and novel methodology for deriving norms from historical texts; and expanding knowledge of business practices beyond modern Western contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The incredible value of skilled salespeople who want to stay: Mastering employer branding to stimulate a culture of retention	[ "Brand orientation", "Brand commitment", "Salespeople", "Internal branding", "Employee retention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The mantra that happy people sell can be extended to positing that happy people will stay longer in organizations where they feel stimulated by a sense of belonging. A research paper by Dechawatanapaisal (2018) looks into how employee retention can be increased by organizations deliberately deploying efforts to build a desirable employer brand that their salespeople are proud to belong to. Data for the study were gathered from 702 business-to-business salespeople in Thailand, who were employed across 15 companies in the cement and building material sector.\nInternal branding ingredients: This study aims to see the internal brand of an organization from the employee's perspective and to determine the relationship between the internal branding ingredients of orientation, identification, and commitment. The inner core of an organization is chipped away each time a good employee leaves because this quite easily causes a decline in productivity, increased costs, and damage to the established team morale. The importance of experienced salespeople to an organization in particular, because of their special one-to-one nurtured relationships with their customers, means that retaining them and fostering commitment among these employees are achievements that any ambitious company wishes to secure.\nThe elusive magic of retention: The remaining key focus of the study is employee retention and its powerful potential to deliver a market leading edge for an employer. The business value of increasing employee retention is that loyal employees tend to be more growth focused in developing their colleagues, which serves to drive the business higher. A solid measure of loyalty and cultural alignment is an employee's self-expressed willingness to remain or intention to stay working within the organization for a substantial period. When people feel a part of something they are less likely to leave, which is valuable for a business because of the financial, emotional, and productive disruption that resignations by salespeople cause.\nCreating value: from strategy to action: Based on these findings, some practical action strategies for HR professionals and organizational leaders include recognizing the value of experienced salespeople and investing in a great employee experience offering to sustain the bond those people feel in all their interactions with the organization. The mood of business-critical teams should be kept under assessment constantly, via surveys and analytics, so that early warning indicators and ineffective brand measures can be spotted and acted upon quickly. Being attentive and fast to respond to employee feedback is a service that no credible employer can justify disposing of.\nCommentary: The review is based on \"Employee retention: the effects of internal branding and brand attitudes in sales organizations\" by Dechawatanapaisal (2018), published in Personnel Review. This research paper concentrates on how employers who invest in developing their brand internally reap the rewards of identification and commitment from employees who wish to go on a longer journey with the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: This research paper concentrates on how employers who invest in developing their brand internally reap the rewards of identification and commitment than from employees who wish to go on a longer journey with the organization.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of condition monitoring on reciprocating compressor efficiency	[ "Reliability", "Technology management", "Condition maintenance monitoring", "Connecting rod", "Reciprocating compressor" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Reciprocating compressors are the dominant style of compressor utilized in the upstream oil and gas industry due to their capacity control which allows them to quickly adapt to changes in flow and pressure. Reciprocating compressors are flexible and able to handle wide capacity and condition swings, offer an efficient method of compressing almost any gas composition in a wide range of pressures and have numerous applications and wide power ratings. However, research demonstrates that reciprocating compressors are not as reliable as centrifugal compressors. Reciprocating compressors have many more components and additional seals that degrade requiring frequent replacement. Reciprocating compressor valves also require considerable maintenance. A contributing factor to maintenance frequency is the cleanliness of the gas stream. The wear life of the seals and valves is considerably shortened when the gas stream contains liquids and debris (Gallick, 2006).\n2. Reciprocating compressors: In reciprocating compressors, pistons are moved in a reciprocating action to compress gas. They can be arranged in a single or double acting design. In the double acting configuration, compression occurs on both sides of the piston during both the advancing and retracting stroke (Davis, 2005).\n3. Methodology: In this investigation, a design, cost estimate and efficiency analysis were completed to determine the impact of updating from periodic to continuous pressure monitoring of the reciprocating compressors. The 14 compressors included in the study were located throughout six compressor stations. The continuous pressure monitoring upgrade includes modules capable of capturing data from installed pressure transmitters mounted on the head end (HE) and crank end (CE) of every cylinder. In the continuous monitoring upgrade project, the total quantity of temperature transmitters required is 112 which are installed at the existing ports used for periodic pressure monitoring. These modules provide a wide variety of critical process data for monitoring, trending and alarming.\n4. Discussion and conclusion: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability, efficiency and engineering economics of continuous pressure monitoring on reciprocating compressors in CO2 service. Results from a previous study (Townsend et al., 2016) on condition monitoring utilizing real time connecting rod temperature data demonstrated a significant reliability improvement. The current study provides information about installing pressure monitoring systems on compressors and determines the impact. Three years of operating data were reviewed to assess the impact the systems would have on the future operations. Using a systematic approach consisting of five steps, failure data pertaining to the operation of reciprocating compressors were collected to perform reliability, efficiency and economic analysis of continuous pressure monitoring systems.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Reciprocating compressors offer an efficient method of compressing almost any gas composition in a wide range of pressures and have numerous applications. Condition monitoring of critical rotating machinery is widely accepted by operators of centrifugal compressors. However, condition monitoring of reciprocating machinery has not received the same degree of acceptance. An earlier study (Townsend et al., 2016) was conducted on temperature monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of continuous pressure monitoring on electric-driven compressors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research analyzes the impact of continuous pressure monitoring on a fleet of 14 compressors transporting CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. The reliability and efficiency data on 14 reciprocating compressors over a three-year period were analyzed for failures detectable by the condition monitoring technology. The engineering economic analysis is presented to determine the impact this technology will have on the productivity of the compressors.\nFindings: The study considers utilizing condition monitoring technology to analyze the pressure of the swept volume of the compressor cylinders. The results of the study indicate that continuous pressure monitoring technology has a strong impact on the productivity of the compressor fleet. The internal rate of return not only exceeds the operators hurdle rate, but the payback period is also dramatic. Pressure monitoring was found to be economically better than temperature monitoring.\nOriginality/value: The study reveals the economic benefits of implementing condition monitoring in the form of continuous pressure monitoring on reciprocating compressors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The consumption side of sustainable fashion supply chain: Understanding fashion consumer eco-fashion consumption decision	[ "Hong Kong", "Consumer behaviour", "Ethics", "Fashion", "Eco‐fashion", "Sustainable consumption", "Product‐related attributes", "Store‐related attributes", "Price premium", "Eco‐fashion consumption decision", "Sustainable development", "Fashion supply chain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Due to the adverse environmental impacts of the present clothing consumption behavior, there is a rising concern on sustainability issues on the consumption side of the fashion supply chain (FSC) (Fineman, 2001; Jackson, 2004; Birtwistle and Moore, 2007; Carter and Rogers, 2008; Niinimaki, 2010). Fashion companies, including manufacturers and retailers, are increasingly developing and marketing eco-fashion to promote sustainable consumption (Joergens, 2006; Fletcher, 2008; Wong et al., 2011a, 2012a, b). Although fashion consumers have a positive attitude toward environmental protection, they rarely apply such attitude into eco-fashion consumption (Solomon and Rabolt, 2004; Niinimaki, 2010). The attitude-behavior gap in fashion consumers' environmental protection interest and eco-fashion consumption disappoints fashion companies (Weller, 2008), and motivates green marketing and eco-fashion consumption research to investigate factors that influence fashion consumers' eco-fashion consumption decision (ECD) (e.g. Tanner and Kast, 2003; Jalas, 2004; Solomon and Rabolt, 2004; Sener and Hazer, 2008; Niinimaki, 2010). Among other factors, product-related attributes (PRA) of eco-fashion (e.g. product design, quality, and price) and store-related attributes (SRA) of eco-fashion (e.g. store design and environment, store's ethical practices, and shop convenience) have been argued as factors that influence ECD (Niinimaki, 2010). Prior studies revealed that fashion consumers are interested in purchasing eco-fashion but they are not willing to sacrifice personally, such as paying a higher price (Joergens, 2006; Carrigan and Attala, 2001). Following this line of thought, we argue that the relationships between PRA and SRA of eco-fashion and ECD are subject to the price premium (PP) level of eco-fashion.Although many studies in green marketing and eco-fashion consumption literature have investigated the relationships between PRA, SRA, PP, and ECD (e.g. Carrigan and Attalla, 2001; Beard, 2008; Ochoa, 2011), they are confined to a number of aspects. First, while customer service is an important SRA that affects fashion consumers' purchase decision (Erdem et al., 1999; Batlas and Papastathopoulou, 2003), its impact on ECD has been neglected in prior studies. This study considers customer service as part of SRA and examines how customer service in addition to store design and environment, store's ethical practices, and shop convenience influence ECD. Second, prior studies are confined to examine the direct effect of PP on ECD, and little is known about the moderating role of PP. This study represents an initial study to examine the moderating effect of PP on the relationship between PRA and SRA, and ECD, providing insights into the condition under which the relationships of PRA, SRA, ECD can be generalized. Lastly, the lack of theoretical explanation on the relationships between PRA, SRA, PP, and ECD, is perhaps the most pressing issue that deserves more research attention. Based on the consumer decision-making process (CDMP) theory and the conventional economic theory, this study examines the relationships among PRA, SRA, PP, and ECD.This study contributes to academic and fashion companies in twofold. First, many researchers have indicated that fashion consumers' ethical consumption decision-making process is highly complicated and is difficult to be predicted (Nordas, 2004; Sen, 2008; Niinimaki, 2010). This study contributes by providing better understanding on how consumers make ethical consumption decision in purchasing fashion. Second, eco-fashion consumption is a key contributor to sustainability development of FSC by driving demand of eco-fashion (Niinimaki, 2009, 2010; Faisal, 2010). This study provides managerial insights into devising marketing plan to promote eco-fashion consumption, which facilitate fashion companies' development of a sustainable FSC (Lai and Wong, 2012).\n2. Theoretical model and hypothesis: 2.1 ECD\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4. Discussion: Our findings show that PRA is not related to ECD. Such may be due to respondents' ECD being less likely to be stimulated by their physical needs for protection and functionality, emotional needs of expressing their personality, and psychological needs of identity building. The insignificant relationship between PRA and ECD may also be explained by the respondents perceiving less importance of PRA than SRA when making purchase decision on ECD. As shown in the results, SRA positively influences ECD. In line with our theorization, this suggests that SRA plays an important role in respondents' eco-fashion purchase decision making although it only has some positive effect on ECD.On the other hand, our findings are in line with prior studies (e.g. Lloyd et al., 1993; Roberts, 1996) that PP is associated with ECD. Prior studies reported that high PP discourages ECD as fashion consumers have a tight budget (Dodds et al., 1991; Bratt, 1999) or do not want eco-fashion consumption to cause any sacrifice (Bratt, 1999) or inconvenience (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001; Joergens, 2006). Our findings suggest that respondents are open to environmental protection, and thus more willing to pay a premium for eco-fashion to protect the environment (Yeung, 2005; Harris, 2006; Lee, 2009).Moreover, our findings show the moderating effect of PP on the relationship between SRA and ECD, but have no significant moderating effect on the relationship between PRA and ECD. Such may be due to SRA, such as customer service and stores' ethical practices, which are relatively intangible and less visible to respondents (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001; Olivia and Kallenberg, 2003). Respondents may find difficulties in evaluating SRA (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001; Olivia and Kallenberg, 2003), and therefore use PP level of eco-fashion that is relatively tangible and more visible to them to evaluate SRA when making purchase decision (Monroe and Krishnan, 1985). In contrast, PRA, such as product design and quality, are relatively tangible and more visible to fashion consumers for evaluation (Monroe and Krishnan, 1985; Creusen and Schoormans, 2005). Respondents can evaluate PRA subjectively based on their needs and perception. More specifically, our findings show that PP negatively moderates the relationship between SRA and ECD. Such may be because respondents have an unfavorable perception on SRA due to the PP level of eco-fashion. Respondents may think they have to pay a premium to support fashion companies' improvement in their SRA, such as refurbishing their stores to retain and attract fashion consumers, providing training about customer service to salespersons, adopting environmentally management practices to mitigate environmental impacts of their operations (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Zeitaml et al., 1996; Kandampully and Bulter, 2001). Respondents therefore are discouraged by SRA to purchase eco-fashion. As a result, the PP level of eco-fashion deteriorates the effect of SRA on ECD.4.1 Research implications\n5. Limitations and future research: Similar to other studies, this study has a number of limitations, which are suggested to be areas of future inquiry. First, having most respondents at the younger age is one of the limitations of this study. Young fashion consumers, aged between 15 and 24, are highly different in many ways from children or adults in other age groups (Lee, 2009). For instance, young fashion consumers are highly susceptible to emotional appeals (Joergens, 2006; Niinimaki, 2010). Researchers should be cautious in generalizing the findings of this study to other age groups. Second, the sample size of our study is relatively small (n=216) with limitations on a young age group, thus the findings may not be able to generalize to other age groups. Third, all variables, including PRA, SRA, and ECD, were measured self-reportedly. The reliance on self-reported measures may run the risk of social desirability effect. Further study should examine the potential impact of subjects' social desirability bias on their response or include objective assessments of these variables, such as using behavior measurement to measure fashion consumers' purchase behavior on eco-fashion. Fourth, this study used seven common attributes that fashion consumers apply in evaluating eco-fashion (i.e. product design, quality, price, customer service, store design and environment, store's ethical practices, and shop convenience) to examine the relationships among PRA and SRA of eco-fashion, PP level of eco-fashion, and ECD. Future studies may consider examining other PRA of eco-fashion, such as workmanship and durability (Abraham and Littrell, 1995) and SRA of eco-fashion, such as store name and store's promotional activities (Kumar and Leone, 1988; Krishna et al., 1991).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between product- and store-related attributes of eco-fashion and fashion consumers' eco-fashion consumption decisions; and if such relationships are subject to the price premium level of eco-fashion.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey was conducted with consumers in Hong Kong: in total, 216 consumers participated in the survey. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to check the validity and reliability of the scales. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis.\nFindings: - The findings showed that only store-related attributes of eco-fashion positively influence consumers' eco-fashion consumption decision, yet, such relationship can be weakened by the price premium level of eco-fashion.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Fashion consumers' response to product- and store-related attributes of eco-fashion is still important in predicting fashion consumers' eco-fashion consumption decision. Fashion consumer environmental attitudes can predict fashion consumers' eco-fashion consumption decision better than fashion consumers' attitude towards eco-fashion.\nPractical implications: - It is not enough for fashion companies to manufacture fashion clothing in an ethical production system and develop and design fashion clothing with sustainable and recyclable materials. They must also improve store-related attributes of eco-fashion to better satisfy fashion consumer needs, and should be cautious in the direct and moderating effect of price premium level of eco-fashion when determining the price premium level of eco-fashion.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contributes to research by advancing understanding on how consumers make ethical consumption decisions in purchasing fashion, and provides retailers with managerial insights into devising marketing plans to promote eco-fashion consumption, which facilitate fashion companies' development of a sustainable fashion supply chain. Limitations and directions for future research are also presented in the paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimizing the concession period of PPP projects for fair allocation of financial risk	[ "Monte Carlo simulation", "Concession period", "Financial risk allocation", "Public–private partnership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are widely accepted as \"a long-term contractual arrangement between the public and the private sector to realize public infrastructure and services more cost-effectively and efficiently than under conventional procurement\" (Daube et al., 2008). Over the past decade, PPPs have gained popularity in delivering infrastructure projects with long-term relationships between governments and private investors due to their ability to alleviate financial pressure on governments (Zou et al., 2014). However, the long-term operation of PPP projects is not without difficulty. Some inherent attributes of PPPs, such as long operational periods, high investments and complex shareholder structures, incur different kinds of risks. Some of the risks for governments and private investors cannot be eliminated, but the negative effects of risk on PPP projects can be controlled (Sansom, 2015). To deliver better outcomes for PPPs, the methods of risk allocation for PPP projects need to be studied.\n2. Existing concession period models: Concession period models are normally designed following the principle that the concession period should be long enough to guarantee a reasonable profit for private investors. Thus, to predict profits for private investors, NPV analysis is used to construct the core of these models. Some studies adopt traditional NPV analysis to decide the length of the concession period, with the assumption that the market is static. For example, Shen et al. (2002) calculated the length of the concession period to ensure positive NPVs for both governments and private investors. The same logic applies to the research conducted by Wu et al. (2011). In addition, the least-present-value of revenue method created by Engel et al. (2001) has been used as a bidding scheme in some PPP projects. Under this scheme, the concession period is adjusted endogenously to demand realization, and the specific length of the concession period can be derived.\n3. Concession period determination process: In this section, a methodology is proposed for determining the optimal concession period by following a step-by-step process. First, the uncertain variables that influence NPVs for both governments and private investors are clearly defined and the distributions of the uncertain variables are clarified. Because there are various types of PPPs, the uncertain variables recognized and the assumptions about their possibility distributions may differ. This research takes a highway project with a capital subsidy as an example in order to distinguish the inputs for the simulations on NPVs. Second, based on the outcomes of the simulation, the concession period decision range can be decided, which defines the lower and upper limits of the length of the concession period. Third, the optimal length of the concession period is chosen from the concession period decision range, as the one that helps to fairly allocate financial risk between governments and private investors. Each of these steps will be elaborated on afterward.\n4. Numerical example: 4.1 Uncertain and deterministic variables\n5. Discussion: Recognizing the importance of the concession period, this paper has proposed a model to determine the concession period which balances the financial risks borne by the project parties. A highway PPP with a capital subsidy provision is chosen as a numerical example to validate the model. Both of the recognized subjective variables, ROImax and AP, reflect governments' preferences in relation to control of excessive profits earned by private investors. The outcomes of the data analysis demonstrate some correlations between the preferences of governments and the length of the concession period. First, it can be seen from Table V that the stronger the government's control over the profits earned by private investors, the narrower the concession period decision range. Second, an overly stringent policy toward profit control may lead to an unacceptable financial risk for private investors. For instance, if ROImax=20 percent and Plc30 percent, the length of the concession period cannot be decided because the overly lucrative conditions and financial risks for private investors cannot be controlled simultaneously in this situation.\n6. Conclusion: A proper length of concession period contributes to the smooth operation of PPP projects. Previous models paid too much attention to the profitability of private investors while neglecting the importance of risk allocation in signing and maintaining long-term contracts. Focusing on PPP projects, this study provides a concession period determination process aiming to determine the optimal length of the concession period. The practice of determining the optimal concession period can help to achieve fair allocation of financial risk between project parties and control the profits for private investors within a reasonable range. The research combines NPV analysis and Monte Carlo simulation to better reflect the uncertainties embodied in the project. Also, as governments usually take responsibility for determining the length of the concession period and put the calculated value into the terms of reference before inviting tenders, two subjective variables indicating the preferences of governments in relation to profit control of private investors are given in order to evaluate their influence on the final outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Targeting public-private partnership (PPP) projects, the purpose of this paper is to help decision makers fairly allocate financial risk between governments and private investors through a properly designed length of concession period.\nDesign/methodology/approach: On the one hand, the length of the concession period should be long enough to help private investors to achieve their expected profits. On the other hand, the length of a concession period cannot be decided without agreeing on an upper limit, since an overlong concession period takes too much time for governments to recover their investment and leads to an overly lucrative condition for private investors. Following this logic, the concession period decision range is decided, which defines the lower and upper limits for the length of the concession period. The net present values (NPVs) for governments and private investors are estimated via Monte Carlo simulation to better reflect the uncertainties. To further decide on the optimal length of the concession period, the principle of fair risk allocation between governments and private investors is adopted. The concession period, as an important project parameter, should help to minimize the financial risk gap between governments and private investors.\nFindings: The developed concession period determination process is validated using a numerical example of a PPP transportation project. The analysis outcomes show that the proposed methodology is capable of determining the length of the concession period so as to control private investors' profit within a reasonable range while achieving a fair allocation of financial risk between governments and private investors. The outcomes also indicate that, before determining the optimal length for the concession period, governments may need to make a choice between better financial risk allocation or stringent profit control for private investors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The determination process developed here may be inapplicable to social infrastructure PPPs where the income stream is less predictable. In addition, the data analysis targets a highway project with a capital subsidy provided by the government. To strengthen the effectiveness of the proposed determination process, further research should apply the model to PPPs with other kinds of government support.\nOriginality/value: The concession period for a PPP project is an important parameter and it is a common practice for governments to predetermine the length of the concession period before inviting tenders. The existing models for determining the concession period focus too much on the simulation of NPVs for project parties and neglect the importance of risk allocation in signing and maintaining a long-term contract. There is also a lack of research to evaluate the influence of governments' preferences on the length of the concession period. To overcome the limitations of the existing models and enrich the methodology for concession period determination, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge by developing a concession period determination process which can help governments to make better decisions. The financial risk is expected to be more evenly shared between governments and private investors with the concession period derived from the proposed process. This determination process is also capable of evaluating the influence of governments' preferences on the length of the concession period.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of trust in organisational innovativeness	[ "Trust", "Innovation", "Organizational performance", "Job satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Innovation and innovativeness have become critical issues in sustaining competitive advantage, especially in large and mature organisations (see, e.g. Dougherty and Hardy, 1996). Firms cannot survive without being able continuously to renew and innovate. Half of today's revenues in the private sector, especially in high-technology segments such as the ICT industry, flow from products and services that are less than five years old. Furthermore, innovativeness has also become increasingly important in traditional sectors such as the paper and pulp industry, as companies are trying to retain their competitiveness in the global competitive climate. The importance of innovativeness to competitiveness is therefore evident (Ruppel and Harrington, 2000; see also Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Wang and Ahmed, 2004).The critical role of organisational trust in promoting organisational efficiency and effectiveness is expected to be accentuated in post-bureaucratic network organisations, in which idiosyncratic knowledge, and interpersonal and intra-organisational collaboration are assuming increasing significance (see, e.g. Tyler, 2003). Trust increases the efficiency and effectiveness of communication (Blomqvist, 2002), as well as organisational cooperation and collaboration (Mayer et al., 1995; Tyler, 2003). It has also been identified as a critical factor in leadership effectiveness (Tyler, 2003), employee satisfaction (Shockley-Zalabak et al., 2000), commitment (Dirks and Ferrin, 2001) and performance (Barney and Hansen, 1994). Furthermore, intra-organisational trust has become important in many firms in which labour conflicts and downsizing might have resulted in decreased levels of trust both between employees and in leader-employee relationships (Rankin, 1998).Increased understanding of the role of trust, and of the impact of various types of organisational trust, is expected to have both theoretical and managerial implications for knowledge-intensive organisations. Above all, a comprehensive understanding of the effect of different kinds of trust on innovativeness would be valuable. A study promoting such understanding would shed light on how innovativeness could be enhanced by building up trust. Managers could consider more carefully how the different dimensions of interpersonal trust, i.e. based on competence, benevolence and reliability, affect different dimensions of organisational innovativeness. For example, if a company aspires to develop behavioural innovations, in which case the benevolence component of vertical interpersonal trust would be critical, special emphasis should be placed on managerial actions that affect perceived benevolence. On the other hand, the impersonal type of organisational trust could be enhanced through the institutionalisation of certain HRD processes and organisational structures. Thus a combination of HRD and strategy could be used to develop this institutional and impersonal dimension when its role in organisational innovativeness is known.The objective of this study is to examine the effect of various types of organisational trust on the different dimensions of organisational innovativeness. Despite the importance of both phenomena, as demonstrated above, the role of trust in this context has so far attracted very little interest in academic research. To the best of our knowledge, the role and impact of different types of organisational trust on different dimensions of organisational innovativeness has not been studied before, and this was the question we addressed in our research. In our investigations we used quantitative research methodology and a survey sample of 214 employees from 40 organisational units within the information and communication technology (ICT) and paper and pulp industries.\nTheoretical framework: Organisational trust\nResearch design: Data collection and basic information on the sample units\nResults: Correlation analysis\nDiscussion and conclusion: In this paper we have analysed the effects of both interpersonal and institutional organisational trust on various dimensions of organisational innovativeness. We found the effect of institutional trust to be stronger than that of other types of trust in determining the organisation's innovativeness. We also found that organisational trust explained a larger proportion of the variance in the behavioural dimension of innovativeness, but only about 15 per cent in the strategic and process dimensions.Theoretical conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of the dimensions of organisational trust on organisational innovativeness in a relatively large survey sample of the information and communication technology (ICT) and paper and pulp industries in Finland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Organisational trust is deemed to consist of both interpersonal and impersonal types of trust. The empirical part of the study shows the relationship between various types of trust and dimensions of organisational innovativeness. Quantitative empirical analysis is based on a survey of 40 organisational units and 214 respondents within the ICT and paper and pulp industries.\nFindings: - The impact of different types of organisational trust on dimensions of organisational innovativeness was analyzed. The results imply that the impersonal form in particular, namely institutional trust, has an important role in determining organisational innovativeness.\nResearch implications: - This study contributes both to the literature on organisational innovativeness, as well as to the emerging theory on trust, in its approach to trust as not only an interpersonal issue, but also as something with impersonal aspects.\nPractical implications: - It is suggested that managers should pay special attention to impersonal forms of trust, i.e. to the institutional dimension of organisational trust. Above all, institutional trust and its development could be seen as a strategic question for companies.\nOriginality/value: - This study makes a significant theoretical contribution by examining the linkages between various dimensions of organisational trust and organisational innovativeness, which have previously been studied only to a very minor extent. It thus provides a richer understanding of the relationship between organisational trust and innovativeness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge-centered culture and knowledge sharing: the moderator role of trust propensity	[ "Knowledge sharing", "Individual differences", "Knowledge-centered culture", "Moderation", "Trust propensity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge-centered culture (KCC), a set of organizational values, core beliefs, norms and social rules that act as a common reference for workers when they create, share and apply knowledge, is critical for the success of knowledge management practices (Ajmal et al., 2010; Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Davenport and Prusak, 1998; De Long and Fahey, 2000; Janz and Prasarnphanich, 2003). It has been shown to nurture the creation and sharing of knowledge, improve formal and informal knowledge management practices, promote employees' satisfaction and performance, foster continuous organizational learning and increase organizations' innovative ability and effectiveness (Cardoso et al., 2012; Gold et al., 2001; Janz and Prasarnphanich, 2003; Lee and Choi, 2003; Mas-Machuca and Costa, 2012a, 2012b).\nTheory and hypotheses: Knowledge sharing\nMethod: Data collection\nResults: Preliminary analyses\nDiscussion and conclusions: In this research, we tested whether KCC fosters knowledge sharing equally across employees. Specifically, we investigated the moderator role of trust propensity, an enduring individual difference, in the relationship between KCC and knowledge sharing. We found that KCC only promoted knowledge sharing in individuals with high levels of trust propensity. For individuals with low propensity to trust, KCC had no effect on knowledge sharing. In addition, the interaction effect observed was significant even after controlling statistically for relevant demographics, namely, age, sex and tenure in the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research aims to evaluate if knowledge-centered culture (KCC) fosters knowledge sharing equally across employees with different levels of trust propensity, an enduring individual characteristic.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted with 128 US-based employees.\nFindings: The authors found that KCC only promoted knowledge sharing in individuals with high levels of trust propensity. For individuals with low levels of trust propensity, KCC had no effect on knowledge sharing.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors focused exclusively on trust propensity as a moderator. Future research could analyze the role of other enduring individual differences in the relationship between KCC and knowledge sharing.\nPractical implications: A KCC may be inefficient in promoting knowledge sharing in employees with low propensity to trust. Recruitment and selection of individuals with a high propensity to trust is a possible solution to enhance the association between KCC and knowledge sharing in organizations.\nOriginality/value: By identifying an enduring individual characteristic that shapes the relationship between KCC and knowledge sharing, the authors move toward the development of a contingent view of KCC and show that KCC fosters knowledge sharing differently across employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
JDSU uses personality typology during management Empowerment Camps	[ "Human resources", "Company culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: JDSU has its roots in the exciting technological breakthroughs of the mid-1990s internet boom. The company became a household name among the Silicon Valley set as the internet grew explosively. However, after its initial meteoric rise, JDSU experienced the same kind of turmoil as many other internet companies in the early 2000s. It has since turned around and seen a resurgence in its chosen areas of focus and expertise: developing innovative optical products and advanced technologies for the telecom, datacom, laser, and anti-counterfeiting markets.\nThe problem: As JDSU took on the new challenge of scaling its innovation, Sharon Parker, VP of Human Resources at JDSU, was looking to make some cultural changes. To help the company scale, she believed that Human Resources could be a strategic partner to the business in bringing about effective change through cultural transformation. JDSU would desperately need cultural alignment between the executive strategy and the general employee population. Managers serve as the linchpin between an organization's leaders and its workforce, yet JDSU offered no consistent, companywide management training for those very people. While many managers had been promoted on the basis of their technical proficiencies, they had not received the training they needed to create a team culture of alignment with organizational leadership.\nThe solution: Sharon turned to the talent development team at JDSU to create a program that would address the need for consistent manager training. In response, Juls Snowden, a manager development expert with 25 years of experience, created \"Managing at JDSU: Empowerment Camp.\" The Empowerment Camp consisted of 60 hours of facilitated classroom training over a 12-week period, including five full-day class learning sessions as well as weekly webinars.\nResults: The Empowerment Camp was a success and provided managers with the ability to drive growth within the organization by mastering certain tools and techniques. While the first few camps initially saw a large number of managers from JDSU's Research and Development department, overall the Empowerment Camp was inclusive to all parts of the organization.\nHighlighted results: More than 300 managers were trained through the Empowerment Camp program in just two years. In a post-program survey, 98 percent of participants agreed that Empowerment Camp had made them more effective in their job at JDSU.\nWhy use the MBTI(r) assessment?: JDSU has managers in more than 20 different countries, and the company identified the ability to effectively generalize an assessment cross-culturally to be a critical factor in selecting development tools for organizations with global teams. JDSU participants had the option of receiving MBTI reports and assessments in their native languages, which Snowden says was a great benefit when taking the program to countries in Asia and Europe.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gauge the success of optical product maker JDSU's effort to engage Human Resources as a strategic partner in building an international company culture using training in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to bring diverse teams together with a common management language for discussing interpersonal and team dynamics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study relied on interviews with managers, employees, and designers of JDSU's Empowerment Camp on their experience of improvement in management and communication in the organization.\nFindings: With a common language for discussing communication, management, and interpersonal interaction centered around insights derived from management's training in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator through the Empowerment Camp, members of the organization encountered a more unified and effective management approach across JDSU's diverse web of international offices.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to explore a company's effort to engage Human Resources as a strategic partner in building an international company culture.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
