Split (2)

train · 145k rows

title stringlengths 6 301	keywords listlengths 0 23	messages listlengths 2 2
Living by the numbers: understanding the "quantification effect"	[ "Motivation", "Behavior modification", "Goal setting", "Quantification of self" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Changing entrenched personal habits is not an easy thing to do. However, a recent phenomenon in the consumer marketplace, generally referred to as the \"quantification of self\" (QOS), appears to be having some success at motivating personal behavior change (Quart, 2013; Wolf, 2010). Marketers have taken notice of this development and are increasingly incorporating QOS elements into products and services aimed at behavior modification.\nTheoretical framework: Past quantification of self studies\nStudy 1: impact of quantification of self in fitness: A two-cell, between-subjects experiment manipulating quantification (quantified versus non-quantified fitness program) was used to test if quantification in a fitness context has a significant impact on perceived feedback meaningfulness, self-empowerment, goal focus and anticipated motivation in a goal pursuit. Included in this study is an analysis controlling for the possible impact of technology, an examination of differences by subgroup and a test of the proposed mediation model.\nStudy 2: impact of quantification of self on carbon footprint reduction efforts: A two-cell, between-subjects experiment manipulating quantification (quantified versus non-quantified program) was used to test the impact of quantification on perceived feedback meaningfulness, self-empowerment, goal focus and anticipated motivation in the context of personal carbon footprint reduction. This study was done to generalize results for the \"quantification effect\" and provide a second context for testing the mediation model.\nGeneral discussion: Behavior modification is a widespread aspiration among many consumers, representing a significant business opportunity for firms offering products/services that consumers believe will help them during the course of their challenging journey. This paper provides insight into the consumer appeal of quantification and tests it as an element in the behavior change process. Our research analyzed the appeal of quantification in two contexts: fitness (where it already has significant marketplace presence) and reducing one's carbon footprint (where it does not). The ultimate dependent variable is anticipated motivation, which represents the vital initial step in getting an individual engaged in a behavior change process. The present studies build upon the small but growing body of research that suggests that quantified self-data are successful at increasing goal-oriented motivation, at least initially. It expands this literature by:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to establish if quantified self-data positively impact motivation in a goal pursuit across a broad cross-section of consumers and in multiple contexts; and to understand the underlying causal mechanism and identify boundary conditions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Exploratory qualitative research helped direct the hypotheses development. Two quantitative experiments were then conducted via MTURK, involving 331 respondents, to test the hypotheses in two different personal goal areas (fitness and carbon footprint reduction).\nFindings: Self-quantification has a significant and positive impact on anticipated motivation in both contexts studied. The mediated model provides insight into the psychological process underlying self-quantification's motivational impact, which involves strengthening user perceptions regarding feedback meaningfulness, self-empowerment and goal focus. Age (>50) was found to be a boundary condition; however, distance to goal was not.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper focuses on initial (anticipated) motivation, which is the vital first step in behavior change. However, more work is needed to understand quantification's long-term impact over the course of a behavior change process.\nPractical implications: This research encourages firms to incorporate self-quantification features into products/services aimed at behavior change and helps firms better understand consumer-perceived benefits. It alerts firms regarding the extra effort needed to convince older consumers of these benefits.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to confirm the \"quantification effect\" on motivation in multiple life areas and provide a causal model to explain how it works. It is also the first to highlight age as a boundary condition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Healthy eating in the early years: A qualitative exploration of food provision in the childminder setting	[ "Public health", "Diet", "UK", "Cooking", "Early years children", "Food provision" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The first five years in a child's life represent a critical time for growth and development and good nutrition is vital (Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post-2010, 2012). However, studies report that young children's diet do not meet recommended nutritional requirements (Geissler and Singh, 2011; Public Health England, 2012) and more than a fifth of children in England are overweight or obese by the time they reach primary school (The Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). Obesity has a plethora of negative health consequences (Ebbeling et al., 2002; Haines et al., 2007; World Cancer Research Fund, 2007). Moreover, there has been a rise in the incidence of rickets (Pearce and Cheetham, 2010) and dental health is poor in many young children (Audit Commission, 2010).\nMethods: The study was conducted in Rotherham, a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, UK, between April and August 2013. Rotherham records high levels of social deprivation (Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and NHS Rotherham, 2015). In 2008 Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) introduced a training scheme (Healthy Foundations) for a range of early years care providers. The scheme covers all aspects of healthy child development, including weaning, physical activity and play, and providers are directed to resources on healthy eating (Children's Food Trust, 2012; Crawley, 2006). Notably, the scheme is not mandatory; training is intended for a range of early years' providers, including nurseries, pre-schools and child-minders.\nSample recruitment: The selection of the child-minders for the research involved the cooperation of the Early Years and Childcare team at RMBC, which held the names and contact details of all registered child-minders on a secure database. Participants were recruited from this database via purposive sampling in order to explore the current practice and experience of both child-minders involved in the Healthy Foundations training and those not involved in the scheme. Individuals who had not agreed to share their details with RMBC were not included.\nData collection: NG conducted all interviews face-to-face in child-minders' homes; this allowed for direct observation of current food practices in cases where child-minders were preparing and serving food. Field notes on practices around food provision were then made immediately following leaving the child-minder's home. Details of food provided over a seven-d period were collected if the participant kept a menu plan.\nAnalysis: Analysis employed a qualitative thematic approach. An initial set of codes were developed from the interview transcripts and field notes; this coding scheme emerged deductively from pre-existing questions and theory, as well as inductively from the data itself (Seale, 2004). NVivo 10 software was then utilised to map codes and develop themes - identifying any associations between themes and enabling the researcher to discuss the meaning of the data. Analysis was an on-going iterative process, where arising themes were used to direct subsequent interviews and observations. As part of the reflexive process, emerging themes were discussed with two other members of the research team (CH and RA). Another member of the research team (MEB) read the transcripts and verified the themes.\nResults: A total of eight child-minders, registered with RMBC, were interviewed as part of the study.\nDiscussion: Food preferences are shaped early in life (Birch, 1999; Scaglioni et al., 2011) and children's preferences were to the fore in participants' decisions around food provision. Menu choices were to a large degree constrained by children's \"likes and dislikes\". This constraint is consistent with work exploring food provision by mothers; women will often provide food, which they deem less nutritious in order to achieve harmony within the home and are mindful not to waste food or spend time preparing meals that children will not eat (Charles and Kerr, 1988; Slater et al., 2012). Fussy eating among children is a well-recognised phenomenon, and can pose as a barrier to the provision of healthy food (Scaglioni et al., 2011); this effect may be exacerbated when care-givers lack the necessary skills and time to deal with food rejection (Buttivant and Knai, 2012). While participants commonly reported using strategies, such as verbal encouragement to eat and use of food as rewards, these may negatively impact on children's food acceptance (Children's Food Trust, 2012; Scaglioni et al., 2011). If child-minders are to be better equipped to deal with fussy eating and provide food consistent with guidelines, they need to be educated as to effective strategies to counteract food refusal and consideration needs to be given as to their time available to employ such strategies.\nConclusion: This study has yielded important information on child-minders' perceptions of healthy eating and the difficulties they encounter in food provision. It has exposed a need for an authoritative set of dietary guidelines for early years children, which are easily accessible to all early years' providers. Practical advice on meal preparation is also necessary, in order to ensure providers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to provide quick and nutritious meals that children will eat. Such education of child-minders would foster an improved exchange with parents around food provision. Network groups can provide an invaluable source of support to child-minders and represent an ideal platform to disseminate professionally based advice on food provision. These conclusions require confirmation in a larger study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A nutritious diet is critical to the health and development of pre-school children. Children in the UK consume much food outside the home yet day-care food provision is unregulated, and informed by disparate and conflicting dietary guidelines. Factors affecting nursery food provision have been much studied, but less is known about food provision in the child-minder setting. The purpose of this paper is to examine factors influencing child-minders' food provision.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative methods were employed, combining participant observation with semi-structured interviews. Participants were selected via purposive and convenience sampling. Eight child-minders from an English borough were interviewed.\nFindings: The food provided by child-minders was not consistent with dietary guidelines for young children, following menu plans was reported to be difficult, and knowledge about healthy eating guidelines for young children was various. Child-minders reported limited time for food preparation, and problems catering for fussy children. Some child-minders obtained support through an informal peer network group. Only one child-minder reported availing of professional nutritional advice on healthy food provision. Communication with parents about food was considered important, although there was some evidence of discord between providers and parents in dietary objectives.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was small in size and regionally based. Due to the local nature of the study, it is not possible to make generalisations to the wider national context. Corroboration of the findings is necessary in a larger study.\nPractical implications: Child-minders have a pivotal role to play in the nutritional health and development of young children, and whilst their interest in provision of nutritious food was great, outside support was lacking. Support should include provision of one clear set of authoritative guidelines, practical guidance that accommodates the realities of providing food in the child-minder setting, investment to strengthen support structures at local level and the development of network groups.\nOriginality/value: Whilst the factors underpinning food provision in nurseries have been examined in various regions of the UK, little attention has been given to child-minder settings. The current study addresses this gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Greening the campus intentions: a study of the University of the Aegean non-academic staff	[ "Perception", "Behaviour", "Sustainability", "Participation", "Attitude", "University’s non-academic staff" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: On a global basis, we are witnessing a dramatic turn of the universities to act as major catalysts in the pursuit of a sustainable world, by producing cutting-edge knowledge and educating society's future leaders (Lozano, 2006a; Stephens et al., 2008). Sustainability approaches challenge the processes through which universities operate, teach and plan their actions. In 1972, for the first time, sustainability in higher education was noted in the Stockholm Declaration. The interdependency between humanity and the environment was recognized and ways of achieving environmental sustainability were mentioned (UNESCO, 1972). Agenda 21, released at the Rio Summit, stressed the detrimental role of academia's scientific and technological community into making an effective contribution to the decision-making processes concerning environment and development (Zilahy and Huisingh, 2009). One of the main sustainability roles of universities is the safeguarding of Education for Sustainable Development, which can be enforced through changes in the universities' own management practices. This can be translated in their involvement in recycling schemes, energy efficiency initiatives or the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS) (Zilahy and Huisingh, 2009). In 1990, a ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities was agreed by more than 300 university administrations. This was Talloires Declaration and was signed by over 40 countries (UNESCO, 1990).\nMethods: The University of the Aegean, a regional university, consists of 16 academic departments located over 6 different islands in the Aegean Sea. Six of these departments are situated in Lesvos island's (Mytilene) Schools of Environment and Social Sciences. Specifically, the departments of Environmental Studies and Marine Studies are in the School of Environment and the departments of Sociology, Social Anthropology and History, Geography and Cultural Technology and Communication are under the School of Social Sciences. The majority of the administration facilities of the University of Aegean are situated in Lesvos island.\nResults: Respondents' characteristics\nDiscussion: The first thing that needs to be mentioned is that the majority of the participants do not feel very familiar with the term sustainability. This supports the view that there is a lack of a well-accepted definition of sustainability (Dyball, 2010).\nConclusions: In conclusion, the non-academic staff's intentions toward the implementation of sustainability programs at the University of the Aegean are positive. Besides that, although there is no such a program at the University, many of them behave in an environment-friendly manner both at work and at home and are willing to do more if:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to focus on the University of Aegean's non-academic staff's environmental sustainability attitudes and behavior both at work and at home, their perceptions for sustainability enforcement and their active participation skills.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research participants were the 101 non-academic staff working at the Xenia Hill campus in Lesvos island. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire consisting of 45 questions, which was sent via e-mail during the summer of 2014.\nFindings: The analysis of the results brings light on the environmental profile of the University's non-academic staff on their intentions for greening their campus and the barriers that obstruct their attempts to promote sustainability at the University.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides useful insights which allow a better understanding of the role of non-academic staff's environmental sustainability attitudes and behavior both at work and at home, their perceptions for sustainability enforcement and their active participation skills.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Pakistani prison libraries: an assessment of services and challenges	[ "Pakistan", "Prisoners", "Prison libraries", "Jail libraries", "Lahore", "Prisoners’ information services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Prison is a correctional institution in which persons are held for court cases or to which they committed for criminal behavior, as a result of court action. Correctional institutions are built not just to punish the offenders but to correct them by different programs and to enable them to re-enter in the society as law abiding citizens. The prison library supports this mission of correctional institutes through educating them, providing them legal information for their defense; recreational material so that they might overcome their frustration and boredom; enlighten their vision; and supporting educational programs for the inmates.\n2. Pakistani prison system: 2.1 Punjab Prison Department\n3. Review of literature: A number of studies reported the situation and services of western prison libraries, however, there is a dearth of literature on national (Pakistan) prison libraries. Generally, the locally published literature covered library services, status, developments and challenges faced by prison libraries.\n4. Research objectives: The present study aims to investigate the current situation of prison libraries of Lahore city of Pakistan. Lahore is the second largest city and very populous city of Pakistan. The study will investigate about prison library infrastructure, services, collection and how prisoners perceived about library through a qualitative lense.\n5. Methodology: To explore the situation of prison libraries, qualitative research design was utilized and data were collected using face-to-face interviews and observation. The situation can be investigated through multiple lenses and in detail through this research design and data collection techniques. Qualitative interviewing involves questioning and probing to gain better understanding of the situation. The respondents were inquired about library collection, services, its importance and main issues regarding library usage. In total, six interviews of 20-35 min of length were conducted. Lahore, which is the capital of Punjab Province and second largest city of Pakistan having rich history, was the research setting of the study. The city Lahore has two prisons, Central and District Length, which have libraries. There were restrictions for data collection from these libraries. Therefore, the researchers could interview only one religious clergy who was library in charge from the District Jail. From the Central Jail researchers conducted five interviews one from religious clergy (library in charge) and got chance to talk with four prisoners who were present in the library.\n6. Findings: 6.1 Library buildings\n7. Discussion: Around the globe, prison libraries are facing challenges, and the same findings are reported from Pakistan. Findings of the current study confirmed that under studied jail libraries have their separate buildings, but as compared to the number of inmates, these were not enough spacious. Same findings were reported by Sambo et al. (2017) that there was lack of space for inmate readers in prison libraries in Nigeria. Lack of space in the libraries was also reported by Ludmila, Popow and Mayrink da Costa (2003), Gillian, Ellern and Mason (2013) for Rural County Jails of Western North Carolina and Brazilian Penitentiary System, by Nirmal Singh (2014) for Punjab (India) prison libraries and by Ajeet and Mahale (2016) for women prison library of Thane Central Jail, India.\n8. Conclusion and implications: Prison libraries can play their role for the continuing education of inmates to prepare themselves for re-entry into the society. Literature shows that prison library services are not same around the world. The situation of prison libraries in West is far better than the prison libraries of the rest of the world. The Western prison libraries are equipped with latest technologies, internet access, and electronic catalogs, inter library loan services and annual funds for library collection. In Pakistan, jail libraries are not enough spacious, library collection is inadequate. Non-professional library staff may be a hindrance to provide required services. However, it is encouraging that these libraries are trying to continue education and information literacy programs for the inmates within their limited resources. Based on the previous literature and findings of the current study, following recommendations are made for improvement of prison libraries around the world:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to examine the current status of prison libraries, their role, services and collection in Pakistani context. It also attempts to highlight the main problems faced by selected libraries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The qualitative research approach was adopted to achieve the study objectives. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews to find out respondents' views about libraries in prison.\nFindings: Findings of the study confirmed that inmates' library queries are mostly related to the legal matters, and it is quite natural. One of the significant services of the Pakistani prison libraries is to help prisoners in their education. The main role of the library caretaker was to educate and offer rehabilitation programs. Unavailability of library space, lack of professional staff, limited collections, poor budgetary situation and censorship issues are the major challenges that Pakistani prison libraries are facing.\nSocial implications: The study findings further implicate that open libraries and access to books would promote positivity within society and reduce criminal and immoral acts.\nOriginality/value: It is the first of its kind and unique study that presents the current situation of prison libraries in the Pakistani context. The study has practical implications for policymakers to give importance to prison libraries in terms of finance, professional staff and the availability of information sources.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do women in top management affect firm performance? Evidence from Indonesia	[ "Indonesia", "Public companies", "Corporate governance", "Financial performance", "Boards", "Women", "Gender diversity", "Female representation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business organizations today have employees that are increasingly diverse in terms of their age, ethnic background, and gender (Jackson and Alvarez, 1992). The number of women pursuing managerial careers has also increased significantly (Omar and Davidson, 2001). Nevertheless, the representation of women holding seats on boards of directors is generally low, including in developed economies. A census conducted by Australia's Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (2008) reveals that the average percentage of female directors is 10.7 percent in the country, compared to 15.4 percent in the USA.In diverse organizations, it appears to be a common phenomenon that minority or \"lower-status\" groups, such as women and minority ethnic groups, are likely to be marginalized and given limited access to develop a career (Ibarra, 1993). This situation has led increasingly to attempts to promote equal opportunities among different groups in organizations. Governments of developed countries such as the USA and Australia have established equal opportunities commissions. Proposals on governance reform also increasingly state the importance of gender diversity for boards of directors (Adams and Ferreira, 2009). Furthermore, the Norwegian and Swedish governments have imposed gender quotas on boards of directors (Medland, 2004; Randoy et al., 2006), which has resulted in 28.8 and 22.8 percent of board seats being held by women in Norway and Sweden, respectively (European Professional Women's Network, 2006).The gender diversity of boards of directors and top management teams has attracted the interest of researchers in the past two decades. Compared to the diversity of other demographic attributes, gender diversity appears to be the most widely addressed in the literature (Erhardt et al., 2003). In numerous studies in the management, organization science and psychology literature, scholars have examined the relationship between gender diversity and various aspects, such as managerial advancement (Tharenou et al., 1994), management style (Eagly et al., 2003; Rigg and Sparrow, 1994), occupational merit (Lobel and Clair, 1992), occupational pressures (Granleese, 2004), personal networks (Ibarra, 1993), and board effectiveness (Nielsen and Huse, 2010). In the accounting literature, previous studies have addressed the association between gender diversity and accounting earnings quality (Krishnan and Parsons, 2008; Ye et al., 2010), social responsibility (Coffey and Wang, 1998; Siciliano, 1996), and intellectual capital performance (Van der Zahn (2004)).In addition, there are also a growing number of studies that link gender diversity and firm profitability or financial performance. These studies, however, have been conducted in the context of a few developed economies, such as the USA (Adams and Ferreira, 2009; Krishnan and Park, 2005), Canada (Francoeur et al., 2008), Spain (Campbell and Minguez-Vera, 2008), The Netherlands (Marinova et al., 2010), and Denmark (Smith et al., 2005). While these studies focus only on gender diversity, other studies have focused on gender diversity along with other demographic attributes, such as race or ethnic background (Carter et al., 2003; Erhardt et al., 2003; Richard et al., 2004), nationality (Randoy et al., 2006), and age (Kilduff et al., 2000). Such studies in the context of developing economies are very rare. Hence, this study contributes to the literature by examining the link between gender diversity and financial performance for a developing economy that has a different economic and cultural environment to developed economies.This study investigates the association between gender diversity on the board of management and the financial performance of Indonesian listed firms. Our empirical evidence reveals that the ratio of women on the top management team is negatively related to financial performance, providing evidence that the presence of female top executives does not necessarily improve firm value. Further, through bivariate analysis, it is found that a higher proportion of women on the management board are more likely to be employed by smaller firms, which are likely to be family-controlled firms.As regulated by the country's corporation law, Indonesian firms have two types of board in their organizational structures:1. Dewan Komisaris (supervisory board); and2. Dewan Direksi (management board).This two-tier board structure is also adopted in a number of countries, such as Germany, The Netherlands, and Japan (Weimar and Pape, 1999). The supervisory board has a supervisory and monitoring role over management, whereas the management board conducts the day-to-day management of the firm. In other words, the executive function of the firm is conducted solely by the management board. For the purposes of this study, we emphasize the influence of the representation of female top executives on financial performance, and thus we only address women holding seats on management boards.The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 reviews prior studies and develops hypotheses. In Section 3, we describe the data and methodology used in this study. Section 4 presents and discusses empirical results, and concluding remarks are presented in Section 5.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Gender diversity\n3. Data and methodology: 3.1 Sample data\n4. Results and discussions: 4.1 Descriptive statistics\n5. Conclusion: This paper examines the influence of gender diversity among the members of management boards on financial performance of Indonesian listed firms. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first of its kind for the Indonesian context. Hence, this study contributes to the literature by examining the link between gender diversity and financial performance for a developing economy that has a different environment from that of developed economies, where previous studies have been conducted. Our final sample comprises 354 firms listed on the IDX as at December 31, 2007. Following Adams and Ferreira (2009) and Carter et al. (2003), we include both financial and non-financial firms in our sample.From correlation analysis, it is found that the proportion of female executives has a negative association with total assets. Hence, we conclude that a higher proportion of women on management boards is more likely to occur in smaller firms, which tend to be family-controlled. Women holding seats on the boards of this type of firm may be partly due to family ties with the founder or the controlling shareholder. Additionally, using t-tests of differences in means, our result reveals that firms with a high proportion of women on management boards have significantly smaller assets than firms with low representation. Therefore, larger firms are considered \"tougher\" for women in terms of opportunities to sit on management boards.Cross-sectional regression analysis is conducted to examine the influence of the representation of women on financial performance. The representation of women on management boards is indicated using two variables in separate regression models, namely the proportion of women (indicated using a percentage) and the presence of women (indicated using a dichotomous variable). Using ROA as the proxy for accounting-based performance, empirical evidence obtained reveals that the presence of women negatively and significantly influences firm performance. When Tobin's q is used as the proxy for market-based performance, the proportion of female executives also shows such a negative association. This implies that a higher fraction of female executives tends to belong to low-performing firms. Furthermore, we employ the Blau heterogeneity index to indicate the level of diversity among management board members. Our evidence suggests no influence of the diversity index on both ROA and Tobin's q. In robustness checks, we run regressions separately for larger and smaller firms and find that the negative impact of female representation on ROA and Tobin's q is significant for larger firms only.Despite its contribution to the corporate governance literature, this study only focuses on one single financial year. Future studies may need to consider the use of panel data to provide more powerful insights into the association between board gender diversity and financial performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between gender diversity on the management board and the financial performance of Indonesian listed companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Cross-sectional regression analysis was conducted based on a sample comprising 92.4 percent of public firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). The dependent variable was firm performance, measured by return on assets (ROA) and Tobin's q. The explanatory variable was gender diversity, proxied by the proportion of women, the presence of women, and a gender heterogeneity index.\nFindings: - It was found that the representation of female top executives is negatively related to both ROA and Tobin's q, suggesting that female representation is not associated with an improved level of performance. From correlation analysis, the results also reveal that smaller firms, which tend to be family-controlled, are more likely to have a higher proportion of female members on management boards. This implies that large firms are \"tougher\" for women in terms of opportunities to hold seats on the board.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The data only cover one single financial year (2007); hence, the results may lack generalizability.\nOriginality/value: - Studies on the relationship between board gender diversity and financial performance have been conducted in the context of a few developed economies. This study contributes to the literature by examining such an issue in a developing economy that has a different environment from that of developed economies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Physical-mechanical characterization of biodegradable Mg-3Si-HA composites	[ "Silicon", "Hydroxyapatite", "Elastic modulus", "Magnesium composite", "Mechanical alloying", "Spark plasma sintering" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increased demand of an artificial organ, hard tissue replacements and bone fixation devices led to the design and development of a wide range of new biomaterials. Commonly used yet successful are stainless steel, cobalt-chromium, titanium and its composites, which possess superior bio-mechanical properties and integrity (Geetha et al., 2009). However, it has been witnessed that their full potential use is not escalating and, often hindered because of the consequential drawbacks. For instance, first, the elastic modulus of these materials is much higher (110-200 GPa) than that of the bone (10-45 GPa), which causes stress shielding (Prakash et al., 2016). As a result, the bone resorption occurs, leading to implant loosening and failure. Second, biomaterials are used as long-lasting bone fixation devices or implants. Spoerke et al. (2005) reported that after the bone healing, the implants must be removed from the body by a secondary surgical procedure, causing an increased healthcare cost, and mental stress toward the patients. In light of the issues around the existing hard metal implants, magnesium (Mg)-based composites are gaining a growing attention as a promising alternative for bio-inserts and bone fixation devices, because of their high biodegradability, superior biocompatibility and low elastic modulus nearing to that of the bone (Staiger et al., 2006). Uddin et al. (2015) reported that Mg was degraded very rapidly after implantation in the human body. Over the decades, numerous methodology and progressive techniques have been employed to regulate the deterioration rate in a way such that the implant provides adequate mechanical integrity until the complete bone healing (Uddin et al., 2015 and Uddin et al., 2017). This has been a pressing challenge for biomedical engineers and material scientists, aiming to explore the potential solutions to produce implants with the controlled degradation ability. Zhang et al. (2009) reported that the element alloying was found the most successful and potential method to control the degradation rate of Mg composites. Radha and Sreekanth (2017) critically conducted the review on the development of magnesium alloys, in which, elements, for example, Zn, Al, Ag, Y, Zr, Nd, Si, Mn, TiO2 and Ca, were selected in the response of their biological function in the human body. While the element Al in Mg-composites improves mechanical properties, but Al+ ions released cause Alzheimer's disease and muscle fiber damage (Zhang et al., 2012; Gu et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2012). Song (2007) reported that Zr causes very serious diseases such as lung cancer, liver cancer, and breast cancer. Zhang et al. (2012) reported that the alloying of Nd and Y in Mg-alloy disrupt the growth of tissues around the implant. Li et al. (2008) observed that the alloying of Ca reduced the degradation rate and improved bio-mechanical integrity in a corrosive media. Moreover, Ca is a main and prime element of human bone, which stimulates the bone ingrowth process, thus accelerating the bone healing (Khanra et al., 2010). The alloying of Zn and Mn in the Mg matrix enhanced both elasticity and corrosion resistance (Gu et al., 2010). Recently, Ben-Hamu et al. (2007) reported that Si has proved to be an imperative element being alloyed to develop tissues. The developed Mg-Si composites showed low ductility, high strength and high corrosion resistance because of the presence of bigger Mg2Si particle and eutectic phases. In this regard, various manufacturing techniques, such as conventional sintering, have been used to fabricate Mg and its composites (Vahidgolpayegani et al., 2017). However, the shortcomings of the techniques are, for example, long sintering time and high temperature, which degrades mechanical and electrochemical properties, and thus, the fabricated devices have failed in long-term under cyclic loading. Spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique has been accounted for a novel and intense approach to fabricate porous compact with improved mechano-biological, antibacterial and corrosion performance. The SPS is a powder metallurgy, and the consolidation of powders by sintering uses a shorter holding time, a relatively lower sintering temperature and a high pressure at the rapid heating and cooling rates (>100degC/min). Table I presents a summary of the current literature on the fabrication of Mg-alloy using SPS.\n2. Material and method: 2.1 Mechanical alloying and consolidation of spark plasma sintering\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Microstructure characterization\n4. Conclusions: Potential application of MA-SPS technique was considered for the design and development of new low elastic porous Mg-3Si-HA composites with improved mechanical integrity, corrosion resistance properties and biocompatibility. The following conclusions were drawn from the present study:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Porous implant surface is shown to facilitate bone in-growth and cell attachment, improving overall osteointegration, while providing adequate mechanical integrity. Recently, biodegradable material possessing such superior properties has been the focus with an aim of revolutionizing implant's design, material and performance. This paper aims to present a comprehensive investigation into the design and development of low elastic modulus porous biodegradable Mg-3Si-5HA composite by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering (MA-SPS) technique.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the design and development of low elastic modulus porous biodegradable Mg-3Si-5HA composite by MA-SPS technique. As the key alloying elements, HA powders with an appropriate proportion weight 5 and 10 are mixed with the base elemental magnesium (Mg) particles to form the composites of potentially variable porosity and mechanical property. The aim is to investigate the performance of the synthesized composites of Mg-3Si together with HA in terms of mechanical integrity hardness and Young's moduli corrosion resistance and in-vitro bioactivity.\nFindings: Mechanical and surface characterization results indicate that alloying of Si leads to the formation of fine Mg2 Si eutectic dense structure, hence increasing hardness while reducing the ductility of the composite. On the other hand, the allying of HA in Mg-3Si matrix leads to the formation of structural porosity (5-13 per cent), thus resulting in low Young's moduli. It is hypothesized that biocompatible phases formed within the composite enhanced the corrosion performance and bio-mechanical integrity of the composite. The degradation rate of Mg-3Si composite was reduced from 2.05 mm/year to 1.19 mm/year by the alloying of HA elements. Moreover, the fabricated composites showed an excellent bioactivity and offered a channel/interface to MG-63 cells for attachment, proliferation and differentiation.\nOriginality/value: Overall, the findings suggest that the Mg-3Si-HA composite fabricated by MA and plasma sintering may be considered as a potential biodegradable material for orthopedic application.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
CRM, service quality and organizational performance in the banking industry: a comparative study of conventional and Islamic banks	[ "Technological practices", "Customer service quality", "Organizational performance", "Conventional banks", "Islamic banks (IB)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last few decades, customers have become more price-sensitive and extremely attentive when making purchase decisions. This has motivated organizations to embrace customer relationship management (CRM) as a key strategy to increase customer loyalty, satisfaction, retention and profits (Diffley et al., 2018). Rafiki et al. (2019) define CRM as a business philosophy that allows organizations to understand customers' needs and preferences through their histories and requirements. The importance of CRM resides in the fact that it enables marketers to use customer information to detect, monitor and satisfy needs and expectations (Chen and Chen, 2004). Its main purpose is to understand the factors leading to customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty (Al-Hawari, 2015; Thakur, 2014).A number of empirical studies emphasize the positive impact of CRM on business performance (Akroush, 2008; Rafiki et al., 2019). Still, many researchers assert that CRM implementation has led to substantial disappointment in recent years (Dubey and Sangle, 2019; Santouridis; Tsachtani, 2015). One of the rationales behind the high failure rates in CRM projects could be the use of CRM as an IT initiative while ignoring the other CRM dimensions. The incongruent findings in CRM literature spurred increased interest and research in the field of CRM. Still, CRM prior research lacks a CRM holistic perspective and little work has examined the finer organizational and technological aspects of CRM adoption.There has been extensive research about CRM in a variety of contexts, including financial institutions and banking in both developed and emerging markets. Although very few studies investigated CRM adoption in the Moroccan banking industry, existing literature findings reveal that CRM adoption remains in its elementary stage (Chetioui et al., 2017; El Koraichi, 2014). In Morocco, the banking industry is dominated by conventional banks. While Islamic banking is well established in most MENA countries, it was introduced not long ago to Moroccan customers. Five Islamic banks (IBs) could start operation in 2017, and few conventional banks diverted their existing activities by offering Sharia-compliant products. Islamic or Sharia-compliant banking differs from conventional banking in that interest is prohibited (Errico and Farahbaksh, 1998). These banks provide profit-and-risk sharing based products where neither the investor (provider of capital) nor the entrepreneur (user of capital) can promise a predetermined fixed rate of return (Lebdaoui and Wild, 2016b, 2016a). Additionally, IBs tend to avoid investing customers deposits in businesses that are unlawful under Sharia principles (Siddiqi, 1999).Several studies investigated the comparative effectiveness and efficiency of Islamic and conventional banking (Abdul-Majid et al., 2010; Beck et al., 2013; Hasan and Dridi, 2011). These studies mainly assessed the financial performance, efficiency and stability of conventional banks as compared to Islamic banks in two or more countries. Still, a review of the banking literature revealed that very few studies were undertaken to compare service quality among the two banking systems. Kumar et al. (2010) assert that conventional and Islamic banks are quite different in terms of tangibility and service quality gap. More recently, Abu Saleh et al. (2017) emphasized that service quality measures were significantly superior within Islamic banks. In that context, a number of studies linked CRM adoption to superior customer service quality (Su and Lin, 2006; Tseng and Wu, 2014). CRM makes it possible to collect valuable customer insights and allow a better understanding of customers' needs and requirements. Customer insights eventually enable banks to work accordingly to match customers' requirements, and therefore, provide better-quality service. A superior service quality, in turn, leads to enhanced customer satisfaction and organizational performance (Akroush, 2008; Saleh et al., 2017).In the Moroccan banking context, Chetioui et al. (2017) assert that Moroccan conventional banks mainly focus on the technological side of CRM, while key organizational practices are still overlooked. They also emphasize that Moroccan conventional banks reveal unsatisfying outcomes from the use of CRM solutions. An extensive review of CRM literature reveals that no prior studies have addressed CRM adoption in the context of Islamic banks. Our study will be of significant importance as it investigates CRM adoption and its implications in both conventional and Islamic banks. The present study is designed to address the previously mentioned gaps in the literature by developing a novel theoretical framework that integrates CRM practices, customer service quality and organizational performance. It extends the existing literature by incorporating customer service quality as a mediating variable in the linkage between CRM practices and organizational performance. The proposed conceptual model is also assessed in two different banking structures: conventional and Islamic. It is expected that the findings will help conventional and Islamic banks operating in Morocco or in other similar emerging countries to enhance service quality and organizational performance through CRM initiatives. The aim is also to comprehend CRM organizational and technological practices and how they contribute to organizational performances in the two different banking structures. Therefore, this research attempts to answer the following research questions:RQ1. What are the key CRM organizational and technological practices?RQ2. How do CRM organizational and technological practices contribute to improving service quality and organizational performance in conventional and Islamic banking systems? Are there any disparities in CRM effects?RQ3. Does customer service quality mediate the linkage between CRM practices and organizational performance in both banking structures?This article is structured as follows: Section 2 contains the theoretical background and hypotheses. Then Sections 3 and 4 cover the methods used in the research and data analysis respectively. Section 5 contains a discussion and a conclusion. Finally, Section 6 includes limitations and further research.\n2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses: 2.1 The concept of CRM\n3. Methods: 3.1 Conceptual model\n4. Analysis and results: We opted for the use of Partial Least Squares (PLS) as the most appropriate statistical technique. The use of PLS is mainly due to (1) the early stage of our theoretical development, and (2) the complexity of our proposed conceptual model. The objective of our study is to assess the proposed conceptual model in two different banking structures: conventional and Islamic. For achieving this objective, our sample was split into two subsamples, namely conventional banks (n = 247) and Islamic banks (n = 141). 4.1 Measurement model\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n6. Limitations and further research: This study has a few limitations. First, the data for this research was collected from managers of both conventional and Islamic banks in only one research setting. Future analyses that compare banking systems could apply a longitudinal approach to measuring CRM practices and their impact on organizational performance over time in order to capture any disparities in findings. In order to overcome economic and cultural disparities, it would be interesting to assess the conceptual model in other countries and compare the findings. Future research can also focus on examining the proposed research model in the context of Islamic banks and other financial institutions operating in non-Islamic countries, which might provide further insights into the issues examined in this research. Another limitation of the current research is that organizational performance was measured based on the bank manager's perception of their branch performance compared to competitors. The use of the subjective view for measuring organizational performance was mainly adopted for the fact that banks' performance measures are generally considered highly confidential in Morocco, and respondents might not be allowed to provide precise financial data. As well, prior studies revealed that objective and subjective measures generally yield similar outcomes (Jaakkola et al., 2009). Finally, although we have tested a pertinent model with indirect effects, we have included only one intervening variable, namely, customer service quality. There are other variables that could potentially affect the findings, particularly the size of the bank, the gender of CRM users, CRM use length and other factors that should be incorporated in future studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine a model that uses customer service quality as an intervening mechanism in the relationship between customer relationship management (CRM) practices and organizational performance in two different banking structures: conventional and Islamic. The study focuses on organizational and technological practices of CRM, as both have been demonstrated to be critical to CRM success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on responses from 247 managers from conventional banks and 141 managers from Islamic banks operating in Morocco using a self-administered questionnaire. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique is employed for data analysis.\nFindings: Findings demonstrate that customer service quality plays a mediating role between CRM practices (organizational and technological) and organizational performance in both conventional and Islamic banks. Our results confirm the positive impact of CRM practices on organizational performance in the two banking structures.\nPractical implications: This study enhances our understanding of how CRM practices contribute to improving customer service quality and organizational performance in both conventional and Islamic banks. Bank managers, who aim to deliver superior service quality and achieve customer satisfaction and retention, should capitalize on the benefits of implementing CRM organizational and technological practices.\nOriginality/value: The present paper bridges a gap pertaining to key practices and factors that impact CRM success in the banking industry. It is the first of its kind to investigate the effect of CRM practices on organizational performance with customer service quality as a mediating variable. The study also contributes to the field of CRM literature, as CRM has rarely been addressed in an Islamic banking context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
AstraZeneca's prescription for more women in the workforce: Asia for Global talent program wins gender-equality award	[ "Gender", "Pharmaceutical industry", "Awards", "Equal opportunities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is attempting to boost the number of women in its workforce in Japan and China and help more of them to rise to senior positions.\nAstraZeneca in Japan: AstraZeneca Japan launched Japan's first women's network in 2011. It brings together hundreds of the company's female workforce across Japan to discuss key issues. AstraZeneca followed this by launching a program focused on recruiting and retaining Japanese women. Both these initiatives were new in a market where companies can be constrained by local conventions toward women in the workplace.\nAstraZeneca in China: AstraZeneca in China has focused on women and family-friendly work practices - including flexible working - across its China operations to help women to enter and stay in work. In Shanghai, it offers facilities that help with work-life balance, such as a free gym and a laundry service. It allows all employees to finish early on Fridays. All female employees with young children are given an extra half day off on International Women's Day and on International Children's Day.\nThe impact of the initiatives: Women now make up a quarter of AstraZeneca's senior-management team. Engagement scores for women have risen from being 6 per cent lower than men in 2010 to being approximately level. The turnover rate for women in sales has fallen from 10.1 per cent in 2010 to around 3 per cent. Almost a third of AstraZeneca employees in Japan are women, compared with a 10 per cent average for other pharmaceutical companies in the local market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Reveals how pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is attempting to boost the number of women in its workforce in Japan and China and help more of them to rise to senior positions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Describes the Asia for Global talent program, a winner in the Opportunity Now awards, which are part of Business in the Community's gender-equality campaign.\nFindings: Examines the reasons for the program and the successes it has achieved.\nPractical implications: Shows that AstraZeneca is employing more women in its senior positions than equivalent companies in Asia and that they are among the most engaged employees in its global workforce.\nSocial implications: Considers briefly how the economy and society as a whole in Japan and China can benefit from greater female representation in the higher echelons of private sector companies.\nOriginality/value: Describes an effective talent-management program operated in Asia by an international pharmaceuticals company.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Open Doors: library cross-sector co-operation in Bristol, UK	[ "Public libraries", "Partnership", "Co-operation", "University libraries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and context: This case study demonstrates how partnerships between different library sectors can deliver improved services. Through outlining a joint membership project, the issues and benefits of partnerships working are articulated. The outcomes of the project indicate clearly how libraries can work together to promote learning and community engagement.\nThe project offering: Approach and objectives\nProject activities: Information collection\nProject outcomes: What people did\nThe future: The organisations involved are extremely aware that communication and promotion need to be continued at the same pace. As new students arrive each year, the university has to re-advertise the scheme, but it also has to refresh the promotion to engage existing students and staff. Similarly, with public library users, the message needs to be mediated in fresh ways. In February, the National Libraries Day celebrations are always a good point at which to re-iterate such schemes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper outlines the aims, activities and outcomes of a project to pilot a reciprocal borrowing scheme between public and academic libraries using existing cards, i.e. public library cards in the academic library and university ID cards in the public libraries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a case study providing practical information about the establishment and promotion of the service, and recounting the feedback from surveys of participants, prospective users and library staff.\nFindings: The project outcomes indicate that the reciprocal use of existing library cards between institutions and public libraries in a geographical area: was relatively simple once set up; was appreciated by all those who participated; had few teething problems; had had no appreciable impact on the availability of academic stock to University of the West of England (UWE) students; increased public library and academic library usage by target groups, e.g. school students 16 years and over, enabled the public library service to provide a significantly better offer of resources to its community, especially those who needed access to specialised stock, not normally available in a general public library service.\nOriginality/value: The partnership between LibrariesWest (led by South Gloucestershire Libraries) and UWE Bristol Library Services is not unusual. However, the approach taken, i.e. to allow borrowers to use their own libraries' cards without any data sharing between the respective systems, is fairly unique. The processes involved and the evaluation of the scheme are of value to other prospective partnerships where organisations are geographically aligned.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Data interoperability for disaster risk reduction in Europe	[ "Disaster risk management", "Interoperability", "Digital revolution", "Data", "Regional platforms", "Science–policy interface" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Increasing data availability from satellites, radars, airborne or ground-stationed sensors, demographic registries and digital footprints along with a wide range of outputs from model simulations unlocks unprecedented opportunities in disaster risk management. Forecasting systems with sufficient lead-time allow for prevention and preparedness measures; continuous monitoring, data assimilation and model state-updating enhance real-time control and operational risk management; and remote sensing products can be used to efficiently direct response and recovery efforts to areas most in need. However, data interoperability remains a challenge due to a number of barriers that preclude exploitation of available data for disaster risk reduction before, during or after a hazard has materialized into a disaster. As goes unsaid, there is potential for higher efficiency and effectiveness of risk reducing measures and management strategies if barriers to data interoperability are overcome; a first step to achieving this is identifying the most pressing barriers.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The role of data in disaster risk reduction\n3. Surveys and interviews: Depending on what priorities of the Sendai Framework are considered and which stakeholders are involved, various actions can be taken to support global strategies for disaster risk reduction. Examples of such actions include: investment and implementation of measures and policy instruments, delineation of socio-economic mechanisms to catalyze on partnerships and cooperation, and preparation to increase resistance and resilience in advance of anticipated disasters. These actions may require one or more data types for implementation:\n4. Barriers to data interoperability: Barriers to data interoperability arise due to complex and intertwined reasons. Although these reasons differ on local, national, regional and global scales, four heterogeneous factors can be identified along with six non-exclusive domains of origin.\n5. E-STAG: a European initiative: The E-STAG was established on 25th of April, 2018, in Sofia, Bulgaria, as an initiative from the UNDRR and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre to support implementation of the Sendai Framework and tackle emerging challenges related to the SDGs, focusing in particular on improving knowledge and awareness of disaster risk in 55 countries across Europe and Central Asia. During the first mandate year, the E-STAG split into two working groups, one of which focused on the role of data in disaster risk reduction (hereby referred to as Data E-STAG). During the first mandate year, the Data E-STAG embraced the following objectives:\n6. Conclusion: Modern society is facing a digital revolution. As highlighted by the International Council of Science (https://council.science/) and the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (www.codata.org/), digital technology offers profound opportunities for science to discover unsuspected patterns and relationships in nature and society, on scales from the molecular to the cosmic, from local health systems to global sustainability. It has created the potential for disciplines of science to synergize into a holistic understanding of the complex challenges currently confronting humanity; the SDGs are a direct reflectance of this. Interdisciplinary is obtained with integration of data across relevant disciplines. However, a barrier to realization and exploitation of this potential arises from the incompatible data standards and nomenclatures used in different disciplines. Although the problem has been addressed by several initiatives, the following challenge still remains: to make online data integration a routine.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how, despite increasing data availability from a wide range of sources unlocks unprecedented opportunities for disaster risk reduction, data interoperability remains a challenge due to a number of barriers. As a first step to enhancing data interoperability for disaster risk reduction is to identify major barriers, this paper presents a case study on data interoperability in disaster risk reduction in Europe, linking current barriers to the regional initiative of the European Science and Technology Advisory Group.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In support of Priority 2 (\"Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk\") of the Sendai Framework and SDG17 (\"Partnerships for the goals\"), this paper presents a case study on barriers to data interoperability in Europe based on a series of reviews, surveys and interviews with National Sendai Focal Points and stakeholders in science and research, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and industry.\nFindings: For a number of European countries, there remains a clear imbalance between long-term disaster risk reduction and short-term preparation and the dominant role of emergency relief, response and recovery, pointing to the potential of investments in ex ante measures with better inclusion and exploitation of data.\nOriginality/value: Modern society is facing a digital revolution. As highlighted by the International Council of Science and the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, digital technology offers profound opportunities for science to discover unsuspected patterns and relationships in nature and society, on scales from the molecular to the cosmic, from local health systems to global sustainability. It has created the potential for disciplines of science to synergize into a holistic understanding of the complex challenges currently confronting humanity; the Sustainable Development Goals are a direct reflectance of this. Interdisciplinary is obtained with integration of data across relevant disciplines. However, a barrier to realization and exploitation of this potential arises from the incompatible data standards and nomenclatures used in different disciplines. Although the problem has been addressed by several initiatives, the following challenge still remains: to make online data integration a routine.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Autonomous leadership and a centralised school system: An odd couple? Empirical insights from Cyprus	[ "Leadership", "Policy", "Educational policy", "Cyprus", "Deregulation", "School autonomy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The concepts of enhanced school autonomy, evaluation and accountability introduced in the 1990s, have led to new approaches to school governance (van Amelsvoort and Scheerens, 1997). In recent years, measures of school governance have been more precisely defined, tending to enhance the ability and the quality by which schools meet educational objectives (Pont et al., 2008). Current amendments in school legislation in Europe aim to improve quality by strengthening the autonomy of schools, accompanied by development processes initiated and governed by the schools themselves and linked to an external setting of standards of effectiveness and an increased control of outcomes. In this context, the role of school management as a central agent in implementing these concepts comes into focus of empirical educational research (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005). Special interest is placed on strategic management in terms of mid-term and long-term school development. The school principals' role as \"change agents\" has never been more important than today, being a central link between state-driven reforms and school-internal innovation (Fend, 2011). But as school leaders do not operate in a vacuum, contextual factors have to be considered as well. School principals' actions greatly depend on the perceptions of the particular context they operate in, since this is how they interpret the external environment and legal framework related to their practices. However, there are only few studies exploring principals' perceptions of governance structures and contextual factors (cf. Cheng and Walker, 2008; Glatter, 2003; Mulford, 2003; Pashiardis and Brauckmann, 2008; Pont et al., 2008). Contextual and educational governance structures, such as steering patterns, evaluation and accountability provisions, will provide insight into the complex interactions at play between principals' beliefs and modern reform efforts.\n2. School autonomy and accountability policies - intended effects and unintended conflicts: Attempts of new educational governance policies can be subsumed under two main strategies of reform, site-based management (including autonomy and choice policies) and standards-based reform (accountability and evaluation); in other words: patterns of deregulation and regulation. This section gives an overview of recent developments and findings in this area of leadership research.