FDI, service intensity, and international marketing agility: The case of export quality of Chinese enterprises	[ "China", "Product quality", "FDI", "International marketing agility", "Service intensity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: International marketing agility deals with the need of customizing enterprises' marketing strategies to satisfy international customers (Jain, 1989). As an emerging concept, international marketing agility can be traced back to the notion of strategic agility. As an organizational capability, agility denotes the ability to manage the trade-offs between the commitment of resources to current goals with shifting market needs (Carmeli et al., 2017; Fourne et al., 2014; Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004; Weber and Tarba, 2014). For instance, strategic agility can help firms remain competitive in international environments in the pursuit of strategic renewal (Lewis et al., 2014; Junni et al., 2015). However, while the existing literature on agility tends to be dominated by the strategic aspect, it lacks sufficient theoretical underpinnings. We argue that international marketing literature may offer some interesting insights to theoretically advance the concept of international marketing agility, especially stemming from the debate between the standardization marketing strategy needed for domestic markets and the adaptation required in the different countries where enterprises operate (Tan and Sousa, 2013).\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1 International marketing agility\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Overview of the research setting\n4. Results: 4.1 Benchmark results\n5. Discussion and conclusion: 5.1 Theoretical contributions\n6. Conclusion: This paper contributes to the international marketing agility literature by connecting organizational capability literature with standardization and adaptation literature. We investigate the extent to which managing the tension between product standardization and service customization may generate an extra premium in international markets. We develop and test an econometric model by using two Chinese data sets: the ASIE and the China Customs Database. Our findings offer a nuanced understanding of international marketing agility and investigate the complex relationships between FDI, service intensity and export quality. Our analysis reveals that international marketing agility is reached through upstream FDI intensity, particularly in the context of service FDI. Manufacturing sectors with higher service intensity have more agility, being more likely to generate export quality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a nuanced understanding of international marketing agility by connecting organizational capability literature with that of standardization and adaptation. The focus of the research is to clarify whether managing the tension between product standardization and service customization generates an extra premium in international markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two disaggregated Chinese data sets, the Annual Survey of Industrial Enterprises and the China Customs Database, are used for developing an econometric model. Export quality improvement is the outcome variable in reflecting the effect of international marketing agility on performance.\nFindings: International marketing agility is reached through upstream FDI intensity, particularly in the context of service FDI. Manufacturing sectors with higher service intensity have more agility, being more likely to generate export quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study makes three theoretical contributions by clarifying the concept of international marketing agility as an organizational capability generated by manufacturing standardization and service customization; investigating the influence of upstream FDI intensity for export quality while taking into account the industry contexts; and obtaining an enhanced understanding of the service intensity of manufacturing firms on export quality.\nOriginality/value: The authors offer a nuanced and contextualized understanding of international marketing agility and explore the complex relationships between FDI, service intensity and export quality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supply chain flexibility and mass personalization: a systematic literature review	[ "Systematic literature review", "Supply chain flexibility", "Customer microsegmentation", "Mass personalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In an increasingly globalized technology market, an efficient supply chain management is a significant competitive advantage. Focusing on the customer needs and desires is now seen as a prerequisite for business success (Griffiths and Margetts, 2000; Strasser et al., 2011; Oh et al., 2013; He et al., 2016). Mass personalization (MP) refers to a company's ability to provide personalized products and services at a price and speed comparable to standard offers for a mass market (Purohit et al., 2016). In MP environments, mass production occurs, but allows the product to be altered in the manufacturing process itself to meet the customers' individual needs (Stump and Badurdeen, 2012). A strategy closely related to MP is the customer microsegmentation, which is defined as a set of plans that serve as a reference for business decision-making, to meet the individual customer requirements (Squire et al., 2006; Tien, 2011). Both MP and customer microsegmentation simultaneously consider real-time demand chains (customer knowledge) and supply chain management (goods and services) (Machado and Moraes, 2008; Novais et al., 2017). Although these strategies are closely linked, MP is more related to operations management (Squire et al., 2006; Hansotia, 2009; Purohit et al., 2016), while customer microsegmentation is more related to marketing. In this paper, we consider both concepts as closely related under the term MP.\n2. Methodology: 2.1 Key concepts overview: supply chain flexibility and mass personalization\n3. Results and discussion: First, a descriptive analysis is given of the identified papers; next, the personalization levels and flexible processes in supply chain are addressed, followed by the enabling technologies analysis for SCF and MP; finally, collaborative processes for SCF and MP were addressed.\n4. Conclusions: In this study, a systematic literature review of 64 papers has been carried out to identify the current state of research on SCF and MP. Responses to the Research Questions and the paper's conclusions based on the results of the systematic literature review are presented below.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the current state of research on supply chain flexibility (SCF) and mass personalization (MP) to identify the literature findings to date, research gaps and to provide guidelines for future research in this area.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review of 64 papers was undertaken to address the use of SCF as a productive response to MP environments. The methodology used is made up of five steps: formulation of the research questions, identification of studies, selection and evaluation of studies, analysis and synthesis and presentation of the results.\nFindings: Three main research topics have been identified: personalization levels and flexible processes in supply chain, where flexible processes in supply chain are analysed as a productive response to high levels of MP; supply chain collaborative processes for SCF and MP, where product co-creation and relationships between supply chain members is analysed; and SCF and MP enabling technologies, in which technologies to support MP implementation and SCF are considered. Each of these three main topics have been divided into research lines and research sublines that allowed identifying a positive relationship between the SCF and the MP strategies.\nResearch limitations/implications: Systematic literature review is a methodology reliable and recommended by a large number of scientific papers. However, it depends on available and accessible research studies and the researcher's criteria. The selection of certain criteria for inclusion and exclusion of papers introduces publication bias, which should be considered an intrinsic limitation to systematic literature review.\nOriginality/value: The main literature findings in each research line and subline related to the SCF-MP relationship are identified and analysed. Furthermore, research gaps and further research lines in the SCF-MP area are highlighted. The information presented in this paper improves the literature on the advances in the SCF use as a productive response to MP environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents of ERP systems implementation success: a study on Jordanian healthcare sector	[ "ERP systems", "Jordan", "Structural equation modelling", "User satisfaction", "Enterprise resource planning system (ERP)", "Small to medium-sized enterprises (SME)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Facing the international planning-and-management-oriented world, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must keep trying hard to improve both the software and hardware used in their facilities to raise their capability and contribute to more effective marketing of their products worldwide. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, derived from 1990s management information systems, has been developed to assist enterprises incorporate the information gathered from their own internal departments so as to raise their performance (Bradley and Lee, 2007; Kosalge and Ritz, 2015). ERP implementations are plagued with high failure rates and inability to understand promised advantages and the failure rate has been estimated as 60-90 percent (Al-Shamlan and Al-Mudimigh, 2011; Ahmad et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2015). According to Sun et al. (2015), the literature has reported over 80 critical success factors for ERP implementation, but companies usually do not know to exploit them. Indeed, although various scholars have different viewpoints of the critical factors fundamental to successful use of the ERP system (see Maditinos et al., 2011; Masa'deh and Altamony, 2012; Tarhini et al., 2015), user satisfaction is the factor identified by most of them as a leading influence on SMEs in this regard. To assess the ERP system, therefore, user satisfaction can be utilized as an important indicator to illustrate if the information system works effectively (Bradford and Florin, 2003; Wang et al., 2008; Ram et al., 2015).\n2. Research background: ERP systems consist of a set of software products which are mainly targeted to provide a large diversity of enterprises. These systems sustain day to day operations, decision making and mechanization, streamlining and progress of processes in organizations (Sedera et al., 2004; Burkland and Zachariassen, 2014; Boza et al., 2015). An ERP system can be defined as \"an information system that enables the integration of transaction-based data and business processes within and across functional areas in an enterprise\" (Parry and Graves, 2008). Some of the type enterprise functions that ERP systems support include supply chain management, inventory control, sales, manufacturing scheduling, customer relationship management, financial and cost management and human resources (Soffer et al., 2002; Abdinnour and Saeed, 2015; Elbardan et al., 2015). Despite the cost concentrated, lengthy and risky process, the rate of implementation of ERP systems has increased over the years. Most of the large international organizations have already adopted ERPs as their de facto standard with the aim of increasing productivity, effectiveness and organizational competitiveness (Al-Jabri and Roztocki, 2015). In addition, according to Pishdad and Haider (2013), some challenge-related ERP implementation included lack of process, technical, project knowledge, lack of knowledge on the requirement for change and lack of contextualization and organization support.\n3. Research model and hypotheses formulation: First of all, five components have been identified from previous research, which are training, supportive leadership, ease of use, user satisfaction and ERP implementation success. The definitions of these components are as below:\n4. Research measures, sample and data collection: The researchers developed a field survey for Jordanian healthcare users. All the research constructs were measured using closed-end seven-point Likert scale items, with scales ranging from 1=\"strongly disagree\" through 4=\"neither agree nor disagree\" to 7=\"strongly agree.\" Training (TR) variable was measured using four items which were drawn from (Simon and Werner, 1996); supportive leadership (SL) was measured using four items which were adapted from (Doll, 1985). Easy-to-use (EF) variable was measured using four items which were drawn from (Henderson and Divett, 2003; Elkhani et al., 2014). User satisfaction (US) was measured using four items were used from Kettinger and Lee (1997). ERP implementation system success (EI) was measured using four items were adapted from Sabherwal and Kirs (1994).\n5. Data analysis and results: In order to examine whether the antecedents discussed above could impact ERP Implementation success on healthcare firms, a number of statistical tests were carried out. Indeed, the relationship between four antecedents and ERP implementation success were tested empirically using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques using the Analysis of Moment Structures software package version 20. Furthermore, SEM was used as it can be divided into two sub-models: a measurement model and a structural model. While the measurement model defines relationships between the observed and unobserved variables, the structural model identifies relationships among the unobserved/latent variables by specifying which latent variables directly or indirectly influence changes in other latent variables in the model (Byrne, 2013; Hair et al., 2010). Table I displays different types of goodness of fit indices in assessing our initial specified model.\n6. Discussion and implication: This study contributes to the ERP implementation success literature by empirically testing a causal model including four antecedents and the mediating effect of user satisfaction on ERP implementation success. Tables IV and V indicate the path coefficient and t-value of each proposed path as well as direct and indirect effect of each path. The hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between training and user satisfaction stands, conforming to the hypothesis presented in this research. Indeed, H1 was supported in the structural model. As a result, ERP system users must have useful training inside or outside the organization before starting operations in Jordanian healthcare firms in order to be familiar with the modified operation procedures as well as new terminology so that the ERP system will not frustrate them. Furthermore, the hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between supportive leadership and user satisfaction stands as well, conforming to the hypothesis presented in this research which consist with Zhu et al. (2010). Consequently, H2 was supported. So, using the ERP system does not only mean that the data management of the company is advanced, but also those operational procedures for all the company's staff have advanced as well. When a company starts to use the ERP system, supportive leadership is very important. Not only does management support the budget, they must also respond and answer their staff's questions about the ERP system, thereby helping them to understand more. In addition to the ease of use issue, the hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between the ease of use and user satisfaction stands, conforms with the hypothesis presented in this research and the literature of Venkatesh et al. (2003) and Nwankpa (2015) who tested ERP system end-users across the USA and the findings suggested that ERP system usage is directly related ERP benefit, so ease of use ERP system makes users feel more familiar with input and output, specially if some users do not have fair knowledge with these systems. Accordingly, H3 was supported. In line with previous studies, the hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between user satisfaction and ERP system implementation, conforms to the hypothesis of this research. Thus, H4 was supported. This result also fits with the research of Kositanurit et al. (2006). According to the existing literature, user satisfaction in large-scale enterprises can enhance the performance in each level of organization. Surprisingly, this study found a mediating effect of user satisfaction between the ease of use and ERP implementation success; and there was no mediating effect between user satisfaction with training and supportive leadership consequently, and ERP implementation success. Thus, while H5c was supported; both H5a and H5b were not. The reason might be that the systems used by average SMEs are unlike the customized ones used by large-scale enterprises. In addition, the ease of use variable may play the fundamental role between ERP system and ERP implementation success more than training and supportive leadership. However, according to Rabaai (2009), low ease of use could be due to the difficulty and unfamiliarity of the interfaces, ineffective end-user education and training, inadequate user involvement and participation in the implementation, or simply user rejection of the technology. Cultures that have successfully adopted ERPs recognize the importance of adequate education and training for end-users in using the new system (Bajwa et al., 2004). Arabic organizations often devalue this however, considering training end-users as an additional cost to be avoided as much as possible (Alenezi et al., 2015). As a cheaper substitute to training, organizations often provide end-users with printed manuals describing the system's functionality, as happened in the majority of organizations surveyed here. While the results suggested most respondents considered the training adequate, it can be argued that the failure to provide significant resources for training purposes has seen short-term gains, but ultimately end-users ignorance and system rejection led to long-term failure. Furthermore, research could examine this more closely, since traditional Jordanian cultural attitudes to training and change management may not match the requirements for successful ERP uptake.\n7. Limitations, conclusions and future research: There are some limitations of the study. The first limitation is the utilization of the same informant for our independent, mediating and dependent variables. In addition, further researchers should think about both ERP user and ERP managers to avoid depending on a single source of information as a way of testing the research model from several perceptions. Also, results reported in this study were based on a single country, Jordan, and in turn are applicable exclusively to the Jordanian context. Thus, this raises inquiries regarding the generalizability to other cultures and different contexts. Consequently, further research is needed with regards to several countries since this would help to advance understanding of ERP implementation success issue and the conditions and outcomes of achieving it from different nationwide origins in different contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Most small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use some business management software to manage their daily operations. Ultimately they consider transitioning to an enterprise resources planning (ERP) system. However, implementing ERP system successfully is costly and complex, and often shows high disappointment rates or even abandonment due to need of fit with the business or social culture. In Jordan, large businesses have been using the ERP system for a long time, but SMEs usage of the system is relatively new. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of ERP implementation success antecedents which consists of training, supportive leadership and ease of use on ERP implementation success itself through a mediating effect of user satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical data were collected using a survey questionnaire which was distributed to ERP users in Jordanian healthcare organizations. A total of 175 responses were collected and analyzed using structure equation modeling.\nFindings: A significant relationship was found between these antecedents and ERP implementation success. Furthermore, user satisfaction plays a significant mediating role between ease of use and ERP implementation success.\nPractical implications: The outcomes of this study are useful to ERP users as they would be able to strategize future ERP system implementation in different sectors such as education, manufacturing and insurance industry. Finally, the findings may be useful to ERP system adopters in different developing countries.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies which adequately covers the relationships between antecedents of user satisfaction and ERP implementation success which consists of training, supportive leadership and ease of use on ERP implementation success itself through a mediating effect of user satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing, validating, and testing a model of reflective leadership	[ "Leadership", "Organizational performance", "Reflective leadership", "Reflective learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations continuously seek new tools, techniques, and management practices to improve performance. One potentially important management tool for improving organizational performance is reflective learning developed by Schon (1983) over three decades ago. Searching for methods to advance the professional development of academic administrators, Schon and Argyris developed a process for examining the causal relationships between actions and their consequences to identify common themes in successful efforts that could be used to improve future practices (Osterman, 1990). Schon maintained that organizations learn when employees reflect on past experiences, and apply the lessons learned from those experiences to respond more effectively to similar problems that arise in the future.\nMethodology: This paper tests the validity of the Castelli (2011) RL model by following best practices described by Hinkin (1995), which begins with defining each of the five leadership practices in the model - creating an open and safe environment, purpose, meaning, challenging assumptions, and dialogue and feedback. The three authors individually crafted definitions for each of these five practices, and then agreed on a single definition for each. The authors then independently developed 15 measures of each defined practice, and identified the ten \"best\" measures for each from a consolidated list. All measures making the top ten \"best\" list of at least one of the authors were retained, resulting in nearly 150 measures of the five practices. Next, 20 faculty, staff, and graduate students at the College of Management at Lawrence Technological University associated each retained measure with one of the five leadership practices. A measure was retained if at least 70 percent of the participants indicated it measured the same practice. This resulted in 49 measures of the five RL practices. A survey was then sent to a wide variety of multinational leadership and management groups around the world via LinkedIn (Castelli et al., 2013). Respondents were asked to assign the 49 measures to the five practices, and assess the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives, sales, and profits. Over 800 responses were received from respondents in 60 countries (approximately 39 percent USA and 61 percent other country). All responses that included answers to each of the survey questions were included in the study, whether the demographic questions were answered or not. This resulted in a sample of 714 for the study. This sample was randomly divided into two groups. The development group, constituting 60 percent of the sample (429 responses) was used to estimate the factor structure of the model using exploratory factor analysis. A practice was retained if it loaded greater than 0.40 on one factor and less than 0.40 on all other factors. This resulted in three practices, open and safe work environment, purpose, and challenging assumptions, and five measures of each. The remaining 40 percent of the sample, 285 responses, composed the confirmation group that was used for the confirmatory factor analysis.\nResults: The demographic profile of the sample is presented in Table I. The typical respondent was male, 48.7 years of age, and had 8.7 years of international work experience. The development and conformation groups did not differ in gender makeup or years of international experience, but, on average, the development group was 2.3 years older than the confirmation group t(650)=2.4, p<0.05.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop, validate, and test the impacts of reflective leadership (RL) on organizational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is an empirical study based on over 700 survey responses from business leaders around the world. An instrument was developed to validate the model, and the statistical significance of its impacts on organizational performance was tested.\nFindings: The findings show that a model of RL consisting of three leadership practices, creating an open and safe work environment, defining purpose, and challenging assumptions had significant impacts on organizational performance, accounted for 16.5 percent of the variance in the accomplishment of organizational goals; 13.9 percent of the variance in sales; and 14.7 percent of the variance in profits.\nResearch limitations/implications: The major limitations are the biases that might be introduced with survey data. There are numerous implications for future research in terms of exploring additional RL practices, their impacts on additional and objective measures of performance, and in exploring the effects of moderating and mediating variables on the impacts of RL on performance.\nPractical implications: The results show that RL is an effective management tool practitioners can employ to improve organizational performance.\nOriginality/value: A number of studies have broadly suggested that RL improves organizational performance, but this study empirically tests the impacts of a clearly defined, validated model of leadership on specific measures of performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of vision in organizational readiness for change and growth	[ "Organizational performance", "Organizational growth", "Organizational change", "Leadership and change and growth", "Leadership and readiness for change", "Mediating role of readiness for change", "Vision and organizational growth", "Organizational vision" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organizations today face an increasingly dynamic environment laden with unwavering, phenomenal and unpredictable change. Drucker (1999) noted, \"Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable\" and \"change is the norm\" (p. 73). Despite organizations' considerable investment into change efforts, most organizational change initiatives fail to meet their strategic objectives (Kotter, 1995, 1996; Weiner et al., 2008). The successful implementation of organizational change greatly depends on how the individuals within the organizations react to the change (Rafferty et al., 2013). Jones et al. (2005) argue that while many factors lead to the failure of organizational change, \"few are so critical as employees' attitudes towards the change event\" (p. 362).\n2. Organizational vision: Organizational vision is defined in many different ways in the literature. Vision has been described as the essence of work (Tvorik and McGivern, 1997), an all-encompassing concept that includes organizational values and guiding philosophies that are engaging and inspiring (Collins and Porras, 1991), an idealized future goal (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1996; Kotter, 1995), an idea (James and Lahti, 2011), and a set of core values and essential tasks (Frese et al., 2003), among others. Vision emphasizes change, an idealized future state (James and Lahti, 2011), and has a longer time span than strategies (James and Lahti, 2011). Grounding the organization's vision in ideals and values helps leaders convince followers to pursue the future organizational state, and encourages individual and organizational performance (Slack et al., 2010).\n3. Readiness for change: Although resistance is often considered a natural response to change, many scholars suggest that RFC decreases resistance to change and improves the likelihood of successful change implementation (Armenakis and Harris, 2002; Eby et al., 2000). The most cited definition referring to organizational RFC is that from Armenakis et al. (1993): \"beliefs, attitudes, and intentions regarding the extent to which changes are needed and the organization's capacity to successfully undertake those changes\" (p. 681). Weiner et al. (2008, p. 381) define organizational RFC as \"the extent to which organizational members are psychologically and behaviourally prepared to implement organizational change.\" Organizational RFC is viewed as a perception-based construct and is represented by aggregating individual attitudes and cognitions regarding organizational change (Whelan-Barry et al., 2003). Cole et al. (2006, p. 1) noted, \"Organizational change begins with the individual, as resistance or support are ultimately individual decisions and behaviors.\" Cole et al. further suggest it is not only the organization as a whole that must change, but also individual members. Therefore, the coordinated change of many individuals in organizations is often critical for the change effort to produce visible results (Weiner et al., 2008). In the words of Schneider et al. (1996) \"If people do not change, there is no organizational change\" (p. 7). Therefore, individual readiness for change is an important element for effecting organizational change successfully (Elias, 2009). This is consistent with Choi and Ruona (2011) who observed that employees are not passive receivers of organizational change; rather, they actively engage in the process and react to it. In fact, several studies describe RFC as the extent to which individuals hold positive views about the need for organizational change as well as the extent to which individuals perceive that change will positively impact them and the organization as a whole (e.g. Eby et al., 2000; Jones et al., 2005).\n4. Organizational growth: The topic of organizational growth as a focus of entrepreneurship scholarship has attracted considerable attention. Organizational growth is referred to as a dynamic measure of change over time (Weinzimmer et al., 1998). Literature shows that organizational growth is one of the most crucial indicators of overall organizational performance (Baum et al., 2001; Richard et al., 2009; Schein, 1985). Furrer et al. (2008) reviewed over 2,000 articles on strategic management in the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly and the Strategic Management Journal, published between 1980 and 2005, and found that over one-third of the articles were concerned with organizational performance. In most studies, performance is treated as an aggregate organizational-level outcome or a dependent variable (Richard et al., 2009). A meta-analysis by Capon et al. (1990) shows that researchers use various measures and methods for analyzing growth in organizations, such as employment, market share, physical output, profits, and sales. There seems to be an emerging consensus that if only one indicator is to be chosen as a measure of organizational growth, the most preferred measure should be sales (Delmar et al., 2003). Sales growth is considered a significant performance measure particularly for new business organizations, as growth in sales indicates market acceptance of the organization's products or services. In addition, profitability (Delmar et al., 2003), competitiveness (Jang and Park, 2011), and employment (Hoogstra and van Dijk, 2004) measures are also widely used in empirical growth research.\n5. Linking readiness for change to vision and organizational growth: A number of studies support the pivotal role of a leader's vision in attaining greater organizational growth (Agha et al., 2012; Baum et al., 1998; Calantone et al., 2002; Kantabutra, 2009; Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1996; McGivern and Tvorik, 1998). However, empirical investigation of the relationship between organizational change and organizational performance, a missing area that is important to enhance organizational effectiveness for both scholars and practicing managers, has remained largely unexplored (Kantabutra, 2009; Pettigrew et al., 2001). In order to optimize organizational performance and growth, organizations must be adept at planning, implementing and managing change on an ongoing basis (Liozu et al., 2014; Wischnevsky and Damanpour, 2006; Yonnedi, 2010). Geroski emphasizes that organizational growth and survival depend on an organization's capacity to link changes in its strategy choices to the changing environment. This implies that in the context of a dynamic business environment, organizations aspiring growth must be ready for change. Organizational RFC is defined by Eby et al. (2000) as the extent to which individual employees perceive that the organization has the capacity to effect successful change. However, there is a lack of empirical research of change as a function of the combined effects of organizational performance and vision (Boeker, 1997). In this respect, the present study proposes the mediating role of readiness for change in the relationship between vision, as measured by its components, and organizational growth. Accordingly, the following hypotheses are proposed:\n6. Methodology: 6.1 Participants\n7. Discussion: This research was intended primarily to explore the mediation effect of perceived RFC on the relationship between organizational vision and growth. The findings support previous findings by Baum et al. (1998) that the vision directly impacted venture growth. Path analysis results suggest that perceived RFC is found to be a partial mediator between VAs (measured by brevity, clarity, abstractness, challenge, future orientation, stability, and desirability) and organizational growth. Significant positive correlation is found among VC, VCM, and VAs. Consequently, VAs are very important in conveying both VC and VCM in working their way through perceived RFC and organizational growth. Kotter (1995) and others (e.g. Rusly et al., 2012) suggested that linking the vision and RFC could enhance employees' involvement in and contribution to performance outcomes. This finding also supports other research of this nature (e.g. Baum et al., 1998; Kantabutra, 2003) that the seven VAs directly affect overall organizational performance. However, how each VA creates an impact on organizational growth is still largely unexplored. This indicates an area for future research.\n8. Implications for practice: Results of the present study have at least three implications for leaders. First, leaders should specifically focus on crafting their visions to contain the seven VAs since visions characterized by brevity, clarity, abstractness, challenge, future orientation, stability, and desirability are a direct predictor of organizational performance. Seven VAs is a core antecedent of organizational RFC, in turn positively affecting organizational growth. The study suggests that VAs are important to both VC and VCM because the seven VAs facilitate the leader's communication of the vision to the followers.\n9. Conclusion: To conclude, this study deepened the understanding the effects of vision on organizational performance and the mediating role of RFC. The importance of successfully enacting change to improve organization performance is a critical issue facing today's organizational leaders. Leaders need to formulate an inspirational vision, and effectively communicate the vision via multiple channels to create a sense of readiness for change. By improving change readiness organizations should be able to create initiatives effectively for organizational growth and competitiveness.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use path analysis to test a model that posits that vision will have both direct relationships with organizational growth and indirect relationships to organizational growth through the mediating effects of organizational readiness for change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The population of the study consisted of 104 fully or partially employed business students from a higher education institution located in Southern California. The data were gathered by questionnaires and analyzed by path analysis to test the hypothesized model.\nFindings: The results suggested that perceived readiness for change mediates the relationship between vision attributes and organizational growth. Also, there was a direct impact of vision content (VC) on organizational growth. Perceived readiness for change did not mediate the relationship between VC and organizational growth or the relationship between vision communication and organizational growth.\nPractical implications: The study makes contributions to both theory and practice. From a theoretical point of view, examining the relationship between organizational vision and perceived organizational readiness for change enriches the understanding of the organizational change process, and in turn enhances organizational performance and growth. In addition, the authors add to existing knowledge by empirically investigating the important role that vision and employees' readiness for change play in organizational success.\nOriginality/value: Despite many scholars emphasizing the significance of a vision on organizational readiness for change and organizational growth, there is little empirical research that substantiates this assumption. Therefore, this empirical study appears to be the first to explore the idea.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cometh self-image congruence: a cross-cultural study	[ "Ethnocentrism", "Asian consumers", "Local brand preference", "Self-image congruence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumers form stereotypes about brands that are from different countries. These stereotypes flow from gestalt generalities about the brand image of a country (Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002). Case in point, one study on country of origin (COO) effect found a strong relationship between consumers' knowledge about a country and their attitudes, purchase intentions and evaluations toward local brands (Bayraktar, 2013). In another study, COO was found to be a critical determinant of consumer biasness (Veriegh and Steenkamp, 1999) when consumers evaluated the attributes, quality and performance of a product (Bruning, 1997). Because of the influence of these stereotypes, extensive research has examined the impact of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on brand evaluations and selection (Netemeyer et al., 1991). However, within this research stream (see Shankarmahesh, 2006 for a review), relatively few studies have investigated the mediating role of consumer's self-image congruence (SIC) on local brands preference (Shu et al., 2013).\n2. Literature review: Social identity theory holds that individuals develop their social identity through their interactions with family members, friends and countrymen (Tajfel, 1981). According to this theory, a person's social identity is derived from the social categories of which he/she is a member or perceived to be a member (Tajfel and Turner, 1985). Groups are therefore attractive or not to the degree that they enhance a person's social standing (Homburg et al., 2009). Once in a group, an individual benefits from the identity transference that occurs from being associated with the group (Katz and Kahn, 1966). As an insider, a member is vicariously awarded with the group's organizational identity as well as its heritage of accolades and accomplishments. Hence, the more popular a group becomes, the greater the likelihood that individuals will seek to identify with it (Kelman, 1961).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Measurement and research design\n4. Analysis and results: 4.1 Validity and reliability of the measures\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Prior research has clearly shown that ethnocentric consumers favor local brands. However, consumers also strongly favor local and global brands which reinforce their desired self-images. The purpose of this paper is to examine how self-image congruence (SIC) mediates the effect of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on local brand preference (LBP).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study empirically tested the proposed mediation model across three countries (Taiwan, South Korea and Japan) using ten brands from two very different product categories (beer and personal computers). Research subjects were randomly selected and placed into one of four groups for each of these countries. Subjects in these groups were asked to compare well-known domestic and global brands which were either culturally similar or culturally dissimilar.\nFindings: CE significantly impacted LBP among Taiwan, South Korea and Japan college-aged consumers but this impact was limited. SIC, however, had a powerful influence on LBP for these consumers. The cultural similarity and relative necessity of brand choices had almost no effect on the results.\nResearch limitations/implications: Researchers and practitioners need to more fully understand the contingencies Asian consumers use in selecting local brands. Under some scenarios, CE may not be a reliable predictor of local brands preference.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies to demonstrate the influential role of SIC among consumers from collectivistic cultures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Micro-enterprise quality	[ "Quality", "International business", "Non‐governmental organizations", "Small enterprises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Industrialized countries and international agencies have plowed significant amounts of aid into the developing world (Easterly, 2006). However, in spite of the sheer size of this aid, the results have been somewhat disappointing. Research suggests that development actually occurs at the local level when market forces are followed, capital is available, and business methods followed (Easterly, 2006). For example, micro-credit loans have had a dramatic effect in rural communities around the world by bringing financial models to the very poor to enable them to start and expand businesses (Bornstein, 2005). By providing capital and financial expertise, dramatic gains in the standard of living have been documented in such communities. One factor that could have a significant impact in the success of micro-enterprises is the extent to which they adopt quality management techniques. Quality is becoming universally important and has been described as a means to improve the competitiveness of operations in developing countries (Mersha and Merrick, 1997). However, raising quality to world-class levels is not quite that simple. Many small business owners acknowledge that their quality levels are lower than those of larger firms (Gulbro et al., 2000). Given that micro-enterprises must indirectly compete with substitute items from large-scale operations, quality issues must be addressed. Hence, in this manuscript we examine the literature relevant to quality management in micro-enterprise operations and through case study methodology develop specific propositions. These propositions generalize the applicability of quality management techniques to a new environment (micro-enterprises in developing countries) and lay a foundation for future theory development in quality management. Following the total cost of quality model, propositions derived from these case studies are then used to provide direction to micro-entrepreneurs in lowering overall costs related to quality and hence increasing their competitiveness relative to large-scale industrial operations.\nLiterature review: Our study is built on the theoretical underpinnings of the operational field and includes analysis of quality within the context of literature relevant to the non-profit sector, micro-enterprises/micro-finance, small business operations, and quality and operations in developing countries.Non-profit sector in developing countries\nMethodology: Given the exploratory nature of the issues examined in this paper, the case study methodology is particularly suited to our purposes. The existing literature is largely silent on the applicability of quality management techniques to micro-enterprises in developing countries. Existing theories are available for small business, but the environmental conditions being examined differ (Stuart et al., 2002). Therefore, in this study we use case methodology to examine the applicability of quality management methods refined in large/medium-sized firms to micro-enterprises in developing countries. Although the implications of this study are primarily inductive (discovery and description), the findings also extend existing concepts to a wider range of micro-operations. In addition, case studies bring up new questions and ideas that call for further exploration.Initially, we examined 24 operations in three different locations within India. In Kanjipuram and Varanasi the operations were primarily weaving. Whereas in Hyderabad the operations include mirrored work, incense, and safety pin heads production. This data collection was then followed by an interview/discussion on quality management with 87 micro-entrepreneurs in Chennia belonging to fishmongers' caste and roadside stall owners. In addition, we went back to Kanjipuram and interviewed/discussed with over 80 weavers on matter relevant to the quality.The interviews were conducted to highlight the organizational and environmental conditions of the micro-enterprise operations, as well as the connections between these conditions and quality. The micro-enterprise owners who were interviewed were identified on the basis of being knowledgeable about the micro-enterprises and the conditions facing the enterprises at their site. The interviews were guided by open-ended questions (e.g., \"What kind of information can help you make better quality products?\" \"Do you inspect for quality?\" \"Why do you remain in this cottage industry?