\n3. Profiles of autonomy among Cypriot school leaders: Our analysis is based on a survey conducted in Cyprus in spring 2010. A questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 283 Cypriot school principals. This questionnaire on the governance and context framework was constructed based on similar instruments used in previous studies (especially the Pro-LEAD project; cf. Pashiardis, 2013). The instrument was translated into Greek and its clarity and relevance was validated by local research colleagues. Responses to each item of the questionnaire are made on a scale from 1 (\"not at all\") to 5 (\"very much\") with a higher score always representing a higher degree of agreement with a statement. In the present paper we refer to three selected sections of the questionnaire where school principals are to assess: first, the level of autonomy in terms of organizing and processing classes (especially deciding on pedagogical and instructional tasks); second, the extent by which the implementation of decentralization measures was accompanied by supporting measures; and third, the possible effects (positive as well negative) of decentralization efforts and of evaluation and accountability. The number of items used for measuring each dimension and exemplary items are given in Table II.\n4. Discussion: This piece of research signals that the introduction and implementation of new governance instruments have broadened the scope of demands on the roles and functions of school management (OECD, 2008b; Eurydice European Unit, 2007; UNESCO, 2007; De Grauwe, 2004). Enhanced decision-making opportunities and conceptual options on the one hand and increasing demands on accountability on the other hand call for new structures of taking responsibility at the school level. With regard to the framing of New Public Management reforms we identify four different types of school principals: challenger - optimist - sceptic - opportunist. These types differ by gender and - even more clearly - by the years they are in a leading position. We find one-dimensional (the optimist and the sceptic) and poly-dimensional (the challenger and the opportunist) profiles of how school principals understand the \"new\" policy expectation of carrying out their twofold responsibility. Judging by the data, it is further evident that new responsibilities at the individual school level lead to learning and practising not only a new leadership concept, but also new roles and new functions (OECD, 2008a).\n5. Outlook: 5.1 The idea of flexible decentralization\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although policy makers strengthen the necessity of \"deregulation\", discussions about deregulation vs regulation in Europe still seem to be characterized by a lack of sophistication and require a more differentiated picture of specific forms of deregulation. As a consequence, the analysis of new educational governance approaches should consider the local actor's interpretation of new roles and new responsibilities. Relating actions and reactions of school leaders to their formal environment should lead to more contextual patterns of responsiveness. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors investigate, based on a survey among Cypriot school leaders, whether school autonomy needs deregulation, or regulation towards autonomy, respectively. At the time of research the school system of Cyprus could be characterized as a \"centralized\" system and hence represented a suitable field of study. Using a factor model followed by a cluster analysis the paper explores the school leaders' profiles of operative and perceived autonomy in different fields of governance issues and identify different types of leadership.\nFindings: The authors find that the autonomy school leaders experience is not necessarily related to a \"defined\" degree of autonomy which is prescribed by educational law and driven by concepts of new public management. Their \"perceived\" autonomy is also due to factors which can be located at a rather individual level.\nOriginality/value: The findings provide insight into principals' motives to adopt certain styles of leading schools, quite independently from new measures of educational governance. The authors conclude that greater emphasis on systematic support programmes may prepare school principals for gains of autonomy as well as for potential sources of conflict.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does the Great Fire Wall cause self-censorship? The effects of perceived internet regulation and the justification of regulation	[ "China", "Internet", "Regulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The proliferation of the internet brings tremendous impact on the society, and simultaneously shows its power in unmasking the illness of the society and challenging the authority of political regimes (Schwartz, 2005). The regulation on the internet could be seen all around the world (Thomas et al., 1998) and China is a typical example to pierce the governance on the internet and how people react to the regulation. The Chinese internet market has expanded rapidly over the past decade and the internet penetration rate in China has reached 53.2 percent by the end of 2016 (CNNIC, 2017). Research questions about how Chinese people use the internet for political or civil purposes and how Chinese government regulates the internet have garnered enormous attention internationally (e.g. King et al., 2013, 2014; Roberts, 2015; Kou et al., 2017). The Great Fire Wall (GFW thereafter) is a well-known internet regulation system which endorses stringent governance to filter sensitive or untrue contents and block access to western websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google. Prior studies have made great efforts to explore what kind of content are likely to be censored (e.g. Hughes and Wacker, 2003; King et al., 2013, 2014), how the filtering system works in different place and by different censors (e.g. Dong, 2012; Lacharite, 2002), how censorship is conducted on social media (e.g. Bamman et al., 2012; MacKinnon, 2009). With most of the previous research mainly focusing on the mechanism or the technical infrastructure of internet regulation, only a few studies have explored how Chinese netizens cope with the censorship system (e.g. Mulvenon and Chase, 2005; Guo and Feng, 2011; Yang and Liu, 2014; Roberts, 2015), and even few of them addressed the impact of internet censorship on the public with a causation relationship. This study aims to examine the influence of internet censorship on Chinese users' tendency of self-censorship through a controlled experiment.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The mechanism of internet regulation in China\n3. Hypotheses and research questions: Although Chinese web users' reaction to of internet censorship has been addressed in a few of the prior studies, some questions remain unsolved: Is there a causal relationship between internet censorship and web users' self-censorship? Will the impact of internet censorship vary on different people who experience different patterns of regulation? Will the justification of censorship from the point of view of social stability and national security influence people's perception of internet controls?\n4. Method: 4.1 Design and measures\n5. Data analysis: To check whether the process of randomization was effective, a series of ANOVA were run and the results showed that there was no significant difference in the distribution of age (F= 0.75, df=6, p=0.61), gender (kh2=17.65, df=12, p=0.13), political efficacy (F=0.66, df=6, p=0.66), attitude toward the government (F=0.68, df=6, p=0.67), and history of bypassing the GFW (F=0.67, df=6, p=0.67) among the seven groups. Thus, the randomization process was successful.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The internet regulation policy in China has attracted world-wide research interest. Without penetrating deeply in different people's reactions to the censorship under different conditions, it is difficult to understand how the censorship policy is perceived by the public and exerts influence on the public. The current study identified a causal relationship between internet censorship infrastructure endorsed by Chinese Government and Chinese internet users' tendency of self-censorship, which was measured by the willingness to speak about sensitive topics and the behavior of signing petition for information access freedom. Although self-censorship of journalists, activists, and scholars had been studied in the prior literature, very few efforts had been made to explore how ordinary people react to the censorship system, even fewer research tried to build a causation link between censorship and self-censorship. As Tai (2014) discovered, Chinese Government's regulation on new media is tougher and more sophisticated than that over traditional media. The finding of this study suggests that Chinese Government has successfully induced self-censorship in not just the elite but also the general public, especially well-educated young people, consequently, will silence discrepant opinions and deteriorate the environment of speech freedom. However, the insights from Roberts' (2015) study showed that total information blackouts may inspire rivalry and undermine government legitimacy efforts. It is possible that someday self-censorship may be converted into or replaced by resistance. Future study may need to explore the relationship between self-censorship and resistance, as well as the conditions under which the two consequences of censorship will take place and transform to each other.\n7. Limitations: The subjects in our experiment are college students who were born in the early 1990s, the post-1990 generation grows up with high life quality and the internet has been embedded deeply in their daily lives, thus, their close connection with the internet and their identity as college students may stimulate many of them to sign the petition about opening Google Scholar. Further, study may want to address the same research questions with another sample pool, for example, people living in the rural areas and urban citizens living in the developed areas may hold diverse attitude toward the GFW and react differently to different patterns of internet censorship.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of internet censorship, which is represented by the Great Fire Wall, on Chinese internet users' self-censorship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 3x2 factorial experiment (n=315) is designed. Different patterns of censorship (soft censorship, compared censorship, and hard censorship) and the justification of internet regulation are involved in the experiment as two factors. The dependent variable is self-censorship which is measured through the willingness to speak about sensitive issues and the behavior of refusing to sign petitions with true names.\nFindings: The results show that perceived internet censorship significantly decreases the willingness to talk about sensitive issues and the likelihood of signing petitions with true names. The justification of censorship significantly decreases self-censorship on the behaviors of petition signing. Although there are different patterns of internet censorship that Chinese netizens may encounter, they do not differ from each other in causing different levels of self-censorship.\nResearch limitations/implications: The subjects are college students who were born in the early 1990s, and the characteristics of this generation may influence the results of the experiment. The measurement of self-censorship could be refined.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to the body of literature about internet regulation because it identifies a causal relationship between the government's internet censorship system and ordinary people's reaction to the regulation in an authoritarian regime. Unpacking different patterns of censorship and different dimensions of self-censorship depicts the complexity of censoring and being censored.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership and four-dimensional commitment: Mediating role of job characteristics and moderating role of participative and directive leadership styles	[ "Normative commitment", "Transformational leadership", "Affective commitment", "Job characteristics", "Few alternative", "Perceived sacrifices" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizational commitment (OC) remained a well-studied topic during the past decade. The experts of human resource development (HRD) have explained OC as a function of workplace attitudes, behaviors and management (Ahmad et al., 2018; Islam, Ali and Ahmed, 2018; Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016; Elamin, 2012; Hollingworth and Valentine, 2014). A positive and significant relationship has been identified between the type of leadership in an organization and the OC (Gillet and Vandenberghe, 2014). This increasing emphasis on leadership perspective has directed the professionals to suggest changes that can increase OC by altering leadership styles (Parry and Sinha, 2005; Islam et al., 2013). Parry and Sinha (2005) found that leadership practices focused on setting goals, distributing work, providing a system of feedback and formal coaching can increase organizational retention, satisfaction and commitment. Additionally, leadership practices that involve knowledge sharing, critical assessment of organizational environment, invigorating innovation in followers and subordinates, and increasing team creativeness can also contribute directly toward OC (Kennedy et al., 2013).\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: In this section, the research on the interrelation of TL, job characteristics, leadership styles and OC is reviewed for conceptual framework and hypotheses building. Six hypotheses were devised to test the model presented in Figure 1.\nMethod: This section is divided into two parts. In the first part, information regarding the participants and the procedure is discussed and in the second part measuring instruments are discussed.\nResults: The study begins with the preliminary analysis, i.e., preparation of data regarding missing values, normality and reliability. The results are generated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling and hierarchal regression.\nDiscussion: The study tested a model using job characteristics (i.e. autonomy, task variety and feedback) as a mediating variable and leadership styles (i.e. participatory and directive) as a moderating variable for the relationship of TL to OC. Many studies in HRD have found OC to be important due to its relation with consequent effects such as citizenship behavior, performance, efficiency and withdrawal (Ghosh et al., 2012). The present study sustains previous research conducted in this domain and contributes to understanding the system through which TL can affect OC. Consistent with the previous studies, this study found that TL positively associates with AC, NC and PS commitment and negatively with FA commitment (Song et al., 2012). The positive association between TL and AC can be explained by considering the fundamental nature of TL. Transformational leaders are more likely to remain connected with the followers, thus providing inspiration and giving a sense of purpose in the workplace (Trehan, 2007; Avolio, 1999). Such leadership is more likely to use emotional appeals to facilitate involvement and lining up employee identity with the values of the organization (Jackson et al., 2013). Likewise, TL is more likely to encourage the followers to look beyond their self-interests and contribute to the welfare of the organization, thus making NC possible (Fairlie, 2011).\nPractical implications: The present study is perhaps the first of its kind to examine the mechanism between TL and OC. The study has practical implications for the practitioners of HR development. The study noted that the presence of TL style among supervisors positively contributes toward employee decision making, feedback and task variety, and because of this employees presume their development and growth. This process ultimately develops emotional bonding (i.e. affective, PS and NC) and reduces commitment by default or FAs between the organization and employees. In simple words, such leaders transform employee relations with their jobs through self-development resulting in OC and willingness to stay with the organization for good reasons. \"Good reasons\" include a sense of indebtedness, goals identification and advantages one wants to keep, and discouraged perceptions about the absence of employment opportunities. Simply, such leaders positively contribute to enhancing normative, affective and PS commitment and negatively contribute to FA commitment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanism between transformational leadership (TL) and organizational commitment (OC) using job characteristics as a mediator and participative and directive leadership (DL) as moderator.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used a questionnaire-based survey to collect data from 563 employees working in the banking industry.\nFindings: The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings confirmed the mediating role of job characteristics and moderating role of both participative and DL styles between TL and OC.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data for this study were collected at one point of time and it has implications for the policymakers and bankers.\nOriginality/value: The study is novel as it highlights the importance of job characteristics, participative and DL styles in understanding the relationship between TL and OC.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Chest drain insertion: a real risk to patient safety	[ "Clinical governance", "Training", "Patients", "Health and safety", "Medical treatment", "Skills" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The medical mantra of \"see one, do one, teach one\" is often quoted to medical students as the method by which generations of doctors learnt their practical skills. Chest drain insertion is one of these practical skills and has traditionally been an important training requirement for junior doctors. When there is a need for chest drain insertion there are usually a number of junior doctors who are keen to learn and attempt the skill but the opportunities, supervision and individual doctor's skill levels are highly variable. There is growing recognition that patient safety must be paramount in practical procedures and a culture of formal training and supervision must prevail in experiential learning environments.The case for change has been made by the National Patient Safety Agency (2008a, b, c) \"rapid response report\", released on the 19 May 2008, on the risks of chest drain insertion. When chest drains are inserted incorrectly they can puncture major organs including the heart, lungs, liver and spleen. The NPSA has received reports of 12 deaths relating to chest drain insertion and 15 cases of serious harm between January 2005 and March 2008. A substantial number of less severe incidents have been reported and, as reporting is voluntary, this is likely to be the tip of an iceberg. Clearly, although this is a common medical procedure, it carries significant risks to patient safety.\nWhat is the scale of the problem?: Overall, 2,152 incidents involving chest drains were reported to the National Reporting and Learning System between January 2005 and March 2008. The largest proportion of incidents occurred in general medical specialities (42 per cent). A total of 1,372 (64 per cent) of incidents resulted in no harm to the patient, with 260 (12 per cent) resulting in moderate harm and 12 (1 per cent) causing deaths (Table I). Deaths were caused by puncture of vital organs and by haemorrhage. The incidents reported are alarming:[...] patient suffered cardiac arrest following attempts to insert a chest drain for a right basal pneumothorax. Resuscitation unsuccessful. Post mortem showed trochar had caused damage to the liver resulting in haemorrhage.Most incidents of moderate harm related to poor management of the drain once it was inserted, such as the underwater seal not being maintained. Other incidents related to delays in insertion due to a lack of equipment and a delay and/or misinterpretation of X-rays (NPSA, 2008a).The NHS Litigation Authority has documented 58 reports of claims relating to chest drain insertion and management, notified to trusts between 1 April 1995 and 31 December 2006. Of these, 17 reports describe patient fatalities following a chest drain insertion (12 cases in which there was perforation of or trauma to the heart, lung, liver or blood vessels; one case of infection and four cases in which the circumstances were unclear). The majority of other injury types were due to unnecessary pain.\nWhat goes wrong with chest drain insertion?: The NPSA report identified the following as common themes resulting in error:supervision of junior doctors;levels of experience of clinicians inserting chest drains;failure to follow manufacturers' instructions;incorrect site of insertion and poor positioning;excess insertion of the dilator;anatomical anomalies;inadequate imaging; andlack of knowledge of existing clinical guidelines.Operator errors\nImplications for practice: The NPSA rapid response reports require immediate local action. If it is accepted that errors in chest drain insertion are a combination of active failures (operator error) and latent failures (organisational factors) then it is important to focus in on these areas.What can individual doctors do? Doctors have primary responsibility in meeting their own training needs. Doctors will be required to demonstrate to the General Medical Council (DoH, 2008) that they are up to date and fit to practise medicine. A central component of this is recertification (confirming that doctors on the specialist register conform with standards appropriate to their speciality of medicine). It is likely that ultrasound guided drainage of pleural fluid will be mandatory in future. Therefore, doctors in respiratory and general medical disciplines will need to question whether they will need training in this skill and to what level. Courses are available that teach to the required competency but places are limited. The Royal College of Radiologists (2005) have a booklet of ultrasound training recommendations for medical and surgical specialities which is a good guide for expected standards. Doctors will need to demonstrate their competence; this could take the form of a log-book of procedures with a set minimum number for competency and directly observed procedural skill (DOPS) assessment by a trainer.What can individual organisations do? The NPSA has led the way in terms of the reporting and analysis of adverse incidents. National reporting has enough statistical power to determine trends and offer feedback to individual organisations to allow a change in practise. However, it is important for organisations to know the scale of the problem locally.An audit presented at the BTS meeting in December 2008 showed a complication rate of 57 per cent for chest drains inserted outside of normal working hours in one district general hospital (Laws, 2008). This clearly demonstrates that, with the exception of emergencies, it is better for chest drains to be inserted during the working day. Simple, effective local audit such as this would enable an organisation to compare their practice with national standards and act as an incentive for improving quality.Another key mechanism is to have a robust and locally responsive reporting system. The NPSA (2008a) and NHS Confederation issued a statement following their joint conference that showed that trusts that report high levels of patient safety incidents have a stronger organisational culture of safety. Once an adverse incident is reported it is imperative that they are analysed correctly so that safety lessons can be learnt and shared. Root cause analysis is being promoted by the NPSA at present as a chronological investigation technique to find out what went wrong in a patient safety incident and would be applicable to errors in chest drain insertion.The final stage in reducing clinical risk would be implementing solutions to prevent harm from chest drainage and raising the profile of this issue within the organisation. It has been recommended that each trust identifies a lead physician for chest drain insertion. This leadership would help to ensure safety in several domains including the implementation of recognised national guidelines, local clinical audit and action on incident reporting.The clinical lead would foster improved links with the radiology department and promote the importance of ultrasound-guided drainage. Ultrasound guided drainage is a relatively new development and some radiology departments are unable to meet the demand. Therefore, the safest interim option is for trusts to maintain a list of doctors who are trained to a sufficient standard of proficiency for independent practice in chest drain insertion.The physical environment in which a chest drain is inserted needs consideration. Chest drain insertion should not take place at the bedside, which is often hampered by a lack of space and poor lighting. The BTS (2008) is concerned about the incidence of iatrogenic pleural infection secondary to drain insertion. They recommend a sterile treatment room such as a bronchoscopy suite with mandatory sterile drapes and gowns for drain insertion. Chest drain equipment should be standardised across all departments in the organisation.\nConclusions and recommendations: It is important for organisations to balance patients' expectations for high quality and safety with the requirements for staff training and development. The solutions suggested would help in getting this balance right and reducing the risks associated with chest drain insertion.Organisations cannot stand still on this issue and the NPSA has demanded a high pace of change. The NPSA issued a strongly worded press release in May 2008. Dr Kevin Cleary, Medical Director of the NPSA says:[...] this can be a technically difficult procedure and we have evidence that patients are being harmed. Following best practice, including the use of ultrasound to insert drains, will reduce harm. Most of all, this needs to be recognised by staff as a high risk procedure\" (NPSA, 2008a).Clinical governance leads within organisations were given a deadline of the 17 November 2008 to implement changes and it is likely that current staff will have noticed changes in their organisation. However, there still needs to be a degree of pragmatism. Change within organisations can be slower than desired and it will take time to develop the services that will allow ultrasound guided drainage for all affected patients. This is the gold standard to which organisations should aim.It is reassuring that the patient safety agenda now has firm roots in the structure of the NHS at a national, organisational and individual level. It has always been recognised that there can be complications with chest drain insertion but it has required reporting at a national level to quantify the risks involved. There have been trusts that have been developing best practice with ultrasound guided drainage prior to the NPSA alert but this will now be prioritised nationwide. Organisations have the tools available to implement the necessary changes and to train staff involved in chest drain insertion to the recommended competency. Perhaps chest drain insertion can become the example for making successful changes in safe practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to discuss the implications to individuals and organisations of the National Patient Safety Agency rapid response report on the risks of chest drain insertion, published 15 May 2008.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper represents the opinion of the authors based strongly on a structured review of the literature on this topic.\nFindings: - Chest drain insertion is a clinical risk to patient safety. There is a need for individuals and organisations to review and consider changes to their practice of chest drain insertion.\nPractical implications: - The paper gives ideas on how to change practice based on recommendations from recognised bodies such as the British Thoracic Society.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a discussion on what needs to be changed in response to the National Patient Safety Agency report on the risks of chest drain insertion. It can be used as a guide for those involved in clinical governance on this issue.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Bi-objective optimization for sustainable supply chain network design in omnichannel	[ "Uncertainty", "Supply chain management", "Optimization", "Distribution channels", "Supply networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Supply chain (SC) could be defined as flow of resources, money and information linking two or more entities commonly known as echelons in SC for fulfilling customer needs (Chopra and Meindl, 2007). A good supply chain network (SCN) is necessary for the organizations in order to excel in business, which is only possible if the organizations have well-structured flexible distribution network. Chopra and Meindl (2007) stated that designing a good distribution network serves mainly two purposes. First is need of the customer that has to be met and second is meeting cost of these needs.\n2. Motivation of the research: To provide omnichannel experience, the traditional SCs need to be modified which would result in structuring and reconfiguring the practices of designing traditional distribution network (Yadav et al., 2017). Furthermore, these changes possess lots of obstacles. Some of these obstacles include providing real-time online information to all SC stakeholder, flexibility in distribution, faster and on-time delivery, etc. For handling such obstacles, organizations look for various activities and operations, among them an efficient and effective SCN is most preferred option (Sachan and Datta, 2005).\n3. Problem formulation: This section deals with formulation of MCDSCN MILP model, which is for determining location of facilities and optimize the product flow between these facilities. The proposed MCDSCN model is shown in Figure 2, in which customers are being served directly by manufacturers, central DC and regional DC. The proposed model is agile in nature and make sure that customer could get products from their desired channels.\n4. Numerical illustrations: The location of customers, regional and central DCs, manufacturers and suppliers is considered within a 200x200 in a coordinate scheme (as shown in Table AI). In this problem six demand points (i.e. customers), four regional DCs, four central DCs, three manufacturers and four suppliers have been considered. Due to consideration of omnichannel environment, these six demands points could receive products from other three echelons/layers (i.e. regional DCs, central DCs and manufacturers) which make a total of 18 touch points where demand uncertainty could happen. Even though 50 percent (i.e. three of total six demand points) of the demand point suffers from 100 percent uncertainty (i.e. demand becomes zero or double at those points) then also overall impact would not be more than +-20 percent. This is because the overall uncertainty would spread over 1/15 (remaining touch points) which is less than +-20 percent. Thus, considering a total of +-20 percent demand uncertainty is very much safer consideration in the proposed model. Furthermore, the operating cost and capacity in same echelons is considered as same. To maintain proper flow of product, the capacities of facilities follows the pattern as mentioned in inequality 8. This constraint must be maintained in order to have proper product flow between these facilities:(8)\n5. Conclusion: In this work, an MCDSCN MILP model is introduced to integrate online giants with local distribution network retailers. Through this proposed model, customers are free to avail product and services as per their desired choice of channels, i.e. either from regional DCs, central DCs or manufacturers. The proposed model is also useful for SC managers to integrate their online and offline channels by using regional DC as key pillar. This would help them to make faster delivery and hence attract more customers leading to increase in market shares. Due to flexibility in distribution and easy access to different channel in the proposed model, uncertainty in demand happens. The proposed MCDSCN MILP model considers up to 20 percent uncertainty at demand points by introducing the lower and upper bound. For this purpose Monte Carlo Simulation is used. It was observed that uncertainty in proposed MCDSCN model has overall lesser effect since it is divided into different channels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to design a sustainable supply chain network (SCN) for omnichannel environment in order to provide better service to customers through flexible distribution. Thus, there is a need to incorporate multiple-channel distribution in the network design of supply chains (SCs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multiple-channel distribution supply chain network (MCDSCN) has been proposed under omnichannel environment. This proposed model integrates online giants with local retailer's distribution network in an uncertain environment with sustainability. To incorporate sustainability, an objective function is added to reduce carbon content along with other objectives of minimization of SC cost. The model turns out to be mixed-integer linear programming model which is coded in GAMS and solved using CPLEX solver.\nFindings: The proposed MCDSCN model is compared with conventional SCN. Furthermore, it was found that the proposed MCDSCN model has achieved significant saving in SC cost and is also more sustainable than conventional SCN. The proposed model also enables online giants to integrate their distribution network with local retailer's distribution network.\nPractical implications: Through proposed model, customers are free to access product and services as per their choice of channels which increases their convenience, reach and satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: The proposed MCDSCN model is a novel approach to design flexible distribution systems. This would significantly help organizations to design their distribution network more effectively to meet global competition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Steering healthcare service delivery: a regulatory perspective	[ "Regulation", "Service delivery", "Healthcare", "Quality of service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nCorrigendum: It has come to our attention that the article \"Steering healthcare service delivery: a\nIntroduction: India's public health is dominated by private providers and the service delivery is synonymous with poor quality, inadequate regulation (WHO, 2010) and malpractice (Bhat, 1999). The author's survey reveals that 97 per cent of patients have experienced excessive diagnostic tests. Fee splitting practices are experienced by 93 per cent, drugs (90 per cent), inadequate equipment sterilisation (53 per cent), inappropriate medical technology (76 per cent), breakdown of trust in doctor-patient relationship (89 per cent), inadequate information (95 per cent) and inaccessible services during emergencies (68 per cent). Indian regulatory approaches may be ineffective owing to poor monitoring by statutory bodies, inadequate legislation, fruitless implementation and poor market based mechanisms. European governments are using market mechanisms to regulate their healthcare (Bal et al., 2008). China is improving its rural health system with licensing mechanisms and insurance schemes (Bloom et al., 2008). Recently, the Indian Government (GoI) defined service provision standards, patient rights, inputs, support services, clinical services, infection control, quality management and outcome. Each standard has specific elements, which could be measured at specific checkpoints to generate performance scorecards (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI, 2013). The author's purpose is to: first, study the existing healthcare-regulatory framework in second, Madhya Pradesh (MP); identify service gaps; and third, assess healthcare service delivery by private providers. This study reveals that Indian healthcare is not patient-centric, service quality (QoS) is poor and delivery lacks benchmarks and statutory guidelines. India's healthcare quality is defined in affordability and reliability terms; i.e., affordability is the patient's capacity, which enables him/her to the access healthcare services. Reliability is defined as healthcare effectiveness in caring and curing a patient.\nLiterature review: Traditionally, public health had an external focus and structural quality assurance mechanisms were designed for addressing access, cost, quality and regulation. Over time, internal safety, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, equity and patient-centeredness took the central stage.\nConceptual framework: Insights derived from the literature are supplemented by Bennett et al. (1994), Bloom et al. (2008), Kumaranayake et al. (2000) and Teerawattananon et al. (2003) (detailed analysis available from the author). A framework, including makers, implementers, what is regulated and influencers was developed to study MP health sector regulation. These components in turn influence the healthcare system, which is represented as structure-process-outcome. Structure includes healthcare institutions, tools, resources and staff. Processes include healthcare service activities. Structures and processes are monitored through statutory and non-statutory regulation, and help to achieve the desired outcomes. These elements are influenced by civil bodies such as professional associations, media groups and the general public, which influence legislators and the judiciary through lobbying and advocacy. Implementation and enforcement agencies monitor health outcomes and take corrective actions. Legislatures at national and state level are influenced by native factors and international experiences and guidelines issued by international bodies such as World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank (Figure 1).\nResults: Regulating services\nDiscussion: The MP government's response\nConclusions: Theory implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore regulation in India's healthcare sector and makes recommendations needed for enhancing the healthcare service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The literature was reviewed to understand healthcare's regulatory context. To understand the current healthcare system, qualitative data were collected from state-level officials, public and private hospital staff. A patient survey was performed to assess service quality (QoS).\nFindings: Regulation plays a central role in driving healthcare QoS. India needs to strengthen market and institutional co-production based approaches for steering its healthcare in which delivery processes are complex and pose different challenges.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study assesses current healthcare regulation in an Indian state and presents a framework for studying and strengthening regulation. Agile regulation should be based on service delivery issues (pull approach) rather than monitoring and sanctions based regulatory environment (push approach).\nPractical implications: Healthcare pitfalls across the world seem to follow similar follies. India's complexity and experience is useful for emerging and developed economies.\nOriginality/value: The author reviewed around 70 publications and synthesised them in healthcare regulatory contexts. Patient's perception of private providers could be a key input towards steering regulation. Identifying gaps across QoS dimensions would be useful in taking corrective measures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Brand logo design: examining consumer response to naturalness	[ "Logo design", "Brand logos", "Consumer response" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: The main value attached to logos has traditionally focused on the identification and the differentiation of the brand from its competitors (MacInnis et al., 1999). However, recently, research on logos has highlighted other derived consumer outputs such as consumer affective reactions, emphasizing that logos can generate positive emotions, as well as convey the meaning of the brand (Van der Lans et al., 2009). Lutz and Lutz (1977) were the first to present logos as triggers of affective reactions, prior to the cognitive process. Similar ideas are conveyed by Park et al. (2013). They point out that \"logos can be more than simple tools for identification and differentiation\" to ensure consumer commitment and improve firm performance (Park et al., 2013, pp. 180). Authors from other disciplines, such as Ramello and Silva (2006), in economics, also indicate the relevance of studying the evolution of trademarks beyond quality and as a symbol with emotional meaning. Baudrillard (1968), in sociology, states that a good is not consumed because of any tangible need associated with that good but because of the semantic content it conveys.\nTheoretical background: Brand logo design\nMethod: Stimulus selection\nResults: Based on logo affect scores and the two factors considered (logo recognition and naturalness), 11 dimensions were calculated. Cronbach's alpha for each dimension ranged from 0.592 (for the known abstract logos in Study 2) to 0.942 (for the unknown logo group in Study 1). Most of the observed values are higher than the generally recommended lower limit of 0.70 for Cronbach's alpha (Hair et al., 1998), indicating that all the items in each dimension form a single, strongly cohesive and conceptual construct. Furthermore, we should highlight that in both versions of this experiment, positive and significant correlations were obtained among all the dimensions of the affect scores. This means that high affect scores in one dimension correspond to high affect scores in all the other dimensions.\nDiscussion: The main results of this study confirm the advantages of using natural logos (Henderson and Cote, 1998; Schechter, 1993). Our findings suggest that naturalness is an essential element of logo design, which influences affective response to the logo. Indeed, in both studies of this experiment, naturalness explains a high percentage of affect toward the logos. Moreover, the practical importance of naturalness is similar in the two studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study how logo design characteristics influence consumer response. Based on an in-depth literature review on consumer responses to logo design, the authors included in this research one fundamental dimension of logo design, namely, naturalness and investigated the influence of the different types of natural logo designs on affective response.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 96 logos were selected as design stimuli. The logos were previously classified, according to the naturalness of the logo design, as having an abstract, cultural or organic design. Responses were gathered through a survey in Portugal, including two studies with 220 participants.\nFindings: Results show that naturalness is an essential logo design element which significantly influences consumer affective responses to the logo, and that natural logos are clearly preferred to abstract logos. Additionally, this research indicates that, within natural logos, organic designs are favored over cultural designs.\nPractical implications: The findings presented suggest that affect toward unknown organic logos is at the same level as affect toward well-known abstract logos. This is a relevant finding from a managerial point of view, as familiarity, an essential cognitive response toward the brand that has a cost for the firm, can be replaced cost-free with unknown organic logos.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a first exploration of responses to different types of natural logo design. The results should guide managers in selecting or modifying logo designs for achieving a positive affective response.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Succumbing, surviving, succeeding? Women managers in academia	[ "Women", "Survival", "Leadership", "Management", "Managerialism", "Neo liberal", "Struggle", "Teacher – training", "Marketplace", "Re-invent" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As I have argued elsewhere (Thompson, 2007), it has become clear that recently in England women have become successful in obtaining managerial responsibilities in the field of teacher training. Women managers and leaders hold positions ranging from pro-vice-chancellor, dean of education and director or head of department: the \"top women\", to heads or route leaders of initial teacher training programmes: the middle women. However, women managers in teacher training cannot be seen as an homogenous group, and \"working above the glass ceiling\" (Thompson, 2007) may offer different challenges and rewards to different women, some of whom may accommodate the challenges of managing and leading in an increasingly challenging education market place more easily than others. Some of the senior women leaders in the sample endorsed management discourses (Foucault, 1980), which sat more comfortably with the dominant market-driven discourses of \"expediency, productivity and cost\" (Blackmore, 1999, p. 207), more readily than those of their predecessors.\nManaging in academia: Notions about \"who can lead\" and what factors shape management and leadership discourses are contradictory and multilayered. The potential tensions and paradoxes between being a female and being a manager and leader are apparent within the literature as are the dangers of essentialising how female and male managers carry out their roles (Acker, 2005; Shakeshaft, 2006; Bagihole and White, 2013). Historically, authority has, in the main, been associated with hegemonic masculinity and women who manage are insiders with institutional power and authority but who stand outside the male culture (and) are frequently positioned in highly contradictory ways (Blackmore, 1999, p. 107).\nManaging teacher training: As this research focuses upon women managers and leaders in teacher training which is an under-researched sector of academia, it is important to devote some time to considering the particular issues related to those who hold authority positions in this sector. Heward (1993, p. 11) points out:\nReforming education: The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed the beginning of a relentless and continuing drive to reform public sector institutions including education (Davies, 2003, p. 91). Education became a main focus of the reform movement, the underpinning reason for which was the perceived need to respond to the demands of a competitive global economy by improving the skills and knowledge of young people. Over time, there was, as Tomlinson (2005, p. 90) points out:\nNew managerialism and gender: Within the literature that considers new managerialism from a gendered perspective, different standpoints are apparent. Some commentators (Currie et al., 2000) argue that new managerialist practices minimise gender differences in that both men and women in academia experience the negative impact of their work being redefined and assessed in terms of market forces. Other literature argues that for women, new managerialism provides an opportunity to challenge traditional masculine university hierarchies and creates a wealth of different \"management jobs\". By doing so, it seems to offers opportunities for some women; those who are macho or tough enough to stand the pace (Newman, 1995; Hearn, 1998; Harley, 2003). However, commentators such as Pritchard (2000), Currie et al. (2000) and Evans (2003) make the point that supposedly neutral managerial practices mask gender inequalities in the fact that some women, particularly those who take on managerial responsibilities, are being beguiled and exploited by what seem to be liberatory opportunities. Furthermore, some feminist academics, (Blackmore, 1999; Morley, 1999; Mauthner and Edwards, 2010) put forward the view that new managerialism has a particular negative impact on those, often feminist, women who endorse people centred managerial discourses and who are committed to social justice. Mauthner and Edwards (2010) argue that:\nThe research: This paper examines research data drawn from fieldwork carried out in ten schools/departments of Education in the UK, where in-depth ethnographic interviews (Spradley, 1979) were carried out with 22 women in those departments who held key managerial positions in teacher training. It also draws upon field notes from participant observation undertaken mainly at St. Bede's College but also at St. Crispins's College and St. Peters University (pseudonyms).\nSites of struggle: Bourdieu (2000) argues that social agents (individuals) are engaged in a struggle with the constraints of what he termed the \"field\" within which they have to operate. All women managers and leaders were involved, to varying degrees, in some kind of struggle as they tried to accommodate the value shifts involved in leading and managing initial teacher training in the current climate, or as Bourdieu would have it, \"the field\" of neo-liberal policies and practices. These are discussed below.\nThe top women: surviving and succeeding: The \"top women\" in the sample used a number of strategies to survive, or even succeed in the education marketplace. One of the ways in which some of them survived in new hard times was to re-invent themselves to meet the demands of the education market place. It is incumbent upon academics and managers to re-invent themselves to fit the demands of the new \"audit institution\" and become what Walkerdine and Ringose (2006, p. 35) refer to as Gee's (1999) \"shape-shifting portfolio person\". As Walkerdine and Ringrose (2006, p. 35) point out:\nDiscussion and conclusion: In the ten institutions in the sample, women are once more running teacher training and have broken through the glass ceiling. However, for some, particularly middle managers, this success has come at a cost as they struggle to negotiate the dilemmas and contradictions posed by the demands of managing teacher training in new managerialist institutions. Some women, whose management discourse was very \"people-centred\", appeared to be being marginalised in new educational structures within their institutions. On the other hand, analysis of the data has revealed that some senior women who hold \"top\" positions in the management and leadership of initial teacher training in \"new hard times\" not only survive but thrive in their roles. Although engaging with the same \"sites of struggle\" (Bourdieu, 2000) as many of their middle manager colleagues, these senior women seem to accommodate more readily working within new managerialist, market-led regimes. It may be the case that middle managers, by virtue of their position in the hierarchy, are required to respond to the dual demands of line managers and those that they manage and have always been caught in a \"double bind\" and, therefore, the job is more onerous (Terrell et al., 1996). However, analysis of the data from this sample indicates that senior women have managed to find, or re-invent themselves to find, a niche in the education market place either as administrators, or as entrepreneurs (of the self), both skills which are necessary in new managerialist regimes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address an under-explored and under-theorised aspect of gender work in UK academia in that it looks at the professional lives of middle and senior women managers and leaders who are responsible for initial teacher training in their institutions. As Maguire (2002) and Murray (2002, 2006) point out, within academia, teacher trainers occupy a particularly under-researched space despite some recent interest (Korthagen and Vasalos, 2005; Thompson, 2007).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research draws on a larger study which explored how 22 middle and senior managers and leaders in ten institutions in England try to come to terms with carrying out their roles in the education marketplace. In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with these women and data were also collected from field notes from participant observation undertaken at three of the institutions.\nFindings: Whereas some women are moving into positions of authority in the education marketplace, some existing women managers are being marginalised within new internally differentiated layers of managerial structures. Simultaneously, many women who manage teacher training are engaged in a struggle for survival individually and professionally. Those who succeed have managed to re-invent themselves to endorse neo-liberal discourses.\nOriginality/value: Original empirical research which sheds new light on previous discourses related to women managers in neo-liberal academia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reconciling the historical divide between strategy process and strategy content	[ "Strategic management", "History", "Business strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The purpose of this paper is to apply history to an unresolved matter, with the intent to unify extant concepts underlying the field of strategy. Explicitly, we draw on the predominant theoretical frameworks, and within the perspective of historical analysis, both extend and interrelate these frameworks. The main contributions of our undertaking are in clarifying, how past theory development has brought about the field's current state, in using historical contexts to identify a novel, simplified, yet unifying framework that could be important to researchers, pedagogy and practitioners, as well as in exposing areas for future development.\nScholarly review: Strategy process review: mechanistic to adaptive\nA 2 x 2 matrix of interrelation: This section of the paper proposes the two dimensions on which an interrelation of strategy content and process might be based. The proposal is followed by a section that explains the two dimensions, or axes, as a basis for a generic model of strategizing. Then a section is dedicated to populating the model with content, producing a taxonomy for purposes of illustration.\nStrategy dimensions and generic model: Pettigrew and Whipp (1993) researched large firms and found that both the strategy process and content used are both vital to understanding performance outcomes. Furthermore, they found that process and content are indeed intertwined, iterative and continual. The model proposed here is a step toward consensus within strategy along the lines that wherever one is in the process, some content is indicated; whatever content is being used, one's place in the process might be discerned.\nSynthesis and interrelation: To provide a sample illustration, the contemporary content taxonomy created earlier (Table II) is arranged within the generic model to produce a cartography (Figure 5). Unfortunately, what should be seen as a natural continuum is forced - by model constraints - into structure. The content of Table II is arranged within the generic model: those constructs that assist mainly with analysis versus formulation and those that apply mainly external to the firm versus internal to the firm. The term \"mainly\" is emphasized here because models suffer from reductionism - elements that are intended to be open-ended or broadly applicable are unavoidably placed neatly into only one predetermined \"box\" for visual simplicity. Typological frameworks that offer simplified structure to anarchic data have value, but they can be mistakenly criticized for enforcing precision that they do not intend to require.\nDiscussion: Quadrant A (situation) - external/analyze\nImplications and future research: Over many decades, both process- and content-based research studies have produced a vast body of literature. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate that both the content and the process perspectives should acknowledge their interdependence and that more cross-fertilization between them should occur. As such, the following sections outline implications and areas of research that merit attention using an integrated perspective.\nConclusion: In \"doing strategy,\" whether for prescriptive or descriptive aims, the realization that process and content are inherently interrelated and interdependent cannot be avoided. Yet, strategic management research has been generally divided into two branches: a content branch focused on \"what\" brings competitive advantage, and a process branch focused on \"how\" strategies emerge (Mellahi and Sminia, 2009). The divide is widely viewed as a barrier to progress within strategy and management (Huff and Reger, 1987; Ketchen et al., 1996; Pettigrew, 1992). This paper's intent is to impact both strategy research and strategy practice via both orientation and direction. It orients strategizers as to where they are or should consider being in process; it also gives some clarity as to what tools might be considered along the way. In research, approaches that focus just on process or just on content versus the synergies that can emerge from their interaction may be due to some extent, to a lack of clarity about the inherent interrelation. Although process and content are both simultaneously coupled (Weick, 1976) and highly distinctive, there is value in understanding combined effects. Moreover, \"even amongst those business and management scholars [...] associated with more processual approaches to strategy, history's potential remains unfulfilled\" (Perchard et al., 2017, p. 904).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Early works in strategic management described strategy process and were quickly followed by a plethora of strategy content articles focusing on tools, theories, frameworks and models for use in strategizing. Subsequently, strategy research and pedagogy diverged along these lines and the two streams have not been satisfactorily reconciled. As the process incorporates content and content requires process, this paper seeks to answer the question; can some relational consistency and historical reconciliation be developed? The purpose of this paper is to propose a process/content interrelation and a generic model of strategizing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors first identify the opportunity for this integration through the historical development of the two streams. The authors then review contemporary scholarly literature, strategic management textbooks and university syllabi to determine which elements of the strategy process and content are most frequently promulgated.\nFindings: The authors discover a generally ubiquitous core of concepts, but great inconsistency in how they are emphasized, linked and/or applied. Beyond these core concepts, faculty syllabi included a wide range of more idiosyncratic content (appearing very infrequently - possibly related to instructor research or interest areas), such as blue ocean or game theory. The authors then propose a 2 x 2 matrix with axes of the level of analysis and stage of activity. The authors provide a populated matrix and discuss the implications of this matrix for future scholarship and teaching.\nOriginality/value: This paper begins a process of integrating the historical divide between strategy process and strategy content. It provides insights for classroom faculty, historians and practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