\" \"Have you attempted to organize into cooperatives?\" \"What kind of government support do you receive?\", etc.). In addition, we also interviewed numerous NGO officers ranging from the president to district managers to field workers.We communicated directly with the micro-enterprise owners and workers located in Hyderabad and Varanasi. In Kanjipuram and Chennia, however, we had to rely upon translators. Given the long history of relations between the NGOs and the micro-credit enterprises they supported, there was a high degree of trust among all the parties.Multiple sources of data included viewing documentation and examining physical artifacts. We were privy to reports generated by the NGO that documented their role in helping the micro-operations. Documents studied include those generated by the NGOs such as correspondence, annual reports, fliers, technical reports (including prior studies), and computer printouts. Copies of the documents used in this study have been stored.Informal observations were made and recorded throughout the field visits, as well as at the end of each day. These observations concerned the conditions influencing the micro-enterprises, the physical settings, the production techniques and technologies, the products, and the interactions among the micro-enterprise owners. We also observed the various stages of production within the micro-enterprise units. Finally, we were able to examine the quality of raw material, works in progress and finished goods.\nCase studies: Defining quality\nDiscussion: Micro-enterprise operations are prevalent in the developing world. As yet, however, there is not much research that specifically examines quality in such enterprises. By conducting case studies coupled with a literature review we were able to derive a series of propositions connecting organizational and environmental conditions (information, uncertainty, market access, linkages, social/cultural conditions, political/legal systems, and economic resources) to quality in the context of micro-enterprise operations in developing countries. Specifically, we found (Figure 1) that quality tended to be higher when the production process was more information intensive/specific and oriented towards market needs, inter-organizational linkages were developed and a supporting political/legal and economic system was available. These propositions can be used in helping micro-entrepreneurs. However, our research failed to establish a clear connection between quality and social/cultural conditions or uncertainty. Given that training is culturally dependant, it is important to understand the linkages between literacy, religion, gender equality, caste and quality training. Some of these connections could be further examined by researchers in the future. In addition, our study was unable to establish relationship between two important constructs: uncertainty and quality. It would seem that such a connection would exist given that control charts, process capability indices, and Six Sigma programs all directly connect variability (uncertainty) to quality. Further studies examining the role of uncertainty and quality within the micro-enterprise and developing world context would certainly be useful.In our case studies it was also apparent that the concept of quality needs to be investigated further in the context of micro-enterprises in the developing world. Researchers could generalize the quality construct to micro-enterprise operations in the developing world through either inductive or deductive methodology. Our studies note that micro-enterprise owners are much more comfortable in relating to quality control measures (e.g. percent defective) rather than the more encompassing measures used in Six Sigma or TQM programs. Potentially, researchers could examine the validity of more general measures such as total cost of quality in such settings. The results of these new studies could potentially be of value in developing training programs to help micro-enterprise owners become more competitive.\nConclusion: With modern and efficient production and distribution systems being created in the developing world by large-scale manufacturers, many micro-enterprises are becoming uncompetitive. Given that most micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world support a large number of family members; such business failings could perpetuate poverty cycles and increase social tension. In this research we examine how micro-enterprise operations in such situations could remain competitive through improved quality. Our study connects quality with information, market access, linkages, political/legal systems, and economic resources. Such findings can be then incorporated into training programs. In addition, a number of potential future research areas have also been uncovered including defining quality and identifying the connections between uncertainty and social/cultural conditions with quality within the micro-enterprise and developing world context. As micro-finance has helped mitigate poverty in the third world, quality management operationalized at the micro-level within the context of the developing world could help do the same.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - In the developing world most citizens rely on self-employment and micro-enterprise operations as their only source of income. Given competition from large-scale industrial outfits, most micro-enterprises are finding it difficult to compete in terms of quality or price. This paper aims to investigate this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research employs case study methodology to examine how quality management could be employed in keeping such enterprises competitive.\nFindings: - A number of general propositions are developed and potentially fruitful research areas identified.\nOriginality/value: - The paper compares the literature with actual field observations to provide practical insights that may be of value to micro-enterprise owners, and might indirectly help raise their standard of living.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Extension of process mapping to identify "green waste"	[ "Business performance", "Continuous improvement", "Small-to-medium-sized enterprises", "Lean production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nOrganisational improvement: A significant volume of literature explores the way in which lean thinking, tools and approaches can provide benefit and competitive advantage for modern businesses (Syddell, 2005; Verstraete, 2004; Alavi, 2003; McCurry and McIvor, 2001; Mason-Jones et al., 2000). Discussions of lean implementation have not always centred around its successes and there has been much debate over the ability of western organisations to adopt Japanese management techniques (Sopow, 2007; Griffith et al., 2006; Ball, 2005; Magana-Campos and Aspinwall, 2003; Holden, 2003; Fink, 2003; Stamm, 2003; Fairris and Tohyama, 2002).\nPMapping: overview and literature: Among the variety of lean techniques that may be employed to facilitate organisational improvement, value stream mapping (VSM) and PMapping are widely regarded as being useful techniques (Parry et al., 2010; Lasa et al., 2008; Naslund, 2008; Siha and Saad, 2008; Paradiso and Cruickshank, 2007; Vollmer and Phillips, 2000; Hines and Rich, 1997). VSM and PMaps are outwardly similar techniques, for simplicity, a VSM can be considered to be an organisation-wide map constructed from multiple interconnected PMaps (BeyondLean, 2011), PMaps being \"essential to understand the value stream\" (Julien and Tjahjono, 2009, p. 324).\nThe PMapping technique: PMaps can vary widely in their format and level of detail that they attempt to capture and portray (Roseman, 2006a). Some mapping techniques describe the symbols that are used in the generation of process flowcharts (Slack et al., 2010) while other approaches provide detailed system modelling methodologies (IDEF, 2011; Jeong et al., 2008).\nExtension to PMapping: Organisations often develop and implement environmental management systems (EMSs) in order to control their efforts towards complying with relevant legislation (Figure 3). In the UK, EMSs are typically developed in line with BS8555 and many companies seek to achieve certification to ISO14001 (BusinessLink, 2011a).\nMethodology: This study adopts an interpretive approach for the investigation of the applicability of the extended PMapping technique for the identification of \"green\" wastes (Burrell and Morgan, 1994). The extended PMapping technique was piloted in twelve organisations to independently assess the logic of identifying \"green wastes\" separately from the wastes of inspection, transport, storage and delays, and to identify any practical issues in using the technique. The trials were undertaken in SMEs engaged in the design and manufacture of automotive components. The organisations ranged in size from 50 to 100 employees, PS1-5 million turnover per annum and were located in South Wales.\nDiscussion of the logic of separating \"green wastes\": Identifying green wastes using the extended PMapping technique outlined in this paper assisted all of the Engineers to identify \"green\" wastes. Figure 4 shows two instances, at activities 4 and 6, where the separation of \"green wastes\" from other wastes had identified opportunities to make considerable improvements to the organisation's environmental impact that may otherwise have been overlooked.\nDiscussion of practical issues in identifying \"green wastes\": Constructing a PMap using the traditional mapping technique requires some considerable understanding of the details of the activities that comprise the process, particularly when being undertaken in a technical or manufacturing environment. It is, for instance, necessary to be able to clearly distinguish between an operation and an inspection activity. It is also desirable to be able to accurately measure the time taken by each activity and this can be difficult when processes comprise multiple simultaneous activities with short cycle times. Since this is already a requirement of the traditional mapping technique, the inclusion of the new form of green waste would arguably only add to the time taken to construct the map.\nLevel of detail of maps: Engineers A, B, C, D, E, F, J and L alluded to the difficulty involved in mapping a process in an appropriate level of detail. They each expressed the notion that mapping processes in greater levels of detail often revealed more instances of waste: C commenting, \"the closer you look, the more you find\". Engineers E and F furthered the point, raising the issue of the increasing cost of creating process maps when a higher level of detail is employed.\nConclusions: Identifying green wastes using the extended PMapping technique outlined in this study has been shown to be valuable in assisting in the management of an organisation's environmental efforts. Integrating the identification of \"green wastes\" within the PMapping technique is found to be an effective way of focusing attention upon the environmental impact of activities within processes. Combining \"green and lean\" is also an approach that cements environmental issues into an organisation's continuous improvement efforts and can assist in it becoming part of its improvement philosophy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to process mapping (Pmapping) that incorporates the identification of environmental wastes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed extension of the PMapping technique is independently trialled by ten Industrial Engineers in manufacturing SMEs in South Wales. Interviews were conducted with each Engineer after the mapping technique was trialled, in order to understand the benefits and difficulties of using the approach.\nFindings: Integrating the identification of \"green wastes\" within the PMapping tool is found to be an effective way of focusing attention upon the environmental impact of activities within processes. Combining \"green and lean\" is also an approach that cements environmental issues into an organisation's continuous improvement efforts and can assist in it becoming part of its improvement philosophy.\nResearch limitations/implications: The tool has been trialled within a limited number of small- to medium-sized manufacturing organisations. Further examination of the tool should be conducted in organisations in different business sectors utilising a range of process technologies.\nPractical implications: The proposed tool appears effective in aiding the identification of environmental wastes in manufacturing processes. It also has value in integrating environmental improvement initiatives with other process improvement initiatives.\nOriginality/value: PMapping techniques are well known in the literature, and in practice, but none have been identified that incorporate the identification of environmental wastes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring the intellectual capital of Italian listed companies	[ "Italy", "Intellectual capital", "Intangible assets", "Listed companies", "Market to book ratio" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the decades, the world economy has moved from an industrial to a knowledge economy (Guthrie and Petty, 2000; Marr et al., 2004; Lev et al., 2005; Dzenopoljac et al., 2016), within which firms pursuing value creation and competitive advantage have focused their attention on developing their intangible and knowledge assets as critical factors to success (Li et al., 2008; Sonnier et al., 2009; Yi and Davey, 2010). Intellectual capital (IC) is commonly referred to as intangible assets (IA), and takes the form of knowledge, brands, patents and trademarks, customer relationships, human capital, and research and development (Lev et al., 2005; Sonnier et al., 2009; Dzenopoljac et al., 2016). In this new economy, IC is considered as the preeminent resource for generating economic wealth and growth (Guthrie and Petty, 2000; Bontis, 2003; Siboni et al., 2013) as well as a strong driver of firm performance and market value (Bozzolan et al., 2003; Sonnier et al., 2009). Moreover, investment in IC is increasingly important to firms seeking to achieve productivity and efficiency gains, and it thereby constitutes a crucial constituent of innovation in relation to business processes and products (Bhasin, 2012). The recent literature explores various definitions of IC and develops several frameworks and measurement instruments for IC components, spurred on by a growing awareness of the benefits that IC reporting and measurement may have for a company in terms of: support for the determination of strategies; improvement in the evaluation of implemented strategies; support in the assessment of mergers and acquisitions; and improvement in the communication with external stakeholders (Bontis, 2003; Marr et al., 2003; Bhasin, 2012).\n2. IC measurement in the existing literature: The accounting and business management research literature reports a variety of approaches to the measurement of IC (Morariu, 2014; Goebel, 2015; Dzenopoljac et al., 2016). The first group is based on a scorecard approach which aims to describe, but not always measure the value of, IC with respect to a range of both non-financial indicators and selected financial ratios in order to gauge specific IA, and reports by means of integrated scorecards or graphs. However, the approach, exemplified by models such as the Skandia Navigator (Edvinsson and Malone, 1997) and the IA Monitor (Sveiby, 1997b), does not measure the financial value of IC, at least at the firm level.\n3. Hypothesis development: A set of coherent hypotheses related to the potential determinants of IC value is tested according to the existing theoretical and empirical IC literature. Moreover, consistent with Dumay (2014), additional hypotheses are constructed on the basis of management, corporate governance and organizational studies which extend beyond the field of IC, thereby adopting a transdisciplinary approach.\n4. Research methodology and sample selection: The study sample includes all Italian companies listed on the Electronic Market of the Milan Stock Exchange. Our study period commences in 2009 in order to avoid the direct effect of the global financial crisis on firm market values, and extends to the year 2013. Accounting, financial market and corporate governance data are collected from the AIDA and ORCID databases. The sample of firms initially included 232 companies, representing all those Italian firms listed in 2009. From this sample, firms that were delisted due to mergers, acquisitions, or bankruptcy, and firms with missing data were removed, arriving at a final balanced panel of 140 Italian listed firms, giving a total of 700 firm-year observations, as shown in Table I.\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Robustness tests: To ensure the robustness of the findings in the main model, the investigation was repeated using a different dependent variable and a different ratio to measure firm profitability. The findings obtained, as shown in Table IX, are qualitatively similar to those shown for Model 1 in Table VIII. Only the differences in relation to the main model (Model 1) are highlighted here. Model 2 is similar to Model 1, though the ROA ratio (as provided by the AIDA Database) takes the place of ROE as the profitability independent variable. Model 2 has an adjusted R2 of 10.61 percent which is lower than the 13.94 percent observed for Model 1. The coefficient signs of the independent variables are similar to those in Model 1, except for the profitability measure ROA itself, which is positive though insignificant, and FAM which is positive and significant at the 10 percent level. These findings would appear to suggest that ROA is not a good predictor of firm MTB value.\n7. Conclusion: This paper contributes to the IC literature as it is the first study which applies the market capitalization approach to analyze IC value, measured in terms of the MTB ratio, and its potential determinants within the Italian listed firm context, as governed by IFRS. The empirical results of this study show that the value of TINT disclosed in the financial statements, firm profitability, firm leverage, industry membership, Big 4 auditor engagement, and family ownership positively affect IC value, while firm size and age negatively affect IC value. The results are further confirmed by the robustness tests conducted whereby MTB lagged one-year is used as the dependent variable. The findings provide evidence that ROA is not a good predictor of the MTB ratio, probably as investors are more interested in overall firm performance (as captured by the ROE ratio). Moreover, the results show that ownership concentration is an insignificant driver of IC value.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC), measured in terms of the market to book (MTB) ratio, and potential key determinants of IC value such as intangible assets (IA) and a range of other factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is conducted for a sample of 140 Italian corporations over the period 2009-2013. Applying a holistic market-based approach, the relationship between IC value and selected determinants from the extant literature is tested. Five hypotheses are tested using a pooled OLS regression model, while controlling for time. ROE is employed as a useful firm profitability indicator from the perspective of an equity investor. Moreover, four robustness tests are undertaken.\nFindings: The results show that IA, profitability, leverage, industry type, auditor type, and family ownership positively affect IC value, whereas SIZE and AGE negatively affect IC value. Moreover, the findings of the robustness tests suggest that all firms, and not just knowledge-intensive business service industry firms, manage knowledge.\nResearch limitations/implications: The validity of the findings is limited to the Italian context, as the study focuses on a sample of companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, all of which prepare their individual financial statements according to IFRS. Further limitations are related to the use of market value in the short term, as it is influenced by market volatility. The study may allow academic researchers to investigate the impact of other non-accounting sources of information on market value within a multidisciplinary perspective.\nPractical implications: This paper also has implications for managers and practitioners. The findings suggest that managers should not take for granted that firm growth (an increase in SIZE) alone will lead to an increase in IC value, in the absence of a consistent IC-oriented investment strategy. Managers should also avoid smoothing their IC investment as the company grows, in order to maintain a stable MTB ratio. Further, standard setters should seek to explore better means of disclosing non-accounting information relating to IC value.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the IC literature as it is the first study which applies the market capitalization approach to analyze IC value determinants in the Italian context, within the framework of IFRS. The findings reveal some interesting relationships between the MTB ratio and recognized intangible investments, which are found to be insignificant in previous studies, confirming that, through the holistic effect, the MTB ratio may be a good proxy for IC.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing customer misbehavior: challenges and strategies	[ "Customer misbehaviour", "Customer deviance", "Customer dysfunctional behaviour", "Services marketing", "Retail employees", "Customers", "Consumer behaviour", "Retailing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: Management-based insights into the dark side of organizational dynamics overwhelmingly focus on the employee as \"deviant\" and responsible for perpetrating a range of misbehaviors aimed at disrupting exchange and organizational activities (Robinson and O\n2. Customer misbehavior: A review of existing literature reveals no single generally accepted label, definition, or classification of customer misbehavior. For reasons of clarity, the current paper adopts the term customer \"misbehavior\" to denote customer behavior within the exchange setting that deliberately violates the generally accepted norms of conduct in such situations (Fullerton and Punj, 1993). Additional labels used interchangeably within the literature include \"deviant\" (Mills, 1981), \"aberrant\" (Fullerton and Punj, 1993), \"dysfunctional\" (Harris and Reynolds, 2003) and \"jay\" (Lovelock, 2001) customer behavior. The primary focus of past research centers on examining the dynamics of individual types of customer misbehavior. For example, Wirtz and McColl-Kennedy (2010) investigate one form of customer misbehavior which they label fraudulent claiming behavior. Here, consumers opportunistically inflate their insurance claims for financial gain. Examining a different individual type of consumer fraud activity, Rosenbaum et al. (2010) investigate what the authors term \"unethical retail disposition,\" wherein consumers intentionally purchase and use an item, later returning it to the store in a fraudulent capacity. Focusing on abusive customer behaviors, Patterson et al. (2010) identify situations in which consumers verbally and/or physically attack employees or organizational property, while Yagil (2008) adopts a different approach and notes the frequency and different varieties of aggressive and sexually abusive customer behaviors against frontline organizational personnel. Additional identified individual forms of consumer misbehavior include; grudge holding (Aron et al. 2007), purchasing counterfeit goods (Bian and Moutinho, 2009), vandalism (Fisher and Baron, 1982), resistance (Cherrier, 2009), shoplifting (Tonglet, 2002), and internet deviance (Tuzovic, 2010).\n3. Effects of customer misbehavior: Aligned with literature that attempts to categorize the various forms of customer misbehavior are studies that examine the effects of such misdeeds. The authors note that research in this area almost exclusively investigates the consequences of aggressive and sexually abusive customer behaviors on frontline employees. For example, Hughes and Tadic (1998) reveal that sexually deviant behaviors by patrons result in negative outcomes for frontline workers including increased intention to quit, loss of interest in their work, withdrawal from customer interactions, and reduced job performance. Offering a broader view via amalgamating previous research on this area within service contexts, Yagil (2008) classifies the outcomes of sexual harassment on frontline employees into three groups. First, \"emotional reactions\" include negative effects on employees\n4. Research methods: Given the relatively poorly understood nature of the effects and management implications of customer misbehavior and the paucity of studies into this phenomenon (see Reynolds and Harris, 2009), an exploratory research design was deemed appropriate to elucidate the core issues and to develop insights into the dynamics of these concepts. Accordingly, we undertook an in-depth, one-to-one, interview-based study which allowed informants to describe context-specific events in their own language and jargon while allowing the researchers to explore interesting events and to probe informants for interpretations and reflections.\n5. Findings: Interviews with frontline, customer-contact employees and managers suggested that their attitudes and behaviors were heavily affected by customer misbehavior. All of the customer-contact staff involved in the study stated that misbehavior by customers was a routine, unremitting, everyday experience. Indeed, consistent with the contentions of Fullerton and Punj (2004), seven frontline employees argued that customer misbehavior was so usual that non-deviant customer behaviors were atypical and rare. Although the managers interviewed commonly experienced less customer-contact, they also universally argued that customer misbehavior affected both them personally and their work. In this regard, this study confirms earlier studies that claim that customer misbehavior is pervasive and profoundly impactful (Fullerton and Punj, 1993; Reynolds and Harris, 2006; Fisk et al., 2010).\n6. Conclusions and implications: The first contribution of the study centers on the data-grounded insights gained into the pervasiveness of the impact of customer misbehavior. Although previous studies have documented a range of (often extreme) acts of customer misbehavior and their impact on frontline employees, the effects and challenges for managerial staff have been largely neglected. In this sense, customer misbehavior has often been disregarded as the abnormal, aberrant acts of atypical consumers that merely affect the small number of unlucky or unfortunate frontline employees. In contrast, our study finds that customer misbehavior has a profound and pervasive impact on both frontline employees and managers. Indeed, some of those interviewed argued that non-deviant customers were atypical rather than the norm while all of the managers included in the study felt that customer misbehavior affected both them personally and their work. Thus, these findings strongly endorse the view that disregarding customer misbehavior as simply an occasional tactical issue for certain employees is both unwise and naive. Conversely, poorly behaving customers are sufficiently endemic that the consequences of their behavior are both direct and indirect and therefore must be considered as a management issue that requires strategic and tactical attention.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In this study the authors aim to explore the impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees and managers and to elucidate the management tactics and strategies that managers employ in an attempt to minimize the impact of customer misbehavior on the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following a discussion of the research design and methodology employed, the findings of 88 in-depth interviews are presented.\nFindings: These data suggest that customer misbehavior impacts on frontline employees, managers, and managerial strategies. Three main effects of customer misbehavior on customer-contact employees are uncovered: physiological, cognitive, and attitudinal. These are connected with four main management challenges: conflicting pressures, recruitment and retention, counseling and motivation, and time expenditure. Finally, data analysis finds evidence of six main ways in which managers attempted to reduce or to alleviate harmful customer misbehavior: selective recruitment, changes to training and induction procedures, enhanced rewards, work-team design, increase counseling, and alterations to the servicescape.\nPractical implications: The authors recommend that practitioners undertake a misbehavior audit that explores not only the extent of customer misbehavior but also the mechanisms, systems, and procedures the organization has for identifying, recording, and attempting to minimize the effects of dysfunctional customer behavior.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes insights into how customer-contact personnel and managers are both affected and cope with customer misbehavior. These insights are helpful for service managers faced with customer misbehavior and academicians interested in how employees respond to contemporary customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An economical comparison of proposed X- chart with MEWMA chart	[ "Economics", "Sampling methods", "Charts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Considerable attention has been given to the design of control charts on economic ground in the recent years. For a control chart to be used, the parameters which must be specified are sample size, sampling interval, and control limits. The costs of operating a process control system are an important element in the economic design of control charts.In the economic design of control charts, three areas of cost are usually considered, i.e. sampling, inspection, and testing; investigation of an action signal, including the correction of any assignable cause found; and production of non-conforming items.\n2. Literature review: Duncan (1971) presented economic design of X- charts for a multiplicity of assignable causes. He developed an economic model for the X- chart subjected to a multiplicity of special causes.Ho and Case (1994) provided a complete detailed review of work done on the economic design of control charts for the period 1981-1991. Later, Keats et al. (1997) also presented a detailed discussion on the various aspects of economic design of control charts. Park and Reynolds (1999) developed an economic model for a variable sampling rate (VSR) Shewhart X- chart, in which the sample size and sampling interval to be used for next sample can vary depending on the value of the current sample mean. This economic model expresses the long run cost per hour of operating the VSR chart as a function of the design parameters of the chart. The process parameters, which describe the behaviour of the process, and the cost parameters are associated with the operation of the chart. This model can be used to quantify the reduction in cost that can be achieved by using the VSR chart instead of a traditional chart, which uses a fixed sampling rate. They claimed that the cost reduction can range from the modest to substantial, depending upon the values of the process and cost parameters. It was also shown that the same threshold limit can be used for both the sample size and sampling interval with little increase in cost, and in most cases it is best to design the VSR chart with a very low false alarm rate.Chou et al. (2002) developed the minimum loss design of X- chart for the non-normally correlated data, where Alexander et al.'s (1995) loss model was used as objective function. A sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the effects of non-normality and correlation coefficient on the optimal design of X- control chart. They optimised the process parameters (sample size, sampling interval, and control limits) for Alexander's loss model that is combination of Duncan's (1956) cost model and Taguchi (1986) loss function.Kobayashi et al. (2003) considered the economical operation of the (X-, S) control chart in conformity with the expected total operation cost function based on the sampling cost and the loss due to the deterioration in the process quality. First, they considered the economical operation of the (X-, S) control chart in the situation that the loss to be considered is known. Further the economical operation of the (X-, S) control chart was also discussed under any loss instead of a known loss.Hawkins and Zamba (2004) concluded that the Shewhart X- chart is effective in detecting large shifts in a process but unable to find moderate shifts. They showed that this blind spot allows shifts smaller than one standard deviation to continue undetected for long periods, thereby incurring much larger total costs than do rapidly detected large shifts.Su-Fen and Chung-Ming (2004) proposed an economic adjustment model of a process whose quality can be affected by multiple special causes, resulting in changes of the process mean by incorrect adjustment of the process when it is operating according to its capability. They developed statistically constrained adjustment model for the economic statistical design of X- control chart to control the process mean. They used Markov chain approach to derive the model. It is demonstrated that the expressions for the expected cycle time and the expected cycle cost with multiple special causes are easier to obtain by the proposed approach than by extending or adopting that in Collani et al. (1994).Yu and Chen (2005) provided an economic model to determine the optimal parameters of moving average (MA) control chart. With the numerical example, they showed that the loss cost of the economic design of moving average control chart is lower than a conventional chart. The sensitivity analysis shows that magnitude of shift, the rate of occurrence of assignable causes and increasing cost when the process is out of control; have a more significant effect on the loss cost.Gershon and Christobek (2006) compared the cost of quality between C=0 acceptance plans and the traditional MIL-STD-105E plans, leading to a cost comparison of the two approaches. They claimed that previous research has looked at the effect on producer costs, but their paper identifies the costs to both the producer's and the consumer's, costs. They have six factors that affect total costs, and the results of each on total cost have been shown. They have also recommended circumstances when one plan might be better than the other plan. Lillrank and Kujala (2006) examined on the applicability of SPC in non-repetitive processes and open systems, non-routine processes and project-based business activities. They also proposed guidelines for adjusting the logic of common and specific causes for project-based businesses.Nenes and Tagaras (2006) proposed a model for the design of a CUSUM chart for monitoring the process mean in short production runs. The model allows the determination of the scheme parameters that minimise the relevant expected cost of the procedure as well as the calculation of several measures of statistical performance. To evaluate the economic effectiveness of the proposed scheme, they compared its optimal expected cost against the expected cost corresponding to implementation of a CUSUM chart, optimised for continuous operation (infinite horizon). The numerical results indicate that the potential savings from using the CUSUM scheme designed specifically for short runs are substantial in cases of unreliable processes with high costs of sampling, searching, and removing assignable causes.Chen and Chen (2007) proposed a new performance measure for EWMA and CUSUM control chart design to take into consideration the variable shift sizes and corresponding quality impacts. Unlike economic designs of control charts that suffer from a complex cost structure and intensive numerical computation, the proposed design methodology does not involve any cost estimation and the design procedure is as simple as looking up tables. They showed that the proposed design has a significant reduction in the quality impact as compared to conventional ARL-based designs. Guidelines and useful worksheets for practical implementation of the proposed designs are also suggested to practitioners with different knowledge levels of the process excursions.\n3. Lorenzen and Vance (1986) cost model: Most economic design of control chart models assume that the process begins in a state of statistical control. The occurrence of an assignable cause results in a shift in a process mean or dispersion. The time between occurrences of an assignable cause is assumed to follow an exponential distribution with a mean of l occurrences per hour (so 1/l is the mean time in the in-control state). If a point falls outside of control limits, the process is assumed to be out of control and search for assignable cause is initiated. If production continuous during search of assignable causes, the expected time until an occurrence of an assignable cause is 1/l. However if production ceases during false alarm searches then we must include time spent during search process.Once the process is out of control and a signal is triggered, human investigation is required. The process can be assumed to return either to its original operating conditions with all variables at target, or to some new (possibly improved) state. Most, if not all, economic designs of control charts assume a renewal reward process; in essence, the corrective actions are assumed to return the process to the initial state of statistical control. Each of these cycles from statistical control through the occurrence, detection and elimination of an assignable cause thus have identical expected costs and times. The renewal reward assumption allows us to calculate expected hourly production cost. The unified cost model developed by Lorenzen and Vance (1986) is used to formulate the economic and economic statistical designs. They defined the expected hourly production cost as the ratio of the expected cycle cost to the expected cycle time. Under the renewal reward assumption, the expected cost per hour is: Equation 1 where the design parameters are:* n=sample size.* h=interval between samples (sampling interval).* l = exponential parameter (1/l is the mean time to the occurrence of an assignable cause).* C0 = the cost of producing non-conformities/hour while the process is in-control.* C1 = the cost of producing non-conformities/hour while the process is out of control ( > C0).* ARL0 = average run length when the process is in-control state.* ARL1 = average run length when the process is out of control state.* h-t = the expected time between a shift in the process(assignable cause) and the next sample, where t=1-(1+lh)e-lh/l(1-e-lh).* E=expected time to sample and chart one item.* g1=1 if production continuous during searches and 0 otherwise.* g2=1 if production continuous during repair of the process and 0 otherwise.* T0 = expected time to search a false alarm.* T1 = expected time to discover the assignable cause.* T2 = expected time to repair the assignable cause.* s=S=e-lh/(1-e-lh) = expected number of samples when process is under control.* Y=cost to investigate false alarm.* W=cost of locating and repairing an assignable cause.* a=1/ARL0 = probability of exceeding control limits when process is in-control state.* p=1/ARL1 = probability of exceeding control limits when process is out of control state.* d = shift in the process average.\n4. Optimal sampling interval (h) for proposed X- chart: Theory and design of proposed X- chart is discussed in Prajapati and Mahapatra (2008). In the proposed X- chart, out of control ARLs are computed for various shifts in the process mean at specified in-control ARL.The unified cost model developed by Lorenzen and Vance (1986) is used to find the optimal sampling interval for a various sample sizes and process shifts. The expected cost per hour is computed by using equation (1). Optimal sampling intervals have been determined for two sets of parameters as suggested by Montgomery (2008) using Lorenzen and Vance (1986) cost model. Sampling intervals depends upon the sample size (n); shift in process average (d) and in-control average run length (ARL0) along with other chart parameters. Sampling intervals are computed for various sample sizes for shift in process average of 1, 2 and 3 at the in-control ARL of 500. Following sets of parameters are used to determine the optimal sampling interval (h). Two sets of parameters are taken from Montgomery (2008):1. l=0.01, C0=10.0, C1=100.0, a=0.5, b=0.1, Y=50.0, W=25.0, g1=1, g2=1, T0=0, T1=2, T2=2, E=0.05.2. l=0.05, C0=10.0, C1=100.0, a=5.0, b=1.0, Y=50.0, W=25.0, g1=1, g2=1, T0=0, T1=2, T2=2, E=0.5.The strategy to compute the optimal sampling interval (h) and expected cost/hour for proposed X- chart is discussed as follows.4.1 Strategy to determine the sampling interval (h) for new X- chart\n5. Economic design of MEWMA chart proposed by Linderman and Love (2000): Linderman and Love (2000) proposed the economic and economic-statistical design of multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart using optimal choice of design parameters (control limits, sample size, exponential weights for past observations and sampling interval). They have also used Lorenzen and Vance (1986) cost model to develop economic designs for MEWMA chart and added statistical constraint to obtain economic-statistical designs. The choice of parameters is dependent on the average run length when the process is in-control and out of control.5.1 Comparison of economic design of new X- chart with economic design of MEWMA chart\n6. Conclusions: The economic design of proposed X- chart, using Lorenzen and Vance (1986) cost model is discussed in this paper. It is observed that sampling interval (h) and expected cost/hour (C) depend upon various parameters of chart, used in equation (1). Although, optimal sampling intervals are calculated only for two sets of parameters for shifts in the process average of 1, 2 and 3, it can be computed for any set of parameters using equation (1). When there is any change in the parameters of the chart, both sampling interval and expected cost will be different. So it is suggested to use Lorenzen and Vance (1986) cost model (equation 1) to compute sampling interval and expected cost/hour for proposed X- chart.The economic design of proposed X- chart has been compared with the economic and economic-statistical design of multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart proposed by Linderman and Love (2000). It is found that the proposed X- chart performs better than MEWMA chart proposed by Linderman and Love (2000) for sample sizes of 7, 9 and 10 for first set of parameters. The proposed X- chart also shows lower expected cost/hour than MEWMA chart for sample size of 2 and 3 and for shifts in the process average of 2 and 3 for second set of parameters.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to make economic comparison of the proposed X- chart with the economic and economic-statistical design of a multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart proposed by Linderman and Love, using Lorenzen-Vance cost model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The economic design of proposed X- chart, using Lorenzen-Vance cost model, is discussed in the paper. It is observed that sampling interval (h) and expected cost/hour (C) depend on various parameters of the chart, used in this model. When there is any change in any parameter of the chart, obviously both sampling interval and expected cost will be different. So it is suggested that one should use Lorenzen and Vance cost model (equation 1) to compute sampling interval and expected cost/hour for the proposed X- chart.\nFindings: - The economic design of the proposed X- chart has been compared with the economic and economic-statistical design of the multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart proposed by Linderman and Love. It is found that the proposed X- chart performs better than MEWMA chart proposed by Linderman and Love for sample sizes of 7, 9 and 10 for first set of parameters. The proposed X- chart also shows lower expected cost/hour than the MEWMA chart for sample size of 2 and 3 and for shifts of 2 and 3 for the second set of parameters.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A lot of effort has been made to develop the proposed X- chart for monitoring the process mean. Although optimal sampling intervals are calculated only for two sets of parameters for shifts in the process average of 1, 2 and 3, it can be computed for any set of parameters using the Lorenzen-Vance cost model.\nOriginality/value: - The research findings could be applied to various manufacturing and service industries, as it is more effective than the Shewhart and EWMA charts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Role of navigational ability in website visit duration	[ "Information searches", "Ecommerce", "Website attributes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Information search is a fertile area of research in consumer behavior studies with a long tradition (Stigler, 1961). This is primarily because of the search's central role in the consumer purchase process. Before making any significant purchase, consumers seek out information about product choices, prices, competitive offerings, etc. Traditionally, this information was obtained exclusively by visiting retail stores, visually inspecting products, and interacting with sales agents (Nelson, 1970). The internet has made the search process significantly easier and cheaper to pursue (Baye and Morgan, 2009; Ghose and Yang, 2009), and thereby greatly expanded the extent of information search conducted by consumers in different purchase scenarios. The newly acquired information has the power to persuade a prospective customer, and therein lies search's fundamental importance to a marketer.\n2. Literature review: In this section, we first review the literature on visit duration from the online domain. We then identify the known determinants of navigational ability and online information search, following up with a discussion of the factors that influence online purchase probability.\n3. Data description: Obtaining data about a user's visit duration is quite straightforward, as this information is embedded in the clickstream data and can be easily extracted. Our interest is more in studying individual differences in navigating a website and, therefore, we wish to determine the navigational ability at the individual user level. Researchers have found the strength of navigation of a website by the time taken by users to find information (McGovern et al., 2002), and the time consumed per task and number of errors (Ahmad et al., 2006). We use this general idea to measure the navigational ability of a visitor by the time spent on all the pages that he/she visits in error. The more irrelevant pages that a user visits, the lower is her navigational ability.\n4. Research models: We now describe our research models. We use two different models to abstract the influence of navigational ability on actual search duration and purchase likelihood.\n5. Empirical analysis: The demographic profile of the subject pool in Table II reveals that the sample is two-thirds male. Slightly more than half are between 25 and 34 years of age, and about one-fifth are in the 18-24 years of age range. About 60 per cent of the sample are unmarried. The sample also features a relatively high number of educated people, with about two-thirds of the participants having a university degree. The income distribution is fairly dispersed, with representation from almost all income groups.\n6. Conclusion and managerial implications: This study examines the role of navigational ability in online information search and purchase. While seeking information at a website, consumers spend time visiting a number of irrelevant pages (because of poor navigational ability) that provide no useful information. We demonstrate a technique to collect data that can split the total search duration data into time spent on actual search, and time spent on irrelevant pages with no useful information. We measure the impact of navigational ability on actual search duration and purchase likelihood. The empirical results show the importance of navigational ability in online information search and purchase; consumers who are not very successful in navigating websites search for longer durations on the Web and are less likely to purchase. A very novel finding is that two consumers with the same visit duration may not obtain the same level of information because of differences in their navigational ability. A strong recommendation that follows from this study is that marketers should invest in improving the usability of their websites.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Online search effort is routinely measured by the duration of visit at the website as obtained from clicksream data or surveys. Measuring search effort by the time spent at a website assumes that all consumers who search for the same duration obtain the same amount of information. This would be acceptable if all consumers possessed the same navigational ability. In practice, different consumers have different levels of ability to navigate a website. The purpose of this study is to find whether an individual's navigational ability has an influence on visit duration and purchase likelihood.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use visit duration data from a real website which makes it possible to partition the visit duration into the times spent on relevant and irrelevant pages. The data were collected through an experimental study. The authors develop an empirical model, comprising hazard and choice models, to assess the relationship between navigational ability and elements of website usage.\nFindings: A consumer with poor navigational ability spends more time searching on the Web and has lower purchase probability compared to a consumer with superior ability.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to one data.\nPractical implications: This research has managerial implications for website design, such as link-structure, appearance, size and the number of graphics.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to research navigational ability's influence on online consumer behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Internal vs external promotion: advancement of teachers to administrators	[ "Employability", "Assistant principal selection", "External promotion", "Hiring process", "Internal promotion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the USA, state-level educational leadership policy can significantly impact aspiring school administrators. Establishing requirements for school administrative certification and licensure is almost exclusively controlled by state departments of education (Hale and Moorman, 2003; Manasse, 1985). The specific requirements vary by state; however, school administrative licensure can be dependent on the following requirements: successful completion of state certification test, a graduate-level degree in educational leadership/administration from an accredited university, and evidence of professional learning (Johnson, 2016). State boards of education have the prerogative to modify existing policies, which may then impact active and aspiring administrators in their state. Many policies in the USA and internationally are designed to increase accountability and are the result of societal pressure to improve student achievement (Adan, 2016; DuFour and Mattos, 2013; Reback et al., 2014). In essence, state boards of education serve as gatekeepers of entry into public school administrative applicant pools in the USA.\nGeorgia educational leadership: To understand the significance and potential impact of this study, a brief summary of Georgia's public education system and contextual information is provided. The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) creates and amends educational policies that govern Georgia's public education system. The GaDOE state board consists of 14 congressional district members, a state superintendent, and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC). Over the past two decades, the GaDOE and the GaPSC have made several policy modifications affecting certification, salary, experience criteria, and degrees of public school administrators.\nLiterature review: This review of literature is structured to inform the reader of the hiring practices that take place in education. In addition, recruitment theory, a culmination of theories found in human resources literature in the area of recruitment and selection is utilized to address the impact of internal and external promotion on the sustainability and success of organizations. Ultimately, these theories can assist in identifying the potential cause of internal and external promotion as well as the potential impact these promotion practices have on schools nationally and/or internationally.\nSample and methods: Active public school principals were the unit of analysis for this study. Data were collected during the 2016-2017 academic school year from a sample of public school principals employed in the state of Georgia. This population consisted of traditional public school principals, charter school principals, and specialty/state school principals (i.e. schools for students with disability and alternative schools) (n=1,871). Georgia's public school principals were selected to be surveyed from the provided principal population. Considering this study utilized only survey data and no prior principal promotion information was available, a simple random sampling technique was used to select principals as opposed to a stratified random sample with the three promotion types as strata. If principal promotion information was available, a stratified random sample would be the preferred sampling method. Principal contact information was provided by the GaDOE.\nAnalysis: To provide empirical evidence addressing our research questions, we employed a hierarchical multiple regression procedure using sample data to draw inference on the population of Georgia public school principals. Within this regression analysis, the dependent variable was participant employability ratings which reflected the percentage of employment success based on the number of assistant principal positions the participant applied for and the number of assistant principal job offers received (e.g. participants who applied for three positions and received three job offers had an employability rating of 100 percent).\nDiscussion and conclusion: The results from this study offered several implications for domestic and international school administrators, researchers, and legislators. Aspiring administrators are afforded an empirical lens to assess the viability of their employability among schools and school districts. Researchers are provided a foundational platform to further develop and conduct research on the administrative hiring infrastructure in the USA and other countries. Local state legislatures and organizations that have similar policies will have access to data that reveal some of the consequences and impact of policy on their constituency and school-based administrators. Findings in this study related to internal applicants, policy, and combination schools are informative to all stakeholders and contribute to the literature on administrative employability.\nRecommendations: Based on the findings in this study, we offer several recommendations for researchers, legislators, aspiring and existing school leadership applicants, and school-based hiring authorities. These suggestions are pragmatic, yet empirical. Readers should consider local variables and unique educational settings prior to implementation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine selection practices of school districts by capturing the promotion of teachers to assistant principal positions to determine if: there is a relationship between employability and assistant principal promotion (within-school, within-district, and external); and if the state-specific educational leadership policy directly impacts the employability of assistant principal candidates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Principals in the state of Georgia were the unit of analysis, and data collected included personal characteristics of each participant when entering their first assistant principal position, school characteristics of the place of promotion, and type of promotion (internally within-school, internally within-district, and externally). Both descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were utilized to examine the impact of type of promotion as well as the state-specific educational leadership policy on participant employability at the time of promotion.\nFindings: This study found a significant positive relationship between internal promotion (within-school) and employability as well as a negative association between participant employability and Georgia state-specific policy. Additional findings indicate a positive relationship between combination schools (i.e. grades K-8; 6-12) and participant employability.\nOriginality/value: This study advances the HRM literature concerning employee selection by expanding the scope of hiring practices outside of the private sector and provides focus on the public sector, specifically, the public school environment. In addition, the focal position (public school administrators in the state of Georgia) has yet to be utilized in employee selection research in the areas of internal and external promotion. Previous researchers have studied the probability of internal and external promotion based on demographic factors such as race and gender, however, this specific study uses distinctive predictor variables backed by literature to evaluate applicant employability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Another look at motivating - and retaining - salespeople	[ "Organizational commitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nobody wants their salesforce to spend their lunch hour looking at job listings. According to a DePaul University study (Rocco, 2017), the average turnover cost per sales rep is $97,690, a figure reached by adding up recruiting, training costs and lost sales. Explaining the role of lost sales, the average time to replace a sales hire ranges between 3.69 months, the average for inside sales reps, and 5.42 months, the average for field sales (Nutshell.com, 2018).\nLearning how salespeople rate aspects of their job: We developed a questionnaire with the help of an expert panel of five academic sales experts and five expert sales professionals. They selected from the list of job aspects those they saw as most relevant to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Data from the salespeople were gathered by sending 202 university students in undergraduate sales classes into the field, similar to the procedure used by others, including Johnston and Kim (1994).\nResults: Table II summarizes the most significant results of both analyses. First, it categorizes aspects of the sales job as satisfiers or hygiene factors, including one dissatisfier. Then it shows which aspects of the job correlated most strongly with organizational commitment (positively) and with intention to leave the job (negative correlations).\nConclusions and implications: What can be learned that has strategic implications? Taking into account that this research is limited to a non-random set of salespeople, it does identify three categories of job characteristics as satisfiers, dissatisfiers and those prompting indifference. These results suggest that dissatisfaction with some aspects of a job will not be \"balanced out\" by satisfiers to create overall satisfaction. Management decisions leading to selling experiences that create achievement will be winners for salesforce motivation; those that require unrewarded effort will be losers; and smoothing relationships internally or with customers will not compensate for dissatisfiers once these hygiene factors reach the level of adequacy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate to what extent salespeople are satisfied, dissatisfied or neither with various aspects of their job in ways predicted by the \"two-factor model\" assocating satisfaction with recognition and personal growth but not \"hygiene factors.\" It further investigates which aspects of the salesperson's job are most strongly associated with commitment to the organization - or intention to leave.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Interviewers gathered data from 176 salespeople in 154 companies. Those data were analyzed to identify aspects of the salesperson's job that are satisfiers, dissatisfiers or prompt indifference. The data were then correlated with the extent to which salespeople expressed commitment to their organization - and the extent to which they expressed likelihood of leaving their current job.\nFindings: Aspects of the salesperson's job do cluster into categories associated with the two-factor theory: satisfiers, dissatisfiers and other \"hygiene factors\" that are neither. However, two deviations from the theory appear. Pay is a satisfier, contrary to the assumptions behind the model, and factors beyond those intrinsic to the salesperson are also satisfiers. Supporting relevance of the theory for salespeople, however, is the strong association of recognition/personal growth aspects of the job positively with organizational commitment and negatively with intention to leave.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the data come from a convenience sample of salespeople, the results can be useful. For example, consideration of new products and of mergers should take into account their impact on salesperson satisfaction and dissatisfaction as motivational issues.\nOriginality/value: This study is broader in focus than previous work relating the two-factor theory to salespeople, providing more confidence in the generalizability of the results.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Promoting gender diversity in STEM faculty through leadership development: From local and national leadership workshops to the online LEAD-it-Yourself! toolkit	[ "Women", "Diversity", "Leadership development", "STEM faculty", "Department chairs", "Faculty professional development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education depends on changing institutional culture. Culture change requires significant change in attitudes, practices and policies throughout the university community. When programmatic interventions succeed in transforming local context, it may be desirable to extend those practices to create change throughout the higher education landscape. In this paper, we detail how a successful workshop model for leadership development has been propagated and expanded into an online toolkit with a goal of maximizing impact and increasing gender diversity.\nPreparing department leaders to be change agents: Organizations, including higher education, are not gender neutral (Acker, 1990). As Ely and Meyerson (2000b) noted, gender is \"a complex social process enacted across a range of organizational phenomena, from formal policies and practices to informal patterns of everyday interaction, which appear to be gender neutral on their face, yet reflect and maintain a gendered order in which men and various forms of masculinity predominate\" (p. 590). This masculine domination is particularly acute in STEM fields (Cheryan et al., 2017; Cheryan and Markus, 2018; Johnson et al., 2018). Thus, change efforts to advance women faculty in STEM require not only recognizing the gendered nature of academic institutions and STEM faculty interpersonal relations, but also keeping the processes by which occupations and organizations are made masculine and, thereby, exclusionary toward women, in the forefront of interventions (Ely and Meyerson, 2000a, b; Britton, 2000; Strum, 2007). Central to UW ADVANCE program's strategy for advancing organizational change in this arena is the development of individuals' change agency and knowledge of gendered beliefs and norms, because doing so can become \"a fulcrum to tip organizations toward transformative change in gender relations\" (de Vries and van den Brink, 2016, p. 434). Department chairs and other \"organizational catalysts\" are ideal groups which do to this work (Strum, 2007, p. 264) because they mediate the relationships between individual organization members and also members' relationships to their shared occupation and academic institution as well (Britton, 2000; Ridgeway, 1997).\nUW leadership workshops: To help advance female faculty in STEM departments and foster institutional transformation, UW ADVANCE's flagship program engages department chairs as cultural change agents and enriches their understanding of faculty equity, diversity and inclusion challenges and opportunities, particularly for female faculty. The goal is not only for chairs to understand the complexity of barriers to women's success and advancement in STEM workplaces, but also to learn the knowledge and skills necessary to remove these barriers. This effort is in the spirit of bifocal intervention approaches that \"focus on both individual development and organizational change\" and \"acknowledges the critical role of developing individuals' gender insight and change agency in order to bring about organizational change\" (de Vries and van den Brink, 2016, p. 433).\nNational LEAD workshops: As a result of the success at UW, the program expanded its efforts to provide leadership training to individuals outside of the UW. In 2004, the UW ADVANCE Faculty Director met with Dr Maria Klawe, the Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, who expressed interest in sending her department chairs to UW leadership workshops. Consequently, UW ADVANCE ran a pilot workshop in Summer 2004 on the UW campus for STEM department chairs from around the country. UW ADVANCE then received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant and another NSF ADVANCE grant that supported department chair workshops at different locations nationally (Quinn et al., 2007). The NSF ADVANCE grant created the LEAD national workshop program. A total of 174 participants from 74 different institutions attended three LEAD workshops (held in 2007, 2008 and 2009) that featured 34 speakers from 15 different institutions and organizations.\nLiY! (LEAD-it-Yourself!) toolkit: While LEAD provided direct, in-person professional development, it required considerable administrative support and travel, and was limited to participants who could attend the workshop in person. Further, the workshops were not customizable to specific campus needs. To meet the national and local demand for LEAD workshops, UW ADVANCE received another NSF ADVANCE grant in 2013 to create LiY!, an online toolkit of planning and instructional materials to enable institutions to develop and run their own LEAD-inspired workshops (www.advance.uw.edu/liy). Unlike the other efforts described in this paper, the LiY! project does not directly deliver professional development to department chairs. Rather it is designed to help individuals and institutions plan leadership workshops for their own department chairs and to provide a collection of STEM gender equity resources, articles and best practices that can be used in the workshops or by individual department chairs. The online nature of the LiY! project allows NSF ADVANCE's investment and impact to be disseminated nationally (and even internationally), ultimately helping institutions prepare department chairs to be change agents in advancing female faculty in STEM.\nConclusions, challenges, future directions and recommendations: A grassroots perspective of organizational gendering is critical to identifying \"sources of resistance\" (Britton, 2000, p. 429). Therefore, advancing female faculty in STEM requires engagement of on-the-ground faculty and faculty leaders. After all, \"systemic change can only be fostered if propelled by a vigilant and widespread campaign launched by tenacious women and men at all levels and advocated by prominent leaders of our universities\" (Handelsman et al., 2005, p. 1191). Unfortunately, faculty may not have the skills or experience to foster gender equity and inclusion. Leadership workshops, such as those described in this paper, offer a chance to develop leadership skills, create connection and community and address equity and inclusion in the context of department chair responsibilities. While the efforts described here focus on female faculty diversity in STEM, the ideas and best practices may also be appropriate for addressing broader issues of faculty equity, diversity and inclusion.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The advancement of equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education is dependent on institutional culture changes in academia. Faculty equity, diversity and inclusion efforts must engage departmental leadership. The purpose of this paper is to describe the growth and expansion of the ADVANCE leadership program at the University of Washington (UW) for department chairs that was designed to provide department chairs the skills, community and information needed to be agents of change within the academy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper chronicles the program's growth from a campus-based workshop program to national workshops (LEAD) to a web-based toolkit (LiY!) to support institutions in running their own UW ADVANCE-inspired leadership workshops.\nFindings: The paper demonstrates the success of each growth stage and the expansion of program impact.\nPractical implications: The paper offers recommendations for growing a model from a local to national scale and adapting the described leadership development model at other institutions.\nOriginality/value: The paper shares a successful model for equipping department chairs to be advocates of gender equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM and to be change agents in higher education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Forces, trends, and decisions in pharmaceutical supply chain management	[ "Biopharmaceutical", "Supply chain", "Intermediaries", "Supply chain regulation", "Distribution strategy", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Biopharmaceutical distribution is highly complex and fragmented. (Throughout the remainder of this article, we refer to biotech and pharmaceutical solutions as one and the same, given the blending of these industries from a product development perspective, and will be referred to as pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC).) Prescriptions are filled at more than 140,000 outlets in the USA, but only 6 percent of sales are sold direct by manufacturers. And, although consolidation has lowered the number of firms, the Biopharma supply chain continues to increase in complexity. This complexity also stretches on a global level, with every country in the world being part of this network. On-going macro-economic and regulatory events are constantly changing the shape of the competitive and operational environment in which supply chain managers make their strategic and tactical decisions. However, we have limited our analysis to the USA, due to the particular complexities that are emerging in this market (the largest market for pharmaceutical products in the world). For example, within the USA, recent changes in Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement have changed compensation for many supply chain participants, and actions by non-conventional players, such as third-party logistics (3PLs) service providers (Reisman, 2002; Mullin, 2003), threaten to dis-intermediate conventional wholesalers. Simultaneously, regulators are demanding that wholesalers and manufacturers increase transparency and reveal costs for purchase and prices sold to customers, as well as demanding greater insights into true cost drivers associated with pharmaceutical distribution (Scott, 2005). Market channels such as mail order, direct shipping and web site pharmacies are also becoming important competitive channels and are disintermediating a number of traditional market channels (Shah, 2004).These changes have pushed the PSC in a state of flux. Unfortunately, standard logistics strategy models that have been useful to guide managerial policy in other distribution industries are not easily applied to PSC. In a PSC, the number of consumption points, the role and number of intermediaries, and the long lead times and highly unpredictable nature of bio-pharma manufacturing have created a web of contingencies, interdependencies, and uncertainties (Goetschalckx et al., 2002). Because existing research does not address the realities of PSC, there is an acute need for supply chain researchers to begin investigating these phenomena. For example, inventory positioning models assume a positive inventory holding cost (Whybark and Yang, 1996; Moinzadeh, 2002; Huang et al., 2005). Yet, for the past decade, the majority of PSC wholesalers have garnered 90 percent of their profits from inventory appreciation - in effect a negative holding cost. Strategic models such as Porters' (1979) Five Forces or Miles and Snow (1978) typology discount the complexity of the costs of entry and the intangible knowledge-based assets held by entrenched PSC members (Zahra and Pearce, 1990). In contrast, our research data will show that entrenched wholesalers, pharma manufacturers, and potential entrants greatly underestimated the cost of reverse logistics associated with returns in the PSC.The generation of new theories concerning PSC can be guided by macro-economic analysis of the nature of forces affecting the supply chain's change. Classification of these forces can concentrate research efforts, and also enables prediction of where the industry, and thus research, will head. Employing a case study approach combined with a meta-analytic review of the literature, we sought to explore the question: what are the major forces influencing the future of the PSC as perceived by supply chain participants, and what are the major research questions emanating from these perceived forces of change?Interviews were conducted with 55 informants from firms representing each node in the value chain, from manufacturers to retailers. Within-case and across-case analyses were used to identify similarities and differences between chain members' views of forces and trends. The practitioner press was then scoured for articles relating to the PSC in order to explore the press reaction to these elements. About 751 articles were identified and manifest text analysis using centered resonance analysis (Corman et al., 2002) was performed on the research abstracts. The text analysis is used to increase the external and internal validity of the participant findings and validate the resulting research trends. Both the cases and the text analysis are used to support a framework for future PSC research. Examples from the supply chain and operations management literature are reviewed and future research opportunities are identified.In order to focus the nature of the study and develop an interview protocol for case study participants, we conducted a focus group study (Flynn et al., 1990) at one of the largest pharmaceutical wholesalers, involving 12 senior executives representing purchasing, legal, analyst communications, finance, distribution management, and sales. Individual forces of change were identified and categorized into three major categories:1. Compensation forces. Increased use of inventory management agreements, fee for service (FFS) models, and pricing pressure applied by government agencies and third parties.2. Channel forces. The increasing use of direct sell models by pharmaceutical manufacturers and the threatened entrance of 3PLs providers.3. Product and regulatory forces. Increasing levels of product diversity requiring specialized handling and delivery coupled with increasing concerns about the pedigree - legitimacy - of goods being distributed in the PSC.These categories were applied as the core constructs for our historical discussion of context, and also to guide the collection of data from PSC participants. The paper is organized as follows. Research methods used for the case analysis and text analysis of literature are discussed. The results of within-case and across-case analysis are then presented. The discussion of these results focuses on the nature of future PSC decisions and where future academic research may be helpful. The managerial and research implications of the research are then presented. We close the paper with limitations and conclusions.\nMethodology: Conceptualizing the evolution of the PSC\nComputerized text analysis results: Interviews\nFindings: Changes in compensation structure\nImplications: This research covered multiple levels of the pharmaceutical value chain. Each of the trends we identified has implications for all members of the PSC. Given the scope of this research, it would be difficult to provide specific implications and research agendas for each type of firm or relationships that this research covered. Instead, this section will focus on the three major forces in the sequence that we feel will they will impact the PSC. In doing so, we feel we can better guide managers and researchers towards more immediate decisions versus long-term decisions.Short-term decisions and research\nConclusions: This research examined the PSC from multiple perspectives. A focus group identified a number of forces that they thought would impact their supply chain decisions. Interviews with key informants from 56 firms in the PSC as well as a large sample of the practitioner press were analyzed using crawdad, a computerized manifest text analysis that utilizes centered resonance analysis. The results indicate that the three major forces identified: compensation, alternative channels, and product forces would all be influential. Our research yielded eight trends relating the evolving forces in the PSC. Based on our analysis of the cases and the literature, we believe that product forces, particularly increased product segmentation along two major lines will have the greatest effect on PSC manager's decisions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the major forces that are changing the way biopharmaceutical medications are purchased, distributed, and sold throughout the supply chain. This will become important as healthcare reform moves forward, and logistics will be transformed in this industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Multiple interviews with key informants at each level of the value chain were combined with manifest text analysis from practitioner articles to derive key insights into the primary change drivers influencing the future of the biopharmaceutical supply chain.\nFindings: - The research discovered radical shifts in the structure of the biopharmaceutical supply chain. Future research into biopharmaceutical supply chain practices will need to explore three primary issues: How will supply chain member compensation influence the power of parties within the network? How will the role of supply chain intermediaries change the landscape of medication delivery to the end customer? What impact will the role of regulatory constraints on product pedigree and proliferation have on this network? The relationship between these forces is mediated by operations strategy concerning inventory policy, supply chain visibility, and desired service levels.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research was based on multiple interviews with a convenience sample, as well as text analysis from practitioner articles. These findings are an initial step to guide future more in-depth research for this dynamic and contextually rich supply chain environment that impacts consumers in every country in the world.\nOriginality/value: - The paper adds insights into the pharmaceutical supply chain, examining this from multiple perspectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customers becoming creators: how firms leverage technology and consumers for new value	[ "Value co-creation", "Digital strategy", "IT value", "Digital economy", "Consumer work", "Strategic initiative" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In today's digital business environment, both firms and consumers are experiencing a tidal shift of their respective roles in value creation. Customers have gone from being a target of firm offerings to playing an active role in participating and contributing to the firm value proposition. As individuals buying and, thus, consuming products or services, consumers are now co-creators of the products and services offered by firms. For example, Nike allows consumers to design their own shoes through a digital interface named NikeID. This represents a departure from the traditional stylist-driven offering.\n1. Value co-creation initiatives in the digital age: 1.1 Consumer value co-creation: a paradigm shift?\n2. Value co-creation initiatives in the age of digital transformation: 2.1 The community initiative\n3. Managerial implications: The framework that we advance offers a supportive decision-making tool for managers who are increasingly challenged by digital transformation. This contribution offers guidelines for managers in selecting technology-based co-creation tools that foster the value co-creation initiative they wish to implement.\n4. Conclusion: Through multiple case studies, this research identifies four types of value co-creation initiatives that a firm can leverage: community, customization, reputation and sensing. For managers, these categories represent the types of strategic initiatives enabled by the increasing availability of technology tools. This unique framework may help managers select relevant tools from the available alternatives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has facilitated consumers' involvement in firms' value creation processes through increasingly near real-time information exchanges. This strategic opportunity configures new forms of ICT-enabled collaboration between firms and consumers. Firms can now immediately react to consumers' requests/complaints, having gained real-time visibility of consumers' actions and behaviors. Despite the increasing deployment of ICT-enabled value co-creation projects, managers still poorly apprehend them as high-potential strategic initiatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper investigates this gap through a multiple qualitative case study based on 17 organizations that successfully implement ICT-based value co-creation initiatives, including Lego, Netflix and Blablacar.\nFindings: This study identifies two dimensions of the ICTs' value co-creation process, namely, the firms' involvement and customers' role, in this co-creation process. Through these dimensions, four ICT-based co-creation initiatives are observed and defined: community, customers' contributions create the firms' value proposition (FVP); customization, customers' service consumption personalize FVP; reputation, customers' contributions about the offered services completes the FVP; and sense, an algorithmic approach, designed to focus on learning from customers' consumption tailors FVP.\nOriginality/value: This study advances a framework supporting managerial decision-making concerning the aptitude of co-creation initiatives to meet organizational goals. Managers may gain insight from its use especially in assessing emerging opportunities to engage consumers in the value creation process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Data schemas for multiple hazards, exposure and vulnerability	[ "Disaster risk", "Fragility", "Natural hazards", "Exposure", "Vulnerability", "Damage", "Multi-hazard" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: At the 2016 Understanding Risk conference in Venice, the GFDRR (2016) and the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) released a report titled \"Solving the puzzle: innovating to reduce risk\", which presented a community-based review of actions that could promote disaster risk management (DRM) practices in developing countries. The report was based on input from multiple individuals representing over 100 institutions from 5 continents, 6 consultations, 25 written contributions and 2 online surveys. The report suggested \"next steps\" in eight categories that would promote DRM in developing countries (Table I).\n2. Schema overviews: We use simplified \"entity relationship\" diagrams to illustrate the different objects that are used for the prototypes of the hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas (see below). For more details on the schemas, please see the final reports produced by each consortium which are available on the Challenge Fund website[4]. The schemas will also be publicly available via GFDRR's Innovation Lab GitHub[5] site.\n3. Data exploration tool: For data to be used for DRM it has to be discoverable, available, accessible and usable (GFDRR, 2014). In addition, the data should be well-documented by metadata that provide information critical for determining the data's use and provenance. The development of the data schemas is aimed at making disaster risk-related data more usable by devising a means to make the data available in a consistent format. In order to encourage adoption of the data schemas, and to make the data discoverable, accessible and useable, the GFDRR-DFID Challenge Fund is supporting the development of a data exploration tool[10]. Currently, the tool is a prototype, but it provides a glimpse of what will eventually be a user-friendly platform for exploring, accessing and contributing data that conforms to the schemas. The following discussion will focus on exposure data as the functionality for exposure data is the most complete. The software is available via the GFDRR Innovation Lab's GitHub account[11].\n4. Next steps and conclusions: While a significant amount of work has already been accomplished in defining the data schemas, more effort is required to make the schemas and data exploration tool ready for broader use by the risk community. Thus, GFDRR is supporting additional work to:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Using risk-related data often require a significant amount of upfront work to collect, extract and transform data. In addition, the lack of a consistent data structure hinders the development of tools that can be used with more than one set of data. The purpose of this paper is to report on an effort to solve these problems through the development of extensible, internally consistent schemas for risk-related data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The consortia coordinated their efforts so the hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas are compatible. Hazard data can be provided as either event footprints or stochastic catalogs. Exposure classes include buildings, infrastructure, agriculture, livestock, forestry and socio-economic data. The vulnerability component includes fragility and vulnerability functions and indicators for physical and social vulnerability. The schemas also provide the ability to define uncertainties and allow the scoring of vulnerability data for relevance and quality.\nFindings: As a proof of concept, the schemas were populated with data for Tanzania and with exposure data for several other countries.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data schema and data exploration tool are open source and, if widely accepted, could become widely used by practitioners.\nPractical implications: A single set of hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas will not fit all purposes. Tools will be needed to transform the data into other formats.\nOriginality/value: This paper describes extensible, internally consistent, multi-hazard, exposure and vulnerability schemas that can be used to store disaster risk-related data and a data exploration tool that promotes data discovery and use.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of negative publicity on brand equity: attribution, image, attitude and purchase intention	[ "Attribution", "Brand equity", "Brand image", "Brand attitude", "Brand blame", "Negative publicity", "Purchasing intention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Practitioners and researchers need to understand how consumers respond to negative brand information. The need for this understanding has become increasingly important with the ease of accesses to negative brand information on the internet in general and on social media in particular (East et al., 2007). For example, in 2016, the US Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection received more than 150,000 complaints about financial goods and services (Dataworld, 2016). In the same year, the Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce received about 1.7 million complaints about products and services; an increase of nearly 30 per cent compared with 2015 (Xinhua, 2017). There is little doubt that consumers are exposed to negative information.\nConceptual development: Brand and negative publicity\nResearch method: Design and stimuli\nData collection and analyses: Data collection\nSummary and discussion: The major objective of the present study was to examine the influence the attribution of negative publicity had on brand image, brand attitude and purchase intention. Consumers' attribution of fault to a brand had a significant and negative impact on their brand attitude and purchase intentions, irrespective of the severity of the negative publicity. In other words, the more a consumer believed the brand should be blamed, the less favourable were their brand attitudes and purchase intentions, supporting Wu and Lo's (2009) suggestion that attitude influences purchase intention when negative publicity is encountered.