TQM practices and its performance effects - an integrated model	[ "TQM", "Structural equation modelling", "Financial performance", "Mediation analysis", "Customer satisfaction level" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In today's highly competitive market, attaining product quality and customer satisfaction are the essential criteria for the survival of an organization (Nair and Choudhary, 2016; Pattanayak and Punyatoya, 2015). In the quest to remain competitive, many organizations have looked upon TQM practices as an effective approach to achieve this objective (Brah et al., 2002; Yang, 2006; Kumar et al., 2009; Fuentes et al., 2006; Sila, 2007; Pattanayak and Punyatoya, 2015; Singh and Shrivastava, 2012; Al-Refaie and Hanayneh, 2014; Majumdar and Manohar, 2016).\n2. Theoretical background: Numerous studies have been carried out to determine the critical factors required for the successful implementation of TQM in an organization. These studies have been performed in three different ways: contributions from quality leaders (Crosby, 1979; Deming, 1982; Ishikawa, 1985; Juran, 1988; Feigenbaum, 1991), formal evaluation of business excellence models (European Quality Award, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, The Deming Award) and empirical research works (Saraph et al., 1989; Flynn et al., 1994; Badri et al., 1995; Ahire et al., 1996; Black and Porter, 1996; Grandzol and Gershon, 1998; Sohal et al., 1998; Quazi et al., 1998). This leads to reach an inconclusive approach for implementing TQM (Kanji, 2001). After an extensive review of literature, the TQM practices identified in this study were leadership and top management commitment, continuous improvement, education and training, and knowledge management and it is presented in Table I.\n3. Relationship between TQM practices and multiple performance indicators: TQM proponents have asserted that if properly implemented, TQM can lead to improved organization performance. Likewise, TQM practices and performance measures were also conceptualized differently across studies. Numerous empirical studies have carried out to establish the relationship between TQM practices and different performance indicators such as quality performance, customer related performance, operating performance, employees performance and financial performance, which provides mixed and ambiguous results (Hendricks and Singhal, 2001; Shenaway et al., 2007; Prajogo and Sohal, 2003; Arumugam et al., 2008; Powell, 1995; Kannan and Tan, 2005; Rahman and Bullock, 2005; Yang et al., 2009; Prajogo and Sohal, 2004; Santos-Vijande and Alvarez-Gonzalez, 2007; Singh and Shrivastava, 2012; Talib et al., 2013; Danyen and Callychurn, 2015; Para-Gonzalez et al., 2015; Sweis et al., 2016).\n4. Research framework and hypotheses formulation: 4.1 Direct effect of TQM practices on multiple performance indicators\n5. Research methodology: The underlying objective of this section is to explicate the methodological approach adopted in this work. The research method used in this study is intended to ensure the utmost satisfactory results to the research objectives posed in this study. The methodology encompasses numerous tasks. Initially, the constructs were operationalized by reviewing the existing literature and then the relevant items underlying each construct were identified. Later, a survey instrument was developed which was improved by consulting with a panel of academicians and quality experts. Consequently, the reliability and validity of the TQM practices and performance indicators were confirmed.\n6. Results and discussions: The results of the study illustrate the importance of implementing TQM practices by revealing its positive and significant impact on various facets of organization's performance. By implementing TQM practices effectively, organizations can accomplish improvement in all these performance areas. The detailed analysis of this model points out that TQM practices have only an indirect effect on financial performance through the combined mediating effect of customer satisfaction, operating performance and society results. Likewise, TQM practices have only an indirect effect on customer satisfaction through the combined effect of quality, employee and innovation performance. Similarly, TQM practices have only an indirect effect on society results through employee performance.\n7. Conclusion: The literature review and the existing global scenario highly necessitate the need for developing a model which shows the interrelationships between TQM practices and over all organization performance. The research contributed an integrated model which shows the interrelationships between TQM core practices and multiple performance indicators, which can be used by an organization as a guideline as well as an empirical support for adopting TQM practices. Intensive leadership and management commitment, proper education and training, effective continuous improvement practices and knowledge sharing mechanisms are found to be the most dominant TQM practices. Moreover, the results indicate the presence of mediating effects between the performance indicators. Even though the TQM practices have different extends of association with respect to various performance dimensions, the empirical evidence regarding the mediation effect accentuates the adoption of selected TQM practices, which are positively mediating as obtained through this research. From the results, it can be concluded that continuous efforts toward implementing TQM practices in an organization can attain quality which ultimately leads to achieve overall organization performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Total quality management practices have been embraced by many quality-oriented firms around the world in order to improve performance in terms of quality, productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of TQM practices on various performance indicators specifically in the Indian manufacturing context. This paper focuses on developing an integrated model encompassing significant structural relations showing the linkage between TQM practices and multiple performance indicators - quality performance, customer satisfaction level, operating performance, employee performance, innovation performance, society results and financial performance. Apart from analyzing the direct relationship between constructs, the main purpose of this work is also to identify all the possible mediation effects of performance indicators on others using structural equation modeling (SEM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: An in-depth literature review was conducted to identify the key practices for the successful implementation of TQM in an organization as well as to explore TQM-performance effects. As a result, four TQM practices and seven performance indicators were identified. The data were collected from 260 Indian manufacturing organizations. After confirming the reliability and validity using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the proposed hypotheses were tested using SEM.\nFindings: Through testing the proposed hypothesized structural model, the direct and indirect effects of TQM practices have been examined. Moreover, this work developed an integrated model showing the interrelationships between TQM practices and performance indicators identified. The findings gave an insight that the effective implementation of TQM practices assists in reaping benefits in the every facet of an organization. By implementing these practices effectively, managers can expect to realize improvement in all these performance areas.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is subject to certain limitations. Even if all variables were found to be reliable, valid and satisfactory non-response bias test results, the remote possibility of bias in the data might not be fully ruled out. There is a probability of occurrence of common method variance and common method bias, since the data for both dependent and independent variables were collected from the same respondents in the organization. Additionally data on performance indicators were based on the respondent's assessment and awareness only. The mediating relationship between individual TQM practice and performance indicators can be investigated in future studies. Since society results are a necessity in future, the direct and indirect practices focusing toward this can be explored. In addition, there is a research scope to identify the moderating effect of contextual factors such as degree of TQM implementation, scope of operation and type of organization.\nPractical implications: The findings of the research offer some potentially valuable insights into the relevance of TQM practices and its strong linkage on various performance indicators, through which the overall organization performance can be enhanced. By implementing these practices effectively, managers can expect to realize improvement in all these performance areas. Hence, the managers can adopt this approach to assess their organization's level in the quality path and as a guideline in implementing TQM practices. They can also measure the impacts of TQM practices on multiple performance measures in order to evaluate their TQM initiatives. Especially the deployment of quality culture is a requisite to excel in the every facet of performance. The positive relationship between TQM practices and various performance indicators can motivate the managers to allocate resources in time, effort and capital for TQM implementation in pursuing quality, leading to customer retention and competitiveness. The findings of the study strongly suggest the need for the holistic implementation of TQM practices for the survival of the organization.\nOriginality/value: While there is a considerable volume of researches carried out to investigate the linkage between TQM and organization's performance across the globe, still little is evidenced regarding the mediating effect of performance indicators on others, especially in the Indian manufacturing context. The present paper attempts to extend and add knowledge to this line of research and to bridge the gap and provide sufficient empirical evidence specifically in the Indian scenario. Thereby helps the organization to follow a guideline to improve the overall performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating the backstage of audit engagements: the paradox of team diversity	[ "Team diversity", "Paradox theory", "Audit engagement team", "Auditors coping strategies", "Reduced audit quality practices" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Audit assignments require the processing and analysis of large amounts of information in order to reach a reflective judgment on which to base decisions (Pentland, 1993). As such, audit is a collective process, typically conducted by a team of individuals with differing skills and experience. The diversity of the audit team may have both positive and negative consequences (Bamber, 1983). It is because of these consequences that we explore in this paper.\n2. Paradox theory and audit team dynamics: The word \"paradox\" is derived from a Greek word, \"paradoxos\", meaning contrary to expectation (Eisenhardt and Westcott, 1988). Although paradox can be considered to have numerous meanings, common definitions refer to the existence of contradictory actions, oppositional tendencies or polarities. Philosophers from ancient Greece to the existentialists have recognised paradox in human life such as tensions between life and death, self and other, good and evil (Hampden-Turner, 1981; Schneider, 1990; Lewis, 2000).\n3. Research method: Our research utilised a case study approach. Several methods of data collection were used, such as interviews, observation and document analysis (Lewis, 2000). We explored in depth the activities and events relating to one or more individuals in a particular context (Cameron and Quinn, 1988). Following Malone and Roberts (1996), we use a systematic observation schedule to ensure that each participant's behaviour and applicable control systems could be identified and recorded effectively but there was also flexibility in the plan so that the schedule could be adjusted to fit changing circumstances and opportunities as they arose (Alderman and Deitrick, 1982).\n4. Sources of paradox in government audit team engagements: IAB is one of the three audit bodies in Indonesia. IAB conducts financial, performance and special purpose external audits of state, regional or local governments and also state-owned and local government-owned enterprises and other government entities. Financial audit is regulated by national law and includes independent assurances on budgets, balance sheets, cash flow statements and notes to financial statements. Performance audit, also referred to as a value-for-money audit, is intended to assess the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the auditee. Special purpose audits deal with specific areas outside the scope of financial statements and performance including, for example, environmental, tax-related or investigative audits.\n5. Team diversity and the emergence of paradox: The following analysis describes the emergence of the paradox of team diversity. The IAB stimulates distinctions and embeds persistent contradiction between the need for team diversity and team cohesion in the audit process. In addition, the scarcity of resources creates various problems and challenges, including planning, control and team interrelationships. Audit teams at IAB need to include auditors with varying backgrounds, knowledge, expertise and proficiency. However, the mix of expertise is not always carefully considered due to the limited number of auditors and the high number of audits. This results in unplanned or poorly controlled heterogeneity of team members' knowledge and skills. This can affect the coherence of team activity, as represented in Figure 2.\n6. Cascading responses to the paradox of team diversity: This section provides evidence and discussion of what we conceptualise as the cascading responses to the paradoxes that are created by team diversity. While we describe some RAQP arising within each team, some of these instances are much more concerning than others. Nevertheless, our observations of the five audit teams indicate that contradictions between diversity and cohesion in individual audit assignments may persist long enough to become disruptive. This can provoke iterative or cascading responses at both the team leader and team member level, as shown in Figure 3. This is where we identify the actions of team leaders and other team members as influencing the behaviour of others. The actions we identify create an environment in which RAQP is best seen as being an inevitable and perhaps acceptable response to paradoxical pressures, which create environments where insufficient time or resources impact the audit assignments in a systemic way.\n7. Discussion and conclusion: Much conventional academic research on auditing is limited to applications using experimental as opposed to real-world settings. Power (2003) argues that \"very little is known about auditing in practical, as opposed to experimental, settings\". The research discussed in this paper seeks to respond to Power's call by providing findings from a real-world setting that contribute to enhance our understanding of auditors' behaviour through case study and observation. Our research aim was to explore the response of audit teams to the recurring contradictory requirements encountered in the complex environment of government audit practice. Our findings offered insights on concerns around inadequate resourcing and planning that tend to stimulate paradoxes in audit engagement work. Our research has sought to examine the backstage of government audit work and reveal aspects of resourcing and planning and especially team diversity that give rise to complex paradoxes in audit work. We identify how these paradoxical conditions promote RAQP, which we interpret as cascading through the audit team.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There has been very little qualitative \"fieldwork\" of audit practice. This is especially the case in relation to investigations into how audit engagements proceed. The purpose of this paper is to engage with audit practice in order to explore and explain the internal dynamics and paradoxical conditions within audit engagement teams.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research adopts a qualitative methodology, framed around an intensive case study that involves several methods of data collection and analysis including interviews, observation and document analysis. The authors observe audit team practices, work programmes and organisation including observations of individual and teams involved in audit engagements.\nFindings: Using the lens of paradox theory, the authors explore the backstage of audit work, where audit teams are challenged with recurring contradictory requirements and opposing demands. The authors provide insight on the complexity associated with inadequate resourcing and planning that tend to stimulate the emergence of paradoxes in audit engagement work in a government audit context. As a result, the authors identify the occurrence of cascading reduced audit quality practices (RAQP) as the teams respond to the paradoxes they face.\nOriginality/value: The authors reveal the interlinked and cumulative coping strategies, namely, downplaying responsibility and downscaling audit processes. These strategies are performed concurrently by team leaders and audit members to manage paradoxical tensions. The authors also identified superficial audit supervision as another type of RAQP performed by team leaders.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The emergence of cruise tourism in Iran	[ "Cruise tourism", "Destination development", "Domestic tourism", "Tourism planning", "Iran nuclear", "Iran tourism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite enormous potential, the tourism industry in Iran was side-lined for decades due to international sanctions (Khodadadi, 2016). Since the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement, reached on 14 July 2015, and the subsequent softening of international sanctions against the country, Iran's tourism industry has experienced considerable advancement (Khodadadi, 2018). Tourist numbers to Iran have increased substantially in recent years, from 2m in 2009 to over 6m in 2017 (Euromonitor International, 2017). Iran is a vast and varied country which offers an abundant mixture of culture, history, heritage and natural attractions that are unique in the region. The country is, for example, the home to 19 ski resorts and mountains reaching peaks above 5,000 m, and has a rich biodiversity. Iran boasts spectacular seascapes from the northern Mediterranean Caspian coastline to the southern white sand beaches of Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. Iran has a population of nearly 80m (World Bank, 2018), who enjoy 26 days of officially recognised national holiday every year (compared to eight days in the UK). Employees are also entitled to a one-month holiday per annum. Travel and tourism in Iran is an ancient activity and can be traced back to at least 2,000 BC (O'Gorman, 2007). As a result, leisure plays an integral role in the life of every Iranian family. Martin and Mason (2006, p. 251) for instance, argue that \"in leisure terms, Iran at the start of the twenty-first century is a country in which leisure is well established as a distinct part of people's time and life styles, particularly in urban areas\". Every year millions of Iranians travel across the country to visit/explore the country's natural, historical and religious attractions (Table I).\nHistorical development of tourism in Iran: Iran was considered to be the Middle East's top tourist destination during the period 1967-1977, when Egypt, which has one of the world's Seven Wonders, was (only) ranked 14th in the region (Morakabati, 2011, p. 110). Iran is \"incredibly rich in cultural and heritage resources\" (Baum and O'Gorman, 2010) and has in total 22 listed world heritage sites and an additional 56 on the UNESCO tentative list (UNESCO, 2018). Prior to the Islamic revolution (1979), Iran was ruled by a secular government which was closely connected to global capitalism and harmonised with the west and western values (Hafeznia et al., 2007). Baum and O'Gorman (2010, p. 5) for instance, argue that \"politically, the regime created an environment within which visitors, particularly from the West, were welcomed to facilities and a level of comfort that was on par with the best in their home countries\". Therefore, tourism development in Iran was developed in line with the western market, resulting in the steady growth of tourist numbers and consequent economic growth. In the period 1966 to 1978 for instance, the average of the country's non-oil exports was 15.7 per cent (Hafeznia et al., 2007, p. 3842) (Table III). Currently, oil and gas exports constitute more than 80 per cent of the country's total export revenue (Khodadadi, 2016).\nTourism in the post-nuclear deal era: The election of President Hassan Rouhani, however, and the subsequent deal on Iran's nuclear programme has resulted in softening of nuclear-related international sanctions and brought much needed relief to a struggling tourism industry in Iran (Khodadadi, 2018). This revival of the tourism industry in Iran has also resulted in government's change of attitude towards tourism. For instance, the director of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO), the government body in charge of overseeing and managing tourism development in Iran, claims that \"Iran plans to annually attract 20m tourists by 2025 which could generate $30bn of revenues\" (Press TV, 2015). This is also noticeable through the increase in both national and foreign investment in the tourism industry. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (2017, p. 5), travel and tourism is \"expected to have attracted capital investment of 107,315.0 IRR billion in 2016. This is expected to rise by 6.3% in 2017, and rise by 5.3% [per annum] over the next ten years to 191,392.0 IRR billion in 2027\". Iran's official tourism organisation (ICHHTO) is also supporting over 100 tourism-related projects worth $277m. According to the Director General of the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade's Foreign Investment Office, Iran attracted nearly $25bn in foreign investment from September 2013 to September 2017 in various industries (Financial Tribune, 2017). To attract foreign investment, the Iranian Government also offers zero per cent corporate income tax for foreign investors who invest in certain industries including services related to construction of hotels as well as tourism-related services.\nCruise tourism in Iran: an emerging phenomenon?: Cruise tourism is now a well-established international sector which has seen significant growth over the past two decades (Del Chiappa and Abbate, 2016). Cruise tourism accounts for approximately two per cent of the worldwide tourism numbers which has seen a significant increase from nearly 4m in 1990 to 26m in 2017 (Brida et al., 2012, 2014; Cruise Lines International Association, 2018). According to the Cruise Lines International Association (2018), the total contribution of the cruise industry to the global economy stood at more than $126bn in 2016. The cruise tourism sector, however, is a relatively new market in post-revolution Iran (1979). This is arguably due to a number of factors including difficulties in purchasing new vessels, insuring and maintaining these vessels and hesitance from international companies to work with Iranian counterparts as a result of the international sanctions against the country.\nFuture opportunities and challenges: The addition of cruise travel in this region opens up an exciting new mode of visiting the region. Considering the significance of these islands in the overall domestic--and potentially international--tourist market, it is not surprising that the Iranian Government is keen to utilise these islands as a hub for attracting the domestic market. This, in turn, could bring economic benefits not only to these islands but the overall Iranian economy (Table V).\nConclusion: While cruise tourism is and remains an emerging market in Iran, it is evident that the country has a vested interest in developing this lucrative sector due to the country's strong domestic, and steadily growing international market. Iran still has a long way to go until it can match other more well-established cruise tourism destinations, for example, Europe and the Caribbean. The purchase of Iran's first cruise ship since the 1979 revolution--the Sunny--however, could be the start of a \"sunny\" future for the cruise tourism sector in Iran both at domestic and international levels. Iran's nuclear programme (reached on 14 July 2015) has resulted in softening of nuclear-related international sanctions which has brought much needed relief to a struggling tourism industry in Iran. Iran has already seen a substantial growth in inbound tourist numbers--from 2m in 2009 to over 6m in 2017 (Khodadadi, 2018)--and has attracted considerable investment in tourism-related infrastructure. It can be argued that the emergence of the cruise tourism sector in Iran will also open up the country to the international cruise tourism sector as Iran develops its infrastructure to support this activity. Cruise tourism therefore, can be viewed as a welcome addition to the development of a brighter future for the Iranian tourism industry. However, we must also consider that the recent unilateral withdrawal of the USA from the Iran deal and re-imposition of sanctions could pose serious future challenges to the now flourishing tourism industry in Iran (Khodadadi, 2018), with the possibility that the sector could \"slide back into the doldrums\" (Dehghan, 2018).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Iran is a country with substantial tourism potential. Iran's tourism industry, however, was side-lined for decades due to international sanctions. The election of President Hassan Rouhani and the subsequent deal on Iran's nuclear programme (reached on 14 July 2015) has resulted in softening of nuclear-related international sanctions and brought much needed relief to a struggling tourism industry in Iran. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the emergence of cruise tourism--as an attractive option for both domestic and international markets--with the introduction of the Iran's first cruise ship, named \"Sunny\", since the 1979 revolution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is a short viewpoint piece based on the author's interpretation of cruise tourism development in Iran and its future opportunities and challenges.\nFindings: Following the nuclear deal, Iran has seen a substantial growth in inbound tourist numbers and attracted considerable investment in tourism-related infrastructure such as air transport and the hospitality sector. While cruise tourism is and remains an emerging phenomenon in Iran, it is evident that the country has a vested interest in developing this lucrative sector due to the country's strong domestic market and potential to serve the international market.\nOriginality/value: This is an original topic which has never been investigated before. Cruise tourism is an emerging market in Iran and this study sheds new light on this new development. The paper focuses on the historical, current and future development of the tourism industry in Iran with a specific emphasis on cruise tourism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Government health care spending and the poor: evidence from Nigeria	[ "Government policy", "Public finance", "Expenditure", "Health services", "Poverty", "Nigeria" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The main asset of the poor is clearly their labour and both education and health services improve the productivity and earnings of workers. Thus, public spending aimed at improving the education and health of people leads to a better quality of life as well as positively influences economic development of a country. Education and health are important tools to empower poor people and overcome exclusion based on gender, location, and other correlates of poverty.In many developing countries, Nigeria inclusive, the public sector is still a major provider of education and health. But empirical evidence on the impact of public spending on the health status of a country's population is mixed. Examples of such studies include Jack (1999), Filmer and Pritchett (1999), Gupta et al. (1999), Makinen et al. (2000), and Gwatkin (2000).Over time, the Nigeria health sector has suffered disproportionately, with the health needs of many Nigerians (particularly the rural and urban poor) remaining unmet. This is despite government spending on health. For instance, reports from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) (1998, 2004) indicates that total health spending by the federal government, in real terms, sharply declined in the 1980s, following fluctuations in the 1970s. From a total of N=852.5 million in 1980, it fell to N=106.9 million in 1987 and later rose to N=233.1 million in 1991. By 1994, it rose marginally to N=240.8million and this marginal rising trend continued till 2004. In per capita basis, in real terms, total per capita health budget was dropped to N=1.77K and N=1.61K in 1989 and 1996, respectively. It later rose to N=4.15K in 2000. This shows that for many of the years of the 1990s, the Federal Government spends less than one Naira of capital budget per person, in real terms. Access to sanitation and health services also deteriorated. Access to sanitation fell from 62 percent in 1985 to 63, 68.7, and 58 percent in 1991, 1994, and 2002, respectively, while access to health services fell from 67 percent in 1990 to 56.5 percent in 1994 and 53 percent in 2002 (African Development Bank (ADB), 2003). This indicates that many Nigerians (especially the poor) still had no access to health care. This was also compounded by the economic reforms of the mid-1980s.Since the economic reforms of the mid-1980s, there has been a structural shift from government-dominated to market-driven paradigms in economic and social development policies in Nigeria. Though these shifts were aimed at enhancing economic growth and development, it has actually increased the existing elitist orientation in the country's political economy (Ichoku and Fonta, 2006), a situation where privilege and socioeconomic advantages have aided the existence of large inequalities, especially between rich and the poor. This situation has also been carried over to the provision and access to social service, health care inclusive. As such, majority of the people, mostly the poor have to obtain health care services at a huge opportunity cost or are excluded from enjoying these services, thus their lack of access to improved and modern health care services (Ichoku and Fonta, 2006).There was also the implementation of user charges in the mid-1980s, which led to a proliferation of private sector health facilities in Nigeria, mostly in the urban areas. Under this situation, out-of-pocket expenses became a major way of paying for health care services. Ogunbekun et al. (1999) reported in their study that majority of the respondents in their sample paid for health care services using out-of-pocket payments. Precisely, about 70 percent of health care payments in Nigerian are from out-of-pocket (Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), 2003). This imposes considerable and uneven burdens on households, especially the poor, who in most cases have to over-stretch their limited income before they are able to consume modern health care services.As such households, especially the low income earners, who cannot afford to pay may be denied access to improved health care. And the absence of improved health care and/or the total lack of care have life-long consequences as it affects the individual's lifetime stock of human capital, thereby perpetuating poverty. Accordingly, majority of the people, the poor, will have to rely on enhance government (fiscal) policies and/or funding to be able to get more access to modern health care. As a way out, the public sector health care in Nigerian began to implement reform measures, not only to cope with the ever-increasing requirements for health spending but also to compliment government health care spending.A major concern in this regard is whether the increase in public outlays on health care will necessarily benefit the poor, especially with respect to improvement in the health status of the poor or will it still widen the prevailing inequalities between the majority, the poor and the few rich. This paper thus, assesses the health status of the poor vis-a-vis public sector health spending in Nigeria.The paper is structured as follows. Closely following this introductory section is a brief review of the literature, which is contained in Section 2. Section 3 examines the health care system (public sector spending and health status) in Nigeria. Section 4 outlines the methodology and data analysis while Section 5 concludes the study.\n2 Brief review of the literature: 2.1 Health care financing in Nigeria\n3 Health care system in Nigeria: 3.1 Trends in public health spending and health indicators in Nigeria\n4 Empirical analysis: 4.1 Model specification\n5 The data: The study used secondary data sourced from the following sources: CBN's (1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006), ADB's Report (1997, 1999-2001, 2003), World Bank's World Indicators (1993-1995a,b, 1997, 1998), Federal Office of Statistic's (1992), and www.unfpa.org/profile/Nigeria.cfm\n6 Results/findings: The regression equation was estimated using the OLS. The baseline model is reported in Table IV where child mortality is a function of public spending on health per capita, initial primary enrolment and quintile income per capita. Columns 3, 4, 7, and 8 add private health spending per capita to the baseline model. The result suggests that public spending on health is a consistent, significant determinant of the child mortality rate among the poor. Also, there was some evidence that the non-poor rely more on private health facilities. This result was consistent with those of Gupta et al. (2001), whose study was based on cross country data and those of Amaghionyeodiwe (2005) whose study was on the willingness to pay for public sector health care services in Nigeria.The baseline model was run again with slight modification. Child mortality was estimated as a function of public spending on health per capita, initial primary enrolment and mean consumption per capita for the relevant subgroup. Where data on consumption or expenditure is non-existent, mean consumption per capita by subgroup is proxied by multiplying data on quintile expenditure share by the average per capita GDP. The result is contained in Table V. Whereas pubic spending on health per capita is a significant determinant of health status of the non-poor, it has a larger impact on the health status of the poor both in terms of the implied elasticities and in absolute terms. The non-poor are also able to rely more on private resources. The use of private health care by the non-poor was motivated partly by households perception (both the poor and non-poor) that the private health institutions provide more quality health care services than the public sector facilities and partly due to the non-poor's willingness and ability to pay for these health services. The poor, though has the willingness to pay for better health care services but lacks the ability to pay for private sector health care services.Furthermore, the initial primary enrollment has a higher marginal impact on the poor. Mean consumption per capita is insignificant and in some cases was wrongly signed. A possible reason for this is the fact that a rough approximation of the health status of the absolute poor was based on quintile averages. More so, mean consumption is highly correlated with health spending per capita and private health spending per capita. Thus, the result should be interpreted with caution.\n7 Conclusion: This study evaluated the impact of government health expenditures on the poor. From the descriptive analysis the study found that the health sector has witnessed minimal levels of improvement, while the health status of the average citizen and the condition of health infrastructure has not improved appreciably despite government spending (though with little fluctuations) on this sector. Population per hospital bed showed a deteriorating nature. Access to good health care has remained basically an elite privilege because health services are yet to be provided in sufficient quality and scope, to meet the needs of the people. Thus, there is the need for the public sector to, not only, improve its health care expenditure but also put into productive use the available funds in the health sector.The regression result suggest that the poor have significantly worse health status than the non-poor and that the poor are more strongly affected by public spending on health care relative to the non-poor. Thus, the difference in impact of spending between the poor and the non-poor could be substantial. Also, the result suggests that public spending on health had a consistent and significant influence on child mortality, especially among the poor. Furthermore, pubic spending on health, in per capita terms, was a significant determinant of health status of the non-poor, but it has a larger impact on the health status of the poor. Also, there was some evidence that the non-poor rely more on private health facilities. This might be as a result of their perception that such private facilities provide better quality care.In the light of the above, government health care spending should be made more productive and accessible. This should not solely be on increasing the number of health care facilities, as this does not necessarily translate to increase in the health status of the populace, emphasis should be on the various ways of improving health care facilities, as these will enhance both the scope and quality of health care services in Nigeria, which currently is very low. Furthermore, government resources need to be reallocated towards health intervention designed to respond primarily to the health needs of the poor. Government should also ensure that health interventions reach their intended beneficiaries.It was observed that the use of private health care by the non-poor was motivated partly by households' perception on the quality of care being provided by the health care institutions, in which the private health institutions are perceived as providing more quality health care services than the public sector facilities. Thus, there is the need for the government to improve on the quality of care in her health facilities. Also, since households are willing to pay for better health care services, government should identify existing deficiencies in the management of its facilities and then try to take care of these deficiencies. Emphasis in this respect can be laid on employee motivation and management systems and control, this will help enhance the quality of care from the public sector health care institutions.Given our findings that the rich has a higher tendency of utilizing private health facilities, the government should help encourage them to increase their patronage of these private sector facilities and also encourage the private sector health providers to improve on their facilities as a way of pulling away the rich from public sector health facilities. This will help enable the poor and the more vulnerable groups in the society to be better targeted and provided for by the public sector health facilities. Government should also introduce price discrimination into the user fee it charges. User fee at clinics in poorer villages and communities can be set at different levels than user fee in rich communities and as long as the user fee is below the welfare neutral prices the policy will be welfare improving for everyone. With this type of price discrimination the clinics in richer villages or areas will be self-financing, while the facilities in poorer villages require a subsidy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not government health care spending reduces the poor-rich differences in health status. Specifically, it aims to assess the health status of the poor vis-a-vis government health spending in Nigeria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Regression analysis was carried out using the Ordinary Least Square method of estimation while secondary data was used.\nFindings: - It was found that despite the increase in most components of health care spending in Nigeria, the health status of the average Nigerian and the condition of health infrastructure has not improved appreciably. Also, the poor have significantly worse health status than the non-poor and they (the poor) are more strongly affected by public spending on health care relative to the non-poor. Thus, the difference in impact of spending between the poor and the non-poor could be substantial.\nOriginality/value: - This study provides information that will help reposition policies on government spending, especially on health care, so as to enhance and improve the heath status of the poor in Nigeria, thereby reducing the poor-rich differences in health status.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Logistics solutions for reducing food waste	[ "Food waste", "Environmental impact", "Food supply chains", "Logistics solutions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Food waste refers to any food discarded despite being appropriate for human consumption, whether it is kept beyond its expiration date or left to spoil (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013). Food waste affects the environment by exacerbating energy consumption and resource use, thereby making it not only an important societal and environmental issue, but also a concern for companies in food supply chains (FSCs), in which waste also affects costs. Of all food produced worldwide each year, roughly a third, or 1.3 billion tonnes, goes to waste (Gustavsson et al., 2011; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013), mostly in households in the industrialised world (Parfitt et al., 2010; Gustavsson et al., 2011; Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). However, a significant amount of food waste also occurs in FSCs. In Sweden, for example, statistics purporting food waste reveal that industrial producers are responsible for 171,000 tonnes of waste per year, wholesalers and retailers for 63,000 tonnes, and households for 270,000 tonnes (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). As those figures show, industrial producers, wholesalers, and retailers create nearly as much food waste as households, at least in Sweden, which implies a need to understand how to reduce food waste in FSCs.\nResearch framework: To generate a structure that clarifies how food waste can be reduced in FSCs, the research framework draws upon literature addressing causes of food waste and identifies components critical to describing logistics solutions to overcome some of those causes. This section presents a framework for describing logistics solutions individually in order to facilitate a joint analysis of logistics solutions identified in the case study.\nMethod: Research approach\nCase descriptions: Case descriptions are structured according to the type of waste studied; meat FSCs (Case 1) and FaV FSCs (Case 2) focus on waste due to passed expiration dates, whereas FSCs with ambient products (Case 3) focus on waste due to damaged packaging. For each type of food waste, a brief definition of the type of waste is provided, followed by a presentation of the case.\nResults and analysis: This section draws upon the research framework (Figure 1) and addresses three topics. First, it presents an overview of results in terms of logistics solutions identified in relation to the research framework. Second, it analyses the causes of food waste, and third, it describes and analyses the logistics solutions.\nDiscussion: In what follows, causes of food waste and logistics solutions are discussed in seven points and based on components in the research framework (Figure 1): causes of food waste, actors involved, coordination mechanisms, and logistics activities. Types of food waste are also addressed, which emerged as a component early in data collection. Table I provides an overview of the discussion by summarising components for the nine logistics solutions.\nConclusion: This paper contributes to current knowledge about food waste in food logistics literature chiefly by elucidating how logistics can help reduce such waste by identifying, describing, and analysing logistics solutions together. An analysis was performed by applying five components - types of food waste, causes of food waste, actors involved, coordination mechanisms, and logistics activities. These components originated from a research framework, except for types of food waste, which was developed as an early result of data collection. Many of the logistics solutions identified in the empirical material have been addressed in earlier work, meaning that the chief contribution of this paper is the comparison and joint analysis of the nine logistics solutions, which builds on research identifying causes of food waste. Findings reveal that solutions to reduce food waste in FSCs are implemented across three stages of FSCs and differ in their employment of six logistics activities and integration of four coordination mechanisms. Moreover, the findings indicate that coordination is necessary not only within solutions, but also among them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to expand understandings of how logistics can reduce food waste in food supply chains (FSCs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a research framework that associates causes of food waste with logistics solutions, a multiple-case study was conducted in three Swedish FSCs of meat, fruit and vegetables, and ambient products, respectively, and involving industrial producers, wholesalers, and retailers. Data were collected during 19 semistructured interviews and four site visits, and logistics solutions were analysed according to logistics activities, actors involved and their stages in the FSC, and coordination mechanisms.\nFindings: A joint analysis of nine logistics solutions revealed that to efficiently reduce food waste in FSCs, solutions have been implemented at three stages of FSCs, as well as that those solutions differ in their integration of six logistics activities and four coordination mechanisms. The findings moreover indicate that the solutions are interlinked, thereby implying that coordination is necessary both within solutions as well as among them.\nResearch limitations/implications: The chief limitation is that the potential of the identified logistics solutions is not quantified.\nPractical implications: The paper makes recommendations for reducing food waste in FSCs by developing new solutions and modifying existing ones.\nSocial implications: The paper suggests ways to reduce significant environmental impacts of food waste.\nOriginality/value: By building upon previous research explaining causes of food waste, this paper focusses on logistics solutions for reducing such waste.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying financial statement fraud with decision rules obtained from Modified Random Forest	[ "Financial statement fraud", "Random forest", "Decision rules", "Feature importance", "Machine learning", "Predictive model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Financial statement shows the overall financial status of a company. Therefore, financial statement fraud (FSF) causes a great loss to various stakeholders, such as investors, creditors and even the company's own employees. Companies should disclose their financial information via various kinds of official announcements, including financial statements, company-related news, external audit report and regulatory filings (Healy and Palepu, 2001). However, executives could be easily led astray to provide their financial information with the falsification or dilatoriness, because a financial problem of a company, if released, could become a serious loss to the company, such as a stock market crash, divestment and damage to the reputation of the company. Even experts like auditors and professional investors have considerable difficulty in detecting it in advance, and it gives rise to much greater losses than the other kinds of fraud, such as asset misappropriations, bribery and illegal gratuities (Rezaee, 2005).According to the 2018 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, published by Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), an estimate of the loss due to FSF of a company amounts to about 5% of its annual revenue on average. It was also reported FSF is one of the occupational frauds in business with the greatest median loss per case, $800,000 (ACFE, 2018). The huge loss and bankruptcy provoked by FSF committed by Enron, WorldCom, Qwest and Tyco are well known (Rezaee, 2005). Recently, a late public statement by Hanmi Pharmaceutical Firm, a major Korean pharmaceutical company, which is suspected of intentional, late posting of a public statement after short selling a large volume of stock, resulted in over $3 million loss in 2016 (Kim, 2016; Lee, 2016).FSF committed by a company implies the current status of the company is likely to be unhealthy. Such companies tend to conceal bad information and usually show poor performance prior to receiving forewarning notice from a public supervisor (Chung et al., 2014). Additionally, stock returns tend to decline before and after firms' unfaithful behavior (Han et al., 2014). The more unfaithful disclosures are connected to a company, the higher interest rate of loan and the lower credit rating are applied to the company (Lee et al., 2008). Hence, it is strongly required to detect FSF prior to receiving forewarning notice in order to distinguish financially unhealthy companies from healthy ones.Due to the crucial impact of FSF, there have been a lot of studies regarding the fraud. Having started as earnings or accrual manipulation, FSF has been studied by many researchers with regard to causes, effects and motivations, while there are some researchers who focused on identifying factors which have significant effect on FSF (Rf. Section 2.2).Nowadays, applying data mining techniques to solving diverse financial issues became imperative on account of its capability to mine knowledge out of a great number of instances. Data mining techniques enable people to extract useful knowledge from a large dataset. In accordance with such a trend, auditors, who are responsible for finding problematic firms, had better utilize the techniques, since some limitations of human experts such as bias and subjective judgment could be avoided by using the techniques (Ravisankar et al., 2011). Besides, it is difficult for human experts to catch the time-varying importance of some financial variables in determining FSF (Ngai et al., 2009). Hence, more recently, several researchers tried to create classification models using data mining techniques to predict FSF in advance (Rf. Section 2.3).However, previous studies which utilized data mining techniques to detect FSF leave something to be desired. First, it is worthwhile to expand the scope of FSF so as to include more kinds of frauds, which will then mitigate the class imbalance problem. Note that most of the previous studies mainly dealt with only two types of fraud, misstatement and restatement. Second, previous studies focused on building a classification model showing high performance, but it is also important to derive rules that can be used to explain the classification result (Huang et al., 2014; Pai et al., 2011).The objective of the paper is, therefore, twofold: (1) to build a classification model with high performance to detect four types of FSF: misstatement, restatement, delayed disclosure and cancelled disclosure of financial statement; (2) to extract human-readable rules, by which we can explain why a company is likely to commit FSF. To that end, we used a joined dataset of Korean companies obtained from Korea Investor's Network for Disclosure (KIND) system and a database from KIS-Value (Korea Investors Service-Value) and we modified the Random Forest (RF) algorithm.The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we examine the definitions of several types of FSF and review previous works related to FSF. Section 3 describes research method, including the dataset, financial ratio variables used to build a classification model and modification of Random Forest algorithm to generate better classification performance and human-readable rules. In Section 4, experimental results are presented, including classification results, their statistical verification and examples of rules. Finally, Section 5 concludes the paper with a summary, contributions and future work.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Financial statement fraud (FSF)\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Experiments and results: 4.1 Experimental settings\n5. Conclusion: Because FSF imposes a great loss on a variety of stakeholders, the detection of companies which are likely to commit the fraud is an important and demanding issue. However, detecting FSF is fairly challenging for traditional audits due to companies' stratagem. We started this study with an objective of building a model of high classification performance and deriving classification rules which can be used to explain the classification results.It is well known that RF outperforms other classification algorithms in general, especially when the dataset is large, but it has a weakness that it does not provide classification rules. As such, we attempted to modify RF algorithm, so that a model of good classification performance is built and classification rules can be obtained, and resolved the class imbalance problem without under-sampling method while using all the instances to build the MRF model.In summary, our MRF model is built as follows. After preparing multiple balanced sub-datasets from an imbalanced dataset, we find the proper number of CARTs created using randomly selected features with a training dataset of each sub-dataset, select a subset of those CARTs using a validation dataset as a model for each sub-dataset and finally select one such model showing the best accuracy using the test dataset. The finally selected model is the MRF model from which we extract classification rules to explain the classification result for a new instance.Our study has several contributions. First of all, we proposed a method of building a classification model which shows statistically significant, better performance than the baseline methods and at the same time provides classification rules that can be used to explain the classification results. Second, we proposed a way of handling the class imbalance problem without losing any instance when building a classification model, unlike under-sampling method. Third, we identified five variables (i.e. X8, X9, X10, X11 and X13) which play an important role in detecting companies which are likely to commit FSF. Note that four of them, such as X8(=Net profit/Total assets), X9(=Net profit/Gross profit), X10(=Net profit/Sales) and X11(=Gross profit/Total assets), are related to profit (i.e. net profit and gross profit), and two of them, such as X9(=net profit/gross profit) and X11(=gross profit/total assets), have been rarely selected as important variables by previous studies dealing with FSF.The study can be extended in a few aspects. As more data about each type of FSF are available, we may be able to derive classification rules for each type, which will then give new insight into what causes each type of fraud to take place. In addition, it may be worthwhile to include other information as well as financial ratio variables when building a classification model, such as expert's opinion on the financial status of companies and corporate information (i.e. the year of establishment, the number of employees, characteristics of CEO[5], etc.).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Financial statement fraud (FSF) committed by companies implies the current status of the companies may not be healthy. As such, it is important to detect FSF, since such companies tend to conceal bad information, which causes a great loss to various stakeholders. Thus, the objective of the paper is to propose a novel approach to building a classification model to identify FSF, which shows high classification performance and from which human-readable rules are extracted to explain why a company is likely to commit FSF.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Having prepared multiple sub-datasets to cope with class imbalance problem, we build a set of decision trees for each sub-dataset; select a subset of the set as a model for the sub-dataset by removing the tree, each of whose performance is less than the average accuracy of all trees in the set; and then select one such model which shows the best accuracy among the models. We call the resulting model MRF (Modified Random Forest). Given a new instance, we extract rules from the MRF model to explain whether the company corresponding to the new instance is likely to commit FSF or not.\nFindings: Experimental results show that MRF classifier outperformed the benchmark models. The results also revealed that all the variables related to profit belong to the set of the most important indicators to FSF and that two new variables related to gross profit which were unapprised in previous studies on FSF were identified.\nOriginality/value: This study proposed a method of building a classification model which shows the outstanding performance and provides decision rules that can be used to explain the classification results. In addition, a new way to resolve the class imbalance problem was suggested in this paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A process model of how interpersonal interaction leads to effectiveness of the expatriate-host country national relationship: An intergroup contact perspective	[ "Expatriates", "Effectiveness of expatriate–HCN relationship", "Expatriate–HCN interaction", "Host country nationals", "Intergroup contact theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The ability to draw upon their worldwide resources in order to be globally competitive is very important for multinational corporations (MNCs). Indeed, participants in a recent survey of 143 MNCs (Brookfield Global Relocation Services, 2015) reported that 56 percent of their revenues were generated outside of their headquarters. Not surprisingly, 87 percent of the respondents in this survey further indicated that they anticipated future expatriate populations to likely increase, despite the obvious pressures to reduce expenses. Supporting this, researchers found that MNCs rely heavily on expatriates to carry out their strategic missions (e.g. Riaz et al., 2014). At the same time, the incidence of expatriate failure is often quite high, resulting in significant loss of investment for MNCs (Tungli and Peiperl, 2009). Indeed, reducing expatriate failure and/or premature return rates is also considered by MNCs to be a critical factor in maintaining their competitive advantage abroad, and can also help increase the willingness of other employees in the organization to accept expatriate assignments (Bolino et al., 2017).\nTheoretical background: Intergroup contact theory\nHow do interpersonal expatriate-HCN interactions allow the HCN and the expatriate to become acquainted with each other?: Pettigrew and Tropp (2008) highlighted three mechanisms that mediate the effect of intergroup contact on prejudice, which can be drawn upon to explain how the expatriate and the HCN become acquainted with each other as a result of their interactions. In addition, we also propose adding a fourth mechanism, self-disclosure directed toward the other person in the expatriate-HCN dyad.\nUnder what mechanisms do interpersonal expatriate-HCN interactions lead to less stereotypical beliefs about each other?: In the previously mentioned meta-analysis by Pettigrew and Tropp (2008), they found that intergroup contact reduces the ingroup's prejudice toward the outgroup through three mechanisms: the enhancement of knowledge about the outgroup, the reduction of anxiety about intergroup interaction and the enhancement of empathy and perspective taking. In the intergroup contact literature, these mediating effects were later confirmed in a longitudinal study by Swart et al. (2011). Moreover, Turner et al. (2007) conducted multiple studies and found that the outgroup's self-disclosure (as well as the reduced anxiety) mediated the effects of intergroup contact on the ingroup's prejudice toward the outgroup. The results of these studies conform the mediating role of our four proposed mechanisms in the intergroup contact-prejudice relationship. Therefore, building on the intergroup contract literature and what we proposed earlier, taken in combination, we expect that in the context of expatriate-HCN dyads, frequent interpersonal interactions will allow each individual to see the other less stereotypically because the interactions allow them to know more about each other, to reduce the anxiety about interacting with the other, to think from the perspective of the other member of the dyad, to develop empathic feelings about the other and to engage in self-disclosure to the other. Therefore, the following is proposed:\nWhen will interpersonal expatriate-HCN interactions become more effective?: Allport (1954) proposed that the positive effects of intergroup contact rest on four optimal conditions: the group status needs to be equal when members of different groups interact, groups need to have common goals, groups need to demonstrate interdependent cooperation to achieve those common goals and the external environment needs to be supportive. Meta-analytic evidence in the intergroup contact literature supports his argument - intergroup contact has been found to lead to significantly higher prejudice reduction when levels of these four conditions were high as opposed to low (Pettigrew and Tropp, 2006). Next, we apply these optimal conditions in the expatriate-HCN context to illustrate when the effects of interpersonal expatriate-HCN interactions would be more effective.\nHow do the reduced stereotypes about each other enhance the effectiveness of the expatriate-HCN relationship?: In the following sections, we take on a broader perspective on expatriate-HCN relationship effectiveness. More specifically, we not only include the commonly investigated outcomes of expatriate-HCN relationship (i.e. adjustment, performance and knowledge transfer of the expatriate and HCN; Takeuchi, 2010), but we also integrate a discussion of how the expatriate-HCN relationship can be understood as a continuous (i.e. the feedback loop) and a spreading (i.e. the spillover effect) process whereby positive outcomes of the expatriate-HCN relationship will lead to more and wider expatriate-HCN interactions in the future.\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\nConclusion: As the demand for qualified professionals to take on expatriate assignments continues to increase, the critical role played by HCN in expatriate success deserves critical attention. Since every expatriate assignment requires expatriates to navigate a series of expatriate-HCN interactions, it is critical that organizations monitor and manage these interactions well. When managed well, these expatriate-HCN interactions have the potential to raise performance levels of both individuals, and the organization - left alone, these interactions could result in a number of possible outcomes - from productive to neutral to negative. As Liu et al. (2018) argued, \"Understanding intercultural dynamics in competition and cooperation can help individuals and managers in multinationals and born global organizations navigate cultural complexity and foster cooperation\" (p. 2).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and present a conceptual model of expatriate-host country national (HCN) interaction that explains how organizations can help increase cooperation between expatriates and HCNs by facilitating interaction between expatriates and HCNs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors draw upon intergroup contact theory to develop a process model which describes the processes critical to \"the effectiveness of the expatriate-HCN relationship,\" from both the expatriate and HCN perspectives.\nFindings: HCN-expatriate interactions are critical to the success of both expatriates and HCNs, but such interactions should not be left to chance - instead, organizations should intervene and facilitate conditions that foster such interactions, which can lead to better understanding and appreciation of each other. This would ensure that both expatriates and HCNs have a better understanding of the critical role played by the other party, and thus be willing to offer relevant and necessary support at the right time.\nPractical implications: Prior research reveals that most expatriate-HCN interactions are left to the individuals themselves and are thus subject to stereotypes, misperceptions and even unfulfilled expectations. By intervening in this process, and providing relevant information about each other to both parties, organizations can facilitate higher quality interactions, help reduce or remove stereotypes and increase the chances that both parties receive required and relevant information on a timely basis from each other.\nOriginality/value: The authors specifically discuss how interpersonal expatriate-HCN interactions allow the two parties to become acquainted with each other, when the effects of such interactions can be strengthened, and what the resultant effects are in terms of expatriate-HCN relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying and understanding entrepreneurial decision-making logics in entrepreneurship education	[ "Entrepreneurship education", "Effectuation", "Causation", "Decision-making logic" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over recent years, research interest in nascent entrepreneurs - that is, individuals or teams of individuals - has grown. The actions of these entrepreneurs transform ideas into new business ventures (Bird and Schjoedt, 2009; Dimov, 2010; Fisher, 2012). An essential aspect of bringing new ideas to life is quickly and appropriately finding viable solutions to the challenges encountered in business formation (Fayolle and Gailly, 2008).\nCausation and effectuation in practice-based learning in EE: EE aims to facilitate students' personal growth and transformation by providing them with entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Gedeon, 2014). For instance, EE has been proven to have an effect on a number of entrepreneurship-related human capital assets, such as knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship, positive perceptions and entrepreneurial intentions, and entrepreneurship outcomes such as start-ups and entrepreneurial performance (Martin et al., 2013). More specifically, EE aims to foster three types of learning: learning to become an enterprising individual (through entrepreneurship), learning to become an entrepreneur (for entrepreneurship), and learning to become an academic or teacher in the field of entrepreneurship (about entrepreneurship) (e.g. Fayolle and Gailly, 2008; Hytti and O'Gorman, 2004). In enhancing learning, two types of pedagogical approaches have been utilised. The first type, theory-based pedagogical approach, fosters students' understanding about entrepreneurship, whereas the second type, practice-based approach, focusses on developing students' competencies in regard to being an entrepreneur (Neck et al., 2014). In general, most of the attention in EE has traditionally been paid to \"for\" entrepreneurship approaches aimed at new venture creation and at exposing students to becoming entrepreneurs. These practice-based approaches are intended for those students who seek support and training for their entrepreneurial projects or for those wishing to gain more practical knowledge and learn different techniques for starting a venture (Fayolle and Gailly, 2008; Yamakawa et al., 2016).\nMethodology: Study context\nData: Mixed methods approach\nResults: Identifying and understanding types of decision-making logics\nDiscussion: The study explored how students make decisions during their venture creation processes during an educational intervention and how and why the decision-making logics are transformed during the new venture creation process. In response to RQ1, the findings showed that the students followed one of four types of decision-making logic - effectual, causal, hybrid, and coping - at the beginning of their venture creation process, each of which has specific characteristics that add to existing knowledge. Interestingly, this indicates that different forms of decision-making logic can be recognised before the actual outcomes of entrepreneurial effort are evident, and it sheds new light on the current discussion on causation and effectuation, which leans on studies of expert entrepreneurs with existing entrepreneurial experiences (Sarasvathy, 2001; Dew et al., 2009; Welter et al., 2016). The findings also show the transformation of the decision-making logics during the new venture creation course. By the end of the course, the \"pure\" causal and effectual approaches had vanished, and about half of the students did not emphasise the causal or effectual approach but instead indicated high levels of both approaches at the same time, making theirs a hybrid approach. The rest of the students reported the coping approach, without any emphasis on causation or effectuation, and, intriguingly, their new venture creation processes were stagnated. The study adds to existing knowledge by going beyond the traditional dichotomy of causation vs effectuation as well as of theory vs practice by demonstrating how different decision-making logics complement one another and change during the venturing process. The findings on the transformations in decision-making logics complement previous research suggesting that different contextual and temporal settings may be more suitable for either of the decision-making logics (e.g. Fisher, 2012; Makimurto-Koivumaa and Puhakka, 2013). For instance, effectuation may be more applicable when a business idea is still indeterminate or needs reformulation, but after the business idea is developed and more precisely defined, causation is incorporated to supplement effectuation (Berends et al., 2014). Similarly, Makimurto-Koivumaa and Puhakka (2013) identified different behaviours and actions for causation and effectuation and suggested integrating them to support an effective entrepreneurial process. This resonates with the hybrid approach identified in this study.\nConclusion: Overall, the findings bring the entrepreneurship theories of causation and effectuation into the teaching of entrepreneurship, as suggested by Fayolle (2013). The study demonstrates the existence and nature of different decision-making logics during the new venture creation process and highlights how these decision-making logics transform during the entrepreneurial learning process. The study also shows the continuation of the learning process beyond new venture creation. As part of this transformation, decision-making logics change over time into different patterns that direct individuals towards coping decision-making logics, in which no causation or effectuation is emphasised. The study has several theoretical implications. The study demonstrated that different decision-making logics can be utilised based on different contextual and temporal settings and also that the approaches of both causation and effectuation can be used at the same time or can remain without emphasis. Contributing to literature on venture performance, the study also implies that the coping approach as a consequence of the three different patterns leads to venture stagnation. Interestingly, the findings suggest that even if students fail to produce the practical outcome of a new viable business, a start-up course with a particular start-up goal may produce other equally important learning outcomes. For example, the course produced enterprising individuals with better knowledge of entrepreneurship as a phenomenon. In addition, more general learning outcomes related to personal growth and human capital, rather than to entrepreneurship, were identified. This kind of complementarity in terms of pedagogy and learning are often present in EE (Thrane et al., 2016).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: It is unclear how nascent entrepreneurs make decisions during the venture creation process. The purpose of this paper is to investigate decision-making logics and their transformation over time among student entrepreneurs who aim to create new business ventures in the higher education setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs the mixed methods approach through the use of survey and observation data. The longitudinal survey data comprise three surveys collected via an internet-aided tool. The constructs of causation and effectuation are measured using previously tested scales (Chandler et al., 2011). Non-participant observation data were collected during the course, focussing on the venture creation processes of four different start-ups, and were analysed thematically.\nFindings: The findings show three transformation patterns - doubts in how to proceed, unwillingness to proceed, and unsatisfactory team dynamics - that led individuals towards a coping decision-making logic in which no causation or effectuation is emphasised. The findings illustrate that, despite this stage of decision-making logic, the learning process continues: Even if no new business venture is launched, entrepreneurship education can still generate learning outcomes that improve students' understanding of entrepreneurship as well as understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs.\nOriginality/value: This study brings the theories of causation and effectuation into the teaching of entrepreneurship. Of particular value to scholars is the fact that the study generates new understanding of the decision-making logics during new venture creation. Accordingly, this study sheds new light on the transformation and complementarity of the decision-making logic of an individual as new ventures emerge in an educational context reflecting the real-life start-up context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Insights into mature consumers of financial services	[ "Mature consumers", "Financial services", "Baby Boomer generation", "Consumer behaviour", "Marketing strategy", "Consumer decision making", "Life events", "Financial planning", "Situational decision making", "Psychographic traits", "Sandwich generation", "Funds management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: The importance of the Baby Boomer generation has long been recognised by marketers, and their influence only increases as they grow older. Fifteen years ago Leventhal noted the significance of the first of the Baby Boomer cohort turning 50, describing it as \"the start of what is to become one of the greatest marketing movements ever seen in the USA\" (Leventhal, 1997, p. 276).The significance of the Baby Boomer generation to marketers in general has been well covered in the literature (see, for example, Leventhal, 1997; Moschis et al., 1997). However, one of the many reasons for the significance of the aging Baby Boomer cohort is the provision for their retirement. The Baby Boomers are the largest generational cohort and are likely to have longer life spans than preceding generations (Hopkins et al., 2006). This generation therefore prompts a surge in need for financial services. With such a large (and growing) market, financial services marketers will benefit from enhanced understanding of the Baby Boomer market. The current study investigates psychographic, demographic and situational characteristics of these mature consumers specifically in relation to their consumption of financial services.\nMature consumers - segment size and demographics: Baby Boomers are usually considered to be those born between 1946 and 1964 (Reisenwitz and Iyer, 2007). For this study, the group was expanded slightly to include those aged 40 to 69 years old. Forty is the age at which consumers approach the end of financial constraint with children potentially becoming financially independent; the family home paid for; and/or loans reaching their terms. Often this is also the time when financial planning for retirement begins. This expanded Baby Boomer segment will be referred to as \"mature consumers\" throughout this paper.One reason for studying the characteristics of mature consumers relates to the size of the cohort, with this group being one of the largest constituencies in society (see, for example, Leventhal, 1997). While the proportion of mature consumers varies somewhat across populations, in general it sits at about 20 per cent in most developed countries (Bloom et al., 2011).\nMature consumers and financial services: Mature consumers possess the greatest amount of wealth in western nations (Moschis and Nguyen, 2008; Pettigrew et al., 2003), for example, mature consumers hold approximately 60 per cent of Australia's net worth (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007, 2010). In the USA, people over 55 year are said to control more than half of the country's assets and more than half of its discretionary income (Moschis et al., 1997). The Baby Boomer is an above-average socioeconomic group and its members are two times as likely as the average person to earn over $50,000 (Reisenwitz and Iyer, 2007). Thus, their decisions have significant impact within the world of financial services.As older consumers begin to retire or scale back their work requirements, their weekly income from employment reduces and they start to live off investment returns, at the same time as having fewer liabilities. Baby Boomers have been described as having a strong focus on financial security (Roberts and Manolis, 2000). This increased focus on investment makes the mature market a highly attractive segment for providers of financial services. In addition, most Westernised nations have begun to transition their populations into enforced savings through, for example in Australia, mandatory superannuation schemes and means testing of pensions to move increasingly towards individualised or self-management of retirement assets (Bateman and Piggott, 2000, 2003; Eberstadt, 2011). However, clearly not all mature consumers carry the same life-time customer value to a financial services organisation. Given the predicted continuing growth in this mature segment of the population, it will be useful for those offering financial services to be able to segment the market more effectively to identify those more likely to have higher income and/or an interest in using a financial adviser.There have been many studies examining consumption behaviour and/or marketing strategies related to mature consumers or those facing retirement (e.g. Beneke et al., 2011; Hopkins et al., 2006; Myers and Lumbers, 2008; Sudbury and Simcock, 2009). There is however far less empirical research on the characteristics and consumption behaviour of mature consumers of financial services in particular. Kennett et al. (1995) examined mature consumers of financial services but explored marketing strategies rather than consumer characteristics. Nasco and Hale (2009) studied mature consumer information search in relation to purchases of home, medical and financial services. Given the limited literature available, the current study took a broad approach, exploring various aspects of mature consumers in relation to financial services.\nMethod: The study involved the distribution and analysis of a survey questionnaire investigating the characteristics of mature age consumers in the context of decision making for financial services. A stratified random sampling technique (by state of residence) was used to select mature consumers from a large Australian service provider. Data were entered into SPSS from 776 completed questionnaires.A pre-participation request letter was distributed to 10,000 customers of the sponsoring body, who provided both financial and in-kind support. Positive responses were received from 1,000 potential participants and surveys were sent to each of the respondents. Seven hundred and seventy-six completed surveys were returned, equating to an effective response rate of 77.6 per cent from those who received surveys. The researchers compared demographic characteristics of those who chose not to participate, those who did not return the survey, and respondents, and no significant differences were identified. Missing value analysis was also conducted and missing data was found to be random.The instrument\nResults: Mature consumer characteristics\nDiscussion and managerial implications: This study explored the situational, demographic and psychographic characteristics of mature consumers in relation to decision-making regarding financial services.Demographics and use of financial services\nConclusions: There is little research into the consumption behaviour of mature consumers of financial services. This broad-ranging study explored a variety of aspects of mature consumers, and the results suggest several areas where financial service providers could enhance their marketing efforts. The confirmation of the link between education, occupation and income should act as a reminder to service providers to target those younger consumers who are more likely to have high income later in life. Competiveness and a need for material resources were found to be associated with higher income, so may provide another mechanism for the earlier identification of potential higher value customers.The study also revealed a preference from respondents to get financial information from financial planners and accountants rather than other financial institutions, which suggests that banks offering financial advice services need to enhance their marketing communications. The results also highlighted opportunities for expanded referral networks involving a broader range of financial service providers, and CRM initiatives to ensure follow-up with clients who approach the firm for advice for a discrete event.The results suggested that consumers may not be aware of the prevalence and financial impact of the trends towards \"boomerang kids\" and the \"sandwich generation\". This is another area where marketers can communicate with consumers to assist them to understand the impact of various life events on their finances and to obtain financial advice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate psychographic, demographic and situational characteristics of Baby Boomer generation consumers, specifically in relation to their consumption of financial services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey was pre-tested and 776 responses (77.6 per cent response rate) were subjected to correlation and ANOVA analysis. The survey covered a wide range of variables for decision making for financial services, including situational, demographic, and psychographic.\nFindings: - Consumers who scored higher on scales for competitiveness and need for material resources tended to have higher incomes. Mature consumers were likely to face major life events involving their children and parents, but these events were least likely to prompt the use of a financial service adviser. However, some respondents showed a propensity for seeking financial advice in relation to many types of life events. There were also relationships between seeking financial information from certain service providers.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper's findings assist in building a picture of the psychographic and behavioural tendencies of the largest age cohort.\nPractical implications: - The findings suggest strategies for: cross-selling through referral networks of different financial service providers; communications to increase awareness of the likelihood of financial pressures from aging parents, potentially concurrently with adult children; and lead generation based on the likelihood of having a higher income, seeking financial advice and using financial services.\nOriginality/value: - There is a dearth of literature on the consumption behaviour of mature consumers in relation to financial services. Financial services are a major industry in most developed economies and sound financial management is critical for the Baby Boomer cohort. This paper assists in understanding this significant market to facilitate enhanced marketing strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Patient readiness for discharge after total hip replacement: an integrative review	[ "Patient experience", "Integrative review", "Total hip replacement", "Discharge readiness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One of the most severe injuries, particularly for older people, is a hip fracture caused by a fall[1, 2] which will almost certainly require surgical treatment followed by continuous physical support. The most common treatment for a hip fracture is total hip replacement (THR) surgery, which involves replacing the upper femur and the acetabulum in the pelvic bone with artificial parts called prostheses[3]. The goals of this surgery are to decrease pain and allow full advantage of the function of activities for daily living[4]. Possible complications after surgery may include hip dislocation, severe pain, and infection, as well as swelling and bleeding[5]. Furthermore, post-operative problems can lead to morbidity and mortality. Healthcare professionals must consider the evaluation criteria, including patient capability to return home.\nMethods: The integrative review adopted a five-stage approach which included problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis, and presentation, as considered by Whittemore and Knafl[7].\nResults: Review characteristics\nDiscussion: This integrative review concerned experiences of patients' readiness for discharge after undergoing primary THR. All the qualitative studies afforded an in-depth understanding into participants' experiences concerning their willingness for discharge from hospital. This review offers patients an outlet of authority and expression as well as giving healthcare teams a better understanding of their patients' mindsets and an opportunity to enhance the discharge procedure.\nLimitations: This integrative review assessed only four distinct qualitative studies which limited the generalizations relevant to readiness for discharge by post-THR patients. Quantitative research related to the study topic was neglected, which may result in methodological limitations. Quantitative studies should be included in future research to offer new dimensions to THR post-operative requirements.\nConclusions: This study presented an integrative review of qualitative research concerning the discharge readiness of patients who underwent primary THR. Results indicated a lower perception of preparedness and willingness for discharge by patients than by healthcare professionals. Five major themes were identified including physiological experiences, psychological experiences, coping ability, needs from the healthcare team, and family support. These themes influenced the readiness for discharge of THR patients, and this issue should be given significant future consideration. Findings recommended that healthcare professionals provide effective and individualized care for patients, both during hospitalization for THR surgery and throughout the recovery phase. Nurses should involve patients' families during the discharge preparation process, with assistance from a multidisciplinary team to enhance patients' readiness for discharge.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reduce or eliminate pain while enabling full advantage and function of daily living activities after hospital discharge. Readiness for discharge depends largely on prior healthcare team preparations for both patients and their families.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This integrative review was conducted using the Whittemore and Knafl method, and synthesized published research concerning patients' readiness for discharge, particularly those who had undergone total hip replacement (THR) surgery.\nFindings: Results were categorized into five main themes as physiological experiences, psychological experiences, coping ability, needs from the healthcare team, and family support influential to the readiness of THR patients for discharge.\nOriginality/value: The preparation for discharge of THR patients should be fully engaged and addressed. Moreover, healthcare professionals should provide care for patients at both the pre- and post-operation phases as well as during the transitional phase from hospital to home.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Theories and methods in CSRC research: a systematic literature review	[ "Corporate social responsibility communication", "CSR", "Paradigms", "Automated text analysis", "LIWC" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although it has gained momentum in recent years, corporate social responsibility communication (CSRC) is still an emerging topic compared to the large body of work on corporate social responsibility (CSR) generally (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012; Dahlsrud, 2008; Marrewijk, 2003).\nParadigms in CSRC research: Research paradigms have been studied since Kuhn's (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to indicate a body of research, theories and scholars that share a set of assumptions in terms of ontology, epistemology, human nature, and methodology (Burrell and Morgan, 1979, p. 1). Regarding these elements, within a given paradigm, there are one or more theories that are compatible with one another and whose results can then be compared. Because theories that belong to different paradigms are not compatible, their results cannot be compared.\nMethodology: Paper selection\nFindings: In the analysis period, the papers were distributed as follows (Figure 1).\nFindings, gaps and future research directions: Approaches and paradigms\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The authors have systematically reviewed 534 corporate social responsibility communication (CSRC) papers, updating the current debate about the ontological and epistemological paradigms that characterize the field, and providing evidence of the interactions between these paradigms and the related methodological choices. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical and methodological implications for future research in the CSRC research domain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used the Scopus database to search for titles, abstracts and related keywords with two queries sets relating to corporate social responsibility (e.g. corporate ethical, corporate environmental, social responsibility, corporate accountability) and CSRC (e.g. reporting, disclosure, dialogue, sensemaking). The authors identified 534 empirical papers (2000-2016), which the authors coded manually to identify the research methods and research designs (Creswell, 2013). The authors then developed an ad hoc dictionary whose keywords relate to the three primary CSRC approaches (instrumental, normative and constitutive). Using the software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, the authors undertook an automated content analysis in order to measure these approaches' relative popularity and compare the methods employed in empirical research.\nFindings: The authors found that the instrumental approach, which belongs to the functionalist paradigm, dominates the CSRC literature with its relative weight being constant over time. The normative approach also belongs to the functionalist paradigm, but plays a minor yet enduring role. The constitutive approach belongs to the interpretive paradigm and grew slightly over time, but still remains largely beyond the instrumental approach. In the instrumental approach, many papers report on descriptive empirical analyses. In the constitutive approach, theory-method relationships are in line with the various paradigmatic traits, while the normative approach presents critical issues. Regarding methodology, according to the findings, the literature review underlines three major limitations that characterize the existing empirical evidence and provides avenues for future research. While multi-paradigmatic research is promoted in the CRSC literature (Crane and Glozer, 2016; Morsing, 2017; Schoeneborn and Trittin, 2013), the authors found no empirical evidence.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to systematically review empirical research in the CSRC field and is also the first to address the relationship between research paradigms, theoretical approaches, and methods. Further, the authors suggest a novel way to develop systematic reviews (i.e. via quantitative, automated content analysis), which can now also be applied in other literature streams and in other contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Physical healthcare for people with serious mental illness	[ "Mental illness", "Cardiovascular disease", "Diabetes", "Mental health services", "Clinical audit" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Patients with mental illness are more likely to have serious physical comorbidity than the general population (Angst et al., 2002; Osby et al., 2001). In particular, they have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction and are almost twice as likely to die from cardiovascular pathology (De Hert et al., 2009; Brown, 1997; Kilbourne et al., 2004; Carney et al., 2006; Osborn et al., 2007).A substantial proportion of this disparity is likely to be related to a higher prevalence of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. Patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are over one-and-a-half times more likely to smoke or suffer from obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia than the general population (Angst et al., 2002). Lifestyle factors, including increased rates of smoking, and use of antipsychotic medications that promote weight gain, insulin resistance and lipid profile abnormalities may explain some of this is excess risk (Brown et al., 1999; Newcomer, 2005; Holt and Peveler, 2010; Osborn et al., 2006). A putative mechanism involving higher levels of circulating catecholamines and altered cytokine expression has also been put forward (Holt and Peveler, 2010).Roberts et al. (2007) examined the primary care medical records of patients with schizophrenia and found that blood pressure and serum cholesterol were less likely to be recorded for this group than for the general population. In a prospective study of attendance for cardiovascular risk screening following formal invitation, Osborn et al. (2003) found that there was no difference between the likelihood of attendance for patients with and without psychosis. A recent study in Spain found that smoking, lipid abnormalities, hypertension, diabetes and obesity were frequently either undiagnosed or untreated in patients with schizophrenia admitted to short-stay psychiatric units (Bernardo et al., 2009).The results of these studies suggest that whilst people with psychotic disorders are willing to engage with healthcare services, their cardiovascular risk is not routinely assessed. This may lead to inadequate physical healthcare and a higher than necessary burden of cardiovascular risk being experienced by people with serious mental illness.The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia recommends annual physical health monitoring in these patients, with a particular focus on cardiovascular disease (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2002a, 2006, 2010). The current quality and outcomes framework (QOF) for general practice in England and Wales provides financial incentives for practices to invite patients with major psychiatric diagnoses for annual review (NHS Information Centre, 2009).Providing high quality physical healthcare for patients with mental illness is a major challenge. It has been suggested that people with mental illness have problems negotiating health care, that their tendency to lead peripatetic lifestyles leads to problems with continuity of care, that there is a lack of time and resources to address physical healthcare needs and that healthcare information is either not received or is inappropriate to need (Muir-Cochrane, 2006).Existing research and guidelines have highlighted the need to improve physical healthcare for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This paper presents a simple audit tool that could be used to assess the adequacy of physical healthcare monitoring for these patients in primary care.\nMethod: Setting\nResults: Exactly the same percentage of patients on each practice's mental health register had bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (20 and 46 per cent respectively; see Table II).Practice A outperformed practice B across all of the audit criteria. The difference between the practices was statistically significant for the percentage of patients for whom smoking history (100 per cent in practice A versus 85 per cent in practice B, p=0.01), alcohol consumption history (100 per cent in practice A versus 6 per cent in practice B, p=0.001), blood pressure (81 per cent in practice A versus 59 per cent in practice B, p=0.05) and body mass index (69 per cent in practice A versus 41 per cent in practice B, p=0.01) were recorded in the previous 15 months (see Table III). Cholesterol and a diabetes screen were recorded in 50 per cent of patients or less in each practice (see Table III).Possible reasons for this variation include:* Practice A having more GPs with a stated special interest in mental health, cardiovascular medicine or diabetes than practice B.* Practice A providing higher quality mental and physical healthcare than practice B, as suggested by its better performance across a range of clinical quality indicators under the 2009 QOF for mental health, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes.* Patients registered with practice A exhibiting different healthcare-seeking behaviours than practice B, potentially as a result of these patients experiencing lower levels of deprivation (see Table I).The difference in the percentage of patients for whom the audit criteria were met did not differ significantly by psychiatric diagnosis, except for the proportion of patients for whom a diabetes review or screen had been performed and recorded in the previous 15 months.Patients with schizophrenia were more likely to have had a diabetes screen than patients with bipolar disorder (48 versus 26 per cent respectively, p=0.05) (see Table IV). This could be related to higher rates of diabetes mellitus or diabetogenic medication use in patients with schizophrenia when compared with bipolar disorder, resulting in greater clinical focus on diabetes detection and management.\nDiscussion: Extensive literature on high rates of physical morbidity among patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia highlights the need for primary care organisations to address the physical healthcare needs of patients with serious mental illness, with a particular focus on modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Audit of individual general practices' performance in monitoring the physical health of patients with serious mental illness against criteria derived from national guidance on the management of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia can contribute to this process. Here, significant variation was demonstrated in the performance of two practices that were audited against our criteria.The simple audit described above uses data that can be easily extracted from practices' electronic patient records and could feasibly be rolled-out across a primary care organisations' local population. This would provide the data needed for a local audit cycle and enable primary care organisations to tackle this important public health issue more effectively.Audit standards stipulating the expected compliance with each of the audit criteria used here need to be defined. People with serious mental illness represent a challenging client population with significant and varied healthcare needs and there would need to be some debate between local primary care organisations, general practitioners and mental health services about what a reasonable audit standard would be. Performance could be compared across a wide range of providers by using statistical techniques such as funnel plots (Flowers, 2007) or assessing whether providers deviated significantly from the audit standard.Existing NICE guidance (NICE, 2002a, 2006, 2010) indicates the need for primary care to play a key role in managing cardiovascular risk among patients with serious mental illness. However, better integration of psychiatric and physical healthcare and agreement on who is responsible for monitoring and responding to cardiovascular risk is still needed (Fleischhacker et al., 2008).GPs could work toward better physical healthcare for patients with serious mental illness in a variety of ways. For example, by inviting patients on practices' mental health registers for cardiovascular risk screening or incorporating this into existing annual reviews. Other measures could include employing staff with particular interest in mental health, cardiovascular disease or diabetes, improving access to services or modifying health information.Studies have described different tendencies to engage with healthcare services among patients with serious mental illness. Whilst Osborn et al. (2003) found that this patient group used primary care services more frequently than those without mental illness, Cradock-O'Leary et al. (2002) found that patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have substantially less contact with healthcare services than those with other mental illnesses or no mental illness. Roberts et al. (2007) have argued that barriers to physical healthcare for patients with serious mental illness operate at the practitioner or service level, rather than being a result of patients' healthcare-seeking behaviour. Audit of physical healthcare screening for this patient group could inform changes to individual practice and local services in order to improve performance.A criticism of this audit is that it only assessed whether cardiovascular risk factors were measured and recorded and did not assess whether treatment was offered or commenced. To enable this data to be captured, primary care organisations could develop an electronic pro-forma for physical health monitoring in patients with serious mental illness that included information on treatment, which could then be incorporated into practices' patient records and audited.\nRecommendations: 1. General practitioners should consider auditing how effectively they are monitoring the physical health of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder registered with their practice using the criteria described here.2. Primary care organisations should consider conducting annual audits of physical health monitoring for patients on local practices' mental health registers using data held electronically by individual practices.3. Primary care organisations, general practitioners, mental health services and other stakeholders should work together to define audit standards for monitoring physical health in patients with serious mental illness.4. To help ensure improve the physical healthcare experienced by patients with serious mental illness, primary care organisations should work with general practitioners to develop a system for capturing data on treatment of modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease for patients on practices' mental health registers and consider whether a formal screening programme for cardiovascular risk in this patient group is necessary.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to design and implement an audit of physical health monitoring for patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in primary care.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Evidence-based criteria for physical health monitoring were developed from current clinical guidelines. Physical health monitoring of 128 patients with a diagnosis of either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder was audited against these criteria in two urban GP practices.\nFindings: - The number of patients whose smoking history, alcohol consumption history, blood pressure and body mass index had been recorded in the preceding 15 months varied significantly by practice, whilst recording of blood cholesterol and diabetes status did not. Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were significantly more likely to have had a diabetes status recorded in the preceding 15 months compared to patients with bipolar disorder.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Standards for compliance with audit criteria need to be debated and agreed with stakeholders. Further research is needed into how physical healthcare services can effectively engage patients with serious mental illness.\nPractical implications: - Audit of physical health monitoring in primary care is feasible and could be used to identify shortcomings in physical healthcare for people with serious mental illness. Inviting patients on practices' mental health registers for cardiovascular risk screening should be considered.\nSocial implications: - Regular audit of physical health monitoring in people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may help ensure equitable healthcare delivery for patients with serious mental illness.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents an audit methodology that primary care trusts and general practitioners can use to assess how effectively the physical health of people with serious mental illness is being monitored.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Making the case for sport and recreation services: The utility of social return on investment (SROI) analysis	[ "Sport", "Social impact", "Business case", "Local authority services", "Recreation", "Social return on investment", "England" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Following the Coalition Government's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) 2010 (HM Treasury, 2010), and subsequent local government finance settlements (Berman and Keep, 2011; Department of Communities and Local Government, 2010) research by the Local Government Association (LGA, 2011) demonstrated a disproportional impact of \"the cuts\" on discretionary services in the budgets for 2011/2012. Assessing the specific impact of reductions in local government finance for sport and recreation services (SRS) (Chief Leisure and Culture Officers Association (CLOA), 2011) that typically include facility, parks and playing field management, event organisation and delivery, and community sport development programme design and implementation, reveals the urgent need for a stronger political, financial and social policy case for services (Association of Public Service Excellence: APSE, 2012a). In part, the case for SRS is perceived to be weak in the majority of local authorities due to the difficulties of measuring the value of services (APSE, 2010; Coalter, 2007; Long and Sanderson, 2001). In this respect, the use of social return on investment (SROI) analysis (Cabinet Office/Office of the Third Sector, 2010) may be of utility to service managers seeking to demonstrate social and financial value and protect services under threat of curtailment.\nSport and recreation services in England: Leisure Services inclusive of sport and recreation became a distinct administrative unit in local government from the early 1970s and for 40 years has been a core component of local authority provision (Carter, 2005; King, 2009). However, with the emergence of global economic recession in 2008, and the election of a new UK government in 2010 that has a policy preference for a \"smaller\" state (Conservative Party, 2010), local government finance has been under significant pressure (Audit Commission, 2011; Berman and Keep, 2011; DCLG, 2010). As a result, sport and recreation, as discretionary services, are experiencing severe budgetary reductions (APSE, 2012a; CLOA, 2011). Legislative and financial pressures on local authorities are of course not recent (Wilson and Game, 2011) but the introduction of market principles (Coalter, 1995; Nichols and Taylor, 1995; Henry, 2001) into the management of discretionary services in England has arguably had a disproportional impact on resources and \"welfare\" objectives (Taylor and Page, 1994; Audit Commission, 2006; APSE, 2012a). Despite limited resources, the portfolio of leisure-related services delivered via local authorities has broadened over time, where under successive Labour governments in the period 1997-2010, officers were required to deliver social policy outcomes relating to social exclusion, including health, education and criminal justice objectives (Collins and Kay, 2003; DCMS, 2002; Green, 2006; King, 2009), and latterly, under a Coalition government (2010-date), SRS are expected to contribute to adult social care objectives (I&DeA, 2010; LGA, 2012) and pre-care health objectives (Department of Health, 2012) given the rising costs of statutory provision.\nPublic value: Coats and Passmore (2008, p. 4) state that \"public value is the analogue of the desire to maximise shareholder value in the private sector\". Therefore, for local authority elected members and officers, public value is concerned with service effectiveness and efficiency, accountability and the core role and remit of services. The principle of \"equity\" in provision is also expected to feature in designing and delivering services. A core challenge facing local authorities is seeking legitimacy for decisions shaping the allocation of public funds where outcomes and impact are unclear. As Bennington and Moore (2011) identify, performance management frameworks employed by local authorities fail to fully capture the inputs, outputs, outcomes and impact of provision, the extent of public involvement in decision making, and whether public value can be translated into monetary value. The recent Public Services (Social Value) Act (HM Government, 2012) increases pressure on local authorities, from April 2013, to procure services that have social, economic and environmental value. This may require changes in modes of service delivery and in engagement with communities in decision-making processes underpinning service priorities, such as via co-production (Boyle et al., 2010), voluntary sector partnerships with councils (The Young Foundation, 2010), trust management of provision (CLOA, 2011) and enacting legislation relating to community right to challenge and purchase (DCLG, 2011a, b). This approach to public service ownership and delivery forms one aspect of a wider government agenda to re-shape the welfare state (Blond, 2009; Conservative Party, 2010).\nSocial return on investment: Undertaking a SROI analysis or evaluation is about determining whether an intervention has had the intended impact and to what extent. Nicholls et al. (2009) states that SROI identifies a \"story of change\" via a mix of narrative, qualitative and financial measures. It is a form of adjusted cost-benefit analysis that accounts for the various type of impact that services or programmes have (Lawlor et al., 2008). In particular, SROI assists councils in focussing beyond primary outcomes towards secondary and tertiary benefits, if utilised effectively (Centre for Social Justice, 2011). SROI is based on specific principles including the necessity to involve stakeholders in determining the value of an intervention. The process of undertaking a SROI analysis is in five stages where social outcomes are mapped and financial proxies used to assign monetary value to these outcomes (see Cabinet Office/Office of the Third Sector, 2010).\nDiscussion: the value of SROI for local authority SRS: This discussion centres on the extent to which using SROI could benefit SRS in England, in the context of the APSE (2012a) findings. As identified, there are clearly a number of actual and potential benefits of using SROI and a number of challenges for service managers seeking to demonstrate the social value and impact of specific components in a broad portfolio. In the current financial context, where further reductions in SRS can be anticipated, a key motivation for using SROI is to attract funding (NPC, 2010), strengthen the provider's position in a competitive environment (Lyon et al., 2010) and SROI can enable commissioners to make more informed decisions in procurement processes (NEF, 2009, 2010; Ryan and Lyne, 2008).\nConclusion: This paper identified a number of actual and potential benefits of using SROI for local authority leisure services: including a tool for strategic planning and influencing decisions around procurement; in the development of a \"business case\" such as targeted investment, value-for-money and service efficiencies and effectiveness; in building accountability and transparency; in demonstrating outcomes and hidden savings for partner organisations; building stakeholder engagement; for attracting investment; developing the \"political case\" in raising the profile of services; and in making a \"social case\" to justify welfare-oriented interventions. Critically, SROI can also assist in building the learning capacity of service areas, increasing innovation and establishing or adding to a culture of continuous improvement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the actual and potential utility of social return on investment (SROI) analysis as an instrument to strengthen the financial and social \"case\" for local authority sport and recreation services (SRS) in the context of recent research by the Association of Public Service Excellence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research for APSE, undertaken by the author, consisted of a survey and a series of interviews over 18 months with policy officers within leisure services across local authorities in England. Data on \"making the case\" for SRS is extracted from this research.\nFindings: It is argued that SROI has utility where it can demonstrate the contribution of sport, physical activity and recreation to health policy, adult social care, education, youth crime reduction, place shaping agendas and community engagement, for example. However, findings of the APSE research imply that although SROI offers use value in making a case for retaining services, this method of assessment may not be widely employed for a number of political and practical reasons.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited to a sample of 55 local authorities in England from which generalisations are made.\nPractical implications: In the context of the introduction of the Social Value Act in 2013, SROI offers use value in making a case for retaining or adapting discretionary services within emerging models of strategic commissioning. Implementation will however be challenging for SRS.\nOriginality/value: It is argued that without an evidence base, it is unlikely that a case can be made for retaining discretionary services that benefit local communities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical study on hospital selection in India	[ "Hospital choice", "Patient choice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The service sector in India has been the mainstay of the economy for the last two decades. In 2001, the service sector's contribution to India's GDP was 50.1 per cent. In 2011, that contribution increased to 58.2 per cent. Its growth has been much higher than the other two important sectors of the economy, manufacturing and agriculture (Economic Survey, 2012-2013). It is currently the fastest growing sector globally and employs more people than any other sector (Iashmi and Kumar, 2012).\nLiterature review: This work and prior empirical work on choice factors is grounded in the consumer behaviour theory. Consumer behaviour theory studies the behaviour that consumers display in searching, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they think will satisfy their needs. It focuses on how individuals make their decisions to spend time, money, and effort to acquire a product or service (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007; Hawkins et al., 2007). Prior health care research literature examined the choice factors patients used in evaluating a hospital. Many studies reported in the research literature have been conducted by scholars mostly from the Western World (America and Europe). Berkowitz and Flexner (1981) concluded that patients focused on four factors while making a hospital choice decision, namely health service quality, cleanliness of the facility, attitude and behaviour of the hospital personnel, and the reputation and image of the hospital. In a subsequent research study, Boscarino and Steiber (1982) identified several factors including proximity to residence, recommendation by doctor, availability of technology and better equipment, availability of specialist doctors, quality of facilities, satisfaction with hospital personnel, charges incurred in hospital, hospital size, and finally, religious affiliation. Heischimidt and Heischmidt's (1991) study of hospital clients suggested that physical facilities, role of hospital staff, reputation of hospital, and previous contacts with hospital staff played a major role in the hospital selection process. In a related study, Heischmidt et al. (1993) found physical plot, prior experience in hospital, location, overall cost, and reputation to be the key factors in hospital selection process. Similarly, Lane and Lindquist (1994) reported 14 choice factors, namely quality of medical personnel, quality of emergency services, quality of nursing care, availability of a complete set of services, physician's recommendation, modern equipment, courteousness of hospital personnel, good environmental and physical conditions, prior use of the hospital, cost of care, family recommendations, closeness to residence, availability of private rooms, and friends' recommendations. Gooding (1995) identified past hospital experience and word of mouth to be the dominant factors in the hospital choice process. Akinci et al. (2004) studied hospital choice factors in Turkey and ranked closeness to residence as the dominant factor, followed by technological capabilities (building, cleanliness, elevator access, surroundings), image and reputation, cost, insurance, bureaucratic formalities, and availability of specialist doctors and services. Whitehead et al. (2007) carried out a study to understand the factors that influenced the patient's perception of cleanliness in a National Health Service (NHS) hospital. Their research argued that the cleanliness of the environment to be a key-influencing factor patient considered in choosing an NHS hospital. Jung et al. (2011) surveyed employees and their spouses. The focus of their study was on factors employees and their spouses considered important for a future overnight stay in a hospital. The research reported three findings. Consumers' perceptions of reputation and medical services contribute significantly to the hospital choice process. Second, consumers prefer to select hospital with high clinical quality scores even before the scores are reported publicly. Third, satisfaction with a prior hospital admission has a large impact on subsequent hospital choice. Birk and Henriksen (2012) in their research work, reported the views of Danish general practitioners (GPs), who chose hospitals on behalf of their patients. The report indicated that short distance to the hospital was often the most dominant factor in the hospital selection process. The GPs attached little weight to the official information provided by the hospital on quality and service (waiting time), rather giving more importance to informal information provided by previous patients, or colleagues with experience of working in various hospitals. Varkevisser's et al. (2012) study found Dutch patients had a high propensity to choose hospitals with good overall reputations and cardiology in particular. Kobayashi's et al.'s (2013) study of 140 respondents in Japan indicated that the quality of the hospital was the most important, and organizational form (public, private or a hospital managed by a company) to be the least important attribute. Jannati et al. (2013) examined the choice factors of 376 patients from two hospitals (one private and the one public) in Iran and found that the physician's advice, family income, insurance type, hospital service quality, employment of family members in the hospital, cost of services provided, and information given to patients about their disease as some of the factors used by patients in hospital choice decision.\nResearch methodology: Participants and site\nResults: Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents are shown in Table II.\nDiscussions and implications: Based on this empirical study, it is observed that Indian patients considered five factors to be important while making their choice of hospitals. These are the quality of treatment, referral by physician, transport convenience (close to home), cost, multi-specialty services and safety. This research thus validates the findings of past research (Berkowitz and Flexner, 1981; Boscarino and Steiber, 1982; Lane and Lindquist, 1994; Akinci et al., 2004; Singh and Shah, 2011). Interestingly, reputation and cleanliness, two important factors that emerged in prior research, were not found to be important in this research - a surprising revelation. One plausible explanation could be that India is a populous country, getting a hospital bed is often a matter of luck, and therefore, reputation and cleanliness of the facility hardly matters in the choice process. This argument is true in many urban public hospitals. Another revelation of this research is the focus on safety as a factor in hospital choice selection, which prior researchers have ignored in their work. The issue of patient safety was not given serious attention in the past, which led to patient deaths, and sparked lots of media attention in recent years. Patients, therefore, considered their safety as an important factor in a hospital selection process.\nLimitations of the study and the direction for future research: This research study, like any other study, has its own limitations. First, the present empirical study, because of time and resource constraints, was restricted to just one of the four major metropolitan cities in India. Therefore, generalizability of the findings may be limited to hospitals in that particular city only. Thus, future research should attempt to collect data from all over India with an adequate sample size. Second, though the intent was to construct a comprehensive survey so that many latent factors emerge, the general abhorrence of respondents towards responding to lengthy surveys thwarted the plan to design an elaborate survey instrument to measure all variables. Future researchers may consider more variables in their study. For example, for many public hospitals in India, bed availability is a major concern. Consequently, patients often have to hop from one public hospital to another for admission or wait till a bed is available. Third, the measurements were self-reported, and therefore, a common method variance may be of some concern. Efforts were made to elicit honest responses from the respondents by informing them about the anonymity and confidentiality of the study. Finally, the present study did not consider the impact of any mediating variables like type of funding for meeting hospital expenses or income of patients in the choice process. There is a need to consider certain mediating variables that may impact the hospital selection process. For example, wealthy patients would prefer to visit a private hospital instead of a public hospital. In other situations, corporate executives having adequate medical insurance provided by their employers would prefer to get admitted to a private hospital for better care.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the different factors patients consider in choosing a hospital in a major city in India, prior to admission.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 20-item scale to identify various factors a patient considers in choosing a hospital was developed. A field survey was conducted on patients who were discharged in the recent past from a public or a private hospital. The data collected were analysed using multivariate techniques.\nFindings: The data analysis highlighted several factors in the hospital choice selection process, namely quality of treatment, referral, transport convenience, cost, and safety and services.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research study was carried out in one of the four major metropolitan cities of India. Nonetheless, the study provides valuable insights into the hospital selection process in a developing country like India.\nPractical implications: Hospital managers, in general, can use the study findings to improve the operating performance of their hospitals so that they are able to attract more patients in the future. Additionally, the information can be useful to the marketing managers for developing appropriate marketing strategies for their hospitals.\nOriginality/value: Majority of the empirical research on hospital choice process has been conducted in Europe and North America. Limited knowledge exists on the same in a developing nation like India. This research illustrates a comprehensive study to address that concern.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
E-money regulation for consumer protection	[ "Regulation", "IT management", "Consumer protection", "E-money" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Ever since its inception about 15,000 years ago, money has been subject to ongoing change - both in its form and modus operandi. Such changes have typically brought about major transformations in the functioning of our economy. Given money's strategic position in economic activities, it is not surprising to see changes in the monetary process having major repercussions in terms of exchange, production and credit.\n2. Beginning of electronic money: About half of all the transactions in the US economy are still paid for in cash (currency bills and coins). The other half involves non-cash transactions, of which about 70 per cent involve payments by check. While accounting for only 30 per cent of non-cash transactions, electronic-payment methods involving credit cards, debit cards, wire transfers and ACHs have been growing much more rapidly than the number of transactions conducted by cash or check (Robert, 2003).\n3. Consumer issues: Consumers benefit from the use of payment methods that are inexpensive, rapid, convenient, accessible and reliable, with an acceptable level of risks. Governments typically have a general interest in encouraging these features in payment systems. In some cases, as noted earlier, authorities may also have specific objectives with respect to protecting consumers and perhaps other users of the payment system, such as merchants and smaller financial institutions, against financial or other types of risks.\n4. Consumer protection: In 2009, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Committee on Consumer Policy (CCP) launched a review of the principles in the OECD's 1999 Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce. In that context, the committee organized a conference on Empowering E-consumers: Strengthening Consumer Protection in the Internet Economy, which was hosted by the USA Federal Trade Commission from December 8 to December 10, 2009 in Washington, DC. The emergence of and the need for safer and more convenient online and mobile payments were seen by stakeholders as a key driver for promoting innovation and growth in e-commerce (OECD, 2012).\n5. Position of the European commission: Unlike the ECB, the European Commission puts a strong emphasis on competition and innovation. The Commission considered payments as a field with new and quickly evolving technology in which Europe might take the lead. In particular, the Commission saw e-money as an essential tool to foster e-commerce. Moreover, the Commission hoped that the new payment technology would make cross-border payments cheaper and foster monetary and real integration. Therefore, the European Commission was dubious about the idea that only banks should be allowed to issue e-money; such a rule was seen as slowing down innovation. To encourage innovation and make pan-European solutions easier, the Commission proposed a directive regarding the issuance of e-money. This directive introduced a new institution, the \"electronic money institution\" (ELMI), that would benefit from lighter regulation than other credit institutions. It was hoped that this regulatory framework would balance the need to reduce the regulatory burden for innovative non-banks with concerns about consumer protection and the stability of the financial system (Krueger, 2002).\n6. Two main aspect of regulation as consumer protection ways: Currently, e-money cards are issued at a high pace (Nobuhiko, 2009), and some contractual relation may arise from this modern process, which may cause certain difficulties. Moreover, the applied rule on e-money mainly involves the private law sphere; thus, many gaps exist between the economic and legal challenges and the applied law. Thus, a regulation system is required that can complete these gaps. Our approach to this challenge is from consumer protection framework that includes a regulation on several important aspects. For instance, as a primitive and not modern and completed regulation, The Federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act, and its implementing administrative regulation, the Federal Reserve Board Regulation E, deal with the rights of consumers against banks concerning electronically implemented payments from or to their bank accounts (Rogers, 2005). A variety of e-money systems has recently been proposed or implemented in which the initial transaction between the parties would - without any contact to the banking system - result in the instantaneous transfer of bank credit. For example, \"smart-card\" systems and various systems proposed for Internet payment transactions would operate by loading transferable value onto a device so that a payment transaction could be completed between the parties without having to contact the banking system. It is generally assumed that there is no present law, statutory or judge-made, that applies directly to such e-money systems (Rogers, 2005), and thus, if this view has been accepted for e-money environment the problem may be more complex. E-money has yet to become as familiar to consumers as cash, credit and debit cards but may yet have the potential to be the greatest revolution in payment systems, as it is the development of money itself. Financial service practices and new technology are coming together to change the way we conduct our everyday life. The potentially universal acceptance of e-money for commercial transactions may have wide-ranging effects in our lives. For consumers, e-money could serve as a tool that can finally ease the pervasive consumer apprehension regarding online transactions (Usher and Guadamuz, 2008). In addition, the emergence of e-money raises fundamental questions as to the role of money, and how it should be designed, issued and managed. So the financial crisis of 2008 has created both the opportunity and need to rethink the role and design of the financial system (Turnbull, 2009). The public interest theory attributes to supervisors and others responsible who find it extremely difficult to validate this possess. This theory tends to center two types of market failure. The first type of market failure occurs when an individual in an existing or potential contractual relationship with firms that supply goods or services often have inadequate information and power that includes information imbalance. Consequently, the unregulated market may fail to meet their preferences. Second, even if this information problem does not exist, market transactions may have spillover effects and externalities, which may adversely affect the third party in e-money transactions. To deal with these problems, policy-makers can choose from a range of regulatory actions (Ogus, 2004). Another important factor in this area is technological improvements, which have improved payment convenience simultaneously with the bundling of services. Furthermore, e-money issued by the private sector does not find its power to settle monetary obligations under the provisions of law but rather in contract. In addition, this contractual obligation must be understood as allowing settlement of debts in participating stores only. Thus, the legal definition to this private money becomes \"based on a contractual relationship, that which by its use has the effect of settling a range of monetary obligations authorized by contract\" (Nobuhiko, 2009).\n7. Cross-border issues: One of the primary goals of the working party was to identify issues raised by the development and use of e-money that could benefit most from discussion in an international forum. Several prominent e-money projects have established an international ownership structure and have anticipated cross-border usage by consumers in different countries. Multi-currency functions of stored-value cards could be useful for foreign travel, for example, and some e-money products could potentially be used for remote purchases of goods and services from other countries, such as over the Internet. In the member states of the European Union, electronic purses could facilitate the use of the euro, especially prior to the introduction of euro-denominated bank notes and coins, which could, in turn, promote that usage of e-money (IMF, 1997).\n8. Conclusion: Because the Internet has become an indispensable phenomenon in our life, seeking a secure and a new mode of online payments will always be on the agenda. Furthermore, offline electronic payment methods have become a necessity in our modern way of life.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the regulatory framework of e-money transactions in terms of consumer protection approach, the base for regulatory and supervisory system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is based on descriptive-qualitative studies in electronic and cyber commerce. The authors have first explained the importance of regulation for consumer protection and have then showed the position of regulation in e-money; thus, the authors have noted two important and predominant concepts of consumer protection: safe arrangement in e-money and problem of information secrecy and asymmetry. The leading approach in this paper is for efficient allocation of resources between dealers and player of this scope and the authors find consumer protection as the best regulation instrument in this way.\nFindings: The paper argues that e-money is an efficient and user-friendly payment system and might be used as a general means of payment in the real and virtual worlds. This finding provides a major reason for regulatory frameworks in e-money.\nOriginality/value: Some important regulation applications in this new scope of commerce involve indirect interference and making orders in transactions. In this paper, the authors have focused on consumer protection regulation that may have a positive effect on dealers, businessmen and women in the long run; thus, this approach also compares other studies within the scope of e-money.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empirical study of public sector employee loyalty and satisfaction	[ "Turkey", "Public administration", "Employees", "Job satisfaction", "Human resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In the last decades, the public sector has seen substantial disorder in most industrial developed and developing countries. Rapid changes and globalization in the world caused imperative changes and structuring in classical public administration. The scope, organization and management of public services have changed dramatically since 1970s (Farnham and Horton, 1996). Thus, a new paradigm was born \"New Public Administration\" that conceives of the superiority of private sector and private sector management techniques (Metcalfe, 1989; Demir and Yavuz, 2009). Most of processes used in the private sector of such as organizational forms (i.e. teamwork), restructuring, reorganizations and privatizations and concepts used in private sector such as performance management and project management have assisted in the changes in the public sector (Steijn, 2002). As a result, these changes create a pressure on public sector institutions about delivering high-quality and customer-oriented services. This pressure has increased substantially in recent years. Consequently, to improve their organizational performance, public sector organizations have taken numerous initiatives. As a result of this pressure, in terms of personnel management, public sector organizations have showed an increased interest in human resource management applications such as performance management, performance pay, employee and manager evaluation, job satisfaction (Willems et al., 2004). Following the management models and techniques developed by the private sector, public firms have shown a growing interest in researching the job satisfaction of their employees. This is considered important for both good employee relations and service quality (Horton, 2006). For example, in the Dutch public sector, a large number of public sector employees have interviewed about their job, their perception and evaluation of several aspects of their job, and their organization since 1999 (Steijn, 2005).In spite of such important changes, numerous differences between the public and the private sector still exist. Public employees' nature of job differs from that work in private sector. Important characteristics of public employees are feeling of benevolence and self-sacrifice. Also, there are some other predictors determining job satisfaction in public sector (Halepota, 2009). In most countries, public sector employs a different labor law; often, the job security of public sector employees is higher compared to private sector employees. Many public sector employees also have different job motivations and different work values (Steijn, 2002).Restructuring of public management or new public administration agenda has included in reform agenda started in 2000s in Turkey. In the Turkey, the restructuring efforts have a long history. In addition to the restructuring term in the first years of the Turkish Republic, many projects have been developed since 1960s, the best known of these projects are the MEHTAP project of 1960s and the KAYA project of 1980s. Moreover, restructuring has always been a part of all development plans in Turkey (TBMM, 2008). The reform agendas are decided by the factors that are \"civilianization\", \"avoidance of bureaucracy\", \"privatization\", \"budget reforms\", \"performance measurements\" and \"competition\" (Demir and Yavuz, 2009). At the beginning of the 2000s, various regulations have started to be established accordingly. Also, in Turkish public sector, lots of changes have been lived in last decade and some applications used in private sector such as total quality management (TQM), strategic management; performance appraisal systems, permanent staff applications, etc. have started to be applied in public sector in Turkey since beginning of 2000s.In this study, employee satisfaction and loyalty (ESL) in an organization in public sector in Turkey are surveyed. First, concepts of ESL were defined. Then, effecting factors of employee satisfaction were explained, and relationships among these factors and employee satisfaction, as well as relationship between ESL were clarified. Then, hypotheses related to these relationships were developed, and an ESL model was constructed. Hypotheses were tested by using variance-based structural equation model (ss) with Spad Decisia software. Results were evaluated and discussed.