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to understand the influence of negative publicity on brand image, brand attitude and brand purchase intention. Specifically, the study examines the role of attribution (or brand blame) and information characteristics in Chinese consumers' responses to negative publicity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a quasi-experimental approach involving two negative publicity scenarios (mild and high severity) and a sample of 203 young and educated Chinese consumers. Partial least squares was used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: A common assumption is that negative brand information has a negative influence on all aspects of a brand. However, this study finds that brand blame and information severity have differential effects on consumer evaluations of the affected brand. Specifically, brand blame negatively impacted attitudes and purchase intentions, but not brand image. In contrast, information severity negatively impacted brand image, but not attitudes or intentions. Further, the relations between brand image and brand attitudes and intentions depended on the level of information severity. In the mild-severity condition, brand image positively influenced attitudes and intentions, but not in the high-severity condition.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research should examine consumer responses to negative publicity across different media and product categories. Cross-cultural studies should also be explored in the future.\nPractical implications: When a brand encounters negative publicity, its marketer or brand manager should assess to what extent various brand equity components are influenced by negative publicity before adopting any cognitive-based or imagery-based communication strategies.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the limited and fragmented literature on consumer response to negative publicity by examining the impact of consumer's attributions of blame to the brand under conditions of mild and severe negative information on a range of important brand-related outcomes. Specifically, the authors find that negative publicity has a different impact on brand image, brand attitudes and intentions to purchase. The authors suggest that brand managers use this information to guide their marketing communications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digital marketing for B2B organizations: structured literature review and future research directions	[ "Literature review", "Insights", "Digital marketing", "B2B marketing", "Martech" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many business-to-business (B2B) organizations are turning to digital marketing to boost their customer acquisition. Apart from interactive strategies to connect with consumers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2009), digital marketing offers precise targeting of prospective customers (Pandey and Gudipudi, 2019). For example, the B2B marketing executives are able to bypass multiple layers and connect to the user department executives using LinkedIn. This helps B2B executive optimize their sales productivity. It also helps track B2B consumer engagement and sales conversions in real-time. It also allows the dynamic creation of content that suits a prospective customer's viewing habits.\n2. Methodology: The present study followed a structured literature review (SLR) and semi-structured as a research methodology. SLR followed a three-step approach as suggested by Tranfield et al. (2003), namely, review protocol was planned as per the requirement of the research review was conducted by identifying, selecting and analyzing the relevant papers and dissemination of the results in the form of descriptive results and thematic reporting.\n3. Descriptive results: 3.1 Keyword statistics\n4. Themes in the literature review: We identified eight major themes from our review of literature on digital marketing in the B2B sector. All the identified themes critically evaluate the digital marketing concepts and methods used in B2B marketing. The themes obtained from the literature review were used to match and contrast the finding from the semi-structured interview with B2B marketing executives. Below is the detailed description of each emerged theme from literature review.\n5. Discussion and conclusions: A collaborative framework has been developed on the basis of themes emerged from the existing research done on B2B digital marketing. Figure 4 sums up the existing research, expert interviews summarized (Table IV) and emerged themes from literature review (Table V). The organizations target to achieve higher sales productivity through digital marketing usage by improving buyer-seller relationship, branding and higher RoI. Organizations need to align their digital marketing activities with EMO of the organization.\n6. Conclusion: The focus of this study was to answer the following question: how much research has been done so far in digital marketing usage in the B2B domain and what were the potential research scope for future? To achieve the objective of the research, various research articles were reviewed regarding digital marketing usage in B2B. Various emerging themes were identified and most of them have been confirmed with semi-structured interviews with the industry experts. Conclusively, it can be said that academic research in the field of B2B digital marketing is still in its embryonic state. Also, it is not being exploited from a strategic point of view but still being used at a tactical level. The analytics, machine learning and performance measurement domain are likely to be the most exciting fields for research in the area of B2B digital marketing. Future researchers can also analyze the case studies of various companies to figure out the extent to which B2B digital marketing has been used to create a competitive advantage for the organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to analyze the available literature on the use of digital marketing in a business-to-business (B2B) context. It identifies gaps in the current research knowledge and proposes a research agenda for scholars and practitioners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review has been conducted on B2B digital marketing. The various themes have been identified on the basis of the comprehensive analysis of extant literature. Also, semi-structured interviews with B2B marketing experts were also conducted to further refine the emerged digital marketing themes.\nFindings: Although some B2B firms use digital marketing, most are unable to leverage its full benefits because of the dearth of comprehensive research on the subject. This review provides an insight into the emerging themes by developing a collaborative conceptual framework. The review highlights that few areas such as digital marketing communication and sales management have witnessed steady development while decision support systems, critical success factors, electronic marketing orientation (EMO), etc., were lesser explored. Furthermore, it identifies research gaps and highlights the emerging research themes for future researchers.\nPractical implications: The collaborative framework will help organizations to align their digital marketing activities as per the changing market dynamics such as the focus on building social media capability, EMO and value co-creation.\nOriginality/value: Research on the use of digital marketing by B2B firms is still at the embryonic stage. This study is a pioneering effort to review the use of digital marketing in B2B organizations and identify research priorities for scholars and practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of subtle religious representations on cooperation	[ "Individual behaviour", "Semantics", "Consumer behaviour", "Influence", "Religion", "Cooperation", "Public goods game", "Experiment", "Priming" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: One major topic concerning the role of religion in the society among social scientists is the relationship between religion and prosocial behavior. Most theories of religion suggest that religion has an important promoting influence on prosocial behavior. Dominic Johnson (together with others), for example, has in several papers argued that an important source that promotes cooperation is religion (Johnson et al., 2003; Johnson and Kruger, 2004; Johnson, 2005; Johnson and Bering, 2006). Johnson argues that people would be discouraged from defecting and not cooperating because of the fear of supernatural punishment as a consequence of their behavior. As Johnson and Bering (2006, p. 222) puts it:Religious codes, taboos and mythology provided the \"laws\" - the rights and wrongs which defined the norms of conduct promoting, among other things, cooperation. These norms are enforced by the threat of supernatural punishment, either in the present and/or in the afterlife.The supernatural punishment theory says that religion enhances cooperation because people fear the supernatural consequences. Similarly, most other theories of religion assume that religion enhances prosocial behavior[1].This paper investigates how primed religious representations affect prosocial behavior. We study the impact of religious representations on prosocial behavior in terms of cooperation in a one-shot/three-person public goods game. We utilized the scrambled sentence task introduced by Srull and Wyer (1979) and primed our participants with religious representations before they made a public goods game decision. Participants were requested to make meaningful and grammatically accurate four-word sentences out of five words presented in random order by eliminating one of the words. Participants in the prime condition received scrambled sentences containing words that were associated with religion. After the scrambled sentence task, participants made a public goods game decision. In the public goods game, participants were asked to decide how much of a given endowment they would like to put into a public pot. The contributions in the public pot were then multiplied by 1.5 to encourage contribution. Each participant then got the portion of the endowment not contributed plus an even split of the public pot.Based on previous findings in psychology our main hypothesis is that priming religious representations will increase cooperation in the public goods game, that is, increase contributions to the public pot. Baldwin et al. (1990), for example, found that priming people with a picture of a disapproving face of the Pope affected their self-evaluation. Wenger (2004) found that people identified religious actions much faster when they had been primed with religious concepts. Further, Randolph-Seng and Nielsen (2007) demonstrated that people primed with religious words cheated significantly less than people primed with neutral words. Similarly, Shariff and Norenzayan (2007) and Ahmed and Salas (2011) found that priming people with religious words made them more generous in a dictator game. Finally, Pichon et al. (2007) showed that the number of charity pamphlets taken by participants before leaving the classroom was larger when participants had been primed with religious words.Our paper adds to the growing body of experimental economics literature that has studied self-reported measures of religiosity alongside behavior in different economic games (Ahmed and Salas, 2009; Anderson and Mellor, 2009; Eckel and Grossman, 2004; Tan, 2006; Tan and Vogel, 2008). This body of research has found limited evidence on the relationship between religion and prosocial behavior. This study contributes to the literature by examining the effect of subtle influences of religion on cooperation. Specifically, this study investigates how primed religious representations affect the voluntary contributions in a public goods game experiment. Our study is closest to the study of Shariff and Norenzayan (2007) in the sense that they also studied how primed religious representations affect the behavior in an experimental game. However, they used a dictator game which is a two-person game measuring generosity while we use a three-person public goods game measuring cooperation. In contrast to the dictator game the behavior of each player in the public goods game depends on the expectation of what others will do. Hence, the public goods game reflects a different dimension of prosocial behavior than the dictator game.The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the experimental methodology, Section 3 presents the results, and Section 4 provides a discussion and conclusions.\n2 Methodology: A total of 96 undergraduate second year economics students were recruited at Linnaeus University in Sweden for this study in May 2009. All participants received a participation fee of SEK100[2]. Also, participants had the opportunity to earn additional money in the public goods game which we will describe later on. In total, 55 of the participants were female and thereby 41 were male. The mean age of the participants was 22.5 years. Four sessions with 24 participants in each session were conducted. Each session began with a general introduction. The experiment consisted of four parts:1. the scrambled sentence task;2. the public goods game;3. the funneled debriefing; and4. a short questionnaire.The overall design and the different stages of the experiment are shown in Figure 1. We will now discuss these parts separately.2.1 The scrambled sentence task\n3 Results: We first present the answer to the central question of this paper: do subtle religious representations increase cooperation in the public goods game? The key results of the experiment are summarized in Table I. Table I gives the average number of tokens that participants in the control and prime condition contributed to the public pot. Participants in the control contributed on average 60 percent of their endowment while the corresponding percentage for participants in the prime condition was 74. Thus, participants in the prime condition contributed on average SEK1.40 more than participants in the control condition. This difference is statistically significant, t(df=94, n=96)=-2.349, p=0.021[4]. Hence, we find that priming participants with religious representations increased the average contributions in the public goods game.Furthermore, we also estimate OLS regressions with contributions in the public goods as the dependent variable. The results from the estimations are presented in Table II. We estimate five specifications of our model. The first specification (Model 1) includes the variable Primed as the only explanatory variable. It emerges that individuals who were primed contributed with about 1.4 more tokens than those not being primed. The effect of being primed is statistically significant.The other specifications (Model 2-5) control for gender, age and belief in god. It emerges that contribution to the public goods game increases with age. Further, and most interesting, is that the effect of being primed on the willingness to contribute in public goods games remains stable and is statistically significant independently of which specification is used. None of the other variables or interactions between them turns out statistically significant. Thus, we can conclude that being primed with religious concepts has a positive impact on the willingness to contribute in public goods games. Further, we can also conclude that this willingness increases with age but that there are no differences between males and females and no differences related to an individual's belief in god in this respect.Since the number of tokes contributed in the public goods game could be interpreted as a count variable, we check the robustness of our OLS estimates by running corresponding Poisson regression models. Table III presents the estimates of the Poisson regressions. An overall comparison of Table III with Table II reveals that the OLS regression models and the Poisson regression models generate similar results and lead to similar conclusions. The Poisson regression models confirm the result that priming participants with religious concepts significantly increased the contributions to the public good. Moreover, participants' belief in god was uncorrelated and participants' age was correlated with the number of tokes contributed in the public goods game. And finally, there were no statistically significant interaction effects between different covariates.\n4 Discussion: All religions encourage prosocial behavior in one way or another. In this paper we have focused on cooperation. The present showed that subtle religious cues increased cooperation in a public goods game experiment: the average amount contributed in the public goods game was significantly higher for those in the prime condition than for those in the control condition.The results make several suggestions. First, it is apparent from the funneled debriefing that the relationship between religion and prosocial behavior seems to be profound in the sense that it seems to be beyond people's awareness. Second, the results offer experimental evidence in favor of those theories of religion that suggest that religion has the effect of increasing prosocial behavior. Third, self-reported religiosity was not related to cooperation in the present study. Finally, primed influences of religious representations affected both those who identified themselves as \"theists\" and those who identified themselves as \"atheists\" in our survey questions.We can conceive of at least two explanations to why primed religious representations increased cooperation in the public goods game. The first explanation is based on the supernatural punishment theory that was discussed in the introduction of this paper (Johnson and Bering, 2006). Primed religious representation might have functioned as mementoes of the presence of a supernatural agent - god. Haley and Fessler (2005) and Bateson et al. (2006) have demonstrated that subtle cues of being watched such as an image of a pair of eyes increase prosocial behavior most likely because of a decreased feeling of anonymity. Hoffman et al. (1996), and many thereafter, has showed that reduced degree of anonymity increase the degree of prosocial behavior. Hence, subtle cues of being watched may decrease the degree of anonymity and increase prosocial behavior. Similarly, subtle religious cues may have activated awareness of a supernatural agent and thereby decreased the degree of anonymity and increased the level of cooperation in our experiment.Also, in another study Bering et al. (2005) showed that participants who were told of the existence of an alleged ghost in the testing room were less likely to cheat on subsequent task than those who did not receive this information. Assuming that most people don't believe in ghosts, this study shows that a supernatural agent effect may still arise, probably not because of belief in ghosts but because of alief. The concept of alief, coined by Gendler (2008), can be described as something that guides our behavior just like beliefs but that they are artifacts of our imagination (see McKay and Dennet, 2009, for a further discussion).An alternative explanation is that some religious representations activate thoughts that might mentally be associated with prosocial thoughts. Randolph-Seng and Nielsen (2008, p. 121) explain: \"priming words (whether religious, secular-moral, or otherwise) that are mentally associated with prosocial perceptions and behavior lead to such behavior simply because of that mental association.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how subtle religious representations affect prosocial behavior. The authors study the impact of religious representations on prosocial behavior in terms of cooperation in a one-shot/three-person public goods game.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors used the scrambled sentence task to prime participants with religious words before they were asked to make a one-shot/three-person public goods game decision.\nFindings: - Both in the raw data and when controlling for factors such as age, gender and religious beliefs, the authors found that priming of religious representations increased cooperation in the experiment, that is, increased contributions to the public good. The authors found no significant interaction effects between priming and self-reported measures of religiosity, suggesting that the priming effect was present among both self-reported religious and nonreligious participants. Self-reported measures of religiosity were not correlated with cooperation in this study.\nOriginality/value: - The paper adds to the growing body of experimental economics literature that has studied self-reported measures of religiosity alongside behavior in different economic games. This study contributes to the literature by examining the effect of subtle influences of religion on cooperation. Also, in contrast to previous economic literature, the paper examines the direct impact of religion as an independent variable on cooperation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An analysis of internally funded learning and teaching project evaluation in higher education	[ "Higher education", "Praxis", "Project evaluation", "Learning and teaching" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: context and literature review: Higher education institutions across the world are under growing pressures from external factors such as growth of students, internationalization and changes in world economy. There is also growing emphasis on accountability of the public funding of Australian universities (Shah et al., 2011) and indeed universities worldwide (Frolich, 2011). Project evaluation is one example of a process that can achieve this accountability by providing empirical evidence to substantiate recommendations for improvements and justification for funding (Stufflebeam, 2011). However, evaluation is a process that is inherently complex, and which remains contested (Oliver et al., 2002).\nTheoretical framework: Evaluation vs research\nResearch methodology: The pragmatic approach recognizes that a mix of research methodologies can be employed as \"the choice of methodological techniques follows from the questions asked, not vice versa\" (Owen, 2006, p. 89). Acknowledging the discussion on research being an integral part of evaluation, we adopt a research methodology that aligns with evaluative enquiry methods. We investigate what approaches to evaluation have been used in learning and teaching projects, what the project leader understandings are of evaluation and whether there is alignment between evaluation theory and practice, using an Action Research approach (McNiff, 2001). This method aligns with developmental evaluation whereby a study is planned, enacted, evaluated and reflected upon (Patton, 1994).\nResults and discussion: The final four learning and teaching project evaluation themes that resulted from the coding process were: conceptualization, capability building, resources and approach. Each theme is now explored to investigate whether praxis is achieved, that is, is the practice of evaluation of learning and teaching projects in higher education aligned with theory. The discussion is supported with verbatim quotes from the project leaders (PL).\nImplications for evaluation practice and future research: How can we use the knowledge gained through the themes emerging from this study to enable evaluation praxis in internally funded learning and teaching projects? Sustainable and successful approaches to evaluation need to be showcased with the project management community in the sector.\nConclusion: Our recent critique of the existing literature highlighted the misalignment between evaluation theory and practice of learning and teaching project evaluation in the sector and this study confirms this proposition. Four themes were evident in the data from 15 learning and teaching projects: conceptualizations, particularly with the overlap between evaluation and research; capability building within the sector; resourcing in terms of time and money; and an action-oriented approach to evaluation. The project leader's perception and conceptualization of evaluation can inhibit the relationship between theory and practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the higher education sector, the evaluation of learning and teaching projects is assuming a role as a quality and accountability indicator. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how learning and teaching project evaluation is approached and critiques alignment between evaluation theory and practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The emergent realism paradigm provides the theoretical framework with a pragmatic approach to mixed-methods data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts of interviews with 15 project leaders.\nFindings: Four key themes on project evaluation emerged: how evaluation is conceptualized, particularly the overlap, even conflation, between evaluation and research; capability building within the sector; resourcing in terms of time and money; and the role of an action-oriented approach to evaluation. The authors conclude that misalignment exists between evaluation theory and the practice of project evaluation and that this relationship can be further inhibited by a project leader's perception of evaluation.\nPractical implications: A series of strategies for developing capacity across the higher education sector for project evaluation are presented. These include the development and provision of: a time allocation for evaluation in future and ongoing project plans with procedures to revisit the project and assess impact; models of how to incorporate evaluation into the research cycle; constructive feedback on evaluation reports from the university funding body; and networking opportunities to disseminate learnings from project evaluations.\nOriginality/value: This study focusses on the under-researched area of evaluation of learning and teaching projects in higher education, providing research-based evidence for strategies to develop sector capacity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of sexual activity on wages	[ "Modelling", "Labour market", "Data analysis", "Pay", "Motivation (psychology)", "Employees behaviour", "J10", "J30", "J24" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and conceptual considerations: The purpose of this study is to examine whether sexual activity is associated with wages. The literature exchange perspective provides a lens through which we can examine this hypothesis. The central hypothesis behind this research is that sexual activity, alike health indicators and mental well-being, may be thought of as part of an individual's set of productive traits that affect wages. The vast medical and psychological literature concludes that sexual activity is associated with good health and improved physical and mental capacities, psychological well-being and dietary habits. Scholarly studies suggest that there is a positive relationship between sexual intercourse, well-being and longevity (Palmore, 1982; Onder et al., 2003; Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 2003; Lindau and Gavrilova, 2010). In addition, several studies suggest that mental health, personal happiness, satisfaction, self-esteem, conscientiousness, cognitive functioning and reasoning ability are positively related to the frequency of sexual activity, and that sexual activity is negatively associated with the risks and incidences of depression and stress (Lykins et al., 2006; Lindau et al., 2007; Witting et al., 2008; Brody, 2010; Hooghe, 2012; Vrangalova and Savin-Williams, 2011). Furthermore, there are suggestions that people with active sex lives tend to exercise more frequently, have more strength and endurance, and have better dietary habits than those who are less sexually active (Ellison, 2000; Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 2003).\n2. Data set and descriptive statistics: 2.a. Definition of variables\n3. Estimation framework: Sexual activity may not casually impact wages. That is, one could suggest that the strength of an individual's sexual activity may in fact be endogenous; higher wages may encourage some to adopt more sexually active lives. For instance, higher wages may increase the value and attractiveness of a person on the dating market; higher wages may increase purchase of gifts that are thanked for via sex. Unfortunately, there are no references with which to address these claims, other than Blanchflower and Oswald (2004), who suggest that increased income does not translate into additional sex.\n4. Outcomes and discussion: 4.a. First stage estimations; the formation of sexual activity\n5. Conclusive remarks: The purpose of the analysis was to examine whether sexual activity is associated with wages. The estimations suggested that sexual activity is affected by good health and extraversion traits and that there is a positive relationship between the frequency of sexual activity and wage returns. Moreover, the outcomes suggested that wage returns to sexual activity are statistically significant higher for those between 26 and 50 years of age. In addition, heterosexuals' sexual activity does not seem to provide higher or lower wage returns than that of homosexuals. Whilst, wages are higher for those health-impaired employees who are sexually active. Conversely, wage returns to sexual activity are not affected by higher education status, occupation or sector of employment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate whether sexual activity is associated with wages, and also to estimate potential interactions between individuals' characteristics, wages and sexual activity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The central hypothesis behind this research is that sexual activity, alike health indicators and mental well-being, may be thought of as part of an individual's set of productive traits that affect wages. Using two-stage estimations the author examines the relationship between adult sexual activity and wages.\nFindings: The author estimates that there is a monotonic relationship between the frequency of sexual activity and wage returns, whilst the returns to sexual activity are higher for those between 26 and 50 years of age. In addition, heterosexuals' sexual activity does not seem to provide higher or lower wage returns than that of homosexuals, but wages are higher for those health-impaired employees who are sexually active. Over-identification tests, robustness checks, falsification tests, as well as, decomposition analysis and sample selection modelling enhance study's strength.\nSocial implications: Contemporary social analysis suggests that health, cognitive and non-cognitive skills and personality are important factors that affect wage level. Sexual activity may also be of interest to social scientists, since sexual activity is considered to be a barometer for health, quality of life, well-being and happiness.\nOriginality/value: The paper adds to the literature on the importance of unobserved characteristics in determining labour market outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge sharing in an American multinational company based in Malaysia	[ "Knowledge sharing", "Knowledge management", "Multinational companies", "Malaysia", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While the critical role played by the application of knowledge in economic development at a macroeconomic level is relatively well understood, its centrality to the management of individual firms is more of a recent concern. Companies that compete based on knowledge are faced with a dilemma since the organizational asset is held in the minds of individuals. The critical knowledge is only available to the organization as long as employees are willing to cooperate. Moreover, the knowledge can easily be lost if the employees decide to explore other opportunities outside the organization or simply opt to retire. In a knowledge-driven economy, an organization's intangible assets are increasingly becoming a differentiating competitive factor. For companies to achieve continuous growth in their business, knowledge sharing (KS) practices needs to be an integral part of the day-to-day conversation. Better and purposeful sharing of knowledge translates into acceleration in individual and organizational learning and innovation. Therefore, the challenge for organizations is to capture this competitive knowledge through effective knowledge-sharing strategies.What is known about KS stems mainly from studies focused on the individual who is the source of the knowledge. Such studies take the perspective of factors that impede its sharing, including Kalling's (2003) study of motivation to share, various studies on attitude (Bock and Kim, 2002; Ryu et al., 2003), and Foss and Pedersen's (2002) study of the source's innate ability to share. Although a number of studies have concentrated on exploring factors that may influence the recipients of the shared knowledge (Simonin, 1999; Szulanski, 1996), some still consider that this research area has been neglected (Dixon, 2002). Calls are currently being made in the literature for more research on KS in organizations. This research focuses on KS in an American-based multinational in Malaysia - Sensata Technologies (formerly known as Texas Instruments' S & C division). This US-based company was selected for this research due to the loss of a vast number of knowledge workers that occurred soon after a major restructuring of the parent company. With the resignation of several experienced employees world wide, the company experienced a great loss of knowledge. Thus, this US-based company appeared to be losing competitive advantage.In the backdrop of this, the present research study aims to:* ascertain the views of respondents on various dimensions of KS;* determine barriers faced in the sharing of knowledge; and* determine the strategies for KS.\nLiterature review: Organizational knowledge\nMethodology: This study was carried out in a few phases. In the first phase, a topology of organizational mechanism for KS was developed. A review of academic and practitioner literature provided the basis for this topology. In the next phase, a detailed field-base case study of the KS conceptualization in a large MNC was performed. For this research, the target population was all the executive level employees employed in the organization. The primary data for the research were gathered using a self administered survey questionnaire and e-mail-based questionnaire.The questionnaire was divided into two sections, namely section A and section B. Section A comprised questions on demographic characteristics and other background information. Section B comprised questions designed to ascertain the views of the respondents on the various aspects of KS, identify the barriers in KS and strategies to encourage KS. Likert's five-point scale was used where 1 represented \"strongly disagree\" and 5 represented \"strongly agree\". A cover letter explaining the study objectives was attached with the questionnaire. The potential respondents were contacted by e-mail or through a face-to-face meeting to solicit their participation in the study. Additionally, a definition and description of KS was included in the initial portion of the questionnaire to ensure that all respondents had a consistent concept of what is the process of KS, and to minimize confusion.For questionnaires that were administered through e-mail, a follow-up e-mail was sent approximately three weeks after the first e-mail. Respondents were assured that their responses will be treated as confidential and would be analyzed at the aggregate level only. The questionnaire used was developed based on the review of the literature, industry reports on knowledge-sharing and the information obtained from employees during the initial phase interview. Negatively and positively worded statements were used interchangeably to ensure respondents read thoroughly each statement carefully before ticking the selected answer to enhance the reliability of the scales. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS.Reliability test\nData analysis: Respondents' profile and background information\nConclusion and implications: While most of the respondents agreed that there is a KS strategy and there is a growing awareness of the benefit of KS in the organization, it is worrying to know that 22 percent of the respondents selected disagreed and strongly disagreed to the statement \"KS is important to the organization\". This may be a cause of concern for a company that is a knowledge-based company. With regard to \"willingness to share knowledge\", 27 percent of the respondents were not willing to share knowledge and 19.8 percent were neutral in their perception. This could be another major cause of concern for the company and it needs to do something to bring more people to the category of those who are willing to share knowledge. Based on the survey, the most prominent reasons for executives not sharing their knowledge was \"lack of formal and informal activities to cultivate KS\", \"lack of rewards and recognition systems that would motivate people to share their knowledge\" and \"absence of a system to identify the colleagues with whom knowledge can be shared.. Based on the survey, the most effective method to promote KS would be to link it with rewards and performance appraisal. Human Resources need to institute a system of recognition, and performance development practices - activities that reinforce the discipline of sharing, documenting knowledge and reuse of others\" ideas with pride to achieve business goals. This could be one of the key competencies for identifying managers of high potential. There are examples of companies who included sharing of knowledge as a criterion to get the highest rating in performance evaluation. There are other examples - where people who do not share are ignored or fail to be promoted. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (professional services consultants in St Louis), for example, consider KS as a factor in employee appraisals, measuring performance on a scale from 2 to 5. Employees cannot earn a 4 or a 5 unless they have participated in KS activities, such as responding to posted questions or publishing research (Stevens, 2000). According to a study by Cornelia and Kugel (2004) monetary rewards have an immediate effect on motivation to share knowledge but at the same bear the risk of spoiling users. However, monetary incentives can be used to start a KM system and to give incentive to users from time to time. Top management support is also vital to ensure the success of KS in the organization. The company may also think of developing a system by which people could identify the colleagues with whom they could share the knowledge.KS needs a culture and a set of behaviors in which people will share knowledge as part of their day-to-day activities. While giving people a means to share their knowledge is an important prerequisite on its own this will achieve very little. Creating the desire to share is far more important. It is true that in the short run, for the sake of signaling the importance of KS and getting the attention of employees, organizations should put in place rewarding policies for such behavior. However in the long run, it must be established that KS is one of the basic requirements to do business on a daily basis. That is to say, KS should not merely be integrated into job description, but also into the value system of an organization.Limitations of the study\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to examine the views of executives working in an American based multinational company (MNC) about knowledge sharing, barriers to knowledge sharing, and strategies to promote knowledge sharing\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study was carried out in phases. In the first phase, a topology of organizational mechanisms for knowledge sharing was developed. A review of academic and practitioner literature provided the basis for this topology. In the next phase, a detailed field-base case study of the knowledge sharing conceptualization in a large MNC was performed based on a sample of 81 employees.\nFindings: - The results show that most of the respondents agreed that there is a knowledge sharing strategy and there is a growing awareness of the benefit of knowledge sharing in the organization. However, it was worrying to know that 22 percent responded negatively to the statement \"KS is important to the organization\". Also, 27 percent of the respondents were also not willing to share knowledge. The most effective method to promote knowledge sharing was to link it with rewards and performance appraisal. Top management support was also vital to ensure the success of knowledge sharing in the organization.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The survey did not cover the non-executive level employees such as operators, technicians, facilitators and shift leaders due to difficulties in gaining access to these groups of people as they work in shifts. In addition, most of the operators would have difficulty in understanding the survey objective and content.\nOriginality/value: - While existing studies on knowledge sharing are more of a generalized nature, this study examines the perceptions about various aspects of knowledge sharing more in a country and company specific setting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The real alternative? A comparison of German real estate returns with bonds and stocks	[ "Risk", "Diversification", "Asset allocation", "Property investment", "Portfolio optimization", "Asset class correlations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The financial crisis of 2008 had a profound impact on all areas of finance. In fact, there have been suggestions that its influence on the market may have been so significant that many traditional investment strategies were altered which resulted in structural changes in how investments are made (Boz and Mendoza, 2014). Although it is too early to draw conclusions about lasting structural changes to investment patterns, there have been some trends that have emerged as financial markets recovered from the recession. One of such trends has been the rapid increase in direct property investment (Lange, 2016; Wieglemann and Szumilo, 2017). Germany has experienced this phenomenon in full strength with both domestic and international capital flows into this asset class climbing to record levels over recent years (Colliers, 2016). Given the political and economic uncertainty affecting the market over the last years it is difficult to attribute the growing interest in real assets directly to a structural shift in asset allocation strategies. It is, however, possible to investigate how property returns performed against other assets and compare their reactions to changing conditions.\n2. The German real estate market over the last 15 years: The German and European investment markets are booming and the trend is now in its seventh year. However, the factors that may drive the trend appear to be beyond the control of ordinary investors. Instead the interest in German real estate appears to be driven by changing economic and political paradigms. Real estate as an asset class is regarded by many investors as being safer than equity but still offers the upside growth potential unavailable from bond markets. This means allows it to offer a stream of cash flows that differs from other assets and react differently to structural changes in the market.\n3. German bonds and equity markets: The Frankfurt Stock Exchange has the third largest total market capitalization in Europe. At the same time, German bonds are considered to be one of the safest fixed-income securities while the equity market as developed and well-diversified (Arajarvi, 2009). In addition, Milonas and Rompotis (2015) show that when market capitalization and assets held are used as an indicator, German financial markets are significant both in Europe and globally. In this context, it appears interesting to compare how in a mature investment environment returns from the main two asset classes reacted to the financial crisis in comparison to real assets.