\n2 Literature review and hypotheses: The literature review is presented in three sections. Section 2.1 reviews briefly the literature on employee satisfaction. Section 2.2 examines the impacts of employee satisfaction factors which are named empowerment and participation, working conditions, reward and recognition, teamwork and training and personal development on the employee satisfaction. Section 2.3 defines employee loyalty and investigates the relationship between ESL.2.1 Employee satisfaction\n3 Research methodology: 3.1 Survey setting\n4 Data analysis and results: SEM is a comprehensive statistical approach for testing hypotheses about relations between observed and latent variables. It combines features of factor analysis and multiple regressions for studying both the measurement and the structural properties of theoretical models. SEM is formally defined by two sets of linear equations called the inner model and the outer model. The inner model specifies the relationships between unobserved or latent variables, and the outer model specifies the relationships between latent variables and their associated observed or manifest variables (Gefen et al., 2000).Partial least squares (PLS) procedure uses two-stage estimation algorithms to obtain weights, loadings, and path estimates (Wold, 1982, 1985).In the first stage, an iterative scheme of simple and/or multiple regressions contingent on the particular model is performed until a solution converges on a set of weights used for estimating the latent variables scores (Chin, 1998). The PLS algorithm starts with arbitrary selected initial weights, and is iterated until convergence. Once the outer weights are estimated, final results of the latent variables are calculated as weighted mean of manifest variables (Fornell and Cha, 1994).The second stage involves the non-iterative application of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression for obtaining loadings, path coefficients, mean scores and location parameters for the latent and manifest variables (Chin, 1998).The latent variables and their related observable variables used in the structural model of employee satisfaction are given in Table V.4.1 Unidimensionality check of the blocks\n5 Discussion and managerial implications: The primary objective of the study is to determine the critical factors of the employee satisfaction and find the impact of employee satisfaction on employee loyalty in the public sector in Turkey. Satisfaction construct contains five main factors, which are named empowerment and participation, working conditions, reward and recognition, teamwork and training and personal development.In this study, training and personal development was found to be the most important factor on employee satisfaction with the value of its standardized regression weight being 0.2191 (p<0.01). This result is consistent with consequences of the Martensen and Gronholdt's (2001) study. Training of workforce provides various benefits to organizations such as fewer production errors, increased productivity, decreased turnover and improved safety. Training and education may also help the organization to develop a learning environment, which may enhance innovation and a better organizational culture. Educating and training the employees, for example, on TQM implementation and its related consequences are crucial for the success of an organization. Training needs of employees should be identified very carefully and considered as a quality awareness workshop. Missing skill sets should be determined and new training should be scheduled to fulfill these gaps. Necessary financial resources should be available for such efforts. Implication of this finding for public sector is that executive managers in public organizations need to create a work environment in which individual workers perceive a support in their career-development aims. They should provide career planning opportunities and training and development experiences to employees. Public organizations will provide long-term benefits from creating clear career paths for their employees.In this study, working condition was found to be the second most important factor on employee satisfaction. Working condition has also a significant effect (b=0.21; p<0.01) on employee satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be influenced by the quality of the physical environment in which they fulfill in their work. Whether work is physical or cognitive, it is performed in an environment that includes both physical and social aspects. Working conditions include satisfactory work space, appropriate lighting, noise, thermal environment, usability-related issues and office equipments. Ergonomic design of office workplaces increases the organization performance. Management should create a new concept for work environments to improve worker effectiveness. In addition to that, management of the organization should provide ergonomically designed workspaces that enhance employees' health and well-being, and supports employees' job tasks by being adaptable to the changing work process through flexible, moveable and adjustable workspaces. Well-designed work environment also increases communication and collaboration among employees and departments. Work measurement and task analysis is the second criteria of working condition construct. Work measurement is very important activity for the effective management of the public organizations. Task analysis describes the specific interaction between a person and their physical equipment. Task analysis can be used to determine the appropriate allocation of the function of humans and the application of equipment in work-related operational systems, determining staffing and job organization levels, and assessing what is needed to do a particular job and how it will be provided. It can also help to ensure that people within the system are capable of carrying out their assigned tasks, and it can measure work performance, system safety and reliability.Reward and recognition factor was found to be the third important construct that effect employee satisfaction. This result supports study of the Jun et al. (2006) and Maurer (2001). Organizations must develop formal reward and recognition systems to encourage employee involvement, and support teamwork. Recognition of excellence on related efforts by any employee, department should be rewarded as a means of supporting particular performance level. In order to stimulate employee commitment to TQM implementation, performance measures for organization may need to be modified to take the quality efforts into consideration. Implication of this finding for public sector is that executive leaders and managers in public sector should be aware of the importance of reward and recognition. Managers should examine organization's incentives to identify ways in which internal politics are rewarded. Reward system should be prepared in the organization based on individual performance.In public sector, to generate customer satisfaction, a high level of empowerment and participation that must be initiated by the top management. Empowerment and participation was the fourth important factor related to employee satisfaction. These results have been endorsed by Chao et al. (1994) and Snipes et al. (2005). Empowering employees involves moving decision making to the lowest level possible in the organization. Study indicates that employees should be encouraged to get together in the meetings to discuss reports and measurements and policies. Employee involvement covers information sharing and employee relationships. Quality improvement plans proposed by several gurus emphasize primarily the involvement of empowered employees. Most employee involvement systems without empowerment fail regardless of whether the organization uses suggestion systems, brainstorming sessions and regular meetings or not. Without clear support and contribution of the employees, a successful management implementation may not be accomplished. Implication of this finding for public sector is that executive leaders and managers in public sector should be aware of the importance of participation and empowerment. Organizational leaders in the public organizations should give importance changing organizational culture from traditional structure to participative management and empowerment. When public organizations apply leadership development and other training programs for managers, they should include participative decision-making and employee-empowerment techniques as a key constituent of this programs.Teamwork has been found as the least important criteria related to employee satisfaction. This result is consistent with study of Rahman and Bullock (2005). The relationships among team members are also very important in establishing a well-organized team. Teamwork throughout any organization is an essential component of the implementation of TQM. Cross-functional team formations, collaboration among employees, voluntary employee participation to TQM studies and acceptance of employee suggestions regarding the system are some indicators of employee involvement in organization. Implication of this finding for public sector is that executive leaders and managers in public sector should give importance to teamworking because an effective teamworking provides that the employees work together to achieve a common goal, and enhances motivation of the employees and job satisfaction. This is important to achieve the mutual goals of the public organization\n6 Conclusion: Number of factors has been identified to extend satisfaction level of employees. However, these factors have been reevaluated in time, and job satisfaction determinants information is still inadequate. This has caused to develop a conceptual model and test it in developing country to assess the factors that might develop job satisfaction of employees in public sector.It has been widely accepted that ESL are very important concept for the success of the public organization. This study analyzed employee satisfaction and the factors affecting the loyalty of the employees in public sector in Turkey. Five factors of employee satisfaction have been chosen namely empowerment and participation, working conditions, reward and recognition, team work and training and personal development.The findings show that there is a positive linear relationship between employee satisfaction and employee loyalty. By examining outcomes variables effecting satisfaction and loyalty, this study offers a holistic approach to effective employee behavior. Most affecting factors of ESL are, respectively, training and personnel development, working conditions, reward and recognition, empowerment and participation and teamwork. The relationship between dependent variables and ESL were statistically significant in the SEM.With government officials, satisfaction with their jobs may have strong and important influence on improving the quality of government services. Specifically, workers' satisfaction of social security institution with their job may have a direct impact on the quality of services given to citizen. It is crucial for policy makers to measure the level of social security workers' job satisfaction exactly in order to develop the quality of social security services given to citizen.The study, however, is subject to some limitations. While the findings of this study confirm the direct and positive relationships between employee satisfaction and employee loyalty, they cannot be generalized to the whole population of public insurance organization in Turkey due to the case study approach. The sensitive nature of the subject and the availability of personal connections, however, have made the selection of case study methodology mandatory over other large-scale quantitative surveys. Another limitation is that while there is a general assent on the likely impacts of critical factors of employee satisfaction on overall employee satisfaction in the extant literature, it may not be claimed that these five factors solely determine the employee satisfaction and employee loyalty. Instead, there are several other factors that may influence them, which is beyond the scope of this research.Despite the above limitations, we believe that this study provides a contribution to the literature. Because this study is performed in the public sector organization in a developing country, the results of the study will provide to understand the concept of public employees' job satisfaction in the public sector in a developing country. In conclusion, it is hoped that this research contributes to both academicians and business practitioners by improving our understanding of satisfaction and loyalty of employees in public sector.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which determine the level of public employees' job satisfaction and as result help to have effective and efficient management system in the public sector, in developing countries such as Turkey.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on theoretical considerations, a model was proposed linking the employee satisfaction and loyalty (ESL) constructs. The paper exhibits the findings of a satisfaction and loyalty survey of employment factors within the Turkish public sector. The survey was conducted in 2009 and covered 220 employees within the Istanbul Branch of a Social Security Institution in Turkey. A model was developed by including effecting factors of employee satisfaction, their relations and effects of employee satisfaction on employee loyalty. Partial least squares structural equation model was employed to test the model in the public insurance sector in Turkey.\nFindings: - Data analysis reveals that there is a strong relationship between ESL in a branch of a public sector Social Security Institution in Turkey. Training and personal development was found the most effecting factor of customer satisfaction. The study also finds a positive relationship between working conditions and satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: - The paper reveals the relationship between the employee satisfaction and affecting factors in the public sector in Turkey. These factors are developed only incidentally in the public sector in Turkey. Human resource management (HRM) applications such as measuring employee satisfaction, performance development are widely used in private sector. Specifically, in developing countries such as Turkey, these applications are rarely used in the public sector. Therefore, the paper advocates the use of HRM applications in the public sector in a developing country.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Images, forms and presence outside and beyond the pink ghetto	[ "Entrepreneurship", "Gender stereotypes", "Pink collar" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"I WANT, said Bella Rokesmith, to be something so much worthier than the doll in the doll's house\".\nIntroduction: In her evocatively entitled book \"Out of the Dolls House\", journalist and social commentator Angela Holdsworth articulated a collective belief that the biggest achievement of women in the twentieth century was to escape from the constraining imagery of the dolls house (Holdsworth, 1998). It is noteworthy that Dickens's fictional heroine Bella Rokesmith was born into abject poverty at a time when the only viable route out of such a situation open to her was to enter into an arranged marriage with the mysterious suitor John Harmon. Bella is characterised as a \"mercenary young woman\", with \"no more [...] character than a canary bird\". It is fitting we begin this exploration with this stark historic image of female enterprise[1].\nReviewing the literature on images and forms of female entrepreneurship: We live in a society saturated with images (Baudrillard, 1981; Ewen, 1988), and notions of image, forms and presence are receiving growing scholarly and managerial attention (Christensen and Askegaard, 2001). This is important because image, form and presence are all crucial aspects of identity formation and stereotypes. For Bardell (1990), identity is based upon environmental, social, political and ethical dimensions and is linked to the concepts of power, status and prestige and to badges of insignia, clothing and artefacts (Morris and Marsh, 1988, p. 57). The quest for visibility and credibility in a cluttered and hostile environment makes questions of identity and image salient issues. Even when images, forms and stereotypes are superficial, they are, nonetheless, real social constructions (Berger and Luckman, 1967). Signs work because such semiotic fields (Goodwin, 2000) enable both social actor and audience to systematically recognize the shape and character of what is produced thereby creating and conveying meaning.\nMethodology as a mirror and montage: In this study, it was inevitable that the methodology chosen to capture the power of the images and forms of female-entrepreneurship must involve the controversial, qualitative methodology of semiotic analysis (Eco, 1979; Culler, 1981/2002; Chandler, 2001; Lawes, 2002) because of the intellectual difficulty of investigating semiotic phenomenon using other methodologies. It is controversial precisely because it entails the introduction of subjective interpretation on behalf of the researcher. Semiotics is a science pioneered by men, and semiotic analysis involves the comparative analysis of collected images and imagery (both pictorial and textual). This is important because in referring to men, the author does not seek to invoke the interconnectedness of the related concepts of maleness, manhood and masculinity, but it is germane to acknowledge the potential masculinisation of the semiotic analysis.\nAnalysing the data: As the visual data from the montage was analysed, the author kept encountering sexualised and fashion-related images such as red high-heeled shoes and other iconic images. Initially the author was perturbed as to their frequency of occurrence and almost made a decision to exclude them until it was realised they crossed the emerging categories identified. The author chose to read these not as an objectification of sexuality but as perhaps either manufactured images, or a conscious fashion choice made by women themselves. Therefore, selected imagery was based on its frequency of occurrence and not in relation to any pre-conceived notions of prejudice. However, it must be stressed that all these images cannot possibly be directly related to women entrepreneurs but relate to (stylised, idealised and manufactured) images associated with women in general. Arguably, at an abstract level they are of course related.\nSome concluding reflections on images, forms and presence: The semiotic methodology used in this study makes an innovative contribution to the gender and entrepreneurship research. Although Smith and Anderson (2003) demonstrated that entrepreneurial identity, like its linguistic construct, is a predominantly masculine, formulaic construct, this study demonstrates that although similar formulaic elements associated with entrepreneurial iconology are transferable, there are unique pejorative elements to feminized entrepreneurial identity which disadvantage female-entrepreneurs. To answer the research questions - there are no one unifying common stereotypical images associated with female-entrepreneurship although certain stereotypical images recur. These are mainly fashion based such as shoes and clothing - manifestations of stereotypicallity and social constructionism and not real images that are important to women. These images do differ from stereotypical images associated with male-entrepreneurs. Feminized entrepreneurial identity is less formulaic as the women do not set out to conform to the stereotypical imagery associated with \"the mythic rugged individualist\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to consider entrepreneurial imagery that sheds light on differing and emerging patterns of female entrepreneurial identity which illustrate shifts in the locus of power that challenge masculine hegemony and power structures. As a concept, power has an image component, and shifts in power are often conveyed by subtle changes in the cultural semiotic. Globally, images of female-entrepreneurship are socially constructed using stereotypes which are often pejorative. The semiotics of gendered identity as a complex issue is difficult to measure, assess and understand. Gender has its own semiotic codes, and, universally, images of female-entrepreneurship are socially constructed using pejorative stereotypes. Entrepreneurial imagery can shed light on differing and emerging patterns of female-entrepreneurial identity illustrating shifts in the locus of power that challenge masculine hegemony and power structures. Artefacts, images and semiotics construct alternative gendered social constructs of the entrepreneur to the heroic alpha-male. The imagery associated with the female-entrepreneur is either said to be invisible, or associated with \"Pinkness\" and the \"Pink Ghetto\". Therefore, images, forms and presence associated with gendered entrepreneurial identities have been explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: One hundred images of female-entrepreneurship were analysed semiotically using photo-montage techniques to identify common stereotypical representations, archetypes and themes. The resultant conceptual typology highlights the existence of near universal, archetypal gendered entrepreneurial stereotypes including the Business Woman; the Matriarch; the Diva; and the Pink-Ghetto Girl.\nFindings: Although the results are subjective and open to interpretation, they illustrate that the contemporary female-entrepreneur, unlike their male counterparts, is not forced to adopt the persona of the \"conforming non-conformist\" because they have more options available to them to construct an entrepreneurial identity.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study extends research into entrepreneurial identity by considering visual imagery associated with socially constructed stereotypes. In looking beyond images associated with the \"Pink-Ghetto\" the author challenges stereotypical representations of the appearance of female-entrepreneurs, what they look like and how they are perceived.\nOriginality/value: This study widens knowledge about entrepreneurship as a socio-economic phenomenon via images forming part of enterprising identity, a physical manifestation of nebulas phenomena acting as \"visual metaphors\" shaping expected constructs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How can employee engagement be improved at the RRG Group? Part 2	[ "Employee involvement", "Communication", "Automotive industry", "Performance management", "Individual perception", "Organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Engagement is associated with the increasing recognition of the linkage between people and performance and the requirement to understand and to manage talent - a recognition that has been forced upon organizations by continuing change in the business environment (McBain, 2007). The overall aim of the research was to highlight the primary factors that were preventing employees from becoming fully engaged at the RRG Group (RRG) so that areas for improvement could be identified. The objectives were to: gain a better understanding of what drives engagement through collecting and analyzing data in relation to current employee attitudes; to identify key factors preventing employees from becoming engaged; to investigate the role of the line manager in relation to employee engagement.Given the association between engagement and overall business performance, there is every incentive for organizations to improve levels of engagement in the workforce. The two main themes for the article are the link between employee engagement and performance and the significant role of the line managers in the context of employee engagement.\nFindings: Three main research methods were the self-completion attitudinal surveys from both the non-management and management based at nine Toyota branches, the CCS Scores for a rolling 12 month period from May 2008 through to May 2009 and finally telephone interviews. Findings from each of the three research methods were collated and analyzed. The response rate for the completed surveys was 43 percent (152 out of 356). The overall findings from the completed surveys are structured in terms of the perceived quality of management and communication by both non-management and management.\nAttitudinal survey results: non-management: In summary, it seems that those at Bolton, Bury, Macclesfield, Rochdale, Swinton and Stockport are mainly satisfied with the quality of management. McBain (2007) suggests that the key skills that managers require to develop employee engagement are communication skills (especially listening skills), feedback, performance management, and giving recognition. However, employees based at RRG Denton appeared to be the least engaged in particular with communication from management. In addition, staff at Altrincham and Salford Quays seemed to have a combination of both negative and positive feelings regarding the quality of management. The main areas for concern from the three branches were in relation to communication, lack of feedback to improve performance and the process of setting objectives and reviewing achievements. There are issues relating to poor communication within the nine dealerships. Those that seemed more engaged in terms of communication were based at Bury, Altrincham and Swinton. The feelings were mixed at Bolton, Macclesfield, Rochdale and Stockport with a combination of both negative and positive. However, employees at Denton and Salford Quays appear to be the least disengaged, in particular with the following: extranet; company newsletter, memoranda and branch meetings.\nAttitudinal survey results: management: There was a high level of satisfaction with senior management from those at Bolton, Denton and Stockport and management at Bury, Salford Quays and Rochdale seem to be mainly satisfied. It also appears that management at both Altrincham and Macclesfield are highly satisfied with the quality of senior management, although one area which they both seemed less satisfied with was the quality of feedback from senior management on their standard of performance.Management are mainly satisfied with communication at the Group. Evidently management at Macclesfield and Stockport are highly engaged at RRG in terms of communication as they reported that they are highly satisfied. In addition, management at Denton, Bolton and Bury are mainly satisfied with the communication, although there appears to be a pattern in terms of dissatisfaction with management at each of the nine branches discussed with the extranet and company newsletter. In addition, there appears to be dissatisfaction amongst management at Salford Quays, Rochdale and Altrincham with issues relating to memoranda, branch meetings and miscommunication of policy changes.\nLinks with the CCS Scores and the survey results: It was identified that there were significant relationships between employee engagement and improvements in customer satisfaction, productivity, profits, turnover and safety records (Harter et al., 2002). In terms of proven links between survey results and the CCS Scores, some interesting findings have been collected. For instance, in terms of communication, management at Macclesfield and Stockport seem to be highly satisfied and are at the top of the CCS Score league tables hence showing a clear link between the CCS Scores and the survey results.Conversely, there are also areas where the CCS Scores and the survey results do not seem to link. For instance in terms of the quality of management the survey results do not have a strong correlation with the CCS scores, as those which are fairly satisfied are mainly from the dealerships which are in the bottom of the combined CCS score league table such as Bolton, Rochdale and Swinton. However, where there does not seem to be a strong link between the results and the CCS Scores it could be argued that it is more realistic to assume that reactions to work ebb and flow are constantly changing. As discussed in the literature review in the previous edition, people have days when they are more committed and times when they are much more removed (Luthans and Peterson, 2002). Moreover, there will be a question of validity of the CCS Scores due to the regular changes of criteria set by the Toyota manufacturer.\nTelephone interviews: The initial findings from the telephone interviews are as follows; in total there were 14 employees who voluntarily resigned from the nine RRG Toyota sites between the 1 January and the 31 May 2009. It was thought that the opinions of the ex-employees would be a valid method of research due to the fact that they will not be afraid to provide honest opinions. There is a question of validity in relation to the exit surveys completed by management due to the high number of results of 100 percent satisfaction. However, the response rate was just 29 percent so four out of 14 were interviewed. In terms of the quality of management it seems that the respondents were generally satisfied with the effectiveness of their line managers. However, the findings suggest that one of the respondents did not feel that the general manager, who is based at RRG Macclesfied, is an effective manager. Evidently there are varied views in terms of communication according to the respondents. As with the findings collected from the surveys, the main issues in relation to the communication methods are the extranet, company newsletter and branch meetings which seem to have both negative and positive feedback. The overall feedback provided by the respondent who was at RRG Macclesfield was that the general manager was a poor communicator and demotivating due to his managerial style. He provided examples to justify his opinions such as the general manager mainly communicating through e-mails and post-it-notes rather than \"one to ones\" and that he had a negative attitude. Also the company newsletters were just left in the staff room rather than being distributed to individuals and memoranda were placed on desks rather than explained. In addition, respondents from RRG Bury and RRG Bolton who had both worked on a part-time basis had not been issued with company newsletters or memoranda. Armstrong (2009) suggests that the way in which management communicate with employees, and organise work contributes significantly towards engagement. The results from the telephone interviews are not too dissimilar from the survey results. For instance there seems to be generally high levels of satisfaction, particularly in terms of the training and career development, although communication appears to be an area that prevents employee engagement for a number of reasons.The overall analysis of the findings shows that engagement levels across the nine RRG Toyota franchises appear fairly high within the majority of the branches. However, there are key factors that appear to be preventing engagement at particular branches which need to be addressed in order to improve engagement levels such as communication, remuneration, the branch induction process and the work/life balance.\nConclusions: The overall aim of the research was to highlight the primary factors that are preventing employees from becoming fully engaged at the RRG Group. According to the non-management survey results, the branches with the highest level of engagement appear to be at Swinton, Stockport and Macclesfield (also Bolton, Bury and Rochdale seem mainly satisfied). In terms of the management survey results, those based at Bury, Macclesfield and Stockport appear highly engaged (two out of three are those which are also highly engaged in the non-management survey results therefore showing a link). Whereas, those RRG Toyota franchises with the lowest levels of engagement according to the non-management survey results are Altrincham, Salford Quays and Denton. Also, Altrincham and Salford Quays appear to be the least satisfied according to the management survey results thereby showing a strong link between the management and employee survey findings and results. Conversely, the main factors which appear to be causing disengagement or preventing employees from becoming fully engaged are in relation to remuneration, induction process, work/life balance and communication.Factors which appear to be driving employee engagement at RRG according to the findings are training and development; quality of management at specific branches mainly: Swinton, Stockport, Bolton, Bury, Macclesfield and Rochdale. It has been argued by McBain (2007) that the level of engagement of line managers seems to be a critical factor. High levels engagement by management can create \"electricity around engagement\" (p. 18) for the workforce.In relation to the research question concerning whether there are any clear links between performance and engagement levels at RRG overall, it would seem that there are such links between the CCS Scores and employee engagement levels. There also seems to be a pattern in terms of the performance of the general manager and engagement levels as those employed at RRG Salford Quays and Altrincham have lower levels, of engagement and they also have the same General Manager. On the other hand, those employed at Bury and Swinton seem to have higher levels of engagement and they are managed by one general manager. Therefore it seems that the general manager can highly influence levels of engagement. McBain (2007) suggests that the key skills that managers require to develop employee engagement are communication skills - especially listening skills, giving feedback, performance management, and giving recognition. Unfortunately, comparisons could not be made with the telephone interview results as the respondents were based only at Bolton, Bury and Macclesfield.\nRecommendations: Given the clear links between the role of the line manager and the levels of employee engagement, RRG should include systems and strategies that promote and support engagement including leadership in training for certain skills, e.g. coaching, influencing others, managing change, performance management, carrying out appraisals etc. Moreover, it is essential that RRG focus on fostering a two way conversation with employees. For instance General Electric has adopted \"GE Connect\" which is a knowledge sharing website that unites people within the organization through thousands of blogs.Additionally, it could be argued that it is essential that companies such as RRG recognize and celebrate success at individual, team and organizational levels. For instance, one of Manchester United's initiatives to improve employee engagement was to introduce a bonus for consistently outstanding performance or extra responsibility. Awarded at their manager's discretion, nominations for performance bonuses are made by the relevant executive manager's approval. Also, RRG should integrate the employee engagement levels into the senior management bonus scheme to highlight its importance; such a bonus scheme has been adopted at the Co-Operative Group as part of the engagement policy program.Furthermore, RRG should introduce non-monetary recognition measures, such as regular company events to celebrate success. At present there is the bi-annual Chairman's Challenge, which rewards success but more regular events to recognize success would encourage employees to \"go the extra mile\" throughout the year, e.g. \"VIP employees of the month\", an organized quiz night, day at the races or curry night, etc.Evidently, a well crafted employee engagement survey enables an understanding of current levels of engagement. To improve engagement levels and help combat the challenges of change management, the principles of \"say, stay and strive\" can act as a basis for assessing the level of employee engagement, whether through surveys or other means (Pritchard, 2008). Key results should be communicated openly, via team meetings, the newsletter and the extranet etc. and action plans should be clarified including realistic timescales. Building an engaged workforce is a long-term, ongoing initiative because it requires a co-ordinated, consistent effort from leaders, organizational systems and individuals. It must be aligned and linked with the most important organizational business drivers otherwise it will get pushed aside by those factors which are preventing employee engagement (Wellins et al., 2005).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This is the second section of a two-part study of employee engagement. The first part, in the previous issue (Vol. 42, No. 5, 2010), explored the literature that places this study in context. The key aim of the study is to assess the main factors encouraging or preventing employee engagement, focusing specifically on staff employed within nine Toyota branches of the RRG Group.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The main methods used to investigate employee engagement were: assessing the qualitative data through attitudinal surveys, analyzing complete customer satisfaction (CCS) scores and telephone interviews with previous employees who had voluntarily resigned between January and June 2009.\nFindings: - The business has been called the RRG Group Limited which operates within the UK Motor Retail Industry and was acquired by the Top Fortune 500 Japanese Corporation Marubeni in 2000. The Group employs approximately 650 and consists of 19 dealerships that are located in the North West of England, comprising Lexus, Peugeot, Mazda and Toyota franchises, in addition to two Accident Repair Centres. The Group is now one of the largest Toyota retail groups within Europe. The main conclusions are that engagement levels across the nine RRG Toyota franchises appear fairly high within the majority of the branches. However, there are key factors which appear to be preventing engagement at particular branches which need to be addressed in order to improve engagement such as communication, remuneration, the branch induction process and work/life balance.\nPractical implications: - The primary recommendations include leadership development for management in certain skills, a focus on fostering a two-way conversation with employees and finally to continuously monitor and evaluate practices through annual attitudinal surveys and setting realistic action plans in order to make improvements.\nOriginality/value: - The nature of the challenge for management in securing engagement and improving work performance is explored.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance landscape modeling in digital manufacturing firm	[ "Positioning", "NK model", "Digital manufacturing", "Cumulative capabilities", "Grey–DEMATEL–NK", "Performance landscape" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The use of digital manufacturing (DM) technologies is the latest best practice to ensure competitiveness in a volatile, uncertain, complex and agile world. DM technologies, such as advanced digital infrastructure, three-dimensional (3D) printers, automated material handling and cloud-based sensor intelligence, allow manufacturers to develop a product in incremental steps (Deradjat and Minshall, 2017; Holmstrom and Partanen, 2014). DM is fast replacing the traditional metal cutting-based approach in several industries, including automobile (Khorram Niaki and Nonino, 2017), aerospace (Khajavi et al., 2014), medicine (Deradjat and Minshall, 2017) and rapid prototyping (Upcraft and Fletcher, 2003), because of its advantages in producing complex, intricate and customised products.\n2. Literature review: Two well-known approaches to developing manufacturing capabilities are \"trade-off\" and \"cumulative capabilities\". The first assumes a differential in the firm's performance dimensions, as a manufacturing firm cannot be expected to achieve the highest levels of performance on cost, quality, delivery and flexibility (Sarmiento et al., 2013, 2016; Skinner, 1996). On the other hand, the cumulative capabilities approach refers to simultaneous improvements in all performance dimensions (Ferdows and De Meyer, 1990; Ferdows and Thurnheer, 2011; Noble, 1995; Schroeder et al., 2011). Traditionally, the trade-off and cumulative capabilities approaches have been considered contradictory (Boyer and Lewis, 2002; Filippini, 1998; Rosenzweig and Easton, 2010). In fact, a central tenet of the cumulative capabilities model is that trade-offs can be resolved (Corbett and van Wassenhove, 1993; Corbett and Claridge, 2002; Ferdows and De Meyer, 1990; Noble, 1995). Interestingly, Schemmner and Swink (1998) proposed TPF by viewing trade-off and cumulative capabilities as distinct but complementary approaches to developing manufacturing capabilities. A performance frontier is the maximum performance that can be achieved with the given policies, investment and technology (Porter, 1996; Schmenner and Swink, 1998). TPF considers a smooth trade-off between performance dimensions and represents the firm's position in a two-dimensional (2D) space (Figure 1).\n3. Research methodology: Case scenario\n4. Grey-DEMATEL-NK method and illustration: In this section, we explain the procedure of applying the grey-DEMATEL-NK model (Figure 3) to the DM firm ABC.\n5. Results and discussion: With advanced digital infrastructure, 3D printers, automated material handling and cloud-based sensor intelligence, DM offers new avenues for modern firms to compete. In this work, we explore how a digital firm can leverage these technologies and develop its manufacturing capabilities. One of the main contributions of this study is the development of the grey-DEMATEL-NK model, which allows firms to evaluate various options for developing their manufacturing capabilities. Using data from a DM firm in India, we tested the model and identified Q-F-C-D as the optimal sequence yielding maximum manufacturing fitness (competitive payoff). The sequence can also help a firm reorganise its business processes. Moreover, the route to developing cumulative capabilities in a DM firm (Q-F-C-D) is different from that adopted in traditional manufacturing (Q-D-F-C). Finally, the director-CEO of ABC company, our case study firm, shared the firm's approach to building manufacturing capabilities. This step not only helped validate the model but also offered insights from a practitioner's perspective into the sequence of developing cumulative capabilities at the firm level.\n6. Conclusions: Although many firms aspire to become world-class, lean and flexible, not all of them succeed because they fail to identify a strategic approach to differentiate their capabilities in the market. These capabilities are not achieved by chance or intuitive decisions but through a structured and strategic approach to manufacturing (Brown, 2000, 2012).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to update existing Kauffmann's NK model to evaluate the manufacturing fitness of strategic business capabilities. The updated model is tested in a digital manufacturing (DM) setting to investigate the sequence for developing cumulative capabilities that can yield the maximum payoff.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors develop a grey-DEMATEL-NK fitness model and show its application, through a case study, to a DM firm in India.\nFindings: The grey-DEMATEL-NK model helps evaluate multiple manufacturing capabilities and indicates that quality-flexibility-cost-delivery is the sequence that yields the maximum manufacturing fitness (competitive payoff) for a DM firm. This sequence helps the firm reorganise its internal business processes and is different from that used to develop cumulative capabilities in a traditional manufacturing setting (quality-delivery-flexibility-cost).\nOriginality/value: This study presents a pilot model for computing the cumulative capabilities payoff and prescribes a sequence for developing cumulative capabilities within a DM context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A driver in every car: when the auto industry says jump, do governments say "how high?"	[ "Business strategy", "Government", "Innovation", "Automobile industry", "Industrial policy", "Subsidy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: What are the economic and political conditions that could explain why governments should intervene in a specific sector to define industrial strategies instead of the companies themselves? This issue has been the subject of a number of articles and books on the pro and cons of industrial policy and on the question of whether industrial policy can create firm-level competitive advantage. In most developed countries, there were very negative reactions to government interventions in certain industrial sectors before the 2008 economic crisis. Therefore, there was a quite significant reduction in public subsidies to companies from the 1970s until the global financial crisis of 2008. Only horizontal subsidies to promote research and development (R&D), small- and medium-sized enterprises, energy saving and environmental efforts found favour in the eyes of economists and policymakers.\nThe \"infant industry\" argument for public support: Subsidies and industrial policy have always been a controversial subject, with different views being held by governments, economists and enterprises. In theory, economists believe that if all markets were perfectly competitive, the market alone would optimally allocate resources and therefore, there would be no reason for the state to intervene.\nHorizontal subsidies for the automobile industry: In the 1970s and 1980s, some economists and governments presented strong arguments against sectoral subsidies, with examples of major public failures resulting from public support to specific firms or sectors. In the 1980s, with President Ronald Reagan in the USA and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the UK, this industrial policy and any public subsidies by the governments to support national firms or foster structural transformation were dismissed. For international institutions, economic development had to be based on deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation, not on public support.\nPublic support for the automobile industry following the 2008 economic crisis: The crisis of 2008 changed the perception of governments and economists on the pros and cons of subsidies. Subsidies for the financial sector were crucial to restore confidence in financial firms. The bulk of subsidies for the financial sector in Europe were represented by guarantees on liabilities and liquidity measures representing 5.4 per cent of the GDP, and recapitalisation measures representing 0.25 per cent of the GDP.\nConclusion: This paper shows that public support and subsidies to the automobile industry are important and sensitive issues. In the different countries, the public support described herein depended largely on both the political and macroeconomic context and the approaches adopted, the \"infant industry\", \"horizontal subsidy\" and \"crisis management\" approaches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic and political conditions that could explain why the governments in developed economies have intervened in the automobile industry. The author identifies the main reasons and the shortcomings of these public interventions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents different forms of public intervention in the automobile industry of various countries over the past few decades: infant industry, research and development (R&D), global climate change and global systemic crisis.\nFindings: The automobile sector is viewed by governments as a key sector and is subsidised for different reasons at different periods. The paper shows that governments give different reasons for public intervention in the automobile industry (infant industry, global climate change, R&D externalities, the global financial crisis, etc.). Whatever the theory, in practice, public interventions have a strong impact on the industry and its evolution.\nPractical implications: The paper highlights the importance for car manufacturers of monitoring the political initiatives of public authorities, which can affect the technological evolution of the automobile industry.\nSocial implications: For households, the purchase of a car is quite important, and the political orientation of public subsidies in favour of one option over another, such as electric vehicles or an autonomous car, affects their choice.\nOriginality/value: The paper examines an issue which has not previously been addressed by journals, yet which is crucial, i.e. the impact of government decisions on the evolution of an industry. The approach can also be applied to other sectors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teachers' conceptions of e-learning in Chinese higher education: A phenomenographic analysis	[ "Higher education", "E‐learning", "Teachers", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: E-learning has popularly been used in the field of Chinese education since the mid-1990s (Wang, 2003; Song, 2005). The Chinese government has made large investments in advanced e-learning environments in schools, colleges and universities (Zhang and Yu, 2003; Wang, 2002); as a result, Chinese teachers and students have frequently utilised e-learning in their teaching and learning. For most Chinese teachers and students, e-learning is a good means and opportunity for their teaching and learning process (Cai, 2002; Xiao and Gao, 2005). However, when using e-learning, they are still facing many difficulties, for example internet connections, e-learning literacy and resources (Qi and Chen, 2006), learner support, marketing of e-learning, infrastructure of e-learning (Wang, 2002), information overload, and reliability (Sun, 2002). Meanwhile, the application of e-learning involves various approaches, such as e-learning and curriculum integration (He, 2002), networked-based teaching models (Hui, 2002), the ICT-based student-centred approach (Zhao and Zhu, 2002; Jin and Zhao, 2002), and collaborative, inquiry-based, resource-based learning approaches (Hao, 2005).It is most likely that Chinese teachers with various conceptions of e-learning use different practical approaches for their teaching and learning. Even though hundreds of papers have discussed the conception of e-learning, a common picture which can be accepted by most researchers and practitioners has not been described. For example, Yu (2006a, b) thought of e-learning as digital learning, electronic learning, and online learning, while e-learning can also be interpreted as exploration learning, engaged learning, experiential learning, excitement learning, empowerment learning, and effective learning as well. Pang (2006) has claimed that e-learning is network-based learning and a new learning approach. He stated that e-learning is multimedia resources-oriented digital learning (Pang, 2006); while in Wang's (2002) understanding, e-learning is technology-based learning. From these descriptions, e-learning is considered not only as technology-dominated, but also as a new learning approach, and this could reflect the status of e-learning application in China. Teachers' understanding of e-learning would influence their teaching ideas and behaviours, and so could help us understand and analyse how teachers utilise e-learning for supporting their teaching and their students' learning.The purpose of this study is to examine Chinese teachers' understanding of e-learning and to build a bridge between research and practice for understanding the application of e-learning's in China. The eventual aim of this research is to produce two sets of analysis of Chinese higher education teachers' conceptions of e-learning: one examining Chinese higher education teachers' conceptions and the other examining how we can use these understandings of teachers' conceptions of e-learning to help them to improve the process of teaching and learning in China. In this paper, we report on the results of interviews with Chinese higher education teachers who work in conventional, campus-based institutions, and examine the ways these teachers think about e-learning and e-teaching, the beliefs they hold about their \"e\" practice, the ways they implement e-learning, the problems they face when incorporating e-learning into their courses, and the ways they perceive e-learners.\nMethodology: In this study, we employed phenomenongraphy to examine teachers' conception of e-learning and e-teaching. Based on existing research methodologies which emphasise a phenomenographic stance to the elicitation of teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning (Prosser et al., 1994; Roberts, 2001), and then followed by a grounded theory approach to data analysis, this research finally developed categories of conception of e-learning of higher education teachers in China.Participants\nFindings: The open-ended, wide ranging nature of the interviews allowed participants to explore their conceptions of e-learning in relation to the particular higher education contexts in which they taught. The findings from data analysis based on a grounded theory perspective present a set of categories of conceptions.The centrality of the lecture\nConclusion: Lecturing is still the central method in the Chinese higher education system and is unlikely to be superseded by any other methods in the near future. The lecture is considered to be the only way to pass on knowledge of any substance. Traditional competitive learning in China has a long history and is hard to throw off. Assessment strategies work against student participation in online discussions. Thus, learning outcomes are not always at the desired standard.The most ubiquitous form of e-learning mentioned by those interviewed is network learning. The Chinese conception of network learning is a form of learning in which the packaged learning material is broadcasted to masses of off-campus students. There is little real attempt at facilitating connections between learners. It is described as an efficient way of distributing course materials. Students and student learning are of course at the centre of any form of higher education. Those interviewed had some concerns about the ability of Chinese students to adapt themselves to self-study methods and other forms of self-management that may be required in e-learning contexts. There is still a high teacher dependency culture in China that militates against student autonomy. Finally, technological infrastructure and access to computers in most universities is still poor compared with those in Western countries. However, the state of e-learning in the universities in which these teachers work is dynamic and changing.Looking to the future, the most suitable model for conducting e-learning in China could be described as a \"lecture plus online work\" model. This model can be described as the teacher giving a face-to-face lecture on theoretical or conceptual issues, followed by \"homework\" assigned to students in an online learning platform, where the students have to join in group tasks and discussions to do the \"homework\" and have opportunities to ask questions of the teacher. Many interviewees said this was the most likely way forward for e-learning in the Chinese higher education system, because it supports the traditional lecture method, which many see as the basis of high-quality student learning, while offering students opportunities to interact and communicate in ways that are not currently possible in the lecture itself. This model appears to address the issue of large class sizes, as it (theoretically at least) provides a way for teachers to organise students into small groups with a focus on interaction and communication online.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to first, examine teachers' conception of e-learning and second, is to reveal how e-learning is applied in teaching and learning in the field of Chinese higher education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Various issues are reviewed in the instruction part, i.e. e-learning applications in China, research and practices of e-learning. The methodology applied in this study is phenomenography. Twenty-four Chinese participants were interviewed in-depth based on a protocol developed in the planning stage. The interviews are analysed from a grounded theory perspective and a set of conceptual categories are proposed.\nFindings: - Five categories, i.e. the centrality of the lecture, online cooperation learning, network learning, student learning, and infrastructure and access are identified in terms of the phenomenographic study. The findings demonstrate that the traditional teaching methods that dominate in China are unlikely to present conditions for mainstreaming e-learning in the near future.\nPractical implications: - Traditional Chinese teaching culture still dominates in higher education, and teachers' conceptions do influence their teaching behaviours. Therefore, a training programme could be developed based on the categories of teachers' conceptions of e-learning.\nOriginality/value: - This study helps us to understand how Chinese teachers understand e-learning and how they utilise e-learning in their teaching and learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An adaptive media strategy for influencing crowd behaviour	[ "Agent-based modelling", "Mass media", "Revolutionary crowd" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Media has been always a powerful means to communicate with public. In addition to their long list of use, media have recently emerged as a main motive of several crowd waves around the globe. Contrary to what people might believe, Arab protests, ignited at 2010, have not been the first to be triggered and maintained by the media. Coordinated protests against the Iraq war held worldwide in 2003 and Iran Twitter revolution in 2009 are counter examples.\n2. Related work: Since the uprisings of the Arab world, crowd behaviour has been substantially linked to concurrent media activities (Waldherr and Wijermans, 2017). Breuer (2012) claimed that there is a widely shared assumption that such collective behaviour would not have been possible without modern communication technologies and social media, though it is still unclear how the media along with the other influential factors, could have led to such protest movements. Krumm (2013) argued that social media has to be recognised as the leading mechanism for inciting, organizing, sustaining and broadening the scope of modern crowds.\n3. The experimental model: This section briefly presents the RCM (Appendix A for a detailed formalism). The RCM is a conceptual microscopic model that is developed for understanding the crowd pattern and dynamics based on the interaction of the individuals in an artificial non-spatial socio-political system. The model assumes that an implicit passive government is in power and the agents could be in opposition to it (with revolutionary crowd), in support of it (against revolutionary crowd) or remain indecisive (neutral). The model is based on the work of Kuran's (1989), Epstein's (2002) and Ibrahim and Hassan's (2017) work. The model is also based on common social and psychological theories to underpin its theoretical framework and thus avoid the main concern about crowd simulations presented above (Locher (2002) and Klandermans and van Stekelenburg (2013)).\n4. Experiments and results: This research investigates the effectiveness of an adaptive media strategy in which the intensity of the broadcast is adjusted, as necessary, to control the crowd formation. More specifically, the experiments examine the assumption that the With-crowd Media (WM) could adaptively be either intensified to gather momentum for attaining with-crowd majority or reduced to maintain the budget betting on the contagion to sustain the crowd. This process is repeated as necessary and contrasted with a uniform intensity of the aGainst-crowd Media (GM) that broadcasts consistently throughout the entire simulation time.\n5. Conclusion: This research investigated the impact of three adaptive media strategies on the potential crowd pattern and dynamics. A model, called the RCM, was used. The model represents a new perspective with an elaborate set of groups, parameters and stimuli. For example, it includes seven groups of agents to represent a wide range of ideologies and two types of media to represent the opposing viewpoints about the revolution. The model is non-spatial to avoid the restriction of physical lattices, enable a more realistic representation of social neighbourhood and allow the representation of the novel types of communication, including social media. It was implemented as an agent-based testbed to allow more descriptive outcomes and provide more insights into the pattern and dynamics of the crowd in response to different types of stimuli including the media. The model was validated through four main stages and tested. The runs showed that the model is elaborate, stable and has the potential to work as an explanatory framework.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Media has always been used as a key manipulator of public agendas, political beliefs and individuals' attitudes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of three adaptive media strategies on the pattern and dynamics of potential crowds.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An agent-based approach is used to simulate the three adaptive media strategies on the pattern and dynamics of potential crowds. During the experiments, the media broadcast is intensified to gather momentum for crowd movements or is lessened to maintain the budget.\nFindings: The results show that a slight change in the media management strategy could lead to a radical different impact on the crowd dynamics. The results also show that a quite smart media strategy could outperform a strategy with an unlimited budget. Finally, the structure of the society shows a significant influence on the crowd dynamics than it could be inferred.\nOriginality/value: The model presents an explanatory toolkit for the crowd complexity. The results provide deep insights into the crowd formation and a basis for understanding the influence of media and the impact of its strategies on the crowd dynamics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impacts of supply chain planning and integration on mass customization	[ "Strategic planning", "Supply chain integration", "Supply chain management", "Structural equation modelling", "Mass customization", "Survey methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Mass customization (MC) is frequently defined as the ability to provide customized products and services at comparable cost, delivery speed and quality of equivalent standardized offerings (adapted from Tu et al., 2001; McCarthy, 2004). Arguably, MC combines the cost-saving effectiveness of mass production with the value-added processes associated with product customization (Westbrook and Williamson, 1993; Duray, 2002), and the ability to mass customize is credited with providing competitive advantage to manufacturing firms (Kotha, 1995). However, emerging anecdotal and academic literature suggests that MC may not have met its initial promise of providing product variety without incurring substantial tradeoffs, and manufacturing firms may not have realized it as a source of competitive advantage (Squire et al., 2006). Part of the reason for this failure may lie in the lack of understanding related to antecedent conditions under which MC can be achieved.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: MC has come a long way since Toffler (1980, p. 192) noticed an early trend toward \"demassification\" of products and Davis (1989) coined the term \"MC\" to denote the ability to combine advantages of mass production (i.e. low cost, high volume standardized products) with craft production (i.e. high cost, low volume customized unique products). Early proponents argued that mass customizers should be able to produce different product options without substantial tradeoffs in cost, delivery and quality (Pine, 1993). This early view evolved along two distinct methodological paradigms. Empirical researchers focus on identifying different approaches to MC (Duray et al., 2000), developing measures of MC (Tu et al., 2001) and manufacturing practices that enabled firms to achieve MC ability (Tu et al., 2004; Deradjat and Minshall, 2017). Analytical researchers identify modular components and postponing product differentiation as critical to achieving MC (van Hoek, 2001). In describing MC and the resulting performance implications, both empirical and analytical research streams are similar in one key aspect: a SC perspective is generally missing, or at least the interaction with suppliers is missing. Adopting a SC perspective, we contend that planning for the SC and integrating both internally within an organization and externally with key suppliers and customers are critical to achieving MC ability. We review the relevant literature briefly below.\nMethods: We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to measure and test the conceptual framework using survey data. CFA is a multivariate statistical technique used to verify the factor structure of a set of observed variables, i.e., how well the observed variables represent their underlying latent constructs. SEM is a multivariate statistical technique that combines factor analysis and multiple regression analysis, and is used to analyze structural relationships among latent constructs, each of which is represented by some observed variables. SEM allows simultaneous analysis of all hypothesized relationships in a model, while methods like multiple regressions can only analyze each relationship separately. In addition, to use multiple regressions one has to summarize information from many indicator variables in one single latent variable, which necessarily results in loss of the indicator variables' differential information. On the other hand, SEM uses all measured indicator variables in the analysis and thus keeps all the differential information (Hair et al., 2010). In our model, there are two hypothesized relationships and all constructs are measured by multiple indicator variables. Therefore, SEM is a superior technique than the traditional technique of multiple regressions.\nResults: We followed a two-stage procedure recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) in testing our conceptual framework. In the first stage, we used CFA to develop and test the measurement model. This was done to validate the constructs. In the second stage, we used SEM to examine the hypothesized structural relationships.\nDiscussion: We make three important contributions to existing research. First, by conceptually distinguishing between SC-planning and SC-integration and incorporating both concepts in the same model, we are able to demonstrate their distinct influences on MC-ability. Second, our empirical results show that SC-integration fully mediates the relationship between SC-planning and MC ability. Specifically, we found that SC-planning has no direct effect on MC ability. Finally, our measure of SC-integration includes three distinct aspects of integration spanning internal (FI) and external (SI and CI) perspectives. It is more comprehensive. We also show that the second-order factor structure of SC-integration has excellent psychometric properties, and could be very useful to other researchers.\nLimitation and future research: This research has a few limitations that deserve attention in future research. The first limitation is the means through which SC-integration is measured. Our SC-integration measure is from a focal manufacturer's standpoint, which measures the firm's integration with its suppliers, with its customers, and among its various business functions. However, a firm's suppliers have their own suppliers and its customers may not be the end consumers of its products. Thus, our measure does not reflect integration along the entire SC, but only part of it. Measuring integration along the entire SC is challenging, which might be the major reason that it has not been applied in the literature. However, it should be applied in future research whenever possible as it will provide a much richer and more comprehensive assess of the essence of SC-integration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Effective mass customization (MC) depends on accurately identifying customer needs and procuring appropriate components from supply base to manufacture the required product configurations in a timely manner. In essence, effective MC for a focal firm is contingent on effective supply chain management. However, extant literature is not very clear on how supply chain (SC) planning and integration activities affect MC. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by examining the impacts of SC-planning and SC-integration on MC.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Organizational information processing theory is used to link SC-integration with MC ability, and a link is hypothesized between SC-planning and SC-integration. The structural equation model is then analyzed using data from 262 manufacturing plants.\nFindings: It is found that SC-integration fully mediates the relationship between SC-planning and MC-ability.\nResearch limitations/implications: The SC-integration measure is from a focal manufacturer's standpoint, rather than the standpoint of the entire SC.\nPractical implications: The results indicate that using a SC perspective in planning activities helps a focal firm integrate with key stakeholders along the SC, which subsequently helps the firm mass customize. Practitioners should recognize the added importance of SC-planning and SC-integration if they want to mass customize.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a theoretical foundation for the relationship between SC-integration and MC. It also provides a more comprehensive conceptualization of SC-integration, which includes supplier integration, customer integration, as well as internal functional integration which was neglected in many previous studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dominant actor and reflection within learning paths	[ "Reflection", "Learning-network theory", "Workplace learning", "Learning paths", "Dominant actor" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Professional work, in today's uncertain environment, demands continuous learning to hold jobs and advance one's career (Poell et al., 2000). Employees initiate, design and evaluate learning activities based on their own learning needs (Jennings, 2014). Poell and Van der Krogt (2013) suggest that employees choose meaningful learning activities based on preferences, resources and goals that shape individualized learning paths. Other actors (e.g. line managers and peers) can influence learning paths in ways that make them dominant actors (Poell and Van der Krogt, 2013).\nTheoretical framework: learning paths, dominant actors and reflection: Learning paths\nMethodology: This research study is a secondary analysis of data collected for two previously conducted qualitative studies in different health-related organizations. The two studies were chosen for the following reasons:\nFindings: learning paths and levels of reflection in the Technologists' study: The researcher identified all four types of ideal learning paths and levels of reflection while re-analyzing the interviews of the Technologists' study. Yet, in many cases, the anticipated relationships between learning paths and levels of reflection were not found to be as clear as depicted in Table I.\nFindings: learning paths and levels of reflection in the Belmondo case: The researcher identified three of the four ideal learning path types in the Belmondo case and all four levels of reflection.\nComparing results from two cases: Overall, both cases show similarities and differences. In the Belmondo case, the results were more varied than anticipated within learning paths; three different levels of reflection were found in three of four ideal paths. By contrast, in the Technologists' study, only two different levels of reflection were reached within each learning path.\nConclusion and discussion: Data from previously conducted qualitative studies - Yates (2011) and Watkins et al. (2011) - were reanalyzed to identify learning path types based on idealized proposed relationships between dominant actors and levels of reflection. Findings do not fully support all anticipated relationships, especially in anticipated levels of reflection. The researcher concludes that other factors in the context of the reanalyzed studies might account for these differences. Hence, these proposed anticipated relationships should be further investigated. In doing so, contextual factors that might co-influence the role of dominant actors or nature of reflection should also be identified so that they can be taken into account in the research design.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the possible relationships between the dominant actor and levels of reflection within learning paths. Learning-network theory, the framework of individual learning paths (Poell and Van der Krogt, 2013), suggests that organizational actors create different learning processes through their interactions. The second theoretical perspective emphasizes the influence of interactions on the depth of the reflective process of an individual (Kemper et al., 2000).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper examines a thesis that dominant actors within four ideal learning paths may influence one of four anticipated levels of reflection for individuals. Two prior qualitative, interview-based data sets were reanalyzed and coded for pattern matching.\nFindings: Reflection levels were higher than anticipated for several ideal learning paths and lower in others. Findings indicate that contextual variables impact the level of reflection, importantly the role of coaches, mentors, feedback and reflective learning programs.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data sets were reanalyzed from prior studies with relatively small numbers of participants. Further research is necessary to draw conclusions about the relationships between the two constructs.\nPractical implications: This research shows the impact of incorporating reflective practices in workplace learning programs to increase levels of reflection. This study did not find fixed relationships, but rather discovered more fluid, dynamic relationships. Those responsible for creating learning programs might consider the potential of including reflective practices even in highly structured learning arrangements.\nSocial implications: In the complex, rapidly changing organizational environment, where employees need to adapt and change, reflective practices seem to influence desired behavioral change and learning.\nOriginality/value: This study sheds new light on the potential impact of reflective practices in workplace learning arrangements.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The discipline of product discovery: identifying breakthrough business opportunities	[ "Consumer research", "Product management", "Product development", "Product planning", "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Innovation,\" \"breakthrough products,\" and \"industry reinvention\" are the holy grail of most companies to propel themselves to the top of their game. No doubt the sexiness of reinvention draws many to think big and push their organizations to their limits (or beyond them). One of the more perplexing challenges companies face in pursuing this goal comes, not in the generation of ideas, but the entire process of identifying and choosing areas of opportunity. Bigger than random individual ideas, opportunities go beyond pure invention and isolated ideas to entire lines or sets of offerings. They are the spaces where a company's capabilities serve the needs of consumers better than competitive offerings.\n1. Small teams, big expertise: Clearly there is no \"magic bullet\" process when it comes to discovering new product opportunities. However, every year numerous publications claim new and improved ways of doing just that. What matters is not necessarily a new approach, but choosing the right approach for the current business challenge at a given time. There is no need to reinvent the wheel either. There are plenty of existing methods that can be applied toward discovering new opportunities. So the challenge becomes how to assemble the best methods and teams leveraging them in a way that suits the company's culture and their business needs.Most often when a company chooses to explore new opportunities it is under pressure. Time and money are scarce, as existing business needs scream for attention. Moreover, the best people in the organization are most likely focused on those fires as well, typically leaving less experienced or less qualified staff to identify future paths for the company. Combine this with the traditional \"silo-ing\" of disciplines and you typically end up with teams that are technically cross-functional, but in reality lopsided in experience and expertise. It is only natural then, when faced with little time and minimal dollars, that these teams will lean on what they know, and emphasize one area of expertise over others based on whichever discipline is most represented or holds most political power (strategy, design, marketing, engineering, consumer research, etc ...).Unfortunately, if only one area of expertise is emphasized, the process is likely to be flawed as every discipline has blind spots (Table I). For example, focusing on the capabilities of a company can ensure the company can deliver its offering to market, but often leads many teams to create solutions in search of problems (often trivial problems). Focusing on competition may help a company stay in the game; however, the solutions will always be reactionary and may miss larger changing consumer needs. Focusing on understanding people or the end-users needs may discover real problems, but extracting viable business opportunities from people's needs often results in incremental steps or opportunities outside of the company's core strengths.We believe, as others do, that a combination of perspectives is the best path forward. However, building a team that can represent all of them can be difficult. Often less experienced teams will include representatives from every conceivable department in hopes that all perspectives will be considered. While in theory this makes sense, the basic logistics of larger teams are inherently slower and less agile than smaller teams. Smaller teams can shift more easily as knowledge and insight emerge, taking on new understandings and building from them much more quickly. In times of increasing pressure to identify the \"next big thing,\" smaller teams are simply more efficient.To achieve the optimum balance between small teams and multiple perspectives, we have identified several key methods from a range of disciplines. These have worked well to guide our explorations without overburdening the team (Table II). We also worked to make sure the background of the core team was diversified even beyond these areas of expertise. From cultural backgrounds to personal interests and passions, the more varied the team, the more likely they will uncover non-obvious insight or make connections that a vanilla team of similar people with similar backgrounds and expertise can make.Although challenging, the advantage of using multiple methods is a holistic approach that draws out insights and knowledge from a combined view of what is desirable from a consumer's perspective, what is possible from a technological perspective, and what is viable from a business perspective. It ends up being a sort of jigsaw puzzle where the game is putting all the pieces in place to see the entire picture and those teams that can stay small while fully leveraging multiple methods are the ones likely to be more successful.\n2. The problem with linearity: Most common practices for bringing innovations to market use sequential gates and funnels to channel fuzzy ideas to producible solutions. The promise is the ability to evaluate and adjust the path of the project as more information becomes known. This risk management approach allows companies to work in an area of promise without having to commit everything up front.Given the rising pressure to move fast, it is tempting to run through the gates as quickly as possible, often starting with little more than a napkin sketch. Teams essentially jump to conclusions for the best areas of opportunity hoping the downstream rigor of gates and executive reviews will provide enough course correction. Relying on phase reviews to challenge the initial starting point, however, is terribly ineffective. More often than not, the challenges to a program rise so quickly and the reliance on the program to succeed is so great that little room is left for reevaluating the basic assumptions in a productive way (Cooper, 2008).Those companies that have recognized this are trying to work upstream to improve effectiveness of the starting assumptions. However, most often this is just an exercise in extending the linear gate mentality with the assumption that if more of the same work is started sooner the resulting opportunities will be stronger. It may be possible; however, we believe it is the lock-step linearity of that fuzzy work running towards the development gates that is the culprit, not necessarily a lack of information or effort. To be clear, certainly one cannot escape the temporal nature of work, and you must start somewhere. But do you start with looking at competition or consumers? How about what your company is good at, or existing gaps in market? What about broad economic trends or the company's long-term vision?To address this in our work, we have broken opportunity discovery into roughly four pieces. The first of which is about boundaries or framing. It is difficult to look at everything, so boundaries of investigation are necessary to maximize effectiveness. Another piece is immersion. Every effort must stay fresh with information. The most certain way to get a project off track is to assume that what you know is still relevant and accurate. The third piece is response. It is the \"So ... what are we going to do about it?\" question. This is the \"ideas\" portion, and many times how projects are first inspired. The final piece is Alignment. It is where the constraints of the situation reign and the limitations of what the company can achieve or what it is willing to invest are considered. By focusing on these pieces, we can allow the natural flow of information or unanticipated insight to fill in the picture of opportunity much like finding pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that fit together.Treating opportunity identification as a jigsaw puzzle rather than a funnel we can then start to uncouple the linearity without loosing the rigor. Like with jigsaw puzzles there is no one predefined path to solve them. They are most easily solved through iteration and working with the data at hand (the pieces). The focus then shifts to iteration and completeness, not sequence (Figure 1).\n3. Discipline and other elements of success: Each time you look for opportunities is a unique exploration, even within the same business, as customers' needs and competition changes over time. Throughout any discovery journey there are many bumps and blind alleys. That is typical. Nothing can be done automatically; flexibility and thoughtfulness are critical. This is most pronounced in the willingness of the team to try or adapt techniques that can bring insight without sacrificing rigor.Through our experiences with opportunity identification, we have found a few pointers that have increased our ability to avoid many typical problems and distractions. While not comprehensive, we wanted to share some of the more interesting ones including: bounding hypotheses, iteration and reflection, ideas as investigations, actionable documentation, and managing bias.Bounding hypotheses\n4. Conclusion: While identifying new business opportunities can be challenging and the results often exciting this clearly is only the first step in many to get an offering to market. Beyond initial discovery it is critical that an area of opportunity be allowed to evolve as more insight and knowledge emerges. Staying too tightly bound to initial concepts can keep a company from getting to market fast or adapting to previously unknown obstacles. As those adjustments are made, it is also imperative to help the teams' involved stay in synch with those changes and new levels of understanding. Constant communication is required to reaffirm that the goals continue to be correct and to share the richer understanding of obstacles and choices to overcome them.Through our many product discovery projects we have seen it all; from generating industry-changing ideas to watching our competition do the same. And we have seen many opportunities passed over for all sorts of reasons beyond their individual merit. Through this and many other obstacles, we still are convinced this approach is the most reliable and repeatable means to understand and identify new business opportunities.In this paper we wanted to share our experiences over the last few years and focus on factors we believe are critical to making product discovery more than a random or one-off activity. First, leveraging a holistic set of methods with a small team does make a difference in keeping an exploration tightly focused while minimizing blind spots. Second, using an agreed-to process is important for quality and time management, but that should not get in the way of solving the entire puzzle and trying new ways to learn. Finally, the techniques and most importantly the discipline for identifying opportunities can be as important as the opportunities themselves. Over time, this rigor increases speed and quality of new product opportunities. While every company has to find what works best for them given their situation, we hope what we have learned can be useful for those finding their own way.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to cover the authors' experience with applying the latest methodologies in identifying and articulating product opportunities within a large, global corporation and dynamic marketplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study conducts a course of multiple explorations in identifying and articulating product opportunities within a large, global corporation and dynamic marketplace.\nFindings: - The paper finds that identifying product opportunities is a large and at times fuzzy activity. As experts bring insights and improvements to light, the application of those within a large corporate context can be daunting. Over the course of multiple explorations key lessons emerge to improve the reliability of such endeavors. Building a repeatable process to identify new product opportunities requires the use of multiple methods from a range of fields to minimize blind spots that each inevitably have. The process also requires a non-linear approach to allow the company's context and data at hand to shape the exploration. And finally, the process requires discipline and follow through from managing bias to \"actionable\" documentation to ensure effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: - By reflecting on the application of theory to practice, this paper articulates improvements and field tested techniques that can make the activity of identifying product opportunities more reliable and ultimately more valuable.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adopting a contemporary performance management system : A fast-growth small-to-medium enterprise (FGSME) in the UAE	[ "United Arab Emirates", "Balanced scorecard (BSC)", "Corporate performance management", "Fast-growth small-to-medium enterprises (FGSMEs)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Performance management systems (PMSs) have been recognized as a crucial element to improving business performance in organizations (Garengo et al., 2005). Performance measurement systems are considered as a means to gain competitive advantages and continuously react and adapt to external changes. Tan and Smyrnios (2005a, b, 2006) argue that implementing appropriate PMSs ensures that actions are aligned to strategies and objectives (Kennerley and Neely, 2003). To be effective a PMS should be dynamic and has to be modified in line with the changes in the organizational environment so that performance measures remain relevant (Lynch and Cross, 1991). This leads to the argument that a PMS needs to be examined at three different levels: the individual measures of performance; the performance measurement system as a whole; the relationship between the PMS and the environment within which it operates (Neely et al., 2002). However, few organizations appear to have systematic processes in place for assessing and maintaining their PMS (Kennerley and Neely, 2002). The ability of keeping the PMS continuously updated is a challenge for every firm (Garengo et al., 2007; Hudson et al., 2001).\nLiterature review: Organizational performance management through accounting - traditional view\nThe research objectives: The present study is an attempt to explore qualitatively the characteristics and issues related to the transition of an organization from the traditional PMS to a modern PMS. In addition, the study also aims at analyzing the new PMS to see how the new system fits in to the BSC system framework. The objectives discussed in this paper are part of a larger goal of a broader study that is aimed at exploring and analyzing various organizational performance measurement and management practices in the Middle East. The larger study is expected to provide meaningful insights on the various performance measurement and management systems in the Eastern context and shed lights on building foundations for future research on the specific characteristics, issues and challenges related to the PMSs and practices in the eastern context. The research objectives for the current stage of the study are summarized below:\nMethodology: The case: Company A and its product A\nResults: BSC initiatives at Company A\nResearch implications, limitations and future research agenda: The study highlights the need for better understanding of the use of non-traditional-measurement mechanisms; that may substitute for financial-based performance measurements and lead to superior performance management to our case company. It appears to be essential to identify the circumstances under which organizational performance measurement systems allow a previously established basis of trust between an organization and its managers to facilitate better performance measurement and management for organizations. It was found from the study that the new system was more acceptable to some than others. The work in the new system was mainly seen among those who are better aware of the system. This indicates the need for ensuring proper education and awareness about the system before the actual implementation stage. Such initiatives are expected to facilitate most benefits of the system by the alignment of subsystems performance measurement with that of the overall company objectives and strategies. The study also indicates the power of various measures of outcomes used in the BSC system in addressing various productivity and growth issues such as reducing the cost structure, improving the internal processes, improved service quality ratings, revenue and market growth. However, the study was limited to the UAE and due to its previously noted exploratory intent the aim was to focus on a single example of the fast-growing enterprises. This is largely attributed to the relatively recent diffusion of the BSC among the organizations in the UAE. Sobotka and Platts (2010) argue that contingency theory shows that there is no single best approach to managing people and organizations. Instead, the \"best way\" is always dependent on the type of operating environment. Hence if the outcomes evidenced in this study are to be considered valid in other situations, various aspects of the environment factors may have to be recognized and carefully considered. A principal limitation of this study concerns non-testing of inter-rater reliability of codes and categories derived from transcript material. Finally, this research should be viewed as a preliminary exploratory investigation geared to building inputs for the next stages of the larger study in which the authors aim to explore the performance measurement and management systems and practices in the Middle East and bridge the gap between the east and western literature on contemporary systems of performance management. The next stage of the study would examine the BSC adoption experience among Emirate ISO 9000 certified companies. This study will establish performance measurement indicators and a performance relationship model for these companies, specifically addressing the effects of BSC adoption; the rudiments included in BSC program; the concerns and problems associated with the BSC adoption. In addition, the future research agenda will scrutinize whether the development of a causal model of the strategy makes a difference in the effectiveness and the outcomes of the BSC program.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore the characteristics and issues related to the transition of a UAE-based fast-growth small-to-medium enterprise (FGSMEs) from the traditional performance management system (PMS) to a modern PMS through a design of a potential balanced scorecard (BSC) and strategy map for the company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was conducted in one of the FGSMEs that serves more than 16,000 farmers across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A qualitative case study methodology was used in this study. The focus was on \"how\" questions and exploratory analysis of primary and secondary data supported by in-depth interviews with senior managers.\nFindings: This research highlights the adoption of a new, more proactive performance management accounting - the BSC. It was found that the BSC initiatives already exist in the company but not clearly linked together and directed toward the effective implementation of BSC system. It was found that these initiatives were initiated by the interests of different work units but not properly integrated as one whole company system. Such initiatives if integrated together and aligned with the overall objectives and strategies of the company can facilitate the comprehensive adoption of the BSC system and maximize the possibility of achieving better measurement and management of organizational performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was limited to the UAE and it focussed exclusively on a single fast-growing enterprise. The results presented may not suitable to be generalized or extended to other contexts.\nPractical implications: Our study highlights the need for better understanding of the use of non-traditional-measurement mechanisms like the BSC, that may substitute for the roles of financial-based performance measurements and lead to superior performance to our case company. This study suggested that many of the roles played by traditional performance management can be substituted by, or supported by other mechanisms at the corporate level like the BSC system and the detailed design of a potential BSC and strategy map for the company will act as a guide to help in bringing the modern performance management techniques and tools into the other Eastern FGSMEs also.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the literature by being one of the first to study contemporary PMS within a middle-eastern context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The evolution of perceived security: the temporal role of SNS information perceptions	[ "Risk perception", "Longitudinal study", "Security", "Trust", "Loyalty intention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The internet has transformed many aspects of human life, particularly within the context of online shopping. Yet, firms often face a basic challenge regarding the issue of how to increase perceived security and reduce perceived risk among consumers, resulting in the improvement of loyalty intention (McCole et al., 2010; Wu et al., 2010). For example, Kim et al. (2010) point out that 95 percent of customers are somewhat concerned about security when using credit cards or disclosing personal information on the internet, indicating that a key factor for the success of e-commerce is security. However, from a longitudinal perspective, the dynamics between security of e-commerce and its outcomes remain an under-researched topic. More specifically, as the majority of previous studies only provide a cross-sectional understanding of perceived security (e.g. Chang and Chen, 2009; Flaviam and Guinaliu, 2006; Kim et al., 2010; McCole et al., 2010), online companies must deepen their understanding of how security evolves and how it affects consumer loyalty intention over time.\n2. Key outcomes of perceived security and research hypotheses: Both trust and loyalty have received a great deal of attention in various business research settings, with a wide range of theories and methodologies employed to investigate the nature of each construct. Changes to the shopping environment are inevitable, inducing periodic shifts in perceived performance and consumer evaluation. A better understanding of these dynamics cannot be obtained solely by cross-sectional assessments of perceived performance to intentions (Autry and Golicic, 2010; Ha, 2012). As the dynamics of intention drivers vary considerably over time, solid theoretical justifications that adopt a more dynamic and evolutionary viewpoint are needed.\n3. Methodology: We test the hypotheses using longitudinal data from online shopping malls that sell electronic and clothing goods in South Korea. These shopping malls were considered for the following reasons: these two categories are popular for online consumers, and online SNSs play an important role in facilitating consumers and services, whose perceptions rapidly change over time.\n4. Results: 4.1 Model fit\n5. Discussion: Using longitudinal data, this study investigated the proposed model by depicting the relationships among perceived security, perceived risk, website trust and loyalty intention. In particular, temporal carryover effects were tested as the key changes in security and outcomes. Additionally, we further examined moderating effects from two different categories (electronic vs clothing goods). Based on several important findings, our longitudinal study provides useful insights into how consumers' perceptions of changes in online shopping experiences affect their evaluations over time differently by product category. Before we discuss this further, key results show the following:\n6. Conclusion, limitations and further research: This study contributes to the establishment and testing of temporal carryover effects of various online purchasing-related constructs: perceived security, perceived risk, trust and loyalty intention. More specifically, our longitudinal approach provides new insights regarding the role, potential impact and limitations of the two types of perception. It thus highlights how understanding loyalty intention requires reevaluation of consumer perceptions as consumers' judgments evolve.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a dynamic model of security-based consumer purchasing intentions and empirically addresses gaps in online purchasing theory by examining how loyalty intention may become stronger or weaker over time as a result of prior relationship evaluations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a longitudinal study (three-time waves) of commercial website consumers, the authors investigate the proposed model by depicting the relationships among perceived security, perceived risk, website trust and loyalty intentions.\nFindings: The results show that two relationships, namely the perceived security-perceived risk link and the perceived risk-website trust link, which have been little investigated on a longitudinal basis in previous studies, change over time. Interestingly, while social network service (SNS) information perceptions do not have direct effects on perceived risk or loyalty intention, the relationships in which either perceived security and website trust are involved are more important for positively improving perceived security and building website trust.\nPractical implications: The authors suggest that managers may actually benefit from handling SNS information or social communities by delivering well-designed information at strategic stages, targeting key constructs.\nOriginality/value: The research contributes to the establishment and testing of temporal carryover effects of various online purchasing-related constructs: perceived security, perceived risk, trust and loyalty intention. More specifically, the longitudinal approach provides new insights regarding the role, potential impact and limitations of two types of perception. It thus highlights how understanding loyalty intention requires reevaluating consumer perceptions as consumers' judgments evolve.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modelling factors influencing the adoption of smart-home technologies	[ "Technology", "Elderly", "Smart buildings", "System design", "Ageing-in-place", "Interpretive structural modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The population of Hong Kong, as for many other places in the world, is encountering a continuous ageing problem because of failing birth rates and high life expectancies (Centre for Health Protection, 2010; World Health Organization, 2012a, 2012b). Population ageing brings with it several associated challenges that need to be resolved, most notably a worsening elderly person-to-carer ratio and a rise in the proportion of the population in need of care. The Hong Kong SAR Government has increased the public spending budget for elderly care services continuously for five fiscal years from the 2011-12 budgeted amount of HK$4.39bn (US$0.56bn) to the 2015-16 amount of HKD$6.80bn (US$0.88bn), an increase of almost 55 per cent over those five fiscal years (Labour and Welfare Bureau, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). In addition, the facilities of care and attention homes have a big room to be improved to increase the elderly people's overall satisfaction of care and attention homes (Leung et al., 2014). This indicates that an increasing spending on care and attention homes will remain. Continuous rises in life expectancy correspondingly increase public pension expenditure and place a significant strain on the available care facilities and resources (Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, 2002; Legislative Council, 2013). Recent years have also seen a change in the traditional Chinese family concept of \"elderly care within family\" in Hong Kong (Ng et al., 2002; Wong, 2005). Many elderly choose to either live on their own or reside with their spouse, family housing situation or with a family member (So, 2008).\nConnections between factors influencing adoption of smart-home technology: A review of current research showed that a number of overseas studies (Demiris et al., 2004; Coughlin et al., 2007; Mahmood et al., 2008; Mihailidis et al., 2008; Rialle et al., 2008; Sponselee et al., 2008; Wild et al., 2008; Giger and Markward, 2011; van Hoof et al., 2011; Mckenna et al., 2015; Peek et al., 2015) have explored the perceptions of elderly people and their caregivers of various types of SHT. SHT can be categorised into various functions, including enhancing personal safety; enhancing health monitoring; improving social interactions; and supporting living environment control. Factors affecting the use of SHT by senior adults can be classified into three aspects. First, user needs and preferences for SHT, including the improvement of health status (Courtney et al., 2008; Demiris et al., 2008; Wild et al., 2008) and enhancing privacy (Demiris et al., 2004; Courtney, 2008; Demiris et al., 2009).\nInterpretive structural modelling and model development: Based on judging decisions made, ISM is a method developed to interpret whether and how different factors relevant to a particular problem are related (Attri et al., 2013). This approach is able to impose direction and order on complex relationships among the factors of a problem (Sage, 1977). In this regard, both direct and indirect relationships between factors could be described more accurately, and collective understandings of these relationships could be developed (Attri et al., 2013). The outcome of the ISM process is an overall structure for the factors in a problem presented as a comprehensive graphical model. It should be noted, however, that ISM is not adopted to measure the relative degree of importance of the factors. The 12 factors influencing SHT adoption identified in our early findings (Wong et al., 2016) are regarded as fundamental factors as suggested by potential elderly users. ISM is appropriate for this study, as it helps to analyse factor interrelationships, and is able to deal with a larger number of factors than other methods, such as correlation. The results generated by the model provides feedback on group learning processes (Watson, 1978). The ISM approach has been adopted in various studies (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994; Singh et al., 2007; Singh and Kant, 2008; Chandramowli et al., 2011; Azevedo et al., 2013) to support decision-making and strategy development through analysis of the factor structure. For this reason, the ISM approach was adopted in constructing the analytic model of this study.\nResearch method: ISM techniques involve various steps in identifying the relationships between and the features of the different factors. The following lists the ISM steps adopted from Singh et al. (2007) and Singh and Kant (2008). Figure 1 illustrates the flow of the ISM techniques:\nDeveloping structural self-interaction matrix: Once the factors are established (Step 1), the SSIM was established (Steps 2 and 3). According to Singh et al. (2007) and Singh and Kant (2008), four symbols, namely, V, A, X and O, were assigned to denote the direction of relationships between factors (i.e. i and j).\nGenerating reachability matrix and level partitions: A reachability matrix from SSIM must reset be developed by using the binary system to assist the calculations of driving power, dependence power and iterations (Step 4). That is, 1 and 0 are substituted for V, A, X, and O as designated in SSIM, according to the following rules adopted from Singh et al. (2007) and Singh and Kant (2008):\nDeveloping interpretive structural modelling model: A digraph was then drawn as a hierarchical structure (Step 6) based on the factor levels found from the previous step (Step 5). The top-level factors are positioned at the top of the digraph, and the second-level factors are located at the second layer and so on (Attri et al., 2013). The digraph is able to illustrate the factors and factors' interdependencies by using nodes and edges (Attri et al., 2013). Then, an ISM-based model was then generated by erasing the nodes. Finally, driving power and dependence power of the key factors were identified into four categorises by conducting \"Matrice d'Impacts Croises-Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement\" (MICMAC) categorisation process (Attri et al., 2013). The four factor categories involved in the MICMAC process are autonomous, linkage, dependent and driving (also known as independent) factors. All the factors categorised using the MICMAC were plotted on a grid according to their driving and dependence power values.\nFindings and discussion: By applying SSIM, the contextual pair-wise relationships between factors were constructed based on the group discussion views collected during the earlier study (Wong et al., 2016). The outcome of the SSIM after the analysis is tabulated in Table III, and the results of the calculations for driving power, dependence power and partition level for each factor are summarised in Table IV. The level partitions are used to develop an ISM model of the factors that affect the elderly people's motivations towards using SHT. The driving power and dependence power are regarded as the inputs into the MICMAC categorisation process. The outcome of the ISM model is illustrated in Figure 2. The ISM model indicates the chain of influence between factors. According to Malone (1975) and Chandramowli et al. (2011), the ISM model should not be viewed as a flow chart. The factors positioned at the bottom of the figure have a higher influencing impact on the whole structure. That means that \"government support\" (Factor 10) is the most influencing factor within the model. The results of the clusters of factors influencing SHT adoption after the data have been categorised and analysed by the MICMAC. The MICMAC results are given in Figures 2 and 3.\nConclusions: This study developed and modelled the structure of the relationships between the various factors influencing the adoption of SHT in Hong Kong by the elderly. The results of ISM and MICMAC categorisation indicate that strong government support, efficient backup service support and user interface devices design are the driving factors (Cluster IV) encouraging the adoption of SHT. As SHT devices and applications are usually composed of electronic components, computer programmes and communications networks, system stability or reliable functioning is a main concern. SHT devices which are safe, effective for ageing people's daily activities and safety, and suitable for the Hong Kong home environment, are crucial. Other factors, including the maintenance of devices, level of usage and penetration of devices, individual needs and financial considerations, were categorised as autonomous factors which have less influence on the overall problem.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Smart-home technology (SHT) has been identified by the World Health Organization as a possible solution for assisting older people to maintain their independence and to live safely at home when performing the activities of daily living. This study aims to identify the factors, as well as their inter-relationships, influencing senior citizens to adopt elderly-friendly SHT that supports ageing-in-place in high-density Hong Kong living settings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An interpretive structural modelling approach has been used to analyse the factors to develop a better understanding of the relationships between factors influencing SHT adoption, and \"Matrice d'Impacts Croises-Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement\" analysis has been used to classify the analysed factors.\nFindings: The results suggested that strong government support, efficient backup supporting service and the design of user interface devices have been found as the driving factors encouraging the adoption of SHT. Other factors, including the maintenance of devices, levels of usage and penetration of devices, individual needs and financial considerations, were considered as autonomous factors and are less important to the decision to adopt SHT.\nOriginality/value: This study provides useful information to policymakers and building designers on the human perspective of SHT adoption, such as the needs and requirements of older people to be considered in SHT technical design and appropriate technological solutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Marketing knowledge myopia	[ "Marketing", "Epistemology", "Generation and dissemination of information", "Customer satisfaction", "Academic libraries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: epistemology n. The study of knowledge; one of the five classical fields of philosophical inquiry: epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, logic and metaphysics. Epistemology asks the questions: What is knowledge? How do we obtain it? How can we verify it? What are its limits? What is the relationship between the knower and the known? ... Perhaps the most common simple definition of knowledge is true, justified belief: I know something if I believe it to be true and that belief is justified.This is how Rohmann (2002, p. 117) explains epistemology in his Dictionary of Important Ideas and Thinkers. It provides a starting point and perspective for us to examine the philosophical foundation of marketing knowledge and particularly the nature of marketing knowledge in academic journals and academic publishing.Academics are in the knowledge creation and dissemination business. But have marketing academics fallen into the trap that Levitt (1960) so cogently describes in his famous Marketing Myopia, of focusing on the product and how it is produced rather than on the needs of the customer? In this article I argue that, yes, indeed, marketing academics have become myopic, particularly in terms of what they see as \"knowledge\" and how it can be produced, and that this myopia has led to a very narrow definition of \"marketing knowledge\" and a highly prescriptive approach to its method of production. The outcome of this is ironic. Although we preach the importance of understanding customers and responding with products that they need, in our main business of knowledge creation and dissemination, we have become excessively production oriented.I argue my case through a review of what I call the marketing epistemology literature. Marketing academic journals and academic publishing can be divided into that which purports to be marketing knowledge and that which tries to grapple with the epistemological questions about marketing knowledge such as what marketing knowledge is, how it should be produced, how it can be verified, and what the limits of marketing knowledge are. I review this literature by asking yet another question: \"Are our customers justified in believing that the body of published marketing knowledge, is not just believable and useful knowledge but also what they need?\" If the answer to this question is \"no\" then we are not customer oriented and we really do need to put this right.But before I start, I feel it necessary to say who I think our customers are. At the most general level, I think the answer is the marketing profession: the very large and diverse set of people who earn a living by doing marketing. While we try to communicate with practitioners through the academic publishing process, our best link with them is through teaching students who then become marketing practitioners. Are we providing our students with the knowledge that they need in order to be effective marketing practitioners? I think the answer is very clearly \"no\". In my conclusion, I suggest ways in which we can change this.\nThe marketing epistemological literature: In reviewing this literature, I follow a time line starting in 1945 and I am intentionally selective: I am only trying to show a trend and sketch main developments.The first benchmark study\nThe whole student concept: If we are to teach students to become successful marketing practitioners, we need to prepare them for the whole job. If all we do is teach declarative knowledge, and if declarative knowledge constitutes only a small percentage of the knowledge that a practitioner uses, we can hardly claim to be doing a good job and this could well explain why there seems to be no relationship between marketing education and business success (Hunt et al., 1984).To get a broad picture of practitioner knowledge, I conducted informal interviews with local marketing practitioners; I read articles on what knowledge business people are looking for in marketing graduates; I used my own direct knowledge from the times I have been a practitioner and in my current business dealings with practitioners; and, finally and certainly the most interesting of my sources, I used Mintzberg's direct research method (Mintzberg, 1979; Kotter, 1982) to observe a day in the life of a senior marketing practitioner[6].I have grouped my findings into five areas:1. declarative knowledge;2. practitioner knowledge;3. roles;4. skills; and5. attitudes.Declarative knowledge\nConclusions: Can I halt the tsunami of unemployed cross-sectional opinion surveys? Of course not. Can an article such as this change the opinions of the American academic marketing elite? Of course not. These would be revolutions and revolutions tend to be rather messy. But I am an optimist: I do think that, by understanding the basic problem and putting emphasis in the right places, mountains can be moved - even the Rockies.The single most important consideration is that marketing academics continue publishing academic articles and papers at the same or an accelerating rate. I have seven suggestions as to how to do this. The first is negative - to greatly reduce what so many of us are doing now: trying to tell practitioners what to do. The remaining six are positive things that I challenge all readers to try:1. conceptual humanism;2. postmodern science;3. direct and action research;4. tools for practitioners;5. marketing facts; and6. educating the whole student.The trick and twist is to do this in a way that the articles and papers give, to the people who actually read academic articles and attend academic conferences (our direct customers), something they need and, in so doing, enable them to teach future practitioners better (our indirect customers). To become marketing oriented rather than production oriented.Stop trying to tell practitioners what to do\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not marketing academics practise what they preach. Are they marketing-oriented in their main business of knowledge creation and dissemination?\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The epistemological marketing literature and performance at producing true marketing knowledge are critically reviewed. Practitioner marketing knowledge is investigated through the literature, personal contacts and a simple direct research study.\nFindings: - The paper finds that only one kind of knowledge, so-called \"marketing science\", is now regarded as valid. Unfortunately, this kind of knowledge can only be built through extensive and independent testing. After 50 years of following this approach, the output is very small, very expensive and largely of no interest to practitioners because marketing knowledge means something quite different to them. Marketing academics have become myopic as to what marketing knowledge is, and they have become production-oriented, with the objective of producing as much of it as possible.\nPractical implications: - There is a need to stop trying to tell practitioners what to do and to shift one's research emphasis to conceptual humanism, postmodern science, direct and action research, tools for practitioners, marketing facts, and educating the whole student.\nOriginality/value: - The paper has made an attempt to change the course of marketing academic literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability evolution in the Australian property market: Examining valuers' comprehension, knowledge and value	[ "Australia", "", "", "Valuation", "Commercial property", "Knowledge development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Broadscale sustainability investment and implementation in the Australian built environment has had varied uptake as a result of limited evidence to suggest sustainability has a positive impact on value. However, increasing issues related to climate change and the ability of the property sector to mitigate and adapt is reinvigorating the discussion in relation to sustainability. There are incremental steps towards increasing levels of sustainability in the built environment; however, the lack of a clear relationship between sustainability and value has seen limited investment and development of sustainability beyond measures that can be easily paid back, like energy efficiency initiatives. This is evident in the number of Green Star rated office buildings comprising 18 per cent of total office, compared to the energy efficiency rating which has rated up to 72 per cent of buildings in Australia (Green Building Council of Australia, 2013a; NABERS, 2016a). Warren-Myers (2009) found evidence to suggest sustainability in the built environment has similarities in evolutionary development to McColl-Kennedy et al. (1992) and McColl-Kennedy and Kiel (2000) product evolution model. Subsequent research (Warren-Myers 2012a, 2013) found that a key issue in sustainability implementation was the lack of a clear relationship between sustainability and value that was inhibited by valuer knowledge in the valuation profession. Recent changes and adoption of mandatory reporting within the commercial sector in regards to energy efficiency has seen a significant change in the uptake and rating of commercial properties in Australia. Consequently, this research investigates whether valuers in the industry are more knowledgeable of sustainability as a result of market maturation of sustainability and mandatory rating systems; and whether this has any implications for the relationship with value. This research presents the findings of a longitudinal research project, which has explored valuers' knowledge, level of knowledge of sustainability and rating systems, and value relationships in property in Australia. This paper specifically focusses on the change between 2007 and 2015, examining changes in valuers' perception of value relationships and knowledge. In addition, it examines the differences between 2011 and 2015 as the introduction of mandatory ratings for commercial property Australia wide came into play. Investigating whether this has had any role in developing property professionals' and valuers' knowledge of sustainability and rating systems and whether this has enhanced perceptions of a relationship between sustainability and value.\nBackground - sustainability, value and valuers: The question relating to what is the quantum of relationship between sustainability and market value has been the primary focus of many academics, industry and valuers alike over the last decade. Much of this research has explored the value premiums related to prices and rentals as a result of sustainability ratings. The majority found positive results indicating a rental and price premium is achieved in relation to a sustainability rating (Miller et al., 2008; Eichholtz et al., 2010; Pivo and Fisher, 2010; Newell and MacFarlane, 2011; Fuerst and McAllister, 2011; Reichardt et al., 2012), whilst some argue there is no premium (Gabe and Rehm, 2014). However, clarity is still being sought whether valuers are considering sustainability as a factor that influences values (Ciora et al., 2016). Warren-Myers (2009, 2013) found evidence to suggest valuers did make a connection, ascertaining a relationship between sustainability and market value, however, this was severely inhibited by their limited knowledge surrounding sustainability (2013). This has resulted in limited discussion or inclusion of consideration of sustainability in valuations.\nState of the Australian office property market and sustainability ratings: Australia has two main rating tools in the commercial office market, namely the NABERS and Green Star. The NABERS rating system was introduced in 1998 and comprises an assessment of a building's operational energy consumption, as either a whole building, base building or a tenancy. The rating uses operational performance data from the building and this rating is only valid for a year, consequently annual re-rating is required. The system initially rated between 0 and 5 stars, later to 6 stars. The ratings were also expanded to include other categories like water, waste and indoor environment quality and for other building types, however, each had its own rating certification.\nMethod: This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study into the relationship between sustainability and value; and knowledge development in valuation practice. The purpose of the research is to: investigate and examine the change in valuers' perception of the relationship between sustainability and market value; their knowledge development of sustainability; and examine the effect of industry change on knowledge development in Australia. This paper presents the findings from research conducted in 2007, 2011 and 2015.\nResults and discussion: The experience of the valuers over the three different periods varied substantially, and experience in the valuation profession is a key factor in their ability to be proficient in the development of knowledge and creation of heuristics, of which valuation has a strong dependence on due to the nature of practice. Sampling in the 2007 survey identified a higher percentage of respondents with less than five years experience. However, Warren-Myers (2011) examined the differences between the two experience levels and found that the greater time spent practising the more knowledgeable the valuers were about sustainability. Consequently, in later studies 2011, and 2015 where a substantially higher proportion of valuers have in excess of five years experience, the results infer the sample should demonstrate higher levels of experience, knowledge and understanding of sustainability and its relationship with market dynamics and change.\nPerception of sustainability and its relationship with value: The investigation of valuers' perspective and perception of the market was undertaken through a series of questions and the use of Likert scales. Valuers were asked to rate their perception as to the effect sustainability might have upon particular valuation variables and which particular elements of sustainability might have an effect on value.\nValuers' knowledge of sustainability: It became apparent in the research conducted in 2007, given the strong perspectives indicating a relationship between sustainability and value, that further investigation was required into how valuers considered sustainability characteristics in the valuation process. As a result, it was found valuers' knowledge of sustainability could potentially be biasing the results. Consequently, the later surveys included questions asking valuers to rate their own knowledge using a Likert scale and also developed a series of test questions about key sustainability concepts used in the property market.\nSustainability reporting and valuation of sustainable buildings: The market development of an attribute, technology or trend is anticipated to increase over time, consequently gaining greater market momentum until reaching a point of market maturity and then becomes the norm (see Figure 1). Consequently, apart from valuers developing a greater understanding of this market, knowledge development and evidence to rely on in the valuation process, it would be an expectation that reporting on sustainability in the valuation process would also increase. The survey has tracked over the three study periods the reporting of sustainability in valuations as shown in Figure 9. Over the eight-year period it was anticipated that as the market developed the reporting on sustainability would increase, however, the inverse seems to have occurred in the Australian market. The increase in the number of rated buildings across the time period grew, this was reflected in changes in reporting levels between 2007 at 40 per cent and in 2011 it was 54 per cent. However, in 2015 the results dropped off substantially to only 32 per cent of respondents reporting on sustainability. Given the likely bias in the overall results towards those engaged in the sustainability agenda these results indicate a concerning trend, particularly in light of the number of buildings being rated increasing annually at a substantial rate. However, it should be noted the limitation of the number of respondents in the 2015 survey, which was significantly smaller than previously surveys might have had an effect on the results in this case.\nConclusion: This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal survey that has been conducted in Australia since 2007, covering three survey periods 2007, 2011 and 2015. The results have articulated that valuers do associate a relationship between sustainability and value, and that there is a positive inference in their responses of sustainability having a positive relationship with value. However, how this is actually represented in valuation reports is questionable, given only a small percentage of valuers actually report on sustainability and even fewer report in any level of detail. So it is unclear as to whether valuers are making any judgements in the assessment of market value in considering the effect of sustainability. If they are, there are considerable questions raised about valuers' knowledge of sustainability, as a vast majority of the respondents in the survey could not answer basic-level knowledge of the rating tools used in the Australian property market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The relationship between sustainability and value in property has been a major area of investigation over the past decade. However, in spite of the extant literature and research, the connections made by valuers in practice of the value relationship are still unresolved. The purpose of this paper is to investigate, in the Australian context, valuers' perception of the relationship between sustainability and value; and their experience and knowledge of sustainability in valuation practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research investigates valuers' perception and knowledge of sustainability and its inclusion in valuation practice in Australia. The approach uses a longitudinal survey of valuers from 2007 to 2015 tracking valuers' knowledge, understanding, inclusion of sustainability reporting and the perceptions of the relationship between sustainability and market value.\nFindings: This paper presents findings from a longitudinal survey that has been conducted in Australia since 2007, identifying changes between 2007, the height of the property market and sustainability engagement prior to the global financial crisis, and the subsequent years to 2015. The growth of sustainability in the property market is significant, however, valuers' knowledge and reporting on sustainability is not demonstrating the same level of development. As a result, this is inhibiting valuers reporting on sustainability and has implications for practice and treatment of market values.\nPractical implications: This research highlights the need to examine how to assist valuers to more rapidly develop knowledge and experience to reflect the implications of change in practice. Current approaches being developed in the UK and Europe, like the introduction of RenoValue professional development programs and guidance documents, to assist valuers to develop their knowledge needs to be implemented in the Australian environment as current approaches are inadequate, and steps need to be taken in order to assist their development of knowledge and experience as the market demonstrates growth and acceptance of sustainability. This research identifies the need to re-examine how professional development is undertaken and knowledge developed by those practicing in the profession in Australia.\nOriginality/value: This longitudinal survey is the only research that has spanned a substantial period of time attempting to ascertain valuers' perception of the relationship between sustainability and value; and attempts to track the knowledge development of valuers in the context of sustainability. The findings identify how the market is developing and adhering to a product model development theory, however, also identifies more fundamental issues and implications for valuation praxis, in the development of knowledge and ability of valuers to adapt to change and reflect these valuations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employment in the US textile and apparel industries: A comparative analysis of regional vs national trends	[ "Textile industry", "Employment", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: According to the American Textile Manufacturing Institute (ATMI), 2004 was predicted to be a \"make or break year\" for the United States Textile Industry (American Textile Manufacturers Institute, 2003a). Although its prominence within the overall scope of domestic manufacturing is not as significant as it was half a century ago, the textile complex remains a critical component for the economic and social sectors of the USA. Representing 6 percent of the national manufacturing force at the turn of the twenty-first century, the textile complex contributed about $70 billion yearly to the national GDP (American Textile Manufacturers Institute, 2002; Economic Census, 1997). In addition to jobs within the textile complex itself (around one million workers), it supported employment related to direct suppliers, the government, and other services and industries (American Textile Manufacturers Institute, 2002).Since the late 1990s, however, the complex has been in crisis, suffering heavy losses in employment (American Textile Manufacturers Institute, 2001; Oh and Suh, 2003). The most obvious and often cited reasons include pressure from intense global competition, low cost manufacturing in developing countries, liberalization of trade policies, and retail consolidation (Scholler, 2002). In addition, the textile complex must deal with the fact that the national economy is undergoing a shift from manufacturing to service and information, thereby changing its overall nature. For example, Tyler (2003) believes that the traditional typology of the apparel industry is no longer workable in the post-industrialized economy of the twenty-first century. Blurred boundaries between manufacturing and sourcing require companies to focus on creating a niche market and on sourcing larger batches in low labor cost countries, decreasing leadtime (Tyler, 2003). Oh and Suh (2003) reviewed the problems faced by the US textile industry and summarized the strategic initiatives that American textile corporations have been using to respond to the emerging crisis. The authors conclude that under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the industry \"has experienced significant erosion in its profitability and competitiveness\" and propose strategic actions in order for the sector to regain its position in the global market (Oh and Suh, 2003, p. 131).As several studies have found, the US manufacturing sector has been experiencing a steady decline since the late twentieth century. Research that addresses these changes generally focuses either on the whole US textile and/or apparel industries (Doeringer, 2004; Franklin, 1995; Gereffi, 2000; Mittlehauser, 1997; Oh and Suh, 2003; Taplin, 1999), or presents select cases that describe the economic and social impact of plant closings on individuals within isolated communities (Norris, 2003; Rocha, 2001). There are few studies that investigate how individual states have dealt with the textile complex crisis. One by Melkers et al. (2001) analyzed plant closings in Georgia. The study defined demographic characteristics of the state's textile and apparel labor force in order to design an unemployment assistance program that addresses needs of laid off workers. A study by Kessler (2002) assessed the impact of NAFTA on the Los Angeles apparel industry, looking at the dynamics in occupational categories. Palpacuer (2002) studied the New York City garment industry to develop a new typology for the sector.Regional studies are helpful in developing a better understanding of what is actually happening within the overall US textile complex because a micro-level focus avoids featureless and often meaningless generalizations and allows for a close-up analysis of a specifically situated component of the national industry. Small-scale analyses of industry change are particularly important because different states throughout the US have unique specializations, which, in turn, determine the strengths and weaknesses of the regional industries. A comparison of a single state's textile complex performance with national shifts can address issues of employment, as well as help define the changing nature and structure of the local economies.To further develop how the \"small picture\" helps describe the \"big picture\", this study examines the implications of recent employment trends in the textile and apparel industries. Changes happening over time within one state in the Southeastern United States - North Carolina, will be the focus. As will be discussed, North Carolina was selected because it remains one of the few states with a recent history of textile manufacturing and can therefore provide a clear and timely picture of the impact of the industry's present state on employment patterns. The data collected spans a time period of seven years, beginning in 1997 (one year prior to the Asian economic crisis) and ending in 2003. The guiding question is: what is happening to employment as a result of changes experienced by these industries? The analysis presented will identify primary shifts in the North Carolina textile sector relative to employment patterns, and compare employment trends in North Carolina with those of the USA overall to explore the implications of these trends for the long-term.The State of North Carolina\nMethodology: A variety of sources were examined in order to develop a comprehensive account of employment in the textile complex from 1997 until 2003. Nationwide figures were obtained from the Annual Survey of Manufacturers (1996-2001), Mecia and Morganton (2002)-2001), the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (1997)-2003), and the Current Employment Statistics Survey (1997)-2003). For data specific to North Carolina, several sources were consulted, including the North Carolina Manufacturers Directory (published in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Commerce) and the North Carolina Employment Security Commission (1997)-2003). The latter source was found to be the most complete in terms of its coverage of employment dynamics by industry and industry group2.A descriptive methodology was used in order to address the objectives of the study. Three industries form the bulk of the data examined:1. Textile Mills (NAICS-313).2. Textile Product Mills (NAICS-314).3. Apparel Manufacturing (NAICS-315).Job numbers listed for each industry and industry groups were compared for the period between 1997 and 2003 as a means to determine primary shifts relative to employment patterns and to uncover any similarities or differences in trends between North Carolina and the US as a whole. Additional data includes number of establishments and value of shipments for the period under the study.