\n4. Data: The research uses two data sets with different frequency and timespan span of the collected data. In order to investigate the relationship between direct property, equity and bond investment returns, annual data from 1998 to 2015 were used while indirect property returns were investigated on a daily basis in years 2007-2016. This approach was necessary due to data limitations common for real estate markets, Direct property returns were approximated using the MSCI total property return index. Different approaches to dealing with valuation-based indices were considered but following recommendations of Lizieri et al., a de-smoothing approach was adopted with the smoothing parameter equal to 0.8. It needs to be noted that valuations derived using international methods (DCF or investment method) may reflect market volatilities more accurately than real estate valuations using German regulated methods (ImmoWertV, market value according to $194 Federal building act). Ultimately, the decision on how to adjust for changes in value rests with the valuer who has to apply certain standards. In theory, all approaches should lead to same result (market value). However, German methods have been shown to be mathematically prone to smoothing biases (Schnaidt and Sebastian, 2012). While changes in value in international methods are typically significantly driven by actual market rents and investment yields, the regulated German valuation system has four key value drivers: rents, yields (Liegenschaftszins), remaining useful lifetime of the building and finally the value of the land. Consequently, changes of market rents and yields have a comparably lower impact on the calculated market value. By its nature, the remaining useful lifetime of a building is independent from market volatility. The \"land value\" also tends to be more stable since changes in values of land often have a significant time lag to market movements and are driven by changes in the real estate sector.\n5. Methods: This research uses two basic models used in time series analysis in financial markets: a multivariate GARCH (Fabozzi et al., 2006) and ARDL (Veiga, 2014).\n6. Empirical results: 6.1 Indirect property returns\n7. Empirical results in context of the market: It appears that structural changes in how the three asset classes were perceived in relation to each other have occurred over the investigated period. The variations are especially noticeable when the distinction between direct and indirect real estate investment is made. As indicated by both qualitative and quantitative evaluations, it is possible to identify three distinctive periods characterized by different correlation of returns and behavior of investors: before the crisis of 2008, the crisis period between 2008 and 2012 and recovery afterwards. These appear to have corresponded to different stages of the economic cycle. Interestingly, performance of asset classes has also differed over that period suggesting that at different points in the cycle asset allocation decisions may have been made differently.\n8. Conclusions: Structural changes in relative asset performance presented in this study have interesting implications for investors as they show that diversification benefits were not constant over time and varied with stages of the business cycle. It appears that as investments over the last 15 years real assets in Germany behaved similarly to bonds. It is possible that this phenomenon was driven by an aversion to the stock market and its associated risk which became a concern after the financial crisis of 2008. Over the downturn that followed the market shock investors appear to have turned to assets with simpler risk profiles like direct real estate and government debt. This is supported by the fact that the correlation of real asset returns to stock indices was marginally negative. Given the fact that short-term investment risk of the two asset classes is based mainly on counterparty risk, they offered an alternative to capital withdrawn from equity markets. In fact, their returns remained highly positively correlated throughout the downturn and recovery periods. On the other hand, the correlation between direct property investment index and stock returns has been found to be small but negative. This shows not only that the two asset classes were often driven by different factors but also suggests that diversification was, at least theoretically, possible. However, gaining a systematic advantage by exploiting this feature alone appears unlikely. The MSCI index return cannot be purchased and is impossible to replicate. Consequently, obtaining the advantage of using its statistical properties to optimize portfolio performance is not a viable strategy. However, the findings show that investors who diversified into real estate over the last 15 years have, on average, benefited from doing so. While it is likely that individual assets over or underperformed the index, it appears that, on average, including real assets into a portfolio improved its overall risk-adjusted performance. More research is needed to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of the returns which offered diversification as it is possible that some portfolios offered very different returns than others and that investors observed different performance depending on the time of their entry into the market. Nevertheless, given the findings of this research it appears logical that real properties have become very popular during the economic downturn and early stages of recovery.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how real estate returns behaved over the last two decades in relation to the other two asset types. This allows a direct evaluation of how investors make allocation choices and perceive risks and rewards offered by properties in the context of changing market conditions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A de-smoothed MSCI index is used to reflect direct property returns and control for both income and capital returns within it. Indirect property returns are approximated by the RX Real Estate index. By supplementing this data with an analysis of trends in both space and capital markets it is possible to relate investor behavior to events affecting other assets.\nFindings: It is possible to identify three distinctive periods characterized by different correlation of returns and behavior of investors: before the crisis of 2008, the crisis period between 2008 and 2012 and recovery afterwards. These appear to have corresponded to different stages of the economic cycle. Interestingly, performance of asset classes has also differed over that period suggesting that at different points in the cycle asset allocation decisions may have been made differently.\nPractical implications: It appears that as investments over the last 15 years real assets in Germany behaved similarly to bonds. It is possible that this phenomenon was driven by an aversion to the stock market and its associated risk which became a concern after the financial crisis of 2008. Over the downturn that followed the market shock investors appear to have turned to assets with simpler risk profiles like direct real estate and government debt. On the other hand, the correlation between direct property investment index and stock returns has been found to be small but negative. This shows not only that the two asset classes were often driven by different factors but also suggests that diversification was, at least theoretically, possible.\nOriginality/value: Direct real estate investment returns have repeatedly been found to exhibit characteristics similar to those found in bond as well as equity markets (Eichholtz and Hartzell, 1996; Clayton and MacKinnon, 2003) but little research examines the correlation between returns offered by those asset classes in a mature financial and property market. In addition, the recent financial crisis provided a dynamically changing investment which is ideal for investigating structural relationships between assets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploration of people centric organizational health dimensions: a study of Indian R&D organization	[ "Organizational health", "Focus group discussion", "Research and development organization", "VantagePoint" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizational health is perceived to be associated with the adaption of the organization in response to the changing environment and is helpful in attaining competitive advantage (Keller and Price, 2011; Lencioni, 2012). Organizational health has also been associated with individual health and wellbeing since the term first came into existence in 1960s. McHugh and Brotherton (2000) and McHugh et al. (2003) advanced the concept of organizational health by assimilating the integral processes of the organization (structural, cultural and management process) with the organizational performance. The study attempts to explore the concept of organizational health in R&D organizations. Research and development (R&D) is one of the ways by which organizations can keep on challenging their competitive position by increasing their stock of knowledge (Niosi, 1999) and by fostering diversification of their economy toward higher value-added prospects (Hausmann and Hidalgo, 2011). The multi-national corporations have captured this advantage as they set up their R&D units in emerging markets which utilizes the advanced and innovative technologies creating difficulties for the domestic firms. Among the domestic firms, government-funded R&D organizations are at the most disadvantage. The existence of government-sponsored R&D organizations is to contribute to the development of industry and the creation of markets, rather than be self-serving and respond to the needs and demands of their economy (Matthews and Shulman, 2005). Griliches (1979) highlighted that the growth of an economy in terms of productivity is related to gross expenditures on research and development (GERD) by the government. This makes the government-funded R&D organizations more important and in need of focus as government-funded R&D contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP). Therefore, government-funded R&D organizations need to achieve competitive advantage by attaining organizational health.\nTheoretical background: Since conceptualization of the term organizational health, various authors have tried to define organizational health primarily as the ability of an organization to grow, develop and sustain with the change in environment (Miles, 1965; Clark, 1969; Fordyce and Weil, 1971; Hoy et al., 1991). Organizational health was chiefly devised to show that an organization needs to overcome the challenges in the environment (Bennis, 1962). Bennis (1962) was one of the first theorists to apply the term health in context of an organization while Miles (1965) was one of the first theorists to apply the term health in context of a school. Various researchers showed that organizational health is basically organizational effectiveness with respect to the changes in circumstances/environment (Miles, 1965; Clark, 1969; Fordyce and Weil, 1971; Cox and Howarth, 1990). But the concept of organizational health evolved in the last decade of nineteenth century with the primary focus on attaining competitive edge (Keller and Price, 2011; Lencioni, 2012).\nMethodology: Qualitative method of data collection was applied to collect data. For the present study, focus group discussion was conducted. Focus groups are distinct from individual interviews because of the explicit use of group interaction (Morgan, 1988; Kitzinger, 1994). The primary reason for conducting focus group discussion is participant brainstorming or interaction between participants which leads to sharing of several opinions and digs deeper into an issue (Kitzinger, 1994; Morgan, 1996). Focus group discussion is an excellent approach for exploring new areas of interest and generating concepts and hypothesis using the inductive approach (Powell and Single, 1996). Focus group discussion also varies in comparison to group discussion because the term \"focus\" exhibits the role of moderator in limiting discussions to area of interest (Gallagher et al., 1993; Morgan, 1996).\nResults and discussion: The coded data comprising quotes/verbatims which were keyed out from the transcribed notes and keywords were identified from the verbatim (Table II). A total of 905 keywords were extracted from 269 quotes/verbatim. As the keywords extracted were close to thousand words, frequency was used as a parameter to reduce the number of the keywords. The keywords having frequency less than 5 were removed from further data analysis which reduced keywords to a total of 424 having frequency of 5 or more. Further the keywords having similar meaning (Oxford dictionary) were classified under the same theme. Thus, 424 keywords conglomerated to 40 themes which were further reviewed in relation to the concept of organizational health reducing the number to 19 themes. Figure 3 is an Aduna map generated for the identified 19 themes. The number provided in the parenthesis next to the themes highlight its frequency in the coded data. These 19 themes can be sorted into four categories, namely, generalized variables, factors of organizational health, antecedents and consequences of organizational health based on their unique nature (Table III). Factors of organizational health have been explained in the subsequent section.\nConclusion: This study explored the concept of organizational health by conducting focus group discussion at laboratories of CSIR. The focus group discussions helped in conceptualizing organizational health by identifying five dimensions, namely, resource generation/utilization, innovation, morale, problem solving and team orientation. First factor, resource generation/utilization has inter-linkages with employee and organization. The inter-linkage in Aduna map shows that employees play a crucial role in procuring resources for an organization (Sayeed, 2001; Singh, 2014). Availability of resources to employees denotes health of an organization. The respondents at CSMCRI gave an example of procuring lab instruments to highlight the importance as well as difficulty faced by them not only while acquiring but after procurement as well. The second factor, innovation is seen to have inter-linkages with employee and R&D organization. These inter-linkages show that for any R&D organization to grow, develop and sustain the demand of ever-changing technology, innovation plays an important role (Paulsen et al., 2009). The third factor, morale, has inter-linkages with employee, belongingness and organizational health. The fourth factor, problem solving describes the extent to which an organization is characterized as demonstrating problem solving mode of operation in various facets of its function (Miles, 1965; Sayeed, 1996). Problem solving is seen to have inter-linkages with industry, merged labs, R&D organization and organizational health (Figure 3). Similarly, the fifth factor, team orientation has inter-linkages with leadership and work happiness (Figure 3). While discussing the role of employees in organization with the respondents of focus group discussion, it was perceived that the respondents showed grievances toward individual recognition but conceded with team recognition (Butler, 1973).\nImplications of the study: The study contributes in extending research of organizational health by providing people centric definition with four factors; resource utilization, innovation, moral, problem solving and team orientation. In R&D organization availability of resources and utilization of resources are concern for organization. Managers can utilize the concept and monitor resources from both utilization and availability perspective to improve the health of organization. Due to globalization, resource generation is a source of problem for organizations in emerging markets if they are not at the core of scientific and technological advancement. Another important aspect useful for managers is criteria to measure organizational performance of an R&D organization. Though numerous researchers across the globe have used patents, publications and external cash flow as the measures of organizational performance, these parameters are in contest due to the scientific and technological imbalance in advancement of the R&D organizations in developed and emerging countries. Finally, managers and future researchers can test the proposed model to understand the applicability of the model in sectors other than R&D.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the dimensions of organizational health with the help of existing literature and focus group discussion on organizational health. The study also tries to categorize various antecedents and consequences of organizational health.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature review was conducted with limited search word on organizational health using databases like Emerald, Ebsco and Science direct. Focus group discussions were performed at Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute and National Metallurgical Laboratory - laboratories of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, an Indian R&D organization. A total of 29 male and 6 female respondents participated in the focus group discussion.\nFindings: The results showed that various dimensions of organizational health which were found using focus group discussions were in congruence with the literature reviewed on organizational health. The findings of focus group discussion also listed the antecedents and consequences of organizational health in an R&D organization.\nResearch limitations/implications: The literature presented conflicting views on organizational health construct. The focus group discussion provided clarity on the dimensions of organizational health. An empirical research can be done on organizational health considering dimensions identified during the focus group discussion.\nOriginality/value: It is an attempt to conceptualize the construct of organizational health in a research and development organization with the help of focus group discussion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A new era?	[ "Baby boomer generation", "China", "Immigration", "Taxes", "Cold War", "Post‐Cold War era", "Post‐9/11 era", "Gridlock", "Compromise", "Stimulus", "IPods", "IPhones" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Recently there has been some back-and-forth in academic circles about how to characterize the current era. The period 1947 to 1989 was obviously \"The Cold War Era.\" The period from 1990 to the present lacked such an obvious descriptor. For lack of an obvious candidate, it has been referred to as \"The Post-Cold War Era.\" The \"Age of Sacred Terror,\" though an excellent book, failed to catch on as a nickname, nor did any other terrorism-themed name. The \"Post-9/11 Era\" describes something, with its two wars, tax cuts, eventual financial dissolution, and near-depression, but 9/11, at least as of press time, was a one-off, and not a lot of what was significant in that decade had to do with 9/11-type terrorism (though our response to 9/11 was surely significant).\nCorresponding author: Patrick Marren can be contacted at: marrenp@aol.com\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the breakdown of political compromise and its possible effects on the business climate over the next few years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Essay.\nFindings: - Political polarization has brought the basic functions of government into question and may cause gridlock on major issues for a long time. This will have serious consequences for the business climate of the country.\nOriginality/value: - This paper examines these issues in what is hoped to be a unique way.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying the maturity model concept to the servitization process of consumer durables companies in Brazil	[ "Service management", "Servitization", "Maturity model", "Work organization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The participation of services in gross domestic product has increased in the recent decades. Despite the numerous manufacturing industries that exist in developing countries, especially in Asia and Latin America, the participation of services has rapidly expanded (Cambridge, 2007; Neely, 2008; Maglio et al., 2009).\n2. Literature review: The main purpose of this section is to gather references that support the fundamentals applied in this study. First, it is important to elaborate on after-sales services, since it is considered a trigger.\n3. Study methods: The study method in this research was divided into four steps: first, literature review and a proposal for the initial maturity model based on these references; second, pilot case study and review of the initial maturity model; third, application of the maturity model to three different companies undergoing a servitization process with the purpose of reassessment/validation; and fourth, final conclusions.\n4. Maturity model applied to servitization: For the pilot case study (named PC), the company selected is the largest information technology company of the world. PC was originally founded as an informatics products manufacturer and in recent years had expanded its product portfolio.\n5. Conclusions: Four case studies have been conducted. The first one is a pilot and a preparation for the remaining planned studies. These case studies established interesting relationships between the literature findings and what was identified in the companies evaluated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the servitization process of typical manufacturing companies that already provide after-sales services, by identifying the phases and organizational elements that enable the delivery of more services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A servitization maturity model for consumer durables companies is proposed. Servitization is an evolutionary process based on customer profiling, company profiling, the nature of the service, maturity of the process and process characteristics. The capacity of maintaining organizational relationships among players in the value chain describes the organizational maturity needed to advance towards the next phase. The research has been conducted as an exploratory study, in which four different case studies of consumer durables companies were performed to validate the proposed maturity model and detail each phase and the critical resources needed to become servitized.\nFindings: Four category levels of organizational relationships were identified: first, company and customers; second, company and production network; third, company and market, in addition to; fourth, the internal relations of the company.\nPractical implications: The means to evaluate companies that undergo servitization are also presented to provide a better understanding of their placement in the process and guide managers through the next necessary steps of action.\nOriginality/value: The development and application of this model allowed exploring the levels of servitization as an evolutionary process based on the relationships among players in the value chain by gathering, structuring, organizing several critical requirements and highlighting important attributes that must be examined by companies during the servitization process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How effective are interface organizations in the promotion of university-industry links? Evidence from a regional innovation system	[ "Universities", "Small- to medium-sized enterprises", "Technology transfer offices", "Innovation agencies", "Regional innovation systems", "Science parks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Triple Helix dynamics have emerged together with a group of specialized hybrid organizations aimed at creating networking and consensus spaces between different actors in national and regional innovation systems. Technology transfer offices (TTOs), science and technology parks and governmental innovation agencies are some of the key \"interface\" organizations that channel the interactions between industry, universities and public bodies, and therefore can be considered the main embodiments of Triple Helix dynamics (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000; Etzkowitz and Ranga, 2010). While the importance of these interface organizations is widely acknowledged (Guston, 1999; Leydesdorff et al., 2006; Leydesdorff and Strand, 2012), it is difficult to obtain empirical insights about their effects and their influence on shaping the different forms of interactions between firms, universities and other public research centers. A relevant part of research in this field focusses on the role played by specific types of organizations using available data related to formalized links or codified knowledge. However, much work remains to be done on the comparison between different type of organizations and their relative importance on knowledge transfer processes.\nBackground: Hybrid organizations are one of the main micro-components of Triple Helix institutional arrangements. They function as boundary spaces that allow practices from different domains to operate, and eventually help to overcome cultural barriers between the scientific community and the business sector (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 1998, 2000; Etzkowitz and Ranga, 2010; Guston, 1999; Leydesdorff, 2000; Leydesdorff et al., 2006; Leydesdorff and Strand, 2012). Research in this field have focussed on the growing importance of such organizations, the conditions to promote effective partnerships between actors and the problems arising from the existence of different cultures and practices (Erosa, 2012). Empirical studies investigating interface structures has primarily focussed on the role and outcomes of three main types of organizations: TTOs, science parks and innovation agencies. Authors usually focus on one of the above types.\nResearch focus: The general research questions used as point of departure are subject to important discussions in innovation literature and policy practices. The background assumptions of most of theoretical approaches reflect the importance of links and interactive learning for effective innovation (Edquist, 1997, 2005), and therefore the significant role of interface organizations in enhancing relationships (Guston, 1999; Lee et al., 2010). It is commonly assumed that effective links produce circulation of workers, ideas and capacities, and in turn may enhance creativity and breakthrough innovations if complementary actors and technologies are put together (Chesbrough, 2003). In policy terms, more affluent links means usually an expectation of better firm performance. The role of specific hybrid organizations promoted by governments and publicly owned academic organizations is aimed at avoiding the so called \"systemic failures\", specially the barriers that avoid interconnections between the main actors of an innovation system (Ronde and Hussler, 2005). Nevertheless, the discussion about what different links and what types of actors are more relevant for an innovation system is far from straightforward.\nOur case study: Our empirical context is the region of Andalusia. The region differs from others in Spain in terms of its lower R\nMethodology: Data source\nFindings: Descriptive results\nConclusions and implications: The analysis shows that different organizations have indeed different roles in the relationships that firms maintain with universities in this regional innovation system. Overall, research parks and innovation agencies are given greater effectiveness than TTOs. The analysis suggests that the role of hybrid organizations in promoting knowledge transfer is not influenced by some structural and organizational characteristics of the firms. Activity sector and size do not show significant differences when assessing the importance to these organizations. Internal R\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the interface organizations of a regional innovation system on the dynamics of knowledge transfer between universities and firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The Triple Helix approach is used as a heuristic tool. The paper is based on a face-to-face survey to a sample of 800 innovative firms in Andalusia (Spain). The analysis focusses on the effectiveness attributed by the firms to technology transfer offices (TTOs), science parks and the regional innovation agency.\nFindings: Different organizations have different roles in the relationships that firms maintain with universities in a regional innovation system. Firm's positive perceptions of TTOs, science parks and the innovation agency in the promotion of knowledge transfer are associated to the kind of relationships maintained with universities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research focusses on the region of Andalusia. Further studies could consider the applicability of the findings in other regional innovation systems.\nPractical implications: The paper helps governments and managers of TTOs, science parks and innovation agencies to understand the real use that interface organizations have for the industrial tissue of a regional innovation system.\nOriginality/value: There have been few studies that observe together the value attributed by firms to the several interface organizations in a specific innovation system. The analysis contributes to the debate on the adjustment of the different roles of interface organizations in the promotion of knowledge transfer and innovation dynamics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Establishing linkages between religiosity and spirituality on employee performance	[ "Religiosity", "Spirituality", "Employee performance", "Multicultural", "Malaysia", "Employees" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Background of the study\n2. Review of literature: 2.1 Religiosity\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Population and sampling procedures\n4. Results: 4.1 Demographic profile of the respondents\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of religiosity and spirituality on employee performance in organisations. The results from SEM analysis showed that religiosity and spirituality have a significant positive relationship with job performance for all employees (i.e. Muslims and non-Muslims), and religion moderates the relationships.This finding is consistent with previous studies. For instance, Oler (2004) found religiosity and spirituality affected daily work practices. While, Vasconcelos (2009) indicated that religion through its tenets tends to influence somewhat employees' behaviours, perceptions, and decisions of individuals. McCarty (2007) also reported that the participants in his study had reported prayers activities increase employee morale and productivity, and decrease employee turnover as well. Another finding of the present study is that the coefficient of spirituality is higher than religiosity, which indicates that better spiritual condition influences employees more to show better performance compared with only ritual activity performed. And, it is found that religion is a moderating variable for employees' performance. This result supports previous studies that there is a significant positive relationship between spirituality in the workplace and professional commitment (Khanifar et al., 2010), ethical behaviour (McGhee and Grant, 2008), and job satisfaction (East, 2005; Komala and Ganesh, 2007; Nur, 2003).This particular study has provided a new input to knowledge in the field of spirituality and religiosity. It has extended the knowledge of spirituality at workplace by not only confirming the previous studies but also by confirming that spirituality is more significant than religiosity in influencing employees' performance. It should be noted that most of the previous studies examined the effects of spirituality on organisational performance, but not in terms of profitability or productivity or employees' performance improvement; rather in terms of some indicators such as job satisfaction (Connolly and Myers, 2003; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003; Komala and Ganesh, 2007; Miles et al., 2005) and these in turn support organisational performance. More interestingly, this study enhances understanding in the field by revealing that religion played the role of a moderating variable in spirituality-performance relationship.There are several implications of this study. Managers and supervisors who attempt to bring about changes in employee behaviours in multicultural organisations through the integration of spirituality at work need to address major concerns and caveats. As asserted by Karakas (2010), whether applying, enabling, or incorporating spirituality practices in organisations result in an increase in productivity or profitability is a very complex and controversial issue. Managers should accommodate spiritual requests of their employees irrespective of their different spiritual beliefs (Cavanagh, 1999). This means that as long as the spiritual requests of some employees do not limit the freedoms of others, managers should respond to them (Cavanagh, 1999). Given the fact that the workforce in Malaysia is multicultural and multireligious in nature, it has become crucial to acknowledge diversity in the workplace and respect individual differences, including those professed to be atheists. A culture of respect for diversity of beliefs and faiths should be cultivated in the workplace by enforcing codes of conduct as well as instilling values of tolerance, respect, and compassion.It is an understatement to conclude that religiosity and spirituality benefit only the individuals, society, or the community. Furthermore, some theorists and research literature have suggested that employees in organisations that embrace and foster spirituality will experience improved productivity (Garcia-Zamor, 2003), increased job satisfaction (Connolly and Myers, 2003; Miles et al., 2005), and better performance, as well as be more tolerant and less susceptible to stress (Marques, 2005). Karakas (2009) in his review of 140 articles reported that workplace spirituality supports organisational performance.Even though, religiosity does not show as significant influence as spirituality on employees' performance, it is not realistic to expect employees to leave their personal essence at home when they go to their workplace (Garcia-Zamor, 2003). Researchers have suggested that many people in the twenty-first century workforce desire to have meaningful work that engages their whole self (Marques, 2006; Mitroff and Denton, 1999). Furthermore, it is important to remember that these factors do not standalone; for example, religiosity alone may not make significant impacts, unless positive values and work commitment are present. Moreover, it is imperative that researchers and practitioners continue to examine various ways so that employees are motivated to improve their quantity and quality of performance.The limitation of this study is that this research did not analyse all of the demographic variables, except religion with regard to employees' performance. Demographic characteristics such as age, income, and gender are often assumed to have affected employees' performance. Another limitation is that this study examined religiosity and spirituality at the individual level, not at organisational level. Further research is needed to effectively measure the factors identified in the model, and then provide a more comprehensive framework by identifying and incorporating all other apparently relevant factors that influence organisations in today's dynamic multicultural and multireligious work environment. Different measurements of religiosity and spirituality may be applied. Hopefully, findings from this study will trigger more research interests in future among the scholars of relevant fields of study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine the impact of religiosity and spirituality on employee performance in multi-cultural and multi-religious organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study adopted Religiosity Personality Index (MRPI) by Azimi et al., Spirituality Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) by Hatch et al., and Performance Measures by Sarmiento et al. The performance data was collected from employees, peers, and supervisors. The study administered and received all the 435 completed sets of questionnaires (435 employees, 870 peers, and 435 supervisors).\nFindings: - SEM analysis showed that religiosity and spirituality have a significant positive relationship with employees' performance. Better spiritual condition improves performance. Religion functions as a moderating variable in employees' job performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study has extended the knowledge of spirituality in the workplace by confirming that spirituality is more significant than religiosity in influencing employees' performance. Religion, however, moderates spirituality-performance relationship.\nPractical implications: - Based on the empirical findings of this study, organizations may formulate new policies and strategies for improving employee performance by allowing and encouraging spiritual activities in the workplace irrespective of religious and spiritual beliefs, thereby facilitating understanding and mutual respect. A culture of respect for diversity of beliefs and faiths should be cultivated in the workplace by enforcing appropriate codes of conduct as well as instilling values of tolerance, respect and compassion, which would result in more productive teamwork and improved performance.\nOriginality/value: - This is the only study that measured the impact of religiosity and spirituality on employees' performance using three different sources of data: employees, peers, and supervisors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Democratizing innovation processes: personal initiative in bottom-up eco-innovation	[ "Proactive behaviour", "Eco-innovation", "Employee-driven innovation", "Personal initiative", "Bottom-up innovation", "Qualitative case study" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Shifting the focus from a more traditional innovation approach toward democratizing the innovation process and involving non-experts has broadened the range of those who can contribute to innovation processes (Chesbrough, 2003; Von Hippel, 2005), as well as increased attention to the conceptual development of employee-driven innovation (EDI) (Hoyrup, 2010). The concept of EDI stresses the active and systematic involvement of non-managerial employees in innovation processes, as their strong involvement in daily routines provides them with in-depth and contextual knowledge that is both unique and different from that of their managers (Kesting and Parm Ulhoi, 2010). In this way, employees are capable of making a contribution to innovation processes that strengthen an organization's capacity to innovate (Kesting and Parm Ulhoi, 2010). Despite the admitted potential of employees in contributing to the innovation process, scholarly work on EDI remains limited (Backstrom and Bengtsson, 2019) and focused either on the conceptual development of employees' capabilities or, when empirical in nature, dedicated to individual characteristics such as intrinsic motivation and well-being (Buech et al., 2010), self-efficacy (Frese et al., 1999) and organizational characteristics such as managerial support (Ramus and Steger, 2000), leadership behavior (De Jong and Den Hartog, 2007) and group climate (Axtell et al., 2000), as well as how these characteristics determine - that is, facilitate or impede - the success of EDI.\n2. Theoretical background: This section presents the foundations of EDI and the nature of eco-innovation that position the paper in the literature and frame the research question.\n3. Methods: Our qualitative case-study approach enables a holistic investigation to be conducted of individual-level processes and interactions. We follow eco-innovation processes that encompass the dynamic phases of idea-generation, idea-promotion and idea-realization (Scott and Bruce, 1994), as well as events that employees act upon. Looking at the process helps us to describe the dynamic nature of eco-innovation, thus allowing us to explore how the process is initiated, sustained and aided by personal initiative. As such, being a micro-level analysis, this study provides room for accounts of human dynamics that are important in innovation processes. The collection of contextual data from multiple sources fosters a greater understanding (Strauss and Corbin, 1998; Strauss, 1987). For instance, we were able to examine particular initiatives closely and to elucidate employees' actions, showing how these are linked to the eco-innovation process.\n4. Findings: This section first presents case narratives of each eco-initiative to provide a rich insight into the innovation processes within each example. Then, we continue with a comparative analysis of the different cases to answer the research question.\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Personal initiative in the individual phases of eco-innovation\n6. Conclusion: The aim of this study has been to elucidate how personal initiative advances bottom-up innovation success, specifically in complex and partly ambiguous eco-innovation processes. We have pursued this aim by investigating employees' behavior in two self-initiated eco-initiatives in a manufacturing company renowned for its eco-innovation success. We identified personal initiative to be a critical success factor for EDI in mastering environmental initiatives. Focusing on the individual aspects of personal initiative, our findings reinforce the need for phase-specific behavior. While personal initiative was revealed throughout the eco-innovation process, its significance changed according to the various demands of the individual phases of innovation. Moreover, employees were found to be motivated to start initiatives themselves despite anticipating challenges and tensions, to set themselves goals quickly, and to create an implementation plan that helped them overcome the anticipated challenges. We suggest that the concept of personal initiative is particularly suited to complex and ambiguous contexts of innovation. With personal initiatives, the scope for EDI is broadened by making complex and ambiguous innovation processes feasible for employees. Thus, integrating personal initiative into the concept of EDI changes the perspective of employees' innovation efforts from an economic, rationale view of how to activate or optimize their contributions toward an active performance view of how employees themselves can craft innovation if organizations provide the room for them to do so.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Previous work on employee-driven innovation (EDI) has demonstrated the benefits of employees' proactive behavior in achieving success with innovations. The purpose of this paper is to employ the concept of personal initiative to investigate the underestimated role of employees' agency in complex processes of innovation, showing the impact of personal initiative on employees' innovation success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on two embedded cases of environmental bottom-up innovation at a large manufacturing company, this study examines employees' behavior in generating, championing and realizing such initiatives.\nFindings: This paper provides insights into how employees succeeded, through taking initiative in generating, championing and realizing environmental initiatives despite facing high complexity, and resource constraints. Without being prompted from the top down, employees started these initiatives themselves and showed phase-specific behavior in overcoming the various challenges. Thus, self-starting behavior was found dominant in generating ideas, whereas proactive and persistent forms of behavior were found to be prevalent in championing and rolling out the initiatives.\nOriginality/value: Current understandings of EDI highlight the importance of developing employees' potential capabilities and organizational-level guidance. Using an active performance perspective, this study emphasizes the importance of employees' agency in ensuring EDI success, even when conditions are not conducive to their doing so.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Environmentally friendly as a new dimension of product quality	[]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the year 1800, the process of innovation has been accelerated by the invention of the steam engine, and then different technologies have been introduced in different eras. No attention, however, was paid to the side-effects of these products and technologies with respect to the environment until recent decades (Kondratiev, 1925). The production-of-goods process has different steps relating to the production of raw materials as input, processing and output for customers' usage. Lack of attention to producing environmentally friendly products, ignoring environmental issues during the abovementioned steps and after finishing the life cycle of products are the reasons behind the production of products harmful to the environment. This also contributes to dangerous phenomena in nature such as: increasing sea levels, climate change, air pollution, species extinction and lack of resources.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 A glimpse into the meaning and history of product quality\n3. Research model: Based on a review of literature, it is a basic proposition of this study that eight dimensions, i.e. performance, feature, conformance, reliability, durability, service ability, aesthetics and perceived quality are comprehensive enough to explain the concept of product quality. But, as has already been justified, environmentally friendly has the potential to be added as a new dimension of product quality.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Sampling method\n5. Identification of important underlying factors for product quality using total variance explained and rotated component matrix: 5.1 Total variance explained\n6. Validity and reliability: The issues of validity and reliability are very important in order to determine whether the nine constructs or dimensions of product quality are stable, accurate and able to provide consistent results in repeated use (Hair et al., 2006). Two types of validity have been considered in this study and those are content and construct validity.\n7. Discussion, contribution and future works: Based on the literature review, many researchers have worked on the eight different dimensions of product quality with regard to the customers' demands and optimization of the products, but there is still a lack of attention to environmental issues and concerns. In this research the authors have tried to fill the gap between concepts of product quality and the environment (specifically the environmental issues which are crucial currently and will be in the future). On the other hand, new companies try to adopt products with an environmentally friendly approach. They moved to producing products with respect for the environment. For instance, new departments and specific budgets are allocated to car manufacturers to produce environmentally friendly products. Furthermore, some vendors try to be more environmentally friendly by reducing non-environmentally friendly packaging and plastic bags. Considering these abovementioned points, it is easy to understand that efforts are being made regarding saving the environment and resources, but the product quality dimensions still have no interaction with the environment and nature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend the existing dimensions of product quality to cover ecological phenomena. It proposes adding a new dimension - environmentally friendly - to the existing dimensions of product quality in order to help solve environmental issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The main focus of the literature review is on product quality dimensions. The authors discuss each dimension separately to clarify whether there is any consideration given to producing environmentally friendly products which can directly contribute to product quality dimensions. The population of this study was chosen from consumers, since their demands and expectations play a significant role in producing green products. A stratified sampling method was used and the sample size was selected according to the Morgan table of sampling. Factor analysis was conducted on the collected data to determine the underlying factors of product quality.\nFindings: The results indicate that consumers are more concerned about environmental issues in recent decades, and they responded that environmentally friendly is an important part of a product along with other dimensions of product quality which should be considered by manufacturers and producers.\nOriginality/value: This research is one of the first studies which explores consumers' opinions on the demand side to examine environmentally friendly capability as a new dimension of product quality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hazard zonation in Uttaranchal (India): a tool to understand the problem	[ "Earthquakes", "Hazards", "Preventive maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Uttranchal by virtue of its geographical setting is vulnerable to minor changes. Hence, any activity disapproved by mountain ecosystem trigger a disaster. We cannot stop disaster to happen but can certainly take some steps to reduce its effects. Disasters are synonymous to damage of property, life and psyche of the people. If disasters cannot be averted, then reduction of losses of any type, caused by disaster becomes a focal point of the policy for disaster management. Hence, we have to device our disaster management mechanism for reduction of effects of disaster, i.e. damage of property and loss of life and the rapid and effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the victims.Uttranchal is a disaster prone state. Landslides, forest fires, cloudbursts and flesh-floods are seasonal in nature and they strike at a certain period of the year with high frequency. Earthquakes are the most devastating disaster in the mountains and are unpredictable.So far, in the recent years (1990 onwards) Uttaranchal has experienced two major earthquakes (>6 magnitude) in Uttarkashi (1991) and Chamoli (1999) and a series of landslides/cloud burst such as Malpa (1998), Okhimath (1998), Fata (2001), Gona (2001), Khet Gaon (2002), Budhakedar (2002), Varunavat (2003), Lambagar (2004) and Ramolsari (2005).\nHazard matrix: Hazard matrix is a product of:* the frequency with which such a hazardous event may occur; and* the severity of the loss if it does occur.Frequency\nHazard zonation: On the basis of the magnitude and intensity of the natural events like earthquake, wind and flood (landslides and forest fires are the resultant events of these natural forces) the entire Uttaranchal (Vulnerability Atlas of India, 1997) is divided into four disaster zones (Table II).It is interesting to note that zones SvhWmFl and ShWmFl cover the maximum geographical area of Uttaranchal while zone ShWhFh covers the marginal area. However, seismicity is the dominant component in all the four disaster zones (Table III).A relationship between disaster zone and population reveals that ShWmFl zone registers maximum population, followed by SvhWmFl and ShWhFm. However, if a correlation between population and area is calculated, it is found that ShWhFh records maximum population density while SvhWmFl zone registers minimum population density (Table IV).The analysis of the above given tables reveals that the zone ShWhFh though characterized by low area coverage and low population statistics, is the highly vulnerable area as all the three natural events considered in the analysis register high magnitude and intensity values. This statement also finds support from the density figure, which indicates that proportion of elements at risk is comparatively higher in this zone.\nHazard zones and districts: It is noted that Chamoli and Rudraprayag are the only districts which are entirely covered by only one disaster zone, i.e. SvhWmFl. Almora, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Tehri-garhwal and Uttarkashi are the districts which are covered by two disaster zones, i.e. SvhWmFl and ShWmFl. Almora, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh and Champawat are the districts which register maximum area under SvhWmFl in comparison to ShWmFl while Tehri-Garhwal and Uttarkashi reveals just reciprocal situation, i.e. more area under ShWmFl than SvhWmFl. Although Dehradun district is also characterized by the similar conditions of two disaster zones, but in this district ShWmFl and ShWhFm are the disaster zones. However, in Dehradun ShWmFl is the dominant disaster zone while only 18.53 km2 of total district area comes under ShWhFm disaster zone. Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar and Pauri are the three districts where three disaster zones are recorded. In Nainital and Udhamsingh Nagar ShWmFl, ShWhFm and ShWhFh are the zones while in Dehradun the disaster zones are SvhWmFl, ShWmFl and ShWhFm (Table V).\nGeographical distribution of earthquake, wind and flood hazards: The Geographical distribution of all the three selected natural events in different districts indicate different scenario. In Almora and Bageshwar about 3,963.36 km2 of area falls under earthquake intensity > IXMSK while 1,421.64 km2 of area is registered under earthquake intensity VIII MSK. The entire Almora and Bageshwar districts are characterized by 44 and 39 m/s wind velocity, which indicate moderate damage risk zone under wind hazard. Both the districts are out side the flood hazard but the local damage may be more severe under heavy rains (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 320 mm) (Table VI).The entire Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts falls under earthquake intensity > IXMSK (Zone V: very high damage risk zone). Both the districts are characterized by 44 and 39 m/s wind velocity, which indicate moderate damage risk zone under wind hazard. The districts are out side the flood hazard but the local damage may be more severe under heavy rains (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 360 mm) (Table VII).Dehradun and Hardwar districts, seismically falls under VIII MSK earthquake intensity zone (Zone IV: high damage risk zone). Approximately 18.53 km2 of the district is characterized by 47 m/s wind velocity zone (high damage risk zone) while 3,069.47 km2 of area falls under moderate damage risk zone (44 and 39 m/s wind velocity) of wind hazard. Almost entire Dehradun district is out side the flood zone, however, the local damage may be more severe under heavy rains (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 600 mm) (Table VIII).District Pauri registers two seismic zones. About 718.08 km2 area of the district falls under very high damage risk zone (earthquake intensity > IXMSK) while a major portion of the district (4,721.92 km2) is under earthquake intensity VIIIMSK (Zone IV: high damage risk zone). Similarly, under wind hazards about 832.32 km2 of the area is under high damage risk zone (wind velocity 47 m/s) while a huge portion of approximately 4,607.68 km2 is characterized as moderate damage risk zone with wind velocity of 44 and 39 m/s. Being a hill district with southern portion ending as Siwalik and Tarai-Bhabar, Pauri district is out side the flood zone with a threat of severe local damage under heavy rains (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 480 mm) (Table IX).Nainital and Udhamsingh Nagar are the districts of high damage risk (Zone IV) with earthquake intensity of VIIIMSK. However, under wind hazards a major portion of both the districts (about 4,545.19 km2 combined) falls under high damage risk zone (wind velocity 47 m/s). Approximately 33.1 per cent of total area of both the districts is registered under moderate damage risk zone. The most interesting feature of these districts is that about 733.75 km2 of the area is prone to flood while 6,060.25 km2 of the area is though outside the flood zone but in the case of heavy rains local damage may be more severe (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 680 mm) (Table X).Approximately, 7,394.76 km2 of area of Pithoragarh and Champawat districts combined registers very high damage risk zone under earthquake hazard (earthquake intensity > IXMSK) while 16.5 per cent of total area of both the districts falls under earthquake intensity VIIIMSK (Zone IV: high damage risk). Both the districts can be divide into two wind hazard zones; high damage risk zone (5,720.98 km2 area under 47 m/s wind velocity) and moderate damage risk zone (3,135.02 km2 area under 44 and 39 m/s wind velocity). Apart from the local damage, which may be more severe under heavy rains, the districts are out side the flood zone (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 480 mm) (Table XI).Under earthquake hazard a large area of Tehri-Garhwal and Uttarkashi districts falls under Zone IV (83.5 and 84.8 per cent, respectively). This zone IV is characterized by VIIIMSK earthquake intensity and the impact can be assessed as high damage risk zone. Very small portions of both the districts register > IXMSK earthquake intensity (Zone V) with very high damage risk. Both the districts have moderate damage risk due to wind hazard as the wind velocity never exceeds beyond 44 and 39 m/s. Similarly, both the hilly districts are outside the flood zone with a threat of severe local damage under heavy rains (the probable maximum precipitation in 24 h is 480 mm in Tehri Garhwal and 400 mm in Uttarkashi) (Tables XII, XIII).\nVulnerability status of the districts of Uttaranchal: On the basis of the three selected major natural hazards and their magnitude all the 12 districts of Uttaranchal have been divided into three vulnerability status categories (Table XIV).Earthquake is the most important and high magnitude disaster in Uttranchal, which also is responsible for landslide, slumping, rockfall, flood, etc. Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Pithoragarh and Champawat are the districts, which come under very high-risk vulnerability category. Rest of the seven districts of Uttranchal registers high risk vulnerability status (Table XV).Spatial distribution of wind hazard and its magnitude divides the districts of Uttranchal into two vulnerability categories, i.e. Pauri Garhwal, Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar, Pithoragarh and Champawat having high risk status, while rest of the districts registering moderate risk status (Table XVI).Flood hazard intensity and magnitude statistics and past experiences indicate that except Nainital and Udhamsingh Nagar, which adhere high risk status, other districts of Uttaranchal record moderate risk vulnerability status.Disaster vulnerability index (DVI) of all the 12 districts of Uttaranchal successfully presents the priority status of the districts for the disaster management. Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar, Pithoragarh and Champawat are the four districts which have scored the DVI of 75 value (Category I), Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pauri have scored 66.6 DVI (Category II) while Dehradun, Hardwar, Tehri Garhwal and Uttarkashi have scored 58.33 DVI (Category III) (Table XVII).It is interesting to note that in districts of Category I all the three major hazards along with their resultant events are having their presence. In the districts of Category II any two of the major hazards along with their resultant events are having their presence. In the districts of Category III only one major hazard along with its resultant events is having its presence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Up to now most of the research into disaster has examined scientific aspects of the natural phenomena, statistical and geographic records of their occurrence and social responses to the events. This research aims to focus on the hazard identification and hazard zonation on the basis of their severity and frequency so that management aspects of prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response and relief activities can be mounted by the disaster managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Besides compiling the hazard- and risk-related work done by the various research institutions and universities the author has also conducted a similar exercise under GIS environment.\nFindings: - Uttranchal is a state highly prone to disasters. Landslides, forest fires, cloudbursts and flash-floods are disasters that are seasonal in nature and strike during a certain period of the year with high frequency. Earthquake, however, is the most devastating disaster in the mountains and its unpredictable nature adds to its fury.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The analysis is based on the limited geographical area and a time bound of 15 years.\nPractical implications: - Awareness amongst the masses regarding the various disasters that are likely to affect them and their life support strategy is a must for bringing forth voluntary adoption of the safety norms.\nOriginality/value: - Armed with the information about the hazards and their spatial distribution the disaster managers in Uttaranchal may undertake certain preventive and mitigative measures for further strengthening and streamlining the Disaster Management System in the state and pave the way for similar activities in other states of India\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical study of the challenges facing zakat and waqf institutions in Northern Nigeria	[ "Confidence", "Waqf", "Trust", "Zakat", "Northern Nigeria", "Homogeneous", "Maximum variation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Zakat and waqf are Islamic social funds that serve as effective tools for achieving financial inclusiveness and poverty alleviation. In Nigeria, the institutions once flourished during the defunct Sokoto Caliphate that was founded by Usman Dan Fodio (1817). However, after the fall of the Caliphate at the hands of British colonialists in 1905, the institutions suffered lengthy retardation as a result of the colonial interruption (Ahmad, 2010; Otubu, 2012). As the end of colonial rule, the next effort to revive the institutional zakat administration in Northern Nigeria came as a resolution of a conference held in Bayero University, Kano, in 1982. Accordingly, a council was established as Kano State Zakat Council and the late emir of Kano State, Alhaji Ado Bayero was appointed as the chairman of the council. This council existed from 1982 to 2003. There were renewed efforts to upgrade the zakat council to a commission in the aftermath of the Zamfara State declaration of implementation of Shari'ah and following the enactment of the Zamfara State Zakat and Endowment Board Law 2000, which was the first law on zakat and waqf in Northern Nigeria, as the end of colonial rule. This development influenced other states in Northern Nigeria, and the Kano State Zakat and Hubusi Commission was thereafter established in 2003 (Philip, 2007). Nevertheless, these efforts have yet to yield the expected results.\nLiterature review: An abundance of research has been conducted on zakat and waqf. This literature review, however, focusses on the research most relevant to the context of the paper.\nMethodology and research design: The empirical nature of this study used a grounded theory research design, which was found to align with the nature of the current study, where the central phenomenon was the inability of zakat and waqf institutions in Northern Nigeria to combat poverty. The grounded theory necessitates the researcher to drop his conceived theory of the central phenomenon and generate a new theory that is rooted in the participants' views and understanding of the phenomenon (Creswell, 2012).\nFindings and discussion: The findings and emerging theory are discussed below with their implications on the zakat and waqf poverty alleviation programme in the research units of inquiry. The findings were then generalised to Northern Nigeria analytically, as well as to the entire country of Nigeria (Robert, 2011). After the data analysis was conducted, the findings revealed the themes listed below, which were further tested. Based on the validity test, the author is confident that the themes comprehensively represent the data. Below is the list of five themes of their relevance and strength:\nConclusion and recommendations: This research focussed on the causes of low performance of zakat and waqf institutions in Northern Nigeria in alleviating poverty. The study was conducted using an empirical qualitative research method, using interviews as the instrument for data collection. The collection of the data was a combination of face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews with Nigerians in Malaysia and Nigeria, respectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to unearth the factors inhibiting the development of zakat (the Islamic obligatory alms) and waqf (endowment) institutions in Northern Nigeria, with the aim of proffering appropriate solutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses a qualitative research methodology whereby data was sourced from relevant stakeholders in Northern Nigeria. To select the appropriate interviewees, maximum variation and homogenous purposeful sampling techniques were used.\nFindings: The findings of the paper show that zakat and waqf institutions in Northern Nigeria have not achieved their inherent Shari'ah objectives because members of the public have little or no trust or confidence in the institutions. Also, the potential zakat payers and waqf donors dislike political office holders' involvement in the appointment of the institutions' administrators. Finally, the administrators lack adequate managerial and administrative knowledge of the two institutions.\nResearch limitations/implications: The current research focusses on causes of low performance of zakat and waqf institutions solely in Northern Nigeria. It is envisaged that subsequent researchers may conduct research on the possibility of having a federal law that will strengthen the overall establishment and development of zakat and waqf in Nigeria. This will affect both Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority communities.\nOriginality/value: This paper represents a referenceable work in the field of zakat and waqf in Northern Nigeria, as it uses an approach that sources primary data in the form of participants' point of view instead of relying on literature or document analysis. It is not a mere theoretical study of the literature but an empirical investigation of the problem.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Logistics outsourcing by Taiwanese and Dutch food processing industries	[ "Outsourcing", "Food industry", "Taiwan", "The Netherlands", "Distribution management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Taiwan is located in the centre of the Asia-Pacific geographical region. Developing the country as an international logistics and distribution hub has become an issue in the past several years. According to the National Development Plan established by the Council for Economic Planning and Development in 2002 (CEPD, Council For Economic Planning And Development, 2002), one goal for the year 2008 is to turn Taiwan into the best site of regional operation headquarters for both Taiwanese and multinational companies. To achieve this goal, not only will the infrastructure need to be constructed well, but also the logistics industry will need to be able to provide excellent advanced services. The literature on international logistics service providers (LSPs) has found an increasing trend in offering ranging from basic to advanced services. For example, one advanced service called \"supply chain solution\", also known as fourth-party logistics, was created in the late 1990s by a number of LSPs with players in the areas of information technology, management consultancy and financial service providers. As opposed to traditional transportation services, the LSP is hired to manage the customer's entire logistics network (Carbone and Stone, 2005; Hertz and Alfredsson, 2003; Lai, 2004). To date, however, few studies have investigated the demand and development for either basic or advanced logistics services in Taiwan.Since the Taiwanese food trade has grown over the past few years, this study focuses on the food industry and examines its particular needs in advanced logistics. We also compare logistics outsourcing practice in Taiwan and The Netherlands. To our knowledge no other comparative studies have been conducted between European and Asian countries (Arroyo et al., 2006; Sohail et al., 2006). Such comparison between Taiwan and The Netherlands is interesting because both countries are similar in land area and are located centrally in their geographical regions, the Asia-Pacific rim and Europe, respectively. Besides, the food industry is important to both countries and has some specific characteristics (such as variability in quantity and quality and requirements for conditioned distribution) that complicate the outsourcing decision (Mousavi et al., 2002; Van der Vorst et al., 2009; Van Wezel et al., 2006).In terms of economic development and logistics environment, The Netherlands is well in advance of Taiwan (see Table I). The Netherlands is known internationally as the logistics and distribution hub of Europe. A 2006 survey commissioned by Capgemini ranked The Netherlands as the most desirable location for European Distribution Centres (EDCs), especially in the high-tech and food and beverage sectors (Capgemini, 2006). According to the report, The Netherlands accounts for 51 per cent of all European distribution centres within the EU market, with more than 9,000 foreign companies using the region as their distribution hub. Schiphol is the third largest freight airport in Europe, with a total of 1.48 million tonnes (2005) of freight transhipment, after Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Rotterdam is Europe's largest seaport and the main port for agribusiness. Each year, the port handles some 10 million metric tons of agribulk cargo (POR, Port of Rotterdam, 2007). In its similarity in terms of land size, location and importance of the agrifood industry, the logistics sector in Taiwan is following the same trajectory as The Netherlands.The main objective of this paper is to compare the food industry's use of various logistics services in Taiwan and The Netherlands. Three research questions are formulated:RQ1. What are the most commonly outsourced logistics activities in Taiwan and The Netherlands?RQ2. To what extent do outsourcing firms' characteristics differ between Taiwan and The Netherlands?RQ3. What implications would any differences between Taiwan and The Netherlands have, in both logistics outsourcing levels and outsourcing firms' characteristics, for the operational strategies of LSPs in Taiwan?\nLiterature review: The process of logistics outsourcing is one that often involves the use of external logistics companies (third-party) to perform activities that have traditionally been performed within an organisation (Bagchi and Virum, 1996; Berglund et al., 1999; Lieb, 2002; Londe and Cooper, 1998; Sink and Langley, 1997). A third party is neither the seller (first party) nor the buyer (second party) in the supply chain. The term \"logistics company\", \"logistics service provider\" or \"outsourcer\" is used to denote the firm that operates the logistics activities; and the term \"service user\" or \"outsourcee\" is used to denote the firm to who the contract for services is given (Virum, 1993). In this section, we discuss the (dis)advantages of outsourcing, outsourcing approaches, the development of the logistics industry, provide definitions of logistics outsourcing activities and review some prior studies on level of logistics outsourcing in Western and Asian countries.Advantages of outsourcing\nResearch method: Questionnaires were sent to Taiwanese and Dutch food processors with at least 40 employees. Lists of food companies were obtained from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (www.kvk.nl) and Taiwan's Industry & Technology Intelligence Service (www.itis.org.tw). To collect the data we used a Dutch and Chinese version of the questionnaire. To enhance translation equivalence, the original English version of the questionnaire was first translated into Chinese and Dutch by Chinese and Dutch researchers and then checked by another researcher, each of who was fluent in both languages. Any differences, which emerged, were reconciled by the two researchers. In addition, to improve the quality of the measurement instrument, survey questions were evaluated using expert reviews and pre-tests. Two experts in the field reviewed the questions to assess whether our content is appropriate for measuring the intended concepts. Pretests in three target companies provided feedback into the problems they had in answering questions. Surveys were mailed to the logistics managers. Mail questionnaires were selected so the respondents can complete them at their convenience in their homes or office and at their own pace. Our pre-tests also suggest that logistics manager can be a principle respondent. The participating firms were first telephoned to obtain the name of the logistics manager. Within a week of the telephone contact, a questionnaire with a cover letter and pre-paid reply envelope was posted to the managers (Dapiran et al., 1996; Lieb, 2002). Two weeks later, a first reminder, including another copy of the questionnaire and the cover letter and pre-paid reply envelope was sent to managers. The total sample population for this study was 890 (NL: 385; TW: 505); 66 questionnaires had incorrect address details and were returned by the postal service (NL: 57; TW: 9). A total of 138 responses were received (NL: 76; TW: 62), of which 24 had missing data (NL: 7; TW 17) and were judged unusable, thus yielding a sample size of 114 (NL: 69; TW: 45) with a response rate of 15 per cent (NL: 21 per cent; TW: 9 per cent). This compares favourably with response rates of other studies on the use of logistics services (Robertson and Gatignon, 1998).The survey instrument focused on the level of logistics outsourcing (current and future), and the outsourcing firms' characteristics (firm size, logistics strategy and supply chain complexity). In the following we explain these measures in more detail.Level of logistics outsourcing. Respondents were asked to describe the current outsourcing status of four levels of logistics activities: transportation (level 1), packaging; (level 2); transportation management (level 3); and distribution network design (level 4). The survey asked respondents to \"describe your current practice of logistics outsourcing in your main product group given the three options which follow\". These included \"we have already outsourced this activity\", \"we plan to outsource this activity\", and \"we don't intend to outsource this activity\".Outsourcing firms' characteristics. Earlier studies showed that three types of firm characteristics are important for analysing differences in outsourcing decisions: firm size (Al-kaabi et al., 2007; Bolumole, 2001), logistics strategies (Rao and Young, 1994) and supply chain complexity (Robertson and Gatignon, 1998). Take firm size as an illustration. Even with available funding for internal logistics activities, larger firms could also favor external alliances because they may have greater bargaining power:1. Firm size is measured by number of employees (Robertson and Gatignon, 1998).2. Literature distinguishes the following logistic strategies for food manufactures: lowest cost, highest delivery reliability, highest delivery flexibility, shortest order lead-time, and highest food quality(/safety) (Beamon, 1999; Sum and Teo, 1999; Wheelwright, 1984). The instrument consisted of these five objectives, and respondents were asked to rank the importance of each objective as a percentage with the overall sum of 100.3. Supply chain complexity, from a logistical view, refers to the level and type of interactions present in the upstream and downstream logistics flow (Germain et al., 2008; Hsiao et al., 2008). It is determined by number of elements (amount, extent) that make up the supply chain system, variety (differentiated) and uncertainty (predictability of changes) (Hsiao et al., 2006; Milgate, 2001). There are four main sources of logistics complexity that can plague a firm in a supply chain (see Table III):* upstream sources such as number of suppliers, volume, time and material quality and uncertainty about number of suppliers, volume, time and quality (Bozarth et al., 2009; Choi and Krause, 2006; Meyr and Stadtler, 2005; Rao and Young, 1994; Van der Spiegel et al., 2005; Van der Vorst and Beulens, 2002);* internal sources related to manufacturing such as volume of throughput, output, product quality and uncertainty about volume, output, and quality (Meyr and Stadtler, 2005; Rao and Young, 1994; Van der Spiegel et al., 2005);* internal sources related to distribution such as volume of distribution, and uncertainty about volumes (Bozarth et al., 2009; Van der Spiegel et al., 2005; Van der Vorst and Beulens, 2002); and* downstream sources related to customers and distribution, such as demand volume, and uncertainty(Chen et al., 2000; Leeuw et al., 1999; Meyr and Stadtler, 2005; Rao and Young, 1994; Van Damme and Van Amstel, 1996; Van der Vorst and Beulens, 2002; Wanke and Zinn, 2004).A number of authors mention that the logistics outsourcing decision is positively related to supply chain complexity (Hsiao et al., 2006; Milgate, 2001; Rao and Young, 1994). For example, a large number of customers increase the level of coordination needed to improve the efficiency of operations. With fewer customers, the focal company can implement a more efficient buyer-supplier interface through more cost-effective inventory control. In this regard, outsourcing of a certain logistics activity makes sense when a firm operates under high supply chain complexity, because the operational load to manage such a complex supply chain system could then decrease. The literature (Hsiao et al., 2008; Milgate, 2001; Rao and Young, 1994) suggest 17 supply chain complexity items which might complicate a food processor's logistics process and influence outsourcing decisions. Respondents were asked to rate the degree to which the item complicates logistics management in their product group on a seven-point Likert type scale ranging from (1) extremely low to (7) extremely high.\nResults: This section presents comparative analyses of the findings on current outsourcing status and future plans. This section answers our initial research question: What are the most commonly outsourced logistics activities in Taiwan and The Netherlands?Levels of logistics outsourcing in Taiwan and The Netherlands\nDiscussion and conclusions: In this section, we begin by drawing conclusions related to the first two research questions, which considered logistics outsourcing levels and strategy in Taiwan and The Netherlands. Next, based on these conclusions, we derive some implications for LSPs, thereby addressing the final research question.This study aimed to compare food industry outsourcing of various activities in Taiwan and The Netherlands. It delivers some interesting results. First, our findings show that the most commonly outsourced activities in The Netherlands and Taiwan are level 1 activities. About 69 per cent of the companies in both countries outsource level 1 activities, 16 per cent level 2 and 37 per cent level 3 activities. Only a few companies (about 10 per cent) outsource level 4 activities. In particular, The Netherlands has higher percentages for levels 1 and 3. When outsourcing intentions are included, Taiwan will outsource level 2 (40 per cent) and 4 activities (36 per cent) much more than The Netherlands (respectively 13 and 17 per cent). When zooming in on the subsectors, it turns out that outsourcing strategies of companies in these subsectors differ. For instance, the dairy sector outsources more frequently than the meat sector on the first three levels.Second, regarding outsourcing firms' characteristics, we found that logistics strategy and supply chain complexity were related to the outsourcing levels. Dutch firms aim for higher flexibility. Taiwanese firms focus more on low costs. Furthermore, most of the Dutch firms operated under higher supply chain complexities than Taiwanese firms. We contend that these differences may explain why Dutch firms had relatively higher percentages for level 1 and 3 outsourcing than Taiwanese firms. Logistics strategies of quality and food quality have no strong relationship with level of outsourcing. Most Taiwanese companies emphasise low cost whereas The Netherlands also focuses on flexibility. This is mainly due to the fact that The Netherlands has to deal with higher complexities regarding number of international customers and distribution requirements.(Wang et al., 2006). In addition, we found that meat companies place greater emphasis on food quality, but dairy companies focus more on flexibility and reliability. These differences may explain why meat firms had relatively lower percentages for the first three levels than dairy.Operations strategies and implications for LSPs in Taiwan\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to investigate outsourcing of different types of logistics activities in Taiwanese food industry, and benchmark with practices in The Netherlands.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The outsourcing of four levels of logistics activities is investigated: transportation (level 1), packaging (level 2), transportation management (level 3), and distribution network management (level 4). A structured questionnaire was designed and sent to logistics managers in The Netherlands and Taiwan to evaluate the most commonly outsourced activities and identify specific outsourcing firm's characteristics.\nFindings: - About 69 per cent of the companies, in both countries outsource level 1 activities, 16 per cent level 2, and 37 per cent level 3 activities. Only few companies (about 10 per cent) outsource the highest level of activities. In particular, The Netherlands has higher percentages for levels 1 and 3. This might be caused by the fact that most Taiwanese companies emphasise low cost whereas the Dutch companies focus on flexibility in order to deal with higher complexities. When intentions for the future are included, Taiwan is planning to outsource level 2 (40 per cent) and level 4 activities (36 per cent) much more than The Netherlands (respectively 13 and 17 per cent). When zooming in, it was found that outsourcing strategies of companies in the subsectors differ. For instance, the dairy sector outsources more frequently than the meat sector on the first three levels. This might be caused by the fact that meat companies emphasise food quality, whereas dairy companies emphasise flexibility and reliability.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study investigated only food processors. The paper suggests further research should include other types of food organisations.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides valuable insights in outsourcing strategies of food processing companies in Taiwan and The Netherlands for advanced logistics service providers who are looking at the market potential of Taiwan.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Generational differences in personality and motivation: Do they exist and what are the implications for the workplace?	[ "Age groups", "Personality", "Motivation (psychology)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: There has been a recent proliferation in \"popular\" literature focusing on the need to work with, engage, and manage Generation Y employees differently than Generation X or Baby Boomer employees (e.g. Howe et al., 2000; Huntley, 2006; Smola and Sutton, 2002). This is based on the notion that key differences exist in the work values and beliefs of employees from different generations, and that failure to address these differences can lead to conflict in the workplace, misunderstanding and miscommunication, lower employee productivity, poor employee well being and reduced organisational citizenship behaviour (Adams, 2000; Bradford, 1993; Fyock, 1990; Jurkievicz, 2000; Kupperschmidt, 2000; Smola and Sutton, 2002; Yu and Miller, 2003).\nReviewing the notion of \"generations\": Kupperschmidt (2000) defines a generation as an identifiable group, which shares years of birth and hence significant life events at critical stages of development. In general, while researchers differ slightly in the precise years of birth that define the different generations, most agrees that there are four broad generations of employees: Veterans (1925-1944), Baby Boomers (1945-1964), Gen X (1965-1981), and Gen Y (1982-2000) (Hart, 2006; Howe et al., 2000; Yu and Miller, 2003).A generational group shares historical and social life experiences, which affect the way people in that generation develop and distinguish one generational group from another. Smola and Sutton (2002) posit that the social context in which a generational group develops impacts their personality and a person's feelings towards authority, their values and beliefs about organisations, their work ethic, why and how they work and their goals and aspirations for their work life (Smola and Sutton, 2002). It has also been suggested that each generation is likely to develop distinct preferences or traits that distinguish their feelings toward work and what they desire from work (Jurkievicz and Brown, 1998; Kupperschmidt, 2000).Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964)\nGenerational differences in personality and motivation: A review of the existing literature suggests that while previous research has examined differences in work values across generations (e.g. Smola and Sutton, 2002; Yu and Miller, 2003), research findings examining generational differences in personality and motivational drivers in the workplace have been limited. Specifically, while there have been research studies examining differences in personality and motivational drivers across generations (e.g. Twenge, 2000; Twenge 2001a, b), these have tended to focus on broad differences rather than being specifically focussed on the workplace.Instead, the research on generational differences at work has tended to focus on work values. Work values refer to an employee's attitudes regarding what is \"right\", as well as attitudes about what an individual should expect in the workplace (Brown, 1976; George and Jones, 1999). While an individual's personality preferences and motivational drivers are likely to be related to and influenced by his/her work values (Ashley et al., 2001), it is important to maintain a distinction between these concepts.Personality\nFocus of the present study: Building on previous research into generational differences at work (McCrindle and Hooper, 2006; Smola and Sutton, 2002) and the broader research into generational differences in personality and motivational drivers (Twenge, 2000; Twenge, 2001a, b), this study aims to examine whether differences in personality and motivational drivers exist across three generations of the Australian working population. This will be based on cross-sectional data from an Australian sample. While a cross-sectional study does not allow a perfect model for examining whether differences (if any) are linked to age or generational differences, it is useful as an indication of whether there are differences in the three generations at work, as they currently exist. In particular, two hypotheses were developed to determine whether the commonly-held beliefs of the three generations are supported by existing cross-sectional data:H1. There will be key differences in the personal preferences of Baby Boomers, Gen Xs and Gen Ys. Specifically, it is expected that: Baby Boomers will be more optimistic than Gen Xs; Gen Xs will be less affiliative than Baby Boomers and Gen Ys; Baby Boomers and Gen Ys will be more career-driven than Gen Xs.H2. There are key differences in the motivational drivers of Baby Boomers, Gen Xs and Gen Ys. Specifically, it is expected that: Baby Boomers are likely to be more strongly motivated by job security than Gen Xs and Gen Ys; Baby Boomers and Gen Ys will be more strongly motivated by having responsibility and power within the organisation than Gen Xs; Gen Xs are likely to be less motivated than Baby Boomers and Gen Ys by work that requires their commitment beyond \"normal\" working hours.\nMethod: To test for differences across the three generations, an existing dataset of participants' responses to the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32) and the Motivational Questionnaire (MQ) were used.Participants\nResults: One-way ANOVAs were conducted to investigate differences across the three generations for all the OPQ32 and MQ scales. The results of the analyses provide support for the existence of generational differences in personality and motivational drivers in an Australian occupational setting, however many of the relationships are not in the direction expected.Generational differences in personality\nDiscussion: While the results of the present study support the general hypothesis that there are generational differences in personality and motivational drivers among the generations, these differences are typically not in line with popular belief. In practical interpretation terms, these differences are almost negligible. More importantly, even where differences exist (even where there are moderate to large effect sizes), the direction of the differences is often contrary to the differences suggested in popular management literature.Differences in personality traits\nConclusion: Despite its limitations, this study provides real-life data and support for de-bunking some of the generational stereotypes created in the literature around individual preferences and motivational drivers. However, based on the results observed, two patterns do emerge that may be worth taking note of. First, the pattern of results suggests that managers may need to be prepared to manage a group of increasingly negative and possibly cynical employees, with each generation reporting themselves as less optimistic than the previous generation. This may be supported by Twenge's (2004) study indicating a greater externalisation of locus of control in younger people. Second, when managing a younger generation of employees, it may also be worth ensuring that their preferences for a cooperative and affiliative workplace are met. Irrespective of whether it relates to generational or age differences, the need to provide younger workers with challenges remains important.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to examine whether personality and motivational driver differences exist across three generations of working Australians: Baby Boomers, Gen Xs, and Gen Ys.