\nAnalysis: Throughout the following, the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) is used as the primary mode of classification of the data to every extent possible. However, because the transition from the Standard Industry Classification system (SIC) occurred in 1997, a few of the data sets continued to use SIC codes instead of NAICS codes throughout the period under investigation. For ease of interpretation, the primary NAICS codes pertaining to employment within these sectors were the focus. What follows is an analysis of the employment dynamics for the period between 1997 and 2003.Textile and apparel establishments in North Carolina\nDiscussion and implications: What do these employment numbers mean for the future of these industries? Several studies have attempted to predict further US textile complex development and anticipate future employment trends (Franklin, 1995; Mittlehauser, 1997; North Carolina Occupational Trends, n.d.). All agree upon an inevitable further decline, although the projected pace is different. Mittlehauser (1997) estimated that in 2005 the US textile complex would employ 1.3 million workers. Ultimately, the reality is even worse than the study's projections as by 2003 employment was less than 800,000 (Table IV). Local projections estimated that the number of jobs in the North Carolina textile complex would decline by 17 percent over a ten-year period, and by 2008 would reach 180,000 (North Carolina Occupational Trends, n.d.). However, after only five years of the projected period (1998-2003) employment in the state's complex fell by 45 percent, to fewer than 120,000 workers (Table III).According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by the year 2012 the US textile complex will employ just under half a million, or 482,700, workers (Industry Output and Employment Projections, n.d.). This means that at least 400,000 former textile and apparel workers will be faced with unemployment between 2002 and 2012. This employment forecast also points to an interesting shift in the perception of the traditional importance of the individual industries within the textile complex. Apparel manufacturing, which has traditionally been the largest employer due to the labor-intensive nature of the industry, is predicted to become the smallest, after losing 65 percent of its labor force (Figure 7). This decline reflects the long-term evolution - and is perhaps the final phase - experienced by apparel manufacturing, as it was the first of the three industry types to exponentially move toward complete out-sourcing of the manufacturing process. Other potential reasons are increased foreign competition alongside on-going restructuring, reorganization and consolidation (NCESC). In contrast, the textile product mills industry, which presently is the smallest, is to become the most significant, as its workforce is expected to remain practically stable (estimated at a 7 percent decline). The employment base of the textile mills industry is predicted to shrink by 47 percent during the same period (Figure 7).The discussed projections would have a tremendous impact on North Carolina for two reasons. First, as was found in this research, the state's textile mills and textile products mills industries were not able to remain competitive on the national level (the decline in employment and shipments were greater in the state than in the overall US). Second, the textile products mills industry - which is predicted to become the largest employer in the national textile complex - is underdeveloped in North Carolina (Figure 1). Some experts speculate that the decline in jobs will continue until there are just 20,000 North Carolina workers employed by the sector (Eksten, 2002). Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics projections (Industry Output and Employment Projections, n.d.), by 2012, combined employment in North Carolina's textile complex will be roughly 60,000-65,000 workers, reflecting a 50 percent decline from 2003.This study illustrates how the textile complex in a single state has been affected by the reality of a global economy. The results of the study demonstrate that the differences in the structure of the state textile complex vs. that of the US as a whole had a significant impact on its performance. Moreover, the results indicate that these structural differences will to a large extent determine the future of North Carolina's textile complex development and employment trends. For instance, for the North Carolina knitting mills industry group, where the value of shipments has decreased faster than employment when compared to nationwide patterns, it will likely be a challenge to remain competitive in the future.Taking into account an on-going decline in textile complex employment, it is important to develop an understanding of how the nature and structure of the sector will be changing in the near future as well as for the long-term. This study showed that during 1997-2003 the proportional size of the industries within the North Carolina textile complex has not changed significantly despite the fact that overall employment was reduced by almost half. In 2003, textile mills continued to employ 61 percent of the total textile complex's workforce, similar to 1997. There was a slight shift in size with respect to the two other industries, in that textile products mills employment increased from 10 to 13 percent, while the number of jobs in apparel manufacturing dropped from 29 to 26 percent. This trend is in line with the anticipated development of the textile complex as a whole (Industry Output and Employment Projections, n.d.).Alongside the need for further study of employment trends, an assessment is needed of the types of jobs being cut. Hussain et al. (2002) point out that certain occupations are in the process of disappearing, including textile draw-out machine operators, textile machine setters/tenders, as well as sewing machine operators. More studies that address job losses by occupation are needed. For example, Kessler (2002) found that despite the decline in total apparel industry employment, white-collar occupations involved in pre-production product development and post-production merchandising and marketing are increasing in both absolute and proportional numbers. Although beyond the scope of the present study, this type of examination could be used to understand the extent to which design and distribution can soften the blow caused by the loss of manufacturing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To examine the impact of changes in the US textile and apparel industries on employment patterns at the state level compared with the nation as a whole during the period of 1997-2003.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Secondary data sources were analyzed to develop an overall picture of changes happening in the North Carolina industries compared with the USA overall. A focus on North Carolina, a primary location of the industries within the USA, permits a micro-level examination of changes in employment trends for one state in comparison with those of the industries nation-wide. Three industries form the bulk of the data examined: Textile Mills (NAICS-313), Textile Product Mills (NAICS-314), and Apparel Manufacturing (NAICS-315).\nFindings: - An overall decrease in employment and number of units for all three industries was found. The number of establishments in the North Carolina textile complex decreased by 25 percent and employment by almost 50 percent. The state losses resembled those of the nation as a whole. For the majority of industry groups, the trend in value of shipments mirrored the downward direction of employment from 1997 to 2001.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although this study focuses on only one state in comparison with the USA as a whole, it reveals current trends in employment patterns and has implications for developing an in-depth picture of regional versus national industry performance during a period of decline.\nOriginality/value: - Within this study, industry change was interpreted at both the state and national level through employment patterns as a means to explore why some industry groups have remained relatively healthy compared with others and what this means for industry employment in the future.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hoteliers' service design for mobile-based value co-creation	[ "Hotel", "Value co-creation", "Hospitality", "Service design", "Mobile-based service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Intensive knowledge sharing as a result of rapid information technology (IT) development has complicated the behaviors of contemporary customers. Amidst a sea of consumer information and choices, companies are challenged to stand out from competitors and foster customer loyalty (Olsen and Connolly, 2000). This is particularly true in the hospitality industry, where product and service offerings are highly substitutable and imitable among service providers (Shaw et al., 2011; Victorino et al., 2005). Thus, hospitality organizations have been forced to innovate to stay competitive and differentiate. Furthermore, realizing the potential of intangibles as a source of competitive advantage, hospitality service providers no longer rely on innovating physical goods alone. They also create exceptional services to deliver superior customer value (Gronroos, 2000).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Value co-creation and service innovation\n3. Research design and methodology: As pragmatic social researchers, the authors of this study believe that research goals can be best achieved by flexible research approaches (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003). The authors agree with the argument of Ritchie and Lewis (2003, p.19) that reality is \"itself diverse and multifaceted\" and follow the ontological stance of \"subtle realism.\" It is believed that critical reflection on and interpretation of respondents' descriptions provides a fuller understanding of the social world. Based on the research question of this study, the most appropriate research paradigm is interpretivism, which sees knowledge as generated based on humans' interpretations and understanding of their \"lived experiences\" in the social world (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000). Guided by the lens of S-D logic and sociomateriality, a qualitative research approach was adopted to investigate hoteliers' considerations and expectations behind the design and provision of mobile-based services.\n4. Findings: 4.1 Understanding mobile as a means of value co-creation\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate how hoteliers leverage mobile technologies to shape services that allow customers to create their own unique and personalized experiences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Guided by service-dominant logic and sociomateriality, this study analyzes hoteliers' reasoning behind the design of mobile-based services through qualitative research. Data were collected from interviews with hotel managers representing best-practice companies in the industry.\nFindings: The findings provide a rich description of mobile-based value co-creation in the hotel context. They delineate hoteliers' understanding of mobile technologies as a means to co-create value, their strategic considerations and the forms in which value is expected to be co-created.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study unearths the new roles of hoteliers, unique forms of value co-creation and their underlying structures in the specific context of mobile-based value co-creation. Practical implications based on industry best practices are provided for hospitality companies seeking to innovate by co-creating value with customers using mobile technologies.\nOriginality/value: This research paper contributes to the hospitality literature on IT-enabled service innovation and value co-creation by comprehensively explaining the underlying structure and design of co-created experiences facilitated by mobile-based services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Why do we ignore the best solution for improving unequal income distribution?	[ "Taxes", "Inheritance tax", "Europe", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A very high level of inequality in capital wealth ownership has been a persistent characteristic of industrial capitalism throughout history. Many economists, and others, find a high level of inequality, if not clearly objectionable, at least somewhat troubling. Even if social ownership of capital is dismissed as a cure worse than the disease (witness of the fate of the former Soviet Union), the fact remains that various potential social policies could have a significant equalizing effect on the distribution of capital wealth while leaving the basic capitalist principles of private ownership of capital wealth fully intact. There is a possibility of supplementing or replacing progressive income taxation with progressive inheritance taxation.Economists agree that the capitalist system is the most effective economic system for the allocation of workers, capital, land and crude materials. Income is spread between workers and capital owners. (Capital owners are those who own land, firms, buildings for rent and financial assets.) Greater efficiency of the economic system is reached because each factor of production (workers and capital) is paid its marginal product. Workers try to increase their production abilities to get higher wages, while entrepreneurs try to maximize their profits by allocating resources more effectively.However, this system clearly has deficiencies. The most well-known shortcoming is income distribution inequality. Capitalist governments use progressive income taxation and the supplement of public goods, as well as transfer payments to the poor to improve income distribution.Economists know that income tax, as well as indirect tax, has a distorting effect on production and welfare. When taxes are levied, efficiency is distorted.What is this sacred efficiency? If our goal were to maximize social utility, we would use the most accepted economic concept - Pareto Optimum. According to this concept, every re-allocation of resources must be accepted unanimously. If even one agent objects to the decision to re-allocate, it should not be accepted. Pareto efficient re-allocation would exist only if the welfare of all agents improved following the re-allocation. If even one agent were worse off following the re-allocation, it would be inefficient due to Pareto.For example, if the entire national income were in the hands of one agent and all other agents got zero, it would not be Pareto efficient to transfer some resources from the rich individual to any of the other agents. It would be even less efficient, if during the transfer of resources from the rich agent to other agent/s, some of the transferred resources were lost.However, economists know that many Pareto efficient allocations might exist. For example, if we share all resources equally between agents and allow them to trade with each other, they would get a Pareto efficient allocation. However, there is no efficient way to share resources equally in a capitalist system, which is driven by profit maximizing agents. Improving income distribution might be achieved, as already mentioned, by progressive taxation.It is inefficient to impose taxes!! That is because income taxes would decrease the working hours, production and income.If we levied a tax on profits or interest, entrepreneurs would decrease their investments in new factories, buildings, and inventions. People would lessen their savings, the banking system would have fewer resources, and loans would also decrease, so that production and income decrease even more.We can conclude - taxes are inefficient.What is the magic economic solution to this problem? How can we improve income distribution without levying taxes that reduce economic efficiency?The answer is high taxes on inheritance.\nInheritance tax: Inheritance tax is an old tax that was levied even in ancient Rome.Almost all industrial countries have some form of inheritance tax. In English speaking countries, inheritance is traditionally taxed regardless of who inherits (estate tax). On the other hand, almost all European countries tax the heirs (inheritance tax or tax on assets received) taking into account each heir's relationship to the deceased in assessing the amount of tax to be paid. The tax-free allowance and the tax rates depend on the amount involved, as presented in Table I.As can be seen in Table I, government revenue from inheritance and gifts is lower than 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). This is due mainly to a combination of considerable tax-free allowances for the closest relatives and high thresholds where the top rates apply.In the USA, a federal estate tax has been in continuous effect since 1916. The tax is imposed on transfers of a decedent's property at death (IRC, 1986), but it also is imposed on certain transfers that the decedent made prior to death. The estate tax rates are graduated. In addition to the federal tax, a number of states impose an additional estate tax.Since, 1958, there has been a proposal for a uniform act dealing with tax apportionment under consideration by state legislatures. In August 2003, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) adopted a revised version.Douglas (2004) presents a wide review of the death taxes in the USA. Douglas contends that distinguishing an estate tax from an inheritance tax is important. Because the estate tax has graduated rates, the larger the decedent's taxable estate, the greater the marginal rate of tax with the number beneficiaries not affecting the amount or rate of tax. On the other hand, an inheritance tax is imposed on a person's receipt of property from a decedent. If the tax has graduated rates, the aggregate amount of inheritance tax will be reduced if the decedent's property is divided among a larger group of beneficiaries. The graduated rates will be applied separately to each beneficiary, so the number of beneficiaries will affect the aggregate amount of tax.While the federal government does not impose an inheritance tax, some states do.The current base of the federal tax is the decedent's gross estate, less a set of allowable deductions, exemptions, and exclusions. Included in the gross estate is the value of real estate, businesses, cash, the value of stocks, bonds, pensions, and the proceeds of life insurance policies owned by the decedent. There is an exemption level resulting from a unified estate and gift tax credit. Forum 706, revised in August 2005, determined the exemption at $1,500,000. There is an unlimited marital deduction, and funeral expenses are also deductible. Bequests to qualified charities are fully deductible. In addition, there is an annual exclusion of $10,000 in gifts per donee per year, an amount that will, eventually, be indexed. The current tax is fully integrated with the gift tax.The current estate tax rates are shown in Table II. The tax rates range from 18 to 47 percent. The rate schedule was changed several times after its introduction in 1916. Between 1954 and 1977, rates ranged from 3 to 77 percent, and the level of the exemption was only $60,000. Since, 1977, the exemption has been rising while the maximum rate has been falling.Revenues from federal estate taxes have never been large mainly because the tax exemption threshold is very high. Table III traces death-tax revenues for both the federal government and the states for 1936-1999 while Table IV traces the State and Local Death and Gift Taxes as a percent of total state taxes. In 1936, federal estate and gift tax collections were not inconsequential, producing $377 million or about 7 percent of total revenues; by 1999 the amount had reached almost $28 billion, but accounted for only 1.5 percent of total federal tax revenues. State tax collections have followed a similar path. Here, too, death-tax revenues now amount to 1.5 percent of total tax revenues. Considerable variability exists across states, however, in the relative importance of this source of tax revenue. For some states, death-tax revenues are not unimportant.According to Karen and Rork (2004), federal estate taxes have received wide attention especially because their elimination has been a centerpiece of President George W. Bush's tax proposals. Largely overlooked, however, is the quiet revolution that has been taking place at the state level. Since, 1976, 31 of the 48 contiguous states have repealed their \"death\" or estate, inheritance, and gift (EIG) taxes, instead relying only on the pick-up tax whereby states capture a portion of the federal estate tax liability, but do not increase the overall liability of the estate. Of the remaining 12 states that still have EIG taxes, two have enacted legislation that eliminate these taxes by 2006 and other states are considering doing so. Aside from the outright elimination of EIG taxes, many states have also reduced them in a variety of ways, such as exempting certain beneficiaries, for example a spouse.Piketty (2003) used French data to examine inheritance tax policy. His findings show that during the nineteenth century, French inheritance taxes were strictly proportional, with a fixed tax rate of 1 percent. A progressive inheritance tax was introduced in 1901, but tax rates remained low until World War I: on the eve of the war, top tax rates did not exceed 5 percent. Similar to the progressive income tax, the top rates of the progressive inheritance tax suddenly reached nontrivial levels in the aftermath of World War I. The effective tax rate faced by fractile P99.99-100 of the estate distribution was about 20-25 percent in the period between the two world wars (or even 30-35 percent during the early 1920s), 30-35 percent during the 1950s, 15-20 percent during the 1960s-1970s, and again 30-35 percent during the 1980s-1990s.According to Pikkety, the decline in wealth concentration does not seem to have been an obstacle to growth. Growth rates were extremely high from the late 1940s to the 1970s, and this period is now referred to as the \"Trente Glorieuses\" (the \"30 Glorious Years\") in France. Of course, one cannot rule out the possibility that French growth rates would have been even higher during the Trente Glorieuses if capital concentration had remained at the same level as in 1914. Note, however, that several macroeconomic historians have suggested that the decline in wealth concentration might have had a positive growth impact. For instance, Carre et al. (1972, pp. 457-59, 620) have pointed out that wealth redistribution during the 1914-1945 period (in particular the inflation-induced redistribution from creditors to debtors) might have favored the development of new firms and new generations of entrepreneurs. In the presence of credit constraints, high capital concentration can indeed entail negative consequences for productive efficiency, and wealth redistribution, under certain conditions, can have positive efficiency effects. This is all very hypothetical, however, and extensive research based on new micro-data sets would be necessary to test these hypotheses.\nA tax reform that would improve economic efficiency: I could find no empirical examination of the effect of inheritance tax on economic growth or economic efficiency.Would a tax reform which imposes inheritance taxes, while reducing the other taxes, increase economic efficiency?The economic theory is pretty clear. Inheritance is nonworking income. Given that leisure is a normal good, inheritance would reduce the number of hours worked and reduce production.Another question is in regard to the transition of capital owners out of the country. High inheritance taxes might encourage capital owners to leave the country for countries with lower taxes. The question is whether such a transition would reduce capital stock and production in the country with the higher inheritance tax.According to Norregaard (1997) there will be a tendency for taxpayers to take up residence in low-tax jurisdictions, and this will restrict the freedom of local officials to adjust their rates to local needs. Such a tax base is better left to the national government.Evidence of this is found in Grossman (1990). In his study of local tax competition in Australia, he examined interstate migration in Australia during 1972-1985. Queensland began withdrawing death duties in 1976, making the other five Australian states vulnerable to tax competition. Queensland, with its pleasant climate and beaches, was already a natural destination for retirees, but it quickly experienced an increase in population over and above the five other states that could reasonably be attributed to the differential death-tax treatment. Ultimately, the other five states withdrew death taxation as well.Does the migration of retirees have to concern us?In most industrial countries, financial capital flows freely from one country to another. Lack of financial capital, due to a transit of capital owners into tax shelter countries, would increase the flow of financial capital from abroad. This would lead to an increase of the net foreign debt. However, capital stock would not be affected by this process. Gross national product (GNP) would not be affected while GDP would be reduced (if capital owners leaving the country changed their citizenship, we would get a reduction of both GDP and GNP).How would this affect entrepreneurship? The answer may be ambiguous. As mentioned before, several macroeconomic historians have suggested that the decline in wealth concentration might have had a positive growth impact, by encouraging development of new firms and new generations of entrepreneurs. However, some of the old generation of entrepreneurs might leave the country.What would be the effect of reducing income and indirect taxes? As mentioned before, these taxes are very inefficient; they distort economic activity, and entrepreneurship. The economic theory here is clear: such a reform will improve economic efficiency, increase productivity and income.Pikketty (2003) estimated that the long-run impact of progressive inheritance taxes on capital accumulation, though important, has probably been less drastic than the impact of progressive income taxes. Because income tax applies every year and has cumulative effects, an effective income tax rate of 50 percent can reduce the size of fortune that could be accumulated in 50 years by a factor of five. In contrast, working under the assumption that inheritance tax is paid only once every 50 years (on average), an effective inheritance tax rate of 50 percent reduces the size of fortune that could be accumulated in 50 years by a factor of two.On the other hand, Gale and Slemrod (2000) claimed that exemption from inheritance taxation might encourage people to work harder, save and invest more, or take on more risk.The answer to Gale and Slemrod is that income taxes are imposed no matter whether the income is a result of hard work, clipping coupons stocks and bonds, or receiving a gift or bequest from an aunt or parent.We should minimize damage to economic efficiency, when choosing what taxes to levy.Do progressive inheritance taxes have a long-term impact on capital accumulation at all?It seems that in small countries, such a tax would have a slight effect. Assuming that interest rates are not affected by a reduction of savings[1], we would get that investments, as well as capital stock, will not be affected. Given a tax reform reducing income tax parallel to the imposition of an inheritance tax, we might even get an increase of the capital stock, not to mention the improvement of income distribution.\nConcluding remarks: Governments of most industrial countries impose estate taxes on the decedent's assets or tax the heirs, although the relative importance of inheritance tax is negligible in many countries.The only way to increase revenue would be by reducing tax-free allowances and by reducing the thresholds drastically. The question is whether such a tax policy would be economically efficient. Economic theory gives a clear answer, namely that inheritance tax is efficient. If we accompany the increase in inheritance tax by a reduction in income and indirect taxes, we would be even more economically efficient.There are several moral questions here. On the one hand, inheritance is after-tax saved income. Taxing inheritance means that the accumulated savings would be taxed again.On the other hand, there are moral aspects to unequal income distribution as well. We agree that the capitalist system is the most efficient economically, and this is the main justification for unequal income distribution.Because inheritance taxes are economically efficient, they improve the immoral unequal income distribution drastically. Therefore, we should conclude that inheritance tax must be implemented.If we intend to implement such a reform, we must eliminate tax-free allowances for close relatives and reduce thresholds where the top rates apply.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to propose a tax reform that would reduce income taxes and other indirect taxes while at the same time increasing inheritance and estate taxes. Such a reform is economically very efficient and would certainly equalize income distribution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A wide review of the death and inheritance taxes in the USA and Europe is presented.\nFindings: - Government's revenue from inheritance and gifts is lower than 1 percent of GDP. This is due mainly to a combination of considerable tax-free allowances for the closest relatives and high thresholds where the top rates apply. No empirical examination of the effect of inheritance tax on economic growth or economic efficiency could be found.\nPractical implications: - Because inheritance taxes are economically efficient, they improve the immoral unequal income distribution drastically. Therefore, it should be concluded that inheritance tax must be implemented.\nOriginality/value: - This paper discusses the various economic aspects of the proposed tax reform.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The moderator effects of perceived risk, objective knowledge and certainty in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Customer loyalty", "Perceived risk", "Objective knowledge", "Certainty" ]	[ { "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: There is a \"new\" stream of research suggesting that the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is affected by moderators and mediators (Homburg and Giering, 2001; Seiders et al., 2005). The moderation perspective suggests that a moderator(s) interacts with satisfaction to influence the strength or direction of the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty (intentional and actual) (Baron and Kenny, 1986). Currently, most studies of the moderator effects between satisfaction and loyalty use multi-group analyses for testing moderators separately but interpret the results together to describe the combined effects (e.g. Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 2006; Homburg and Giering, 2001). However, recent research suggests that two or more moderators can perform a combined effect on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship (e.g. Chandrashekaran et al., 2007; Seiders et al., 2005). Therefore, this study discusses and extends the previous literature by performing an empirical test of the combined role of perceived risk, objective knowledge and certainty as moderators in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship using a moderated structural equation model. This is important because there is a wide range of phenomena where these variables appear to influence simultaneously consumers' attitudes/satisfaction and behaviours/loyalty as well as the relationship between these constructs (e.g. Chen and Li, 2007; Klerck and Sweeney, 2007; Laroche et al., 1996; Tuu and Olsen, 2009).Perceived risk as consumers' subjectively determined expectations of loss is an important construct in explaining and understanding consumer evaluation, choice and buying behaviour (Bauer, 1960; Dowling and Staelin, 1994; Mitchell, 1999). Even though the \"objective risk\" with the products and services is decreasing, perceived risk and scares seem to be a growing phenomenon in several areas of consumption. For example, in the food area, the consumers' concerns, worry and risk perceptions have increased along with a wide range of product scares such as mad cow disease in Europe or melamine in milk from China. The information about the products and consumer knowledge about product risk enhanced by media and consumers' organizations may be the reasons for this phenomenon (Lobb et al., 2006). Such happenings have caused significant reductions in the consumption of the affected products (Angulo and Gil, 2007). Therefore, it is important to develop a deeper understanding of how perceived risk interacts with satisfaction and influences intentional or behavioural loyalty (Grewal et al., 2007). This study also uses a global measure of perceived risk, including physical, performance, psychological and financial aspects.It has for a long time been suggested that increasing consumers' knowledge is an important strategy to reduce perceived risk because more information or experiences result in a learning process that leads consumers to perceive less risk (Roselius, 1971). Thus, the inclusion of both consumer knowledge and perceived risk may limit biased estimates due to missed variables. Knowledge is often measured either objectively or subjectively (Cordell, 1997). However, most studies measure consumer knowledge subjectively and suggest that subjective knowledge moderates the satisfaction-loyalty relationship negatively (Capraro et al., 2003; Cooil et al., 2007; Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 2006; Tuu and Olsen, 2009). Thus, it is difficult to decompose knowledge effects from other variables with which this construct is correlated, such as attitude certainty, extremity and accessibility (Fabrigar et al., 2006). To overcome this shortcoming, the present study aims to extend the previous literature by testing the moderator role of objective knowledge in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship.Similarly to knowledge, certainty or confidence is suggested as being the most important aspect of a deeper understanding of perceived risk (Mitchell, 1999), and Dowling and Staelin (1994, p. 119) discuss uncertainty as one of the most basic attributes of perceived risk. Certainty as a person's degree of conviction or state of feeling sure that his or her evaluation of a product or attribute is correct (Howard and Sheth, 1969) is a well-established construct in the consumer attitude-intention literature (Bennett and Harrell, 1975; Laroche et al., 1996). Certainty in evaluating satisfaction is suggested as an important moderator affecting the satisfaction-loyalty relationship (Dick and Basu, 1994; Olsen, 1999 for a discussion), but very little empirical evidence is provided in the area of the satisfaction-intention relationship (Chandrashekaran et al., 2007; Spreng and Page, 2001; Yi and La, 2003). To the best of our knowledge, no study combines both certainty and perceived risk in a satisfaction-loyalty relationship framework.The purpose of this study is to explore the combined roles of perceived risk, consumer objective knowledge and certainty as moderators in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. The combined effect here is understood as a sum of the effects of these moderators on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship in addition to their individual moderator effect and traditional direct effects on loyalty (see Seiders et al., 2005). This type of study is especially important for managers who want to gain a deeper understanding of the complicated relationship between satisfaction and loyalty and know more about which types of customers tend to be less loyal even though they may be highly satisfied (Homburg and Giering, 2001). For example, will a satisfied consumer with a high perception of risk continue to be loyal if he or she possesses a high amount of relevant knowledge about a product? According to the research objectives, this study uses structural equation modelling for moderator analysis with latent constructs (Aiken and West, 1991; Ping, 1996) to test a proposed model and research hypotheses.\nTheoretical framework: Consumer satisfaction and loyalty\nMethods: Products and sample\nAnalysis and results: Reliability and validity\nDiscussion: This study has explored the moderator effects of perceived risk, objective knowledge and certainty on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship in a food context. The proposed hypotheses are tested by a moderated regression analysis in structural equation modelling for latent variables (Aiken and West, 1991; Ping, 1995, 1996) using survey data from Vietnam. The results indicate the reliability and validity of the constructs in the model and the findings support the proposed hypotheses. Therefore, this study generates several contributions both theoretically and practically, particularly because it uses a combination of three moderators while others use single moderator (e.g. certainty) (Chandrashekaran et al., 2007) and multi-group approaches (e.g. Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 2006).Theoretical implications\nConclusion, practical implications and limitations: As a summary, this study confirms the combined moderator role of perceived risk, objective knowledge and certainty in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. The findings indicate that the predictive power of satisfaction on loyalty decreases considerably when perceived risk increases, but is enhanced by the higher levels of objective knowledge and certainty. Our findings, therefore, have several managerial implications.First, customer management based on satisfaction has been confirmed as a vital strategy for companies, but it is not sufficient to keep customers' loyalty (Homburg and Giering, 2001), especially with the presence of high perceived risk. Thus, to enhance consumer loyalty, management attention should focus on risk-reducing strategies for customers in which quality control and management and giving consumers a quality guarantee are two possible strategies (Angulo and Gil, 2007; Tuu and Olsen, 2009). In addition, communication and promotion strategies for safety products should be carried out and attention directed not only to buyers but also to all the members of their family to improve their trust in the products. These strategies are expected not only to consolidate consumer confidence but also to create support from other family members, which helps to reduce the levels of perceptions of social and psychological risks. These findings also indicate that high-perceived risk customers are subject to defection, thus enterprises should use loyalty programs to retain them. More importantly, marketing strategies which can compensate for consumers' potential losses in risky situations to confirm with consumers that the actual losses are low may be the most effective ways.Second, as indicated, consumers with lower objective knowledge about the products often show less loyalty than consumers with higher objective knowledge do. Thus, educating consumers with relevant knowledge may be an appropriate strategy (Chen and Li, 2007; Worsley, 2002). Not only does it help to consolidate consumer loyalty, but it also helps to reduce the negative effect of the perception of risk (Chen and Li, 2007). More importantly, because it takes a long time for such knowledge to become practical (Worsley, 2002), enterprises and industries should consider education for their consumers as a long-term strategy rather than only as short-term tactics. In addition, it is important to observe and record consumers' actual knowledge about the product rather than what they perceive about the product.Third, the inclusion of certainty besides satisfaction in a study of consumer loyalty also has important implications practically. It is a common problem that customers often report their satisfaction with an upward bias, which generates high scores of satisfaction toward products they have experienced (Peterson and Wilson, 1992). This often gives a mistaken impression to marketers about the success of their customer management policy, but actually the ratio of customers' retention is often low to moderate (Szymanski and Henard, 2001). Consistent with previous studies that call for an insight to explain and understand the complex mechanism of consumer satisfaction (Chandrashekaran et al., 2007; Olsen, 2007; Seiders et al., 2005), this study suggests that managers and marketers should not only understand the levels of their customer satisfaction, but also understand its strength. More specifically, the certainty of consumers' feelings needs to be observed and recorded as an important moderator affecting the translation from customers' satisfaction to loyalty.Finally, this study tests simultaneously three moderators of perceived risk, objective knowledge and certainty in one structural equation model to generate a combined moderator effect. Thus, it helps to overcome several shortcomings of previous studies using subgroup analysis (e.g. Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 2006), which tests moderators separately and can not account for the contribution of moderators to the explained variance of loyalty (Baron and Kenny, 1986), or using multivariate regression analysis (e.g. Seiders et al., 2005), which ignores measurement errors (Aiken and West, 1991; Ping, 1996). More importantly, the constructs of perceived risk, consumer knowledge and certainty both theoretically and practically have been proved to influence simultaneously consumers' evaluations and behaviours (Dowling and Staelin, 1994; Mitchell, 1999; Roselius, 1971). Therefore, a combination of all these moderators in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship as a common logical framework helps to create a more comprehensive picture of the research phenomenon.Despite the above contributions, this study has several limitations. The present research is based on a convenience sample in Vietnam with marine fish. Future research should expand to a more representative sample of a population and to other products or services, as well as testing them in other countries or markets. The study has not, because of its unrepresentative sample, considered the different moderators of the satisfaction-loyalty relationship such as customer characteristics (Cooil et al., 2007; Homburg and Giering, 2001; Mittal and Kamakura, 2001) or situational characteristics (Evanschitzky and Wunderlich, 2006; Seiders et al., 2005). Thus, future studies should extend the model to gain a more comprehensive picture of the development of loyalty. It is possible that perceived risk, consumer knowledge and certainty may interact with each other, affecting the satisfaction-loyalty relationship; thus, future studies would benefit from providing both the theoretical mechanism and empirical evidence for that issue in controlled experiments. For example, Raju et al. (1995) suggest that knowledge types could be manipulated orthogonally to assess their independent effects. Such manipulations may allow a more precise study of the two-way and three-way interaction between other moderator variables as well. As mentioned above, the construct of satisfaction strength (Chandrashekaran et al., 2007) may have several aspects. Future studies should extend to include different aspects, such as accessibility, ambivalence or extremity (Olsen, 1999), besides certainty to cover more fully the content of the construct. Finally, the results presented here are based on self-reported measures of satisfaction and repurchase loyalty; hence, erroneous inferences can be produced if common method variance inflates the estimates of the association between them. Thus, objective repurchase loyalty as a dependent measure may give better results (Seiders et al., 2005). As with all studies using correlation methods, the nature of the relationships is problematic, thus experimental designs should be used in order to address issues of causality in future studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to discuss and test the combined role of perceived risk, objective knowledge and certainty as moderators in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors use survey data of 387 Vietnamese consumers in a food context. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach for moderator analysis with latent constructs is used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: - Perceived risk is a barrier in the forming of loyalty with a negative moderating effect on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. However, the satisfaction-loyalty relationship is stronger when objective knowledge and certainty increase.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The object and setting are limited to one product category in one market. In addition, other moderators (e.g. situation and ambivalence) can be added. The nature of causality is problematic due to the use of survey design.\nPractical implications: - Customer management based on satisfaction is not sufficient to keep customers' loyalty, especially in the situations of highly perceived risk and uncertainty. Marketing strategies, which reduce consumers' risks, consolidate their confidence and educate them with relevant knowledge, may be effective strategies to increase their loyalty.\nOriginality/value: - The study fills several gaps in the present literature. First, it overcomes some shortcomings of previous studies of moderators in the satisfaction-loyalty relationship by testing the combined role of three important moderators. Second, it tests the moderator effect of objective knowledge and adds an extra explanation to previous studies. While some previous studies suggest a negative moderator effect of subjective knowledge, this paper argues for and confirms a positive moderator effect of objective knowledge on this relationship. Finally, it uses SEM for moderator analysis with latent constructs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Individual responses to competing accountability pressures in hybrid organisations: The case of an English business school	[ "Higher education", "New public management", "Institutional logics", "Hybrid organization", "Customer accountability", "Hybrid accountability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last 40 years, the rise of neo-liberalism and associated New Public Management (NPM) reforms led to the widespread adoption of business rhetoric and practices in public sector organisations (e.g. Hood, 1995; Humphrey and Miller, 2012; Lapsley, 2008). This has transformed many public service providers into hybrid organisations which need to enact commercial logics as well as historically dominant professional and public service logics (e.g. Caperchione et al., 2017; Denis et al., 2015; Miller et al., 2008; Polzer et al., 2016).\n2. Public accountability: Historically, public accountability in the UK and many other western democracies was hierarchical in nature (e.g. Bovens, 2005; Romzek and Dubnick, 1987). Junior public servants were accountable to senior public servants, senior public servants to government ministers, who in turn were accountable to the legislative. Public accountability was historically also fairly narrow in its focus, emphasising above all the implementation of state functions in accordance with the law as well as government rules and regulations.\n3. Institutional logics, hybrids and individual responses: According to Thornton (2004), institutional logics are a \"set of assumptions and values, usually implicit, about how to interpret organizational reality, what constitutes appropriate behavior, and how to succeed\" (p. 70). They represent an array of historically contingent, taken-for-granted beliefs and practices that help organisations and individuals make sense of the social world and to act in a socially legitimated manner (e.g. Friedland and Alford, 1991; Thornton and Ocasio, 1999; Thornton et al., 2012).\n4. Methodology: This paper draws on a single case study of ABC, a large business school which forms part of a research-intensive public university in England. The school has a strong research tradition and is accredited by AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. Like many other English business schools, ABC made some steps towards corporatisation from the 1980s onwards (cf. Humphrey and Gendron, 2015; Parker, 2011). Specifically, ABC aimed to increase its revenues by recruiting high fee paying international students and placed considerable emphasis on publications in leading international journals in response to successive RAEs and REFs. Despite such developments, ABC had in many respects retained a strong professional bureaucracy ethos in the early 2010s which entailed an emphasis on individual autonomy, consultation and collegial governance (cf. Deem et al., 2007).\n5. Students as learners or customers? Professional and commercial logics at ABC business school: In this section, we show that both professional and commercial logics emphasised lecturers' accountability to students. We however also show that the notion of the student differed dramatically under these two logics, and that this resulted in conflicting accountability pressures on lecturers.\n6. Individual responses to competing accountability pressures: We discuss how lecturers responded to the competing accountability pressures they faced at ABC with reference to Pache and Santos' (2013b) categories (i.e. compliance, defiance, combination and compartmentalisation)[9] as well as the eight more nuanced sub-categories we developed in the course of our data analysis (i.e. enforced compliance, internalised compliance, compliance through exhaustion, instrumental compliance, categorical defiance, defiance with justification, blending and translation).\n7. Drivers of individual responses to competing accountability pressures: The previous section has shown that lecturers adopted a great variety of responses to competing accountability pressures. This wide range raises the question as to why different lecturers, when faced with the same institutional demands, adopt such a big variety of different responses. In this section, we offer some reflections on this subject based on the data we collected at ABC Business School. We suggest that Pache and Santos' (2013b) notion of adherence plays a role in this context, but not in a deterministic manner. We moreover suggest that individuals' standing within and beyond the organisation is also a significant driver of individual responses to competing institutional pressures in our case organisation.\n8. Discussion and conclusions: In this paper, we have examined responses to competing institutional logics in a hybridised public service organisation. Unlike most of the extant literature on this subject, which has focused on organisational responses and/or the role of accounting therein (e.g. Greenwood et al., 2011; Hyvonen et al., 2009; Oliver, 1991; Pache and Santos, 2010, 2013a; Rautiainen et al., 2017), we have explored how individual, frontline professionals experience conflicting institutional logics and how they manage them. In our case organisation, an English business school, we found that, on one hand, the historically dominant professional logic and associated notions of professional accountability required lecturers to adopt broad, challenging and open-ended teaching approaches. On the other hand, the emerging commercial logic and associated customer accountability pressures pushed lecturers towards narrow technical content, black and white solutions, spoon-feeding and watering down the curriculum.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine conflicting institutional demands on individual frontline employees in hybrid public sector organisations. Specifically, it examines the competing accountability pressures professional and commercial logics exerted on academics at a business school, how individual lecturers responded to such pressures, and what drove these responses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper draws on a case study of an English business school and is informed by the literatures on institutional logics and hybrid organisations.\nFindings: The paper shows that the co-existence of professional and commercial logics at the case organisation exerted competing accountability pressures on lecturers. It moreover shows that sometimes deliberately and purposefully, sometimes ad hoc or even coincidentally, lecturers drew on a wide range of responses to these conflicting pressures, including compliance, defiance, combination and compartmentalisation.\nOriginality/value: The paper sheds light on individual level responses to competing institutional logics and associated accountability pressures, as well as on their drivers. It also highlights the drawbacks of user, customer or citizen accountability mechanisms, showing that a strong emphasis on them in knowledge-intensive public organisations can have severe dysfunctional effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Equity tension and new public management policy development and implementation in the water industry	[ "Transaction costs", "Equity", "Pricing policy", "Water" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Lapsley (2008) identified three perspectives of new public management (NPM) - management processes, mechanisms of change, and constraints. All three perspectives hint at equity issues. In concluding comments about NPM, Lapsley (2008, p. 91) said \"The New Public Management Project forges ahead, despite criticisms of many aspects of NPM\". This paper sheds some light on a fundamental source of tension, \"equity\" (Pack, 1987; Moreau and Snyder, 1987; Gittens, 2011). Equity is an apparently overlooked consideration in contemporary NPM policy development by federal and state governments in respect of urban water services in Australia. We consider equity in the context of the user pays pricing mechanism adoption by Queensland (QLD) urban water entities (UWEs). Specifically, we investigate whether the equity paradox emerges as an explanation for why 63.7 per cent of QLD UWES (DLGP, 2002) chose not to adopt the user pays pricing mechanism while under significant pressure to do so.\nEquity in urban water pricing policy development and implementation: In the public sector context, equity is held out as one of the pillars underpinning service provision (distribution and access equity). Prior to the NPM public sector economic reforms, Leman and Nelson (1981) identified equity as being one of the important considerations in the determining their \"Ten commandments for policy economists\". The significance they attached to equity is reflected in the following statement:\nAttributes of equity: The attributes of equity discussed in this paper evolve from the urban water service provisioning and pricing setting. An equitable water services goal statement might include words something like, \"the affordable supply of potable water and functioning wastewater system on demand to identified constituents\". A policy to achieve such a goal has impacts at social, environmental, economic and financial levels. Within those levels, various constraints are found, including requirements of effectiveness, efficiency and equity. As argued in this paper, equity in turn has four aspects: access, distribution, interest and return.\nThe treatment of equity in a pricing mechanism change setting: In Australia, up until the 1980s, the price for water services was charged under the general rate levied by local government based on land values to landowners (some cities, such as Brisbane, did apply a limited form of metering prior to this time (Tucker, 1989)). In recognition of the growing costs associated with the management of both water resources and water services, in some cases, rating for water services was shown as a separate item to the general (land) rate on rate notices. For rating consistency and equity purposes, the water rate was calculated on the same basis as the general/land rate. That rate was calculated as a percentage (a politically determined amount lower than the percentage charged for the general rate) of the improved, or unimproved value of the land to which the water services were provided (Tucker, 1989). Using a form of land value as the basis for rate determination was argued to be equitable in the sense that persons who could afford dearer land had a perceived capacity-to-pay more than those persons who could only afford cheaper land.\nThe equity paradox and the transaction cost, political sensitivity and policy implementation nexus: Figure 4 identifies six potential sources of tension/political sensitivity that may cumulatively, if not addressed within a policy change may act to negatively impact on policy implementation. The first driver of transaction costs, price, by itself is meaningless. In terms of its contribution to political sensitivity, it is the size of the price impact that may be more meaningful. In terms of water services infrastructure systems design and domestic consumers (the drivers of social considerations), the size of the system is driven by estimates of the number of current and future users per connection to the system over the estimated life of the system being designed (Hunt, 2000; Davies, 2004). In these terms, the more users per service connection the denser is the population that is being served and the bigger the capacity of the system will need to be to service those denser populations. Under these circumstances, the larger the number of persons per household connection (POPCON), the higher the consumption per household will be, and the higher the price for that consumption will be. The transaction cost/political sensitivity implications for any perceived user pays driven price increases under these circumstances would be expected to be positively associated with the household population size per service connection and negatively related to a UWEs user pays adoption choice. The inference being that larger households may perceive a higher price for water services to be inequitable in terms of service distribution (being penalised because of household size) and/or access (price may become prohibitive for low income, large households).\nThe equity paradox and the QLD UWE user pays' implementation experience[7]: Of the 125 QLD UWEs, it was mandated that 18 were to adopt user pays. Of the remaining 107 UWEs, a full set of data was not available for a further 16 UWEs resulting in 91 UWEs forming the study sample. This represents 72.8 per cent of all QLD UWEs or, 85 per cent of those QLD UWEs that were given a free choice. Additionally, geographically, QLD ranges temperate to arid, and the dry tropics to the wet tropics and is Australia's second largest state in terms of land area. This requires UWEs to operate in a diversified landscape subject to very different climatic and rainfall conditions. In 2000, QLD Local Government was responsible for managing $27.9 billion of the $142.4 billion of the net assets managed by Australian local government (DoTaRS, 2001).\nResolving the equity paradox?: Hood (1991, p. 3) \"[...] argues that NPM has been most commonly criticized in terms of a claimed contradiction between 'equity' and 'efficiency values' [...]\". The findings of this study, some 20 years later, suggest this criticism may still be valid. The issues of equity of access and equity of distribution will always be considerations when dealing with services that rely on life sustaining natural resources like water. Equity is a complex socially constructed idea (Young, 1994), that when it is associated with a good, such as water, that also has high social value as well as competing commercial value, social pressure must result in terms of access and distribution of water and any services that rely on water. Paradoxically, the findings of this study support observations like those of Pack (1987, p. 539) and Leman and Nelson (1981, p. 106) discussed in second section. Given the time lag between these statements and this study, it could be argued that equity is, if not the defining differentiator, the forgotten differentiator between a commercialising public sector and a commercialised private sector.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Within the new public management (NPM) context, this paper aims to examine the inclusion of equity issues in pricing policy development and implementation in the water industry in Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A review of literature relevant to the pricing of water shows equity issues have four dimensions which tend to be, at best, only implicitly considered. An empirical illustration employing a transaction cost framework is provided of a case in which change in pricing mechanisms was strongly suggested.\nFindings: An equity paradox emerges as an explanation of why 63.7 per cent of Queensland urban water entities chose not to adopt the user-pays pricing mechanism for water. This suggests that the balance between \"equity\" and \"efficiency\" continues to be required in policy development for water pricing. Equity of access and that of distribution continue to be significant factors. As well, equity of interest and of return must be considered, especially under a user-pays pricing mechanism.\nPractical implications: In respect of NPM considerations, it is argued that consideration of the four dimensions of equity in the implementation of a water pricing policy will resolve contradictions with, and paradoxes met in dealing with efficiency.\nOriginality/value: The argument used in the paper is interdisciplinary. References and terms used include those which are social, economic, and environmental from an accounting and management perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying cultural intelligence to religious symbols in multinationals	[ "Religion", "Cultural intelligence", "Cross-cultural conflict management", "Expatriate management", "Gender and values", "Religious symbols" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In 2013, provincial politicians in Quebec, Canada, promoted a bill called \"The Charter of Quebec Values\", which would forbid public sector employees from wearing \"overt and conspicuous\" religious symbols in the workplace (e.g. hijab, turban, kippa, or religious jewellery beyond a certain size). They reasoned that such symbols would breach the public sector's obligation to honour fundamental Quebec values (e.g. state neutrality in regard to religion, and the equality of men and women), and contribute to organizational and societal tensions. In response, media in the rest of Canada loudly protested that it is the racism inherent in this bill that would be the greatest threat to organizational and societal climates (e.g. Cash and Gray, 2000; Chai, 2013; Fregosi and Kosulu, 2013; Richer, 2013; Sibley, 2013; Sinnema, 2013; Woods, 2013). The resultant, extensive media coverage not only polarized Canadian public opinion, but created tangible recruitment opportunities (and, by extension, retention challenges). Managers at a healthcare facility in the neighbouring province of Ontario (Lakeridge Health), responded to this media storm by reaching out to Quebec healthcare professionals with an advertisement that read \"We don't care what's on your head. We care what's in it\" (Chai, 2013). In so doing, they capitalized on the recruitment opportunity that arises when talented people feel discriminated against and seek out more hospitable employment climates (Bennett, 2001). Although the recent media debate about religious symbols in Canadian workplaces pertained primarily to the wearing of the headscarf, controversy over the wearing of religious symbols in the workplace has arisen in regard to other faiths' religious symbols, and in other countries as well. In Northern Ireland, for example, conflicts over religious symbols in the workplace have erupted between longstanding religious groups, reducing workplace knowledge sharing and causing workplace violence (Hargie et al., 2003).