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using the Occupational Personality Questionnaire and the Motivation Questionnaire, the study examined cross-sectional differences in personality and motivational drivers across three generations.\nFindings: - The results are not supportive of the generational stereotypes that have been pervasive in the management literature and the media. Specifically, few meaningful differences were found between the three generations. Moreover, even when differences have been observed, these have related more to age than generation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - One of the key limitations is the use of cross-sectional data. To further explore this issue, it would be interesting to undertake a longitudinal study to assess personality preferences and motivational drivers of the different generations, when the participants are at the same age or the same point in their career.\nPractical implications: - The research emphasizes the importance of managing individuals by focusing on individual differences rather than relying on generational stereotypes, which may not be as prevalent as the existing literature suggests.\nOriginality/value: - Managers and HR professionals may find the lack of differences across generations interesting and refreshing, in contrast with the popular management literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Time for leaders to 'unmanage'? How to find the organizational sweet spot	[ "Emergence", "Complex adaptive systems", "Organzational culture", "Self-organization", "Social neuroscience", "Sociocultural homeostasis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Can people really be managed? Managers of people who work in organizations throughout the world might well say \"Yes, of course they can\". But are they right? Business schools focus on four functions of management - planning, organizing, leading and controlling. But are they still relevant?\nMeeting of minds over goals, policies and processes: Most people will support formal organizational goals if they understand how those goals benefit the business, its customers, society as a whole, their fellow workers and themselves. It is surprising how many employees in general are clueless of such outcomes. Therefore, one can have a very productive and engaged workforce when you treat people humanely and when they grasp the benefits. The key to success is to fully understand what can and cannot be controlled within social systems. Organizational contexts can be managed or adjusted but not the people who work and function within those work environments, especially when it comes to what Professor Ehin (2013) calls \"the organizational sweet spot\" - emergent innovative/productive organizational domains.\nThrough the lens of 'sociocultural homeostasis': In many organizations, the sweet spot is still rather small. The reasons are twofold. First, many firms adhere to traditional top-down, tightly controlled management models that worked relatively well in the industrial age but suppress informal communications. That is a death knell in today's knowledge age where we are so dependent on continuous sharing of ideas and information, as most of the work and innovation is generated by these emergent systems. Second, few managers pay attention to the activities of informal networks present in every organization. That is regrettable, as most of the work and innovation is generated by these emergent systems.\nFragmented relationships in groups of more than 150: People seem to function best in well-balanced social settings. Such contexts consist of individuals who express a mix of both moderate self-interest and outward-reaching altruism. These types of social environments seem to promote vigorous voluntary coordination leading to mutually shared benefits. Research has provided evidence that human beings are physiologically limited in developing and maintaining mutually beneficial voluntary, collaborative relationships in groups of more than 150 people. In larger collectives, relationships become fragmented, ties of common interest cannot be properly sustained and hierarchical structures begin to creep in. Thus, from a sociocultural homeostatic perspective, small size is vital for the development of supportive environmental contexts where emergent positive relationships can flourish most effectively.\nComment: This review is based on \"Can people really be managed?\" by Ehin (2013). He suggests how to apply the latest research findings in the rapidly advancing fields of neuroscience and social neuroscience to business management to increase productivity and innovation. He shows how to identify and expand the organizational \"sweet spots\" (emergent innovative/productive organizational domains defined by the author) and their vital importance to the success of every venture.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a general framework for the comprehension and advancement of sociocultural homeostasis (not to be confused with a steady state, but a dynamic constantly evolving process) to increase worker engagement, productivity and innovation within the enterprises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The latest research findings in neuroscience, social neuroscience and social network analyses are used to determine what types of organizational dynamics best support voluntary worker engagement.\nFindings: The paper offers convincing evidence why certain organizations prosper while others falter depending on their knowledge and advancement of sociocultural homeostasis principles.\nOriginality/value: It is a unique work suggesting how to apply the latest research findings in the rapidly advancing fields of neuroscience and social neuroscience to business management to increase productivity and innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational learning: a road map to evaluate learning outcomes in knowledge intensive firms	[ "Engagement and learning", "Organizational learning", "Knowledge management", "Knowledge-intensive firms", "Learning outcome", "Organization practices" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPreamble: Learning in knowledge-intensive organizations has become more prevalent in which both internal and external customers learn and share required expertise. During the 1990s, liberalization, privatization and globalization opened up a new pathway for knowledge-intensive organizations like the Indian information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services industry. In the mid-1990s, several software companies, which had previously concentrated purely on hardware, slowly expanded and stepped into software exports. The critical success factor for many Indian IT firms is their inquisitive approach of learning every day and moving from error correction to innovation and a paradigm shift. The key focus of the software firms is to leverage employees to disseminate their tacit knowledge and relentlessly engage them to accomplish individual and organization goals.\nLearning outcomes: The premise of a \"Culture of Learning\" inculcates employees to softly navigate the edges of their comfort zone and actively disseminate tacit knowledge; thereby, constant learning churn is witnessed. It also persuades employees to get rid of the fear of losing their reputation in the organization once their valuable knowledge is shared. To sustain this form of a learning and sharing mindset, niche organizational practices such as employee engagement, knowledge management, career and succession planning and other customized human resource policies uphold an organizational learning process. Numerous diagnostic tools (Pedler et al., 1989; Griego et al., 2000) were used in the past to measure learning outcomes. In this study, as defined by Marquardt (1996), the learning outcome dimensions (such as learning dynamics; organization transformation; people empowerment; technology application and knowledge management) are measured from a software professionals' perspective. \"Learning dynamics\" refers to the \"culture\" prevailing at work to enhance learning at an individual, team and organizational level. \"Organization transformation\" describes the effective integration of the organization's vision, culture, strategy and structure. The level of empowerment in a learning-driven culture for employees, managers and customers is explained by \"people empowerment\". The extent of knowledge information systems and technology-based learning is denoted by \"technology application\". \"Knowledge management\" aims to strengthen the tacit and explicit knowledge through a methodical process of acquisition, creation, storage and transfer of knowledge.\nMethodology: The sample selected comprised software professionals in India; the software companies were chosen based on the listing in the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)[1] annual report with financial turnover (in INR) as a base for classification. In the current sample of the study, the companies are classified as, companies with <100 million are tiny companies; 100-1,000 million are small-scale companies; 1,000-5,000 million are medium-scale companies; 5,000-10,000 million are large-scale companies; and >10,000 million are very large-scale companies. Considering this, and being inclusive of major cities in India, 64 software companies were shortlisted. Five to ten per cent of software employees across levels/designation were chosen from each of the final 39 participating companies. The criteria were that employees should have been in the company for at least a year in the software domain. Eight hundred and fifty questionnaires were circulated; 550 were received, of which 490 were found to be useful with a response rate of 53 per cent. To construct the learning outcome questionnaire, 35 items were initially selected from the learning organization profile (Marquardt, 1996). Post the test for the psychometric properties (uni-dimensionality, reliability and validity), 28 items were retained and measured on a five-point Likert scale.\nResults and discussion: Among the organizational learning outcomes, the observed mean value of technology application was on the higher side, followed by learning dynamics, organization transformation, knowledge management and people empowerment. Statistical analysis revealed that there were significant differences in all the learning outcome dimensions based on organization size, except for knowledge management.\nContribution to theory and practice: First, the learning outcome questionnaire thus developed can be used to examine knowledge-centric companies in other geographies too, not just India. However, some items may require slight modification to accommodate the learning-driven organization practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and measure the organizational learning outcomes in a sample of knowledge-intensive firms like software companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample chosen for this study comprised software professionals; the software companies were chosen based on the listing in the National Association of Software and Services Companies annual report with financial turnover as a base for classification. The learning outcomes discussed in this study are grounded on the dimensions of the building blocks of learning organization, which are classified as learning dynamics, organization transformation, knowledge management, people empowerment and technology application.\nFindings: Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in learning outcomes based on the organization's age. The organizational learning orientation for medium- and very large-scale companies are on the higher side with reduced organization hierarchy; better technology-based learning; structured knowledge management practices; learning-centric talent acquisition, talent management and total rewards. Small-scale companies fared well in organization transformation dimension and large-scale companies constantly nurture the congenial learning environment.\nPractical implications: The tool can help knowledge-intensive firms to analyze the extent to which organizational practices aligned with learning initiatives are visibly seen in terms of learning outcomes. Thus, the learning culture can be articulated and associated with the growing needs of an organization.\nOriginality/value: Organizational learning initiatives can be enhanced and reinforced through customized organization practices by observing the measures of learning dimensions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Black leadership, white leadership: race and race relations in an urban high school	[ "Race", "Race relations", "Leadership", "Schools", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As Brown (2005, p. 585) observed, \"schools in a racially diverse society will require leaders and models of leadership that will address the racial, cultural, and ethnic makeup of the school community\". However, while researchers during the past several decades have begun to investigate and interrogate the complicated dynamics of race and school leadership (e.g. Bryant, 1998; Capper, 1993; Dantley, 2005; Lopez, 2003; Tillman, 2002), these issues remain among the largest elephants in the schoolhouse about which few practitioners or scholars will speak (Wynne, 1999). Moreover, as many of the studies cited above focused on issues of race, it is important to point out that Brown's quote at the onset of this article addresses racial diversity and not only race; inquiry is needed both in the area of race and school leadership, but also in the area of race relations and school leadership.\nConceptual framework: school leadership as a racial moiety: For the purposes of this study, race was viewed from an anthropological perspective, as a culturally constructed phenomenon used for the purpose of domination and oppression. We understand that race is a multi-layered phenomenon that has cultural meaning at international, national, societal and levels. Moreover, race has particular meaning in individual communities, among groups, in each community, and in situ at the school site (Scheurich and Young, 1997). Each person also constructs race as they interact with other people and institutions throughout their lifespan, in both professional and non-professional contexts (Fordham, 1996; Ogbu, 1978; West, 1993). Anthropologists and school leadership scholars have consistently found that racial dynamics influence cultural norms and beliefs of students, schoolteachers, and educational administrators (e.g. Brown, 2005; Delpit, 1995; Fluehr-Lobban, 2006; Jackson, 1988; Tillman, 2002; Wynne, 1999).Research on race and school leadership in the USA has focused on the styles and personal experiences of \"minority\" leaders (e.g. Bryant, 1998; Gooden, 2005), on white racism and white privilege (Young and Laible, 2000), on antiracism (Scheurich, 2002), and is treated as a sub-construct in studies focused on democratic leadership, ethics, social justice, and equity (e.g. Grogan, 1999; Larson and Murtadha, 2002; Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2001; Starrat, 1997). Many works in these lines of inquiry are conceptually rich and suggest innovative strategies for preparing educational leaders and for transforming leadership practice into a force for justice that serves students equitably (Marshall and Oliva, 2006). However, while these possibilities are exciting and inspiring, there is a need to explore and refine such notions through empirical investigation, particularly at the school site level and, ultimately, in a variety of international communities of educational leadership practice. For example, Gooden (2005) lamented that in leadership literature on US schools, there remains a tremendous gap in the knowledge base concerning black school leadership. He noted that while useful and thorough studies have documented the leadership practice of African American superintendents (e.g. Alston, 1999), there is a relatively paltry corpus of work focused on black school leaders. Brown (2005, p. 587) agreed, and further argued for the \"need to investigate school administration in specific social, political, and racial contexts\". Our research seeks to make a contribution to race relations literature in school leadership by exploring the way racial leadership subcultures interact in an urban school setting. To investigate the way races interacted at the high school examined in this study, we used an anthropological approach called moiety analysis.Splitting the school in two: a moiety approach to studying leadership subcultures\nMethodology: This research was conducted using a qualitative methodology consistent with anthropological ethnography (Wolcott, 1997). The study took place in a single urban high school in the Southeastern USA over the course of two academic years (henceforth referred to as the pseudonymous DuBois High School). The site was selected primarily because the instructional and administrative staff was divided racially, in a phenotypic sense. The district employs 79 teachers at the school, one principal, three assistant principals, an academic dean, and a dozen educational specialists to serve approximately 1,300 children, grades 9-12. The student population is reported as 85 percent African American and 12 percent White (with 3 percent listed as \"other\"). Yet the teaching staff is split almost into two halves: 37 white, 39 black. Two teachers identified themselves as Hispanic and one teacher self-described as Arab.Data collection\nFindings: This findings section is organized into three subsections, two devoted to analyses of norms and beliefs evident in each of the racial leadership subcultures, and a final section focused on interactions between the two subcultures. It is important to understand at the outset that this presentation of data is selective and representative, rather than comprehensive and exhaustive. We have chosen quotes and themes here that illustrate particularly strong patterns in the data.The black leadership subculture at DuBois High School\nDiscussion and implications: This research suggested that at DuBois High School, race and race relations are complicated, fraught with contradiction, and raise difficult social issues that influence leadership activity. Although researchers have stressed the importance of leadership being based on coherent core values about student learning and achievement, these were not regularly articulated as fundamental forces that drove school relationships and actions, but were rather more manifest at the racial subculture level. The findings also raised questions about the lack of an ethical commitment to challenge societal inequalities that may directly or indirectly influence educational attainment and student achievement. While school leaders and educators at DuBois recognize the challenges their students face (i.e. poverty, at risk for academic failure), they lack a critical awareness, the knowledge and understanding, and advocacy strategies necessary to confront and dismantle structural barriers that hinder students' educational opportunities. While certain individuals and subcultures attempted to serve this purpose, the organization lacked an overarching moral/ethical leadership to guide the school's policies and practices to meet the needs of \"all\" students. District leaders' lack of interest in the academic and social experiences of the district's \"black school\" further exacerbate the way race defined the social and cultural norms of the school as it interacted with social forces outside the school site.This study suggested that school leaders construct leadership norms and beliefs based on race, and that these are intertwined with other social dynamics such as gender and social class. At DuBois, there were markedly different dynamics among same-race school leaders and between different-race school leaders. These findings were consistent with anthropological literature on moieties in other cultures (Bohannan, 1965; Lowie, 1948; Wolcott, 2003), and suggest that certain patterns of race and race relations that influence school leadership might ultimately be predictable. While public education is often conceived as a foundation of democracy, divergent ideologies as to what it means to be educated, formally and informally, may create systemic cultural barriers that prevent effective school leadership. In particular, leaders assumed a great deal about their non-moiety colleagues that at least stifled dialogue and at worst prevented them from helping students.The moiety conceptual framework provided a lens through which to examine how within a school culture, two sub-cultures comprised of \"black\" leaders and \"white\" leaders with different values about educational opportunities and aspirations may co-exist, albeit a begrudging and mistrustful co-existence. The Black leaders, both formal and informal (i.e. teachers and staff) at times engaged in social uplift. Concerned about the mismatch between the background and expectations of educators and those of students (Delpit, 1995), there was a concerted effort by black school leaders (informal and formal) to transmit African Americans' cultural values, morals and ethics as good models for black student achievement, yet even these morally upstanding goals induced sociocultural friction between halves of the moiety. White leaders viewed their work quite differently, and behaved accordingly.This research connects anthropological studies of race and race relations (Fluehr-Lobban, 2006), to studies of race and race relations in educational leadership (Bryant, 1998; Dantley, 2005; Lopez, 2003; Young and Laible, 2000). It contributes to our understanding of black school leadership culture, white school leadership culture, and the ways these two subcultures interact in a sociopolitical context. While this study is limited in that these phenomena are context-bound and the study was conducted in the USA, we feel that the moiety conceptual framework, if not the patterns identified in this study, may be useful for researchers worldwide. As new research and educational leadership discourse focuses on social justice issues, they must be grounded in the principle that no one can be excluded from an education, implicitly and explicitly. The historical, sociological, economic, political, and indeed cultural interpretation of racial issues and the relationship to educational access and equity issues are important phenomena to explore and understand. Importantly, this study suggested that issues of race are inextricably connected to other dynamic cultural phenomenon, such as gender differences. Indeed, one of the most compelling findings of this study were that gender and race, exerted differential reciprocal influence on each other within the two leadership subcultures.The findings in this study and the moiety conceptual framework itself may have potential for facilitating conversations among subcultures, and helping practitioners rethink the way they include and/or exclude leaders from their preferential networks. Moreover, as a conversation catalyst in racially diverse schools, the moiety framework (Figure 1) may be used as a way to initiate conversations and dialogues long-ignored in schools. As school leaders begin to take stock of, and discuss, the elephants in their own schoolhouses, progress toward understanding and respecting issues between leadership sub-cultures in general, and racial leadership sub-cultures in particular might blaze a trail toward improved leadership practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study was to investigate how race and race relations influence school leadership practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This ethnographic study was conducted in a high-poverty, high-minority, urban high school in the Southeastern USA. The authors utilized an anthropological conceptual framework called a moiety, through which the school's leadership culture was conceived as two distinct racial leadership subcultures, one black and one white.\nFindings: - Findings suggested that the members of each of these leadership subcultures conceived of and enacted leadership in a different manner. Members of each subculture interacted with one another in a manner consistent with anthropological inquiry focused on moiety cultures.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Though under-used in educational leadership research, the moiety approach seems to have potential for explaining certain (sub)cultural dynamics of leadership in organizations. In the context of this school, race and race relations had a tremendous influence on the ways school leaders interacted with non-moiety members in terms of reciprocity, rivalry, antithesis, and complementarity.\nOriginality/value: - These findings suggest that school leaders should understand how race and race relations within and between various school subcultures influence leadership practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strategic positioning: an integrated decision process for manufacturers	[ "Manufacturing systems", "Supply chain management", "Strategic alignment", "Outsourcing", "Decision making", "Competitive strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A key strategic decision for manufacturers is deciding those manufacturing activities that an organisation should carry out internally and those that should remain external. This particular decision is associated with the firm's internal span of process, the degree and direction of vertical integration alternatives and its links and relationships with suppliers, distributors and customers (Hill, 1993). Although this is a key strategic decision there are currently few formalised and tested guides that help the practitioner through this process. The formation of such a guide is the topic of this paper.A manufacturing operation can be considered as having four areas where interactions take place with wider supply chain networks. These are at the interfaces with customers, suppliers, organisational infrastructure and other product streams. Much of the existing literature treats these boundaries independently, guiding the strategic positioning decision through relatively localised analysis of opportunities and threats. However, a localised optimum is not necessarily an optimum for the whole organisation. Our previous research, which is summarised in this paper, has identified that leading manufacturers form the strategic positioning decision by taking a holistic view of supply chain opportunities and threats, appreciating the dynamics of the organisation and its environment, and linking all decisions to competitive strategy.The research presented in this paper has focused on developing a process to guide manufacturers through the strategic positioning decision. The research design has evolved around taking our knowledge of strategic positioning, blending this with other ideas and theories in the literature, and then engaging industry in the co-development of a complete and interlinked decision process. This has then been validated through two in-depth case studies. The outcome of this research design is a five-stage decision process targeted at senior executives. This process commences by guiding such practitioners through a review of their competitive strategy, and leads them to identify a set of key decision criteria that reflect this, and also reflect the way the company normally reviews projects. The practitioners are then guided to map manufacturing related activities, both internal and external to their organisation, that are pertinent to the strategic positioning decision. The most significant of these are then assessed against the key decision criteria, and this leads to ranking of the most important adjustments to the manufacturer's strategic position. The research design and strategic positioning decision process are both described in detail in this paper.The paper commences by reviewing current research in this area and briefly summarising our own previous work. The research design is then described, and this includes a summary of the aim, objectives, and the three-phase research programme. The central sections of the paper then describe the strategic positioning decision process in some detail. The later sections give the results of applying this process, along with a discussion based around these, and concludes with our thoughts on future research.\nBackground and previous research: The challenge of strategic positioning within a manufacturing organisation\nResearch design: Research aim and objectives\nThe strategic positioning decision process: This section describes the decision process that has been created through the application of the research programme described above.Overview of decision process structure\nResults of applying the strategic positioning decision process: This section summarises the results gained through applying the strategic decision process. As explained earlier in the research design section of this paper, this was the third phase of the research programme (the earlier two phases focusing on the creation of the decision process), and the objective was to gain an in-depth understanding of how well the decision process worked, and how it influenced the decisions and actions of senior executives carrying out real strategic positioning projects. As also outlined earlier, a case study methodology was adopted, two UK-based manufacturers were studied between January and April 2004, and data was collected relevant to the point-of-entry, execution of the decision, outcomes, and the wider context within the hosts. The four-person research team acted (on a rotational basis) as facilitators throughout the execution of the workshops.Case 1: scientific instrument manufacturer\nDiscussion: Execution of the research design led to the development of the strategic positioning decision process. Here, principal strengths, limitations and resulting opportunities are highlighted and discussed.Reflections on the design and execution of the research programme\nConclusions and future research: Concluding remarks\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper describes research that has sought to create a formal and rational process that guides manufacturers through the strategic positioning decision.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The methodology is based on a series of case studies to develop and test the decision process.\nFindings: - A decision process that leads the practitioner through an analytical process to decide which manufacturing activities they should carryout themselves.\nPractical implications: - Strategic positioning is concerned with choosing those production related activities that an organisations should carry out internally, and those that should be external and under the ownership and control of suppliers, partners, distributors and customers.\nOriginality/value: - This concept extends traditional decision paradigms, such as those associated with \"make versus buy\" and \"outsourcing\", by looking at the interactions between manufacturing operations and the wider supply chain networks associated with the organisation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Critical success factors for ERP implementations in Belgian SMEs	[ "Manufacturing resource planning", "Critical success factors", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Belgium" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: ERP systems are extensive, integrated software systems supporting the internal operations of an enterprise. They bring about enormous investments in software and in package customisation. Many cases are known of ERP implementations failing to deliver the promised functionality and even endangering the future of the implementing company. The best-known example is probably the ERP project carried out by the American company FoxMeyer, which supposedly led to the bankruptcy of the company in 1996 (Scott, 1999). The company claims to have suffered damages of $500 million because of the malfunction of the ERP system, implemented in 1993.However, a survey in the USA revealed that 70 per cent of companies implementing ERP consider the project successful (Mabert et al., 2000). More than 55 per cent of companies admit that the planned budget was exceeded, by an average of 60.6 per cent. When these budget overflows are counted as failures, the success rate of ERP implementations does not reach 50 per cent.In view of these alarming figures, researchers and companies have been looking for ways of improving the chances of success of ERP implementations. Research into ERP implementations around the globe has revealed some of the critical ERP success factors (Al-Mashari et al., 2003; Arnold, 2006; Bradley, 2008; Bingi et al., 1999; Chang et al., 2008; Mabert et al., 2000; Olhager and Selldin, 2003; Parr and Shanks, 2000a, b). Previous research in this area has focused predominantly on the implementation of ERP systems in large organisations. This comes as no surprise, since the ERP market - which was primarily focused at the high-end spectrum - only changed its focus towards SMEs at the end of the 1990s, due to a saturation of the high-end market combined with a decrease in hardware costs (Kremers and van Dissel, 2000).Critical success factors for the implementation of ERP in a SME environment may differ substantially from ERP implementations in large enterprises: it is by no means obvious that the critical success factors of ERP implementations can be extrapolated to SMEs. Indeed, the factors influencing SMEs' adoption of enterprise systems (technological and organisational factors) are substantially different from those of a large companies, which focus more on environmental factors (Ramdani et al., 2009). Moreover, here we focusing on one particular region: Belgium. As Shanks et al. (2000) and Chwen et al. (2004) showed, the approach to ERP implementation should not be copied from one country to another.In this paper, we develop a view of critical success factors of ERP implementations in small and medium-sized companies. In a first instance, we search the literature for critical success factors of ERP implementations. This leads to a general classification framework for ERP success factors. We then study four medium-sized companies with successful ERP implementations. Through a detailed survey and interviews with key players within these companies, we verify whether the ERP success factors discovered in the literature are relevant for these companies.In the next section we present the literature search and the overall classification of ERP critical success factors. Then, we describe the case study of four companies, followed by a comparison, between the results of the case study and the literature review. Finally, conclusions are presented for the critical success factors of ERP implementations in SMEs.\nCritical success factors for ERP implementation: A critical success factor (CSF) is a factor which, if addressed, significantly improves the changes of successful project implementation (Pinto and Slevin, 1987). There is no general consensus on the critical success factors of an ERP implementation. In the literature, the number of CSFs varies from nine to 16 (Arnold, 2006; Bradley, 2008; Chang et al., 2008; Ernst & Young, 2006; Holland and Light, 1999; Loh and Koh, 2004; Nah et al., 2001; Parr and Shanks, 2000a, b; Shanks et al., 2000; Sumner, 2005; Umble et al., 2003; Ngai et al., 2008; Somers and Nelson, 2001; Zang et al., 2003; Soja, 2006). Some of the critical success factors for ERP implementations are in line with the more general CSFs for IT projects (Milis and Mercken, 2002; Ugwu et al., 2003), although all studies on CSFs in ERP implementations mention CSFs specifically related to ERP implementations. Most studies on CSFs in ERP implementations consider only large companies, although some limited studies exist that consider enterprise size and its relation to ERP implementation factors (Laukkanen et al., 2007).The merging of the lists of CSFs for ERP implementations found in the literature leads to a list of over 40 candidate CSFs. In order to structure these candidate CSFs, we divide them into five groups according to the following themes:1. vision, scope, and goals;2. culture, communication, and support;3. infrastructure;4. approach; and5. project management.Below, we review these groups of CSFs and we discuss their meaning.Vision, scope, and goals\nMethodology: In order to discover whether the critical success factors found in the literature are also valid for ERP implementations within Belgian SMEs, we selected 76 SMEs with known successful ERP implementations. In this selection, we considered companies with a number of employees from ten up to 250 and with yearly revenue of less than EUR50m or a balance total of less than EUR43m to be small to medium-sized enterprises. The number of employees, the revenue and balance total were verified in the Trends Top 100,000 of Belgian companies (Biblo-Roularta, 2007). Information on ERP implementations in these companies was obtained from company websites, websites of ERP vendors, partners and via personal contacts with ERP consulting firms.The 76 companies were provided with a list of questions on their implementation (see the Appendix). This list of questions was designed to obtain as much formation as possible on the company, the profile of their employees, the ERP implementation and the use of the system. This information enabled us to select four representative companies for further study. A polar sampling technique was used to limit bias: cases with very diverse characteristics were selected (different sectors, single versus multi-site, local versus international, different ERP vendors, etc.). Moreover, we opted for cases that were expected to maximise return in terms of insights gained. In all four cases, information on the company and the ERP implementation was retrieved from databases and press articles, enabling us to improve data triangulation and partly validate the data collected during the interviews. General information on the four studied companies is given in Table I.A multiple case research methodology was chosen, due to the fact that a holistic view was deemed necessary to grasp the complex phenomenon of ERP systems implementations. For each company, the answers of the initial survey were examined, the information from the company websites, vendors, partners etc. were thoroughly analysed and a key player in the ERP implementation project was interviewed to verify the information found and to allow more in-depth analyses of the ERP implementation.A structured interview technique was applied (Saunders et al., 2007). Interviewees were presented a total of 76 questions. Of these, 21 questions related to their company, the position of the interviewee in the company and to the general circumstances of the ERP implementation. The other 55 questions related to the critical success factors of the ERP implementation. In order to obtain standardised answers that may be compared between the different cases studied, all possible answers to the questions were predefined, although interviewees were given the opportunity to deviate from the predefined answers (Healey and Rawlinson, 1994).\nCase study in four Belgian companies: F-CO\nDiscussion: a comparison of critical success factors: In this section, we elaborate on the level of success of the ERP implementation presented in the previous section. We then compare the results of the four cases with the theoretical CSF framework elaborated in section 2.Success criteria\nConclusions, limitations and suggestions for further research: The largest fraction of the critical success factors found in the literature applies to the four implementations studied. This indicates that a majority of critical success factors that are valid for large companies are also applicable to SMEs. The most important critical success factors for SMEs identified in this study are:* a clear vision of the strategic goals of the ERP implementation;* senior management support;* active user involvement;* a suitable corporate culture that is open to change;* internal communication on the ERP project, both before and during the project;* proper management of the ERP supplier;* a formalised project approach and methodology;* a focus on user requirements;* the use of external consultants;* user training, both on technical aspects and on business aspects, oriented towards practice;* proper project planning, phasing and follow-up;* proper project management; and* a project team, composed of a mix of users, i.e. internal technical and business experts and external consultant.When we compare the critical success factors we find in this study to those found in the literature (see the section on literature review above), we find that most of the important critical success factors found in studies of ERP implementations in large enterprises also occur in SMEs. This is particularly true for the list of the most important critical success factors in SMEs given above. However, there are a few critical success factors of ERP implementations found in large enterprises that are notoriously absent in the SMEs we examined:The explicit limitation of the scope appears to be no issue for SMEs. Possibly, this could be explained by the high level of top management involvement and the involvement of senior people in the project teams. Close monitoring by the senior management prevents projects from running out of control.In contrast to large companies, having a standardised IT infrastructure appears not to be a success factor either. The IT infrastructure of SMEs is in average far less complex than the infrastructure of large companies and as such does not provide an unsolvable problem.In addition, the specificity of SMEs and the role they play in the economic environment lead to a number of specific issues that differentiates the set of critical success factors in comparison to large companies:* There is a relatively high reliance on the input of consultants. By hiring consultants, SMEs tap into an important source of knowledge and experience that is often missing in their organisation due to the limited number of IT staff members.* Belgium has an economy that is rather small and open in nature. Consequently, most Belgian SMEs rely heavily on exports. This makes them vulnerable to the pressures of fast-changing international markets. They need to be able to adjust their businesses quickly to be able to exploit their niche to the fullest extent. Hence, most Belgian SMEs have a corporate culture that embraces change. As such, employees are accustomed to change, making change management a far less important issue.Although the sets of critical success factors of SMEs and large companies are similar to a large extent, they are not completely interchangeable. This study demonstrates that critical success factors for the implementation of ERP systems in SMEs may differ substantially on some specific factors.We are able to point out the differences in the sets of critical success factors for ERP implementations, although the number of cases examined is too limited to make an in-depth analysis of the differences found. Hence, future research should focus on each of these differences and study them to discover the mechanisms behind them. Moreover, similar studies should be executed in different countries to gain a better understanding of the impact of culture on critical success factors for ERP implementations in SMEs. Hence, the results of this research should be interpreted taking into account that we studied only Belgian companies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the critical success factors of ERP implementations in Belgian SMEs and to identify those success factors that are specific to a SME environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors survey the literature to discover and classify critical success factors that are potentially applicable to small and medium-sized enterprises. Through a survey and a multiple case study within four Belgian companies, the authors investigate which of these critical success factors apply to SMEs.\nFindings: - The results show that most of the success factors found in the literature apply to SMEs. Nevertheless, distinct differences were found as well. Some factors, such as a clear scope definition and a standardised infrastructure, are not regarded as critical success factors for SMEs. Moreover, SMEs tend to rely relatively heavily on the input of consultants, who they use as a source of knowledge and experience. Moreover, SMEs need to be able to adjust their businesses quickly to be able to exploit their niche to the fullest extent.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research is limited to Belgian enterprises.\nOriginality/value: - For SMEs, it is particularly important to recognise the elements for a successful ERP implementation. This paper examines the critical success factors of ERP implementations in small and medium-sized enterprises, while the existing literature on critical success factors of ERP implementations focuses on large enterprises.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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