\nThe conceptual model of risks to motivational CQ: This section develops the conceptual model presented in Figure 1. It begins by proposing a direct relationship between the salience of religious-based value conflict and motivational CQ. Next, it addresses how religious symbols may moderate this relationship, and discusses an institutional antecedent that may create the expectation for accommodation to such symbols. Finally, it describes additional antecedent variables (direct experience and vicarious learning) that may contribute to the salience of religious-based value conflict.\nA framework for selecting interventions in regard to religious symbols: The conceptual model developed in the previous section identified several potential institutional influences on MNC employees' motivational CQ. As Van Dyne et al. (2008) suggest, employees' motivational CQ holds direct implications for employees' behavioural CQ. However, the model has indirect implications for MNC managers' behavioural CQ as well. If MNC employees' motivational CQ is low, then the resulting context is likely to be culturally tougher, and more demanding of high behavioural CQ on the part of MNC managers (compared to one in which employees' motivational CQ is high). Accordingly, insight into the institutional influences on employees' motivational CQ represents a potentially valuable source of cultural knowledge that should inform MNC managers' behavioural CQ.\nDiscussion: Research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how religious symbols might impede employees' motivational cultural intelligence (CQ) in some international contexts, and how multinational managers might employ this knowledge to respond in a manner that mitigates risks to knowledge sharing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses several theories (e.g. CQ, social categorization, expectancy, and contact theories) to develop a conceptual model about the nature of the risk to employees' motivational CQ. It then draws on models of acculturation to explore how multinational corporation managers might respond.\nFindings: It is conjectured that the salience of religious-based value conflict, learned both vicariously and through direct experiences, will adversely impact motivational CQ, and that the introduction of religious symbols may exacerbate this relationship. A framework of possible interventions is offered, and each intervention approach is evaluated in terms of how it may mitigate or exacerbate the risks raised by the model.\nResearch limitations/implications: The proposed model requires empirical validation.\nPractical implications: Multinationals are advised how (and why) to treat the preservation of motivational CQ as central to any intervention in the conflict over religious symbols.\nSocial implications: An uninformed response to controversy over religious symbols could impede knowledge sharing and potentially exacerbate broader societal tensions (UN Global Compact, 2013). Therefore, this paper addresses a clear socio-economic need.\nOriginality/value: Controversy over the use of religious symbols in the workplace has generated considerable international media attention, but has been neglected by cross-cultural management research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Constructing social networks and mobilizing social capital: Case studies of two Tibetan students in a Beijing inland boarding school	[ "Social networks", "Social capital", "Inland boarding school", "Tibetan students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cultural discontinuities between minority students' home culture and the dominant school culture (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001; Ogbu, 1982; Zhang, 2008) have been identified as an important factor that influences minority students' growth. However, most of the studies in this regard focused on ethnic groups in the western societies and there have been fewer attempts to examine the sociocultural adaptations of minority students in Chinese schools. This paper examines the schooling experiences of Tibetan students who participate in China's Inland Boarding Programs[1] (IBP), or neigaoban(Nei Gao Ban )in Chinese, and seek to understand the social networks they develop in the Han-culture dominant school settings.\nTheoretical framework: social network and social capital: Since the 1980s, social network has become an important concept in social science research to study social interactions and social structures. A social network is typically made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties and interactions between actors (Scott, 2000). Depending on how connected the actors are with one another, a social network can be defined as either \"loose\" or \"tight,\" \"weak\" or \"strong,\" \"open\" or \"closed\", as measured by factors like density, intensity, fluidity and multiplexity (Milroy, 1987).\nTibetan students in a Beijing inland boarding school: This study is based on one-year fieldwork and ethnographic research in a Beijing high school, G School, located in the prosperous eastern part of Beijing, Chaoyang District. G School was established in 1957 and has been a model high school with good reputation in Beijing,identified as a \"key-point[4]\" (zhongdianZhong Dian ) school by Beijing Municipal Education Commission in 1989. Its graduates' college admission rate has ranked No. 2 for the past years in Chaoyang District. G School started to accept students from Tibet in 2011, with approximately 25 students each year. Different from Beijing Tibet School, which enroll Tibetan students exclusively and has devoted all its teaching resources to accommodate to their needs since its birth, G School regarded it as a challenge and \"a political task\" (Principal Kong) to have these linguistic and cultural minority students into its mainstream classrooms.\nDiscussions: constructing social networks in an inland boarding school: The first year of high school was crucial to Tibetan IBP students as it was the time period of various transitions, i.e., from the mountainous border area of TAR to the metropolis of Beijing, from living among the ethnic community to living among the Han community, from a family life with the company of parents and siblings to an independent boarding school life. Most Tibetan students I talked with at G School reported having been \"lonely\" and \"homesick,\" and suffered from huge pressures physically, psychologically and academically. There were occasional stories about IBP students quitting. However, all the 25 Tibetan students at G School survived and seemed to have successfully adjusted to the new environment, turning from \"lonely strangers\" to \"acculturated IBPers\" by the end of the first year.\nConclusion: Seen as informal, interpersonal relationships between individuals, social networks are self-organizing, emergent and complex. Yet as \"a web of ties\" (Milroy, 1987) that occur in a particular social milieu, they link micro-level interactions between different social actors with the macro-level social structures. The construction of social networks is a dynamic and contextualized process, having to do with individuals' personal traits and characters as well as the power they possess as members of a cultural group in the social hierarchy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the life worlds of Tibetan students who participate in China's inland boarding programs and seek to understand the social networks they develop in the Han-culture dominant school settings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is based on ethnographic fieldwork with two Tibetan students (Dorji and Lhamo) in a Beijing inland boarding high school.\nFindings: This study found that the Tibetan students are capable social actors who construct two kinds of social networks, the \"we\" group (co-ethnics) vs the \"they\" group (cross-ethnics), and mobilize different social capitals strategically. The former provides them with emotional support, cultural affinity and a sense of belonging, while the latter helps them achieve instrumental outcomes, such as Mandarin proficiency, academic improvement and broadened horizons.\nResearch limitations/implications: However, the group boundary they draw between the two kinds of networks reflects the futility of government efforts to promote interethnic integration through the inland schools.\nOriginality/value: The issue of minority students as active agents in constructing social networks and mobilizing social capital in unfamiliar sociocultural settings is a relatively new research area (Reynolds, 2007; Holland et al., 2007), whereas the Tibetan students in China are among the least known in the existing scholarship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Revisiting the unholy alliance of health-care operations: payor-provider integration of occupational health services	[ "Payor–provider integration", "Health-care operations management", "Agency theory", "Incentives", "Multimethod study" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A health-care service system can be decomposed into a set of triadic process flows involving patients, health service providers, and third-party payers (Lee et al., 2016), each with their specific interests and value drivers. Due to the self-interested goals and information asymmetries between the payors and providers of health care, relationships between the diverse actors can be analyzed as multiple principal-agent relationships in which the principals need to delegate work to autonomous agents (Fuloria and Zenios, 2001). Research in health-care payment models has suggested the operating model should provide value and incentives for each actor in the health-care service system (Porter and Kaplan, 2016; Rosenthal, 2008). This has been difficult due to the apparent discrepancy of incentives: a high quality of service for the patient, low costs for the employer and insurer, and a high profit margin for the private healthcare provider are examples of self-interested goals creating avenues for agency problems, such as a moral hazard (Holmstrom, 1979), when, for example, a care provider begins to value highly incentivized treatments.Agency theory, widely applied in operations and supply chain management (OSCM) research (cf. Gibbons, 2005; Fayezi et al., 2012), has been used to analyze situations of adverse selection (i.e. precontractual supplier selection) and moral hazard (i.e. postcontractual supplier monitoring). In health care, the presence of strong information asymmetry, the difficulty of evaluating treatment outcomes, and high costs of error complicate the formulation of effective outcome-based contracts and often lead to agent compensation on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis (Fuloria and Zenios, 2001; Tuohy, 2003). Furthermore, as care providers tend to be risk averse and unwilling to take full responsibility for a patient's treatment, FFS payment models seem to persist-despite their inherent tendency to cause agency problems (e.g. overtreatment and provider-induced demand). When left ungoverned, these factors may lead to a decreased performance of the entire health-care service system (Goddard et al., 2000).Operations management has been widely used to improve the health service provision in single hospitals. For instance, versatile performance measurement in clinical departments (Elg et al., 2013), integrative information sharing and planning practices (Drupsteen et al., 2013), and modular care and appropriate client involvement (de Blok et al., 2010) can all improve the quality and flow of care. While there is little reason to doubt that a single health service provider can enhance its own performance, agency theory indicates that improvement in health-care operations should be approached from a service system perspective. That is, the agency theory directs attention to the parallel higher-level decisions concerning the relationships among actors in the service system, having the potential to enhance those decisions and supporting the performance improvement of the service system as a whole. Therefore, there is a need for a system-level approach to health-care operations management to improve health service delivery (Dai and Tayur, forthcoming).This study builds on the argument that, at the system level, the alignment of goals and incentives can govern agency problems (Eisenhardt, 1989). In insurance-based health provision, one solution to achieve this could be the vertical, organizational integration of the insurer and the provider (Rosenthal, 2008). In general, vertical integration has been suggested as an effective instrument to govern agency problems in supply chains (Gibbons, 2005; Mahoney, 1992). Furthermore, a close payor-provider collaboration through joint strategic planning, shared data, and financial incentives can reduce costs and improve care quality (Claffey et al., 2012). However, Kreindler et al. (2012) argued that mere ownership does not guarantee alignment of interests and values; different social integration mechanisms are required. Insurer-provider integrations may also lead to distrust among patients-as the integrated models may restrict patients' freedom to select their providers and integrated systems may emphasize cost cutting over the quality of care. These issues, leading to poor customer satisfaction, have been powerfully prevalent in the US-based market, where patients are customers and a strong norm-base supports the customers' freedom of choice (Mechanic, 2004). Hence, the so-called managed care organizations in the US have especially faced a stiff headwind since the 1990s and are often perceived as unholy alliances that can be considered to be diminishing the quality of care for customers and leading to a managed care backlash (Miller, 2006). Despite the unpromising history of managed and integrated care organizations, there exists a theoretical rationale for the adoption of vertical integration to govern agency problems. Vertical integration has the potential to extirpate opportunistic actions and partial optimization in service systems (see, e.g. Gibbons, 2005). A crucial question in health-care management research remains to be resolved: under which conditions may the vertical integration of the payor and provider lead to system-level improvements?To fill this gap in the knowledge, this empirical study reports findings from one specific case outside the US by addressing the following research question: How does the ownership-based integration of a payor and a provider affect agency problems and the operational performance of an insurance-based occupational health-care system? By using a two-stage multimethod approach, an in-depth case study of Pohjola Insurance Company Ltd. and its integrated hospital in the Finnish occupational health-care market was conducted. In the first stage, a longitudinal qualitative study analyzed Pohjola's efforts to establish and operate an integrated occupational care system. The study explored the causes of agency problems, identified potential remedies (e.g. different governance mechanisms), and documented their deployment in Pohjola Hospital. Multiple mechanisms and their temporal sequence were captured to describe the process of change toward the integrated system.In the second stage, three working hypotheses were derived to further investigate the reasons why the integrated system could decrease the total cost of illness (comprising cost of care and cost of absence from work - that is, sick leave). A sequential multiple-mediator model was built to test a sample of 2,726 Pohjola occupational insurance customers and compare Pohjola Hospital's performance to partner hospitals', which are compensated on an FFS basis. The analysis provides statistical support to the observation that treatment in a payor-provider integrated hospital can attain improved performance by reducing the total cost of illness.This paper makes two primary contributions. First, the paper advances the established, yet ongoing, theoretical debate in supply chain management that vertical integration may effectively govern agency problems (see, e.g. Mahoney, 1992; Gibbons, 2005) by illustrating an organizational change process toward an integrated system. Second, the study provides a more exact contribution to health-care (operations) management by illustrating an exceptional case in which integration can yield better cost efficiency while maintaining high customer satisfaction. The Pohjola case may appear as a black swan (i.e. an anomaly in the existing knowledge); however, by carefully illustrating the case and context-specific nuances (i.e. the factors behind the success), this study's analysis provides new insights into vertical integration in health care, opening avenues for future research.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Occupational health-care service system: multiple actors with diverse interests\n3. Research design and methods: 3.1 Multimethod case study design\n4. Qualitative findings: The qualitative findings indicated that payor-provider integration produces system-level benefits by speeding up patients' recovery and return to work and thus decreasing the total costs of occupational accidents. However, the analysis revealed that the connection between the integration of the care provision and decreased costs is not straightforward. Contrarily, several mechanisms were identified to precede the realization of the positive outcomes. Figure 4 encapsulates the different actions and mechanisms required to implement the change and achieve such results in this particular case. The figure shows how the development of the integrated system was triggered by the alignment of actors' diverse interests which preceded the activities which focused on improving daily operations and signaling superior experience to customers. Next we explain how these three main remedies consisting of multiple actions in this particular case became to govern agency problems on multiple fronts. 4.1 Remedy 1: aligning diverse interests\n5. Quantitative study phase: To evaluate the performance of the integrated system, three working hypotheses were formed motivated by this study's qualitative findings. It should be noted that despite the formulation and testing of hypotheses, the aim of the quantitative part is not to develop and test a generalizable theory, as the sample is restricted to Pohjola Insurance patients. Hence, this phase's aim is more modest and it provides numerical support that payor-provider integration in the Pohjola case actually led to improved performance. 5.1 Working hypotheses and model\n6. Discussion: 6.1 On the process of change: overcoming the resistant to ensure positive outcomes\n7. Conclusions: A longitudinal multimethod case study of Pohjola Hospital, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods was conducted to address the question: How does payor-provider integration affect agency problems and the operational performance of an insurance-based occupational health service system? The observed integrated Pohjola Hospital achieved a 9% decrease in the total cost of illness in three major diagnosis groups when compared to contractually compensated partner hospitals. Furthermore, this paper explains, in detail, the sequence of actions through which the integrated hospital was established and how it led to the mitigation of agency problems and the observed performance improvements. It can be observed that despite being constrained by one case and one setting, this study's findings provide valuable implications to both theory and practice while opening exciting avenues for future research. 7.1 Research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: To investigate the effects of payor-provider integration on the operational performance of health service provision. The research explores whether integration governs agency problems and tilts the incentives of diverse actors toward more systematic outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two stage multimethod case study of occupational health services. A qualitative stage aimed to understand the reasons, mechanisms, and outcomes of payor-provider integration. A quantitative stage evaluated the performance of the integrated hospital against fee-for-service partner hospitals with a sample of 2,726 patients.\nFindings: Payor-provider integration mitigates agency problems on multiple levels of the service system by complementing formal governance mechanisms with informal mechanisms. Compared to partner hospitals, the integrated hospital yielded 9% lower the total costs of occupational injuries achieved primarily by emphasizing conservative care and faster recovery.\nResearch limitations/implications: Focuses on occupational health services in Finland. Provides initial evidence of the effects of payor-provider integration on the operational performance.\nPractical implications: Vertical integration may provide systematic outcomes but requires mindful implementation of multiple mechanisms. Rigorous change management initiative is advised.\nSocial implications: For patients, the research shows payor-provider integration of health services can be implemented in a manner that it reduces care costs while not compromising care quality and customer satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a rare longitudinal analysis of payor-provider integration in health-care operations management. The study adds to the knowledge of operational performance improvement of health services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Negotiating choice, deception and risk: teenagers' perceptions of food safety	[ "Consumer", "Food safety", "Risk", "Youth", "Food", "Focus group", "Teenager" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Food safety has become a hot topic in recent years. In the news media, food safety finds near daily coverage, ranging from product recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illness, to regulatory changes, and the implementation of new food safety initiatives. In April 2015, the World Health Organization (2015) dedicated its annual World Health Day to this topic; in the USA, September has been named National Food Safety Month[1] (National Restaurant Association United States, 2016); and in Canada, the Safe Food for Canadians Act was implemented in 2015 (CFIA, 2015)[2].\nRisk, safety and constructing \"risk objects\": One key characteristic of contemporary social life is a \"well-distributed awareness of risk\" (Giddens, 1990, p. 125), which is a part of a consequence of living in a \"risk society\" (Beck, 1992). Such risks stem from modern industrial practices and globalization, and form a by-product of the modernization process (Beck, 1992). Food risks are a part of this process, and recognized as \"especially high in advanced countries that rely on knowledge-intensive production and management practices\" (Chatalova et al., 2016, p. 585). For instance, technological advances (such as food processing techniques, the use of pesticides, etc.) also produce multiple food risks, including toxins in foods, pesticide residue on produce and the like. Food safety can be understood as one strategy to mitigate such risks.\nFood safety research: knowledge deficit, risk perception, risky practice and purchasing behavior: Over the past two decades, an expanding body of research has investigated consumers' knowledge, perceptions and practices relating to food risks and food safety in and out of the home. While these studies rarely provide an explicit definition of food safety, they typically take up the concept as the prevention of foodborne illness through individual risk management and aim to inform policy and education initiatives to improve consumer food safety practices (e.g. Redmond and Griffith, 2005; Kennedy et al., 2005; Byrd-Bredbenner et al., 2007; Subba Rao et al., 2007; Kennedy et al., 2008; Leikas et al., 2009; Sanlier and Konaklioglu, 2012; Meysenburg et al., 2014). We suggest that the food safety literature can be mapped according to four interrelated research approaches: a knowledge deficit approach, a risk perception approach, a risky practice approach and a purchasing behavior approach.\nExploring food safety: a look at youth: Building on the research examining adult perceptions of food safety, a handful of studies have explored child and adolescent food safety knowledge, perception and practice (e.g. Haapala and Probart, 2004; Eves et al., 2006; Subba Rao et al., 2009; Byrd-Bredbenner et al., 2010; Mullan et al., 2013; Turconi et al., 2013; Burke and Dworkin, 2015; Majowicz et al., 2017). As these studies highlight, youth represent an important and unique audience for food safety education and intervention: they are the food handlers of tomorrow, yet have limited opportunities in the home and at school to learn correct food handling practice and to understand the risks associated with foodborne illness (along with their vulnerability to these risks). The teenage years are particularly important when it comes to develop hygienic practices in handling, preparing and consuming food; researchers argue that it is imperative to intervene in problematic practices before they become habitual (Burke and Dworkin, 2015; Coulson, 2002; Subba Rao et al., 2009; Majowicz et al., 2015; Ovca et al., 2014, 2017; Turconi et al., 2013). Teenagers have also been flagged as having particularly risky practices when it comes to food safety (Burke and Dworkin, 2015). As Majowicz et al. (2015) argues, teenagers (aged 13-18) are more likely than other age cohorts to not pay attention to food handling instructions or refrigeration temperatures, to improperly store raw and processed meats and poultry and to consume foods that are at a higher risk of causing foodborne illness. Teenagers' lack of experience and skills to mitigate these risks are compounded, the authors argue, by their confidence in their food safety knowledge and sense of invulnerability to foodborne illness. Since this age cohort comprises nearly 21 percent of the food service industry workforce in the USA, these risky practices also pose an increased risk of foodborne illness to their patrons (Burke and Dworkin, 2015; see also Ovca et al., 2017). Recognizing the value of the education system in offering resources and information, these studies additionally view adolescents as possible arbiters of change, able to pass on food safety concerns and practices to family, peers and community members (Ovca et al., 2014, 2017; Mullan et al., 2013; Eves et al., 2006; Subba Rao et al., 2009; Turconi et al., 2013).\nMethods: Focus group methodology was used to explore the meaning of food safety to teenagers. As part of a larger study on teenager perceptions of food held in June 2013, five focus groups were conducted with students (aged 12-14) from one school in Calgary, AB. Students discussed their perspectives on food marketing, packaging, regulation and, of primary concern for this paper, food safety. As per recommendations on research with young people, each focus group had six participants (Eder and Fingerson, 2001; Gibson, 2007, 2012) separated by age and sex. Individual groups were held for girls age 12-14, and for boys, age 12 and 13. Focus groups were held in a classroom during school hours; the responses were videotaped and transcribed verbatim (with pseudonyms used in the reporting of results). Researchers also took field notes during and after each session. Both the participating school and the University of Calgary Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board approved the study protocol. Written consent was obtained from both parents and students.\nResults and discussion: When asked, \"What is food safety?\" and \"What does food safety mean to you?\" The teenagers responded with views that fall under three broad categories, namely, food safety as located within the system, located within the individual and located within the edible. These categories contain subthemes that, not surprisingly, echo the concepts of knowledge deficit, risk perception, risky practice and purchasing behavior found in the literature described above. Moreover, like other quantitative and qualitative studies of teenagers and food safety (e.g. Burke and Dworkin, 2015; Majowicz et al., 2017; Byrd-Bredbenner et al., 2010), the teenagers in this study expressed poor food safety knowledge.\nFood safety as located within the system: Deliberate and accidental harm\nConclusion: The meaning of food safety: shifting the framing of contamination and focus of risk\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the teenager perspectives of the meaning of food safety, and the implications of those meanings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Five focus groups were conducted with students (aged 12-14) from Calgary, AB. Participants were asked what food safety means to them and probed about their views on the relationship between food safety and packaged foods. Grounded theorizing informed the analysis.\nFindings: Food safety was described as located within the system, located within the individual and located within the edible. Key to these teenagers' understanding of food safety is the theme of food deception - a deception promulgated by food producers, manufacturers and advertisers who lack transparency about what they are actually selling. Teenagers draw attention to the risks associated with living in an industrialized food environment, and to the tension between safety and the industry-driven motive to sell.\nOriginality/value: Individuals start to make independent decisions around food preparation and consumption as teenagers; as present and future consumers, it is valuable to learn their perspectives and knowledge about food safety. More importantly, food safety is not only simply a health-related issue but also a semantic one. This study moves beyond the knowledge deficit approach characterizing most research on the topic. Instead, it probes the range of meanings associated with food safety and how they are worked out, revealing that the teenagers' construction of food as \"risk objects\" reveals different links to harm than the food safety interventions typically directed to them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Authenticity and exclusivity appeals in luxury advertising: the role of promotion and prevention pride	[ "Authenticity", "Prevention focus", "Promotion focus", "Pride", "Luxury advertising", "Exclusivity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past three decades, luxury brand marketing has been the subject of much interest from both academics and practitioners. This interest has been driven by the unprecedented growth of luxury consumption: the overall luxury market reached EUR1.3tn globally and specifically, the global personal luxury goods (apart from luxury cars and luxury experiences) was estimated at EUR281bn in 2019 (Bain and Company, 2019). Chandon et al. (2016, p. 299, emphasis added) note, however, that \"although traditional associations of luxury emphasized rarity and the happy few or aristocracy as buyers, current sales levels mainly result from a large downward extension to the happy many.\" This paradoxical notion of luxury for the masses, also termed \"democratization of luxury,\" has fostered the need to deepen our understanding of the behaviors of contemporary consumers of luxury and marketing strategies.\nLiterature review and development of hypotheses: Luxury brand appeals: authenticity and exclusivity\nOverview of studies: Figure 1 describes our conceptual model. We conducted a pre-test and three experimental studies to test our hypotheses. In each study, we recruited US participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Notably, MTurk panel has been considered to be more diverse (Buhrmester et al., 2011) and typically perform better attention checks than student samples (Hauser and Schwarz, 2016) and MTurk has been used in previous research on luxury brand advertising (Kwon et al., 2016). Detailed demographic profiles of participants can be found in Appendix 1. Studies 1A and 1B test our predictions by examining the concept activation. That is, we investigate whether the two forms of pride (promotion vs prevention pride) can elicit divergent preferences within the choice of luxury value appeals (authenticity vs exclusivity). Study 1A uses the incidental pride elicitation method and measures chronic regulatory focus, whereas Study 1B manipulates both incidental pride and regulatory focus. Study 2 extends the scope of our findings to include a more practical application, whereby we manipulated the emotions within an advertising message itself (i.e. integral emotions). Through these investigations, this study establishes the influence of our hypothesized match-up effects on advertising effectiveness.\nStimuli design and pre-test: Because we wanted to control for potential confounds that could arise from the idiosyncratic characteristics of specific well-known luxury brands, a cover story was developed for our studies; that a luxury brand from South Korea was developing an advertising campaign for their cosmetic product to enter the US market. To this end we developed two mock luxury advertisements, which we subsequently used in all of our studies. For Studies 1A and 1B, we developed an advertisement featuring a luxury cosmetics brand Sulhwasoo from South Korea, which was relatively unknown outside of Asia (Garner, 2018). For Study 2, we developed an advertisement that did not feature a specific brand name. It was then important to validate whether these advertisements were, indeed, perceived by participants as luxury advertising. Therefore, we carried out a pre-test study that aimed to establish:\nStudy 1A: Study 1 A offers initial evidence for our predictions. Specifically, it provides support for our hypothesized match-up effects by using a priming method that elicits the incidental (unrelated to the target decision) emotion of pride and by adopting the chronic measure of regulatory focus (promotion vs prevention). Importantly, we also included the neutral (no emotion) condition to demonstrate that our effects occur because of pride and not merely as a consequence of the differences within regulatory focus. For the focal dependent variable, we measured consumer preference between the two advertisements featuring either authenticity or exclusivity value appeal.\nStudy 1B: Study 1B replicates the findings of Study 1A using a different manipulation task, a narrative reading task to manipulate emotion states. This method allowed us to control for the participants' arousal levels associated with their idiosyncratic experiences that could have influenced their subsequent consumption choices (Di Muro and Murray, 2012). We also manipulated promotion and prevention focus (instead of measuring it) to establish the causal effects.\nStudy 2: Although Studies 1A and 1B provide important causal evidence with high internal validity for the match-up effects between the two types of pride (promotion vs prevention) and the two luxury value appeals (authenticity vs exclusivity), they lack practical application. That is, consumers are not offered a choice between different types of advertising appeals in the real world. Thus, Study 2 extends the spectrum of our findings to include the context where managers can extrapolate practical implications. To achieve this, Study 2 elicits both emotional and luxury appeals within the same advertisement.\nGeneral discussion: Drawing on research discussing a range of luxury value appeals (Beverland, 2005; Gurzki and Woisetschlager, 2017; Joy et al., 2012; Roux et al., 2017) and the role of emotions in consumer judgments (Griskevicius et al., 2010; Ohman and Mineka, 2003; Williams and Davies, 2017), our study sheds a new light on how to improve the effectiveness of luxury advertising. Across three experimental studies, we demonstrate that the effectiveness of advertising messages for luxury brands can be enhanced by matching consumers' emotions of promotion (prevention) pride with an exclusivity (authenticity) appeal. Notably, we show how emotions can be temporarily and purposively elicited and matched with the desired luxury value appeals within adverting messages and these findings have practical implications for managers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the effectiveness of luxury advertising can be improved by matching the emotional (promotion pride vs prevention pride) and luxury value (authenticity vs exclusivity) appeals within advertising messages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three experiments were conducted. Studies 1A and 1B establish the influence of incidental emotions and regulatory focus on consumer preferences for divergent luxury value appeals (exclusivity vs authenticity) within advertisements. Study 2 shows the match-up effects of congruent emotional and luxury value appeals on advertising effectiveness.\nFindings: The authors offer causal evidence that promotion pride increases the preference for exclusivity appeals, whereas prevention pride increases the preference for authenticity appeals in luxury advertising.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study offers a novel perspective into the ways consumers evaluate different value appeals in luxury advertising and establishes the important role played by emotions within such evaluations.\nPractical implications: Marketers of luxury products can increase the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns by considering the fit between emotional and luxury value appeals. Specifically, the authors show that the congruent matching of promotion pride with exclusivity appeals and of prevention pride with authenticity appeals within advertising messages can elicit more favorable consumer responses.\nOriginality/value: The study is the first to illustrate novel \"match-up\" effects: it shows when and how different luxury value appeals (exclusivity vs authenticity) and emotions (promotion pride vs prevention pride) influence the effectiveness of luxury advertising.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Capital structure decisions of LPTs in a small economy	[ "New Zealand", "Capital structure", "Exchange rates", "Real estate", "Investments", "Trusts", "Listed property trusts", "Real estate investment trust", "Small economy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Evidence shows that UK listed property companies, European and US REITs capital structure decisions are consistent with the predictions of the trade-off theory (Ooi, 1999; Morri and Cristanziani, 2009; Boudry et al., 2010). US and European REITs are also likely to conform to the pecking order theory (Morri and Beretta, 2008; Morri and Cristanziani, 2009). However, REITs do not have tax shield benefits or hold high growth property portfolios. REITs have substantial cash flow constraints due to the dividend payout requirement (Hardin et al., 2009; Hill et al., 2010). REITs in most countries are restricted to undertake significant developments or other investments (Ooi and Neo, 2010).It is therefore worthwhile to investigate whether the trade-off theory or the pecking order theory dominates a similar property investment trust entity to REITs, and the entity does not exclude tax payments and growth potential. This investment vehicle exists in Australasia. While Australia REITs (A-REITs) have tax transparency when they distribute 100 percent taxable income as dividends, New Zealand listed property trusts (LPTs) do not have tax transparency, dividend payout restrictions or investment composition restrictions (Liao et al., 2011).This research uses New Zealand LPTs to test the above two competing hypotheses, for the following three reasons. First, around 48 percent A-REITs included in the A-REIT 200 index in 2008 are stapled with a property management or development company (Rowland, 2010). A stapled A-REIT allows for substantial non-property investment activities (Newell, 2010). It complicates the identification of capital structure determinants. Second, the economies of scale for debt issuance may not be prominent in a small economy. Firm size is used as a proxy for the economies of scale in a large market, like Europe (Morri and Cristanziani, 2009). In a small economy, firm size reflects the asset liquidation risk due to the limited investments. In this study, firm size is used as a proxy for asset liquidation that is relevant to the cost of financial distress. In addition, New Zealand relies on the foreign capital market to reduce debt costs by means of the cross-currency and interest rate SWAPs. The fluctuation of the exchange rate signals the change of offshore funds supply and the implicit debt cost. It appears necessary to take the exchange rate into account in testing the competing hypotheses of capital structure theories.The research contributes the following new perspectives to the literature. First, the research on LPTs yields additional insights into the capital structure theories, which cannot be explained by the existing evidence on REITs. Second, the analysis of long-term debt decisions highlights the importance of the risk and cost of financial distress in the trade-off theory. Last but not least, the investigation of the exchange rate as a new variable will enhance investor knowledge of capital structure theories in the context of globalization.The next section reviews the literature in relation to capital structure decisions, followed by a section of data and methodology. A discussion of results is then provided. The research concludes with additional implications and suggestions on further research.\n2 Liquidity for financial distress cost and market timing in a small economy: Corporate tax status is important in the trade-off theory, as confirmed by Morri and Cristanziani (2009). The other crucial factor is the cost of financial distress, which can be represented by the liquidity of properties. The liquidity of properties can be signified by the lease maturity, foreclosure recovery rate and property sector ranking (Giambona et al., 2008). However, Giambona et al.'s (2008) inconsistent findings on the significance of the variable Volatility imply that lease maturity of a REIT may signal the cash flow volatility but not liquidity. The information of foreclosure recovery rate is not available for the market in New Zealand.The market timing theory predicts that managers can choose the optimal time to issue debt or shares, according to the floatation cost and price in the capital market (Baker and Wurgler, 2002; Baker et al., 2003). Casey et al. (2006) and Boudry et al. (2010) find strong evidence to support the market timing theory in their study of US REITs. Ooi et al. (2010) find that a REIT tends to issue equity stock when the stock market performance or REIT stock performance is good and when investors demand a high premium for long-term debt investment. Market timing seems to explain REITs capital structure decisions more effectively because it is not based on predetermined corporate tax and company growth assumptions. However, market timing for equity issuance is not applicable in a small economy, in which the number of transactions in the equity market is extremely low. For example, the number of daily transactions for LPTs in New Zealand can be less than ten. In such an inactive equity market, the market timing of debt costs may be more important than equity performance.The interest rate in New Zealand is known to be higher than in other larger markets. There are plenty of offshore investments denominated in New Zealand dollars. This enables New Zealand banks to reap profits through investments denominated in other currencies at a lower cost. When bank lending activities heavily rely on offshore capital, the exchange rate needs to be taken into account with respect to debt costs.\n3 Sample and methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4 Results: Table II provides the estimated results from the truncated regression of Model (1). The variable Log(Total Assets) is significantly negatively correlated with the change in long-term debt leverage. This departs from the findings in existing studies of the European market. Ooi (2000) and Morri and Cristanziani (2009) find a positive relationship between leverage and property company or REIT size, using European data. The positive relationship is the result of economies of scale for debt issuance.For an economy as small as New Zealand, the economies of scale for debt issuance are insignificant. The significant negative relationship between Log(Total Assets) and the change in long-term debt leverage suggest that a New Zealand LPT is likely to increase long-term debt when the properties (assets) in the portfolio become more liquid. This is because Log(Total Assets) has high positive correlation with the average individual property value, and the average individual property value has negative correlation with the liquidity of the LPT portfolio. Giambona et al.'s (2008) findings implicitly confirm that firm size can be used as a proxy for liquidity, because, when the firm size is significant and negatively correlated with leverage, when other liquidity proxies become insignificant.The significant negative coefficient of Log(Total Assets) confirms the negative correlation between the cost of financial distress and long-term debt leverage. This finding supports the trade-off theory. The other significant variable in Table II is the Price-earnings Ratio. Ooi et al. (2010) include this variable in a market timing test for US REIT debt and equity issuance using quarterly data. With respect to yearly frequency, the Price-earnings Ratio is likely to represent the profitability of earnings regeneration. At equilibrium, the Price-earnings Ratio signals the growth efficiency based on available earnings. The efficient earnings regeneration yields more internal financial resources than the less efficient earnings regeneration. Thus, a significant negative coefficient of the Price-earnings Ratio is expected under the pecking order theory. However, the coefficient is found to be significantly positive in this present study. Thus, the pecking order theory should be rejected for New Zealand LPTs.The variable, Appreciation of NZD against USD, is found to be insignificant. However, the one-year forward appreciation rate has a significant negative correlation with the long-term debt leverage change. It suggests that New Zealand LPTs are likely to reduce long-term debt when the market signals a potential appreciation of New Zealand dollar against the US dollar in near future. This is because the one-year forward appreciation rate predicts that the supply of New Zealand dollars from the offshore capital market through the cross-currency interest rate SWAPs may be tightened in the near future. New Zealand banks have to increase local effective borrowing cost accordingly. The increase in the effective borrowing cost makes long-term debt less attractive. Comparing the log likelihood reported in Table II it is worth noting that the test including the one-year forward appreciation rate provides the largest log likelihood of the three truncated regressions. This suggests that incorporating the one-year forward appreciation rate does improve the model specification.Table III reports the significance and coefficients from the probit test of Model (2). The dependent variable is the dummy of long-term debt reduction. The findings are insignificant with regard to estimates using traditional variables. The New Zealand dollar appreciation rate and the one-year forward appreciation rate are positively correlated with long-term debt reduction. This means that an LPT tends to reduce long-term debt, when either the New Zealand dollar appreciates or is likely to appreciate in the near future. The Log(Total Assets) has significant positive correlation with the dummy variable of long-term debt reduction. The significant negative correlation between the Pricing-earnings Ratio and the long-term debt reduction does not confirm the pecking order theory. The above findings are consistent with the findings of Model (1).Interest Rate Spread is found to exert a significant negative impact on the long-term debt reduction, suggesting that LPTs are less likely to retire long-term debt when investors become more risk-averse. The findings on the influence of NZ Stock Market Performance are puzzling. The significant negative relationship between the variable and the long-term debt reduction suggests that LPTs are less likely to decrease long-term debt when the New Zealand stock market performs better. The contrasting finding from this present research may imply that the market timing theory does not apply to New Zealand, because the stock exchange has such a low volume of activities. In such a situation, the market timing theory is more applicable to debt costs than equity costs, as implied by the significance of Appreciation of one Year Forward Rate and Appreciation of NZD against USD.Comparing the pseudo R2 [1] and the Akaike info criterion reported in Table III it reveals that the tests including the New Zealand dollar appreciation information are superior to those with only the traditional variables. The findings from Models (1) and (2) consistently report that the tests including the 1 Year forward New Zealand dollar appreciation rate are better than those using traditional variables or including the New Zealand dollar appreciation rate. This suggests that investors and LPTs take into account information on the forward exchange rate.\n5 Conclusion: This study tests the competing capital structure theories on LPT long-term leverage changes in New Zealand. Unlike the findings for REITs, where the pecking order theory is supported, New Zealand LPTs are found to follow the predictions of the trade-off theory. Empirical tests reject the application of the pecking order theory to New Zealand LPTs. The market timing theory, which considers equity market performance, is also rejected. This is because the New Zealand equity market has an extremely low number of transactions. The market timing of implicit debt cost is supported.The one-year forward New Zealand dollar appreciation rate has a significant negative impact on long-term debt leverage. This is because of the active offshore fund raising system designed to support domestic borrowers. The findings imply that the capital structure decision will no longer be a solely domestic issue, when a variety of cross-border financial products become available in the wake of globalization. In a small economy, the liquidity of holding properties outweighs the economies of scale in determining long-term debt structure. A small economy constrains the scale of debt issuance. The potential cost of financial distress becomes high with a limited number of investors.The findings provide macro-policy implications on the official cash rate (OCR) and trade agreements. The OCR may have double effects on the capital structure decisions of LPTs. One of the effects is straightforward. The borrowing cost in the local financial market will increase in response to an increase of OCR. The other effect is that the increase of OCR would signal a possible appreciation of New Zealand dollar. This consequence may further reduce the debt ratio. In accordance to the above two effects, the capital structure decisions by LPTs would be sensitive to the OCR level that is reviewed by the New Zealand Reserve Bank. The current monetary policy employed by the New Zealand Reserve Bank could be effective to provide guidance on desired financial status especially for LPTs.Government could also implicitly reduce the debt ratio of LPTs by promoting the net exports of New Zealand commodities and service through bilateral trade agreements. The increase of demand for New Zealand goods and service from overseas will signal an appreciation of New Zealand dollar. The long-term debt ratio for LPTs may decrease accordingly.The findings of this study provide valuable input to both the theoretical literature and to investors in practice. In a small economy, borrowers should examine information on the forward exchange rate for capital structure decisions. Besides, the above, the market timing behaviour of REITs and LPTs seems to differ according to the level of stock market activity. The findings of the study open up other questions too, such as how transaction volume influences a market timing capital raising strategy.Furthermore, by continuing with the New Zealand case, debt maturity can be incorporated into the tests, as in Giambona et al. (2008). In addition, a similar framework to this research can be applied to Singapore and Hong Kong REITs, in order to examine the impact of asset liquidity and exchange rates on capital structure decisions in these two small and open economies. In addition, Australian property funds had borrowed substantial portions of debt from the USA and Europe before the recent global credit crisis (Rowland, 2010). A variety of short and medium loans, bonds and notes were available, which were sourced from investment banks in the USA, Europe, and Japan (Viney, 2009). The present research can be extended into a more sophisticated framework to study how exchange rate influences the capital structure decisions of A-REITs when the stapled trusts are taken into account.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The existing literature on real estate investment trust (REIT) capital-structure decisions implicitly excludes either interest payment tax shield benefits or a trust's growth potential. The purpose of this paper is to test the long-term debt leverage decisions of listed property trusts (LPTs), but without excluding interest payment tax shield benefits and growth potential. A new variable, the exchange rate, is included in the tests, because financial products subject to globalization, such as SWAPs are currently used to support the funding of small economies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper uses a truncated regression and probit model to empirically test two competing hypotheses - the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory. It also takes into account the implicit debt costs influenced by the exchange rate. The data for New Zealand LPTs are used.\nFindings: - Unlike the existing literature, it is found that the trade-off theory is supported, while the pecking order theory is rejected, when New Zealand LPTs are studied. The additional variable of the one-year forward appreciation rate of the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar is found to have a significant negative relationship with changes in the long-term debt ratio.\nPractical implications: - This paper suggests that LPTs tend to reduce long-term debt when the market signals a possible appreciation of the New Zealand dollar.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies the need to explicitly take into account both tax-shield benefits and growth potential when testing competing hypotheses on capital structure decisions. It also recommends including the exchange rate in the capital structure determinants test, especially when companies or trusts in a small economy are studied.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"We're all real serious filmmakers": Learning about and creating multimodal mini-documentaries	[ "Semiotics", "Systemic functional linguistics (SFL)", "English language arts", "ICT and English", "New literacies", "Teaching writing", "Literacy teaching" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For the last 30 years, systemic functional linguistics (SFL) has provided a language for teachers and students in Australia to explicitly discuss written texts: their construction and the language resources utilized to create meaning in a particular context (Martin, 1999). The metalanguage to describe the organisational and language features at a discourse, paragraph, sentence (clause) and semantic level enables critical textual analysis based on a theoretically informed discussion and engagement of L1 (native English speakers) and L2 (English as an additional language or dialect) learners. This knowledge is activated to create similar written texts and manipulate meanings in writing as students \"learn to play and adapt the various genres\" (Christie, 2013, p. 12). Into the twenty-first century, the influence of SFL in social semiotics has extended beyond the written mode underpinning the description of \"grammars\" associated with other modes, such as the visual, audio and movement. These grammars have been used by educators to critique multimodal texts in a range of mediums and scaffold students' production of multimodal texts, extending students' critical language awareness by building on their existing knowledge of written text construction (Zammit, 2015).\nBackground: Researchers in literacy in the schooling years and teachers have recognised that, for students in schools to fully participate in today's and tomorrow's society, they have to be multiliterate and confident to work in an electronic world (Downes and Zammit, 2001; Lankshear and Knobel, 2006; Leu et al., 2014). Students need to be competent in many different literacies. They need to be able to read and write traditional educational genres, as well as be competent viewers and creators of written, visual and multimodal texts. Such a perspective is embedded in the Australian Curriculum: English for primary and secondary schools [Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2012] and state-based syllabus (NSW Board of Studies, 2012). The analytical tools teachers use in the primary classroom as a language to talk about language (a metalanguage) is based on the social semiotic approach of SFL (Halliday, 1978, 1994; Martin, 1992).\nMethodology: A design-based approach was used in the study, with the teacher and author working closely together to implement a unit of work on mini-documentaries, including explicit teaching of the metalanguage of information reports, mini-documentary narration (aka script) and multimodal resources deployed in creating them. The study was undertaken in a Year 3 class (8-9-year-old students) in a school in South West Sydney. The school is located in a low socio-economic area and has a diverse student population with high mobility. There were 29 students: 15 Anglo, five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, four SE Asian, four Arabic/Iraqi and one Fijian Indian. Rajini, the class teacher, had been part of a previous research study involving the whole school using the Fair Go Program's engaging pedagogies frameworks (Sawyer et al., 2018) and had a researcherly disposition (Lingard and Renshaw, 2010). She was motivated to teach her students documentary-making after a workshop held at the Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre (NSW Department of Education, http://fieldofmarseec.nsw.edu.au/resources/primary), and with the other Year 3 and Year 4 teachers decided to hold an end-of-year event for the school community to showcase students' documentaries. Ethics approval was obtained, and all names are pseudonyms.\nDeveloping critical multimodal awareness: animal mini-documentaries: In this section, I will outline and discuss the instructional practices we developed for students to learn about the resources and affordances of mini-documentaries, the different modes and the vocabulary associated with these (the \"metalanguage\") to enable deeper understanding and a common language to discuss the mini-documentaries. It will begin with discussing the learning about multimodal resources and grammars followed by a discussion of how students applied their understandings of multimodal affordances and grammars during preparation and creation of their animal mini-documentaries.\nConclusion: In this article, I have shown how a sequence of instructional practices designed to explicitly teach about the grammars of multimodal mini-documentaries, enabled students to develop a greater depth of understanding about the choices authors make in the written, visual, gestural and audio mode to create a multimodal ensemble. SFL provided a language to talk about the written mode and with the functional \"grammars\" of visual, gestural and audio mode, provided a language to talk about multimodal texts: the representational, compositional and interactive resources. SFL promoted critical language awareness, enabling students' conscious manipulation of modes and choice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to seek to demonstrate how explicit teaching of SFL metalinguistic and multimodal \"grammars\" enhanced 8-9-year-old children's deeper understanding and production of multimodal texts through critique of the construction of mini-documentaries about animals: the information, language of narration, composition of scenes and resources to engage the viewer. It also seeks to demonstrate how a knowledge of metalinguistic and multimodal \"grammars\" contributes to students achieving both content knowledge and understanding of the resources of semiotic modes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A design-based approach was used with the teacher and author working closely together to implement a unit of work on mini-documentaries, including explicit teaching of the metalanguage of information reports, mini-documentary narration (aka script) and multimodal resources deployed to scaffold students' creating their own mini-documentaries.\nFindings: The students' mini-documentaries demonstrate how knowledge of SFL written and multimodal SFL-informed \"grammars\" assisted students to learn how meaning was created through selection of resources from the written, visual, sound and gestural modes and apply this knowledge to creating multimodal texts demonstrating their understandings of the topic and how to make meaning in a multimodal mini-documentary.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited to the outcomes from one group of students in one class. Generalisation to other contexts is not possible. Further studies are required to support the results from this research.\nPractical implications: The linguistic and multimodal SFL-informed grammars can be applied by educators to critique multimodal texts in a range of mediums and scaffold students' production of multimodal texts. They can also inform assessment criteria and expand students' conception of what is literate practice.\nOriginality/value: Knowledge of a linguistic and multimodal metalanguage can provide students with the tools to enhance their critical language awareness and critical multimodal awareness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Job resources and satisfaction across gender: the role of work-family conflict	[ "Social support", "Work family issues", "Job satisfaction", "Job resources" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although work-family enrichment literature (e.g. Greenhaus and Powell, 2006; Siu et al., 2015) suggests the positive effects of combining work and family, much of the research has focused on conflict between work and family (e.g. Greenhaus and Powell, 2006; Gronlund, 2007; Hoobler et al., 2010; Kelly et al., 2014; Schultheiss, 2006; Shockley et al., 2017). Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) described the conflict between work and family as \"a form of interrole conflict in which the role pressure from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect\" (p. 77). Work-family conflict (WFC) refers to the impact of work on family, while family-work conflict (FWC) denotes the influence of family on work (Frone, 2003). For several reasons, this study focuses on WFC. First, work interferes with family more easily than family with work, thus WFC is more prevalent than FWC (Whiston and Cinamon, 2015; Zhao et al., 2017). Second, WFC has stronger effects on individual functioning (i.e. well-being, psychological distress) than FWC (e.g. Frone, 2003; Kinnunen et al., 2010). Third, due to changes in the composition of the workforce and in today's work demands, it is often hard to reconcile work and family life, which frequently leads to WFC (e.g. Clark et al., 2017; Hwang and Ramadoss, 2017; Kinnunen et al., 2010). A more comprehensive understanding of WFC is important for suggestions on how to better harmonize work and family life.\nMethod: Participants\nStatistical analysis: Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and mediation analysis were conducted separately for men and women. For calculating the direct and indirect effects, mediation analysis was conducted using macro PROCESS for SPSS (Hayes, 2013). Inference about the direct effects is done using the standard method used for inference for any regression coefficient in a regression model. We tested the significance of the indirect effect using bootstrapping (MacKinnon et al., 2002; MacKinnon et al., 2004). The indirect effects in this paper were computed on 5,000 bootstrapped samples. Confidence intervals (CI) are calculated for inference about the indirect effects, and if CI contains zero the effect was declared as insignificant. The criterion for statistical interference was p<0.05.\nResults: Descriptive and correlation analyses\nDiscussion: The findings confirmed the hypotheses about the direct effect of job resources on job satisfaction in women and men, and the mediational role of WFC in the relationship between co-worker support and job satisfaction in women, but not in men. The mediational role of WFC in the relation between job autonomy and job satisfaction in men and women was not supported by the empirical data. The results confirm the theoretical postulation of the Job-Demands-Control-Support Model, partially the matching hypothesis on WFC, and point to gender differences in the link between job resources-WFC-job satisfaction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct effects of job autonomy and co-worker support on job satisfaction, and the mediational role of work-family conflict (WFC) in the relationship between these job resources and job satisfaction in men and women.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional design was used. Participants (n=653) completed the WFC scale (Netemeyer et al., 1996), the job autonomy scale (Costigan et al., 2003), a scale of co-worker support (Sloan, 2012) and a new short multidimensional scale of job satisfaction.\nFindings: Higher job autonomy and co-worker support contribute positively to job satisfaction in women and men. Co-worker support has an indirect effect on job satisfaction via WFC in women, but not in men. The WFC did not mediate the relationship between job autonomy and satisfaction in men and women.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the research on the effects of job resources on WFC and job satisfaction, and on gender differences in the relationship between work and family.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender, race/ethnicity, and entrepreneurship: women entrepreneurs in a US south city	[ "Gender", "Entrepreneurship", "Race and ethnicity", "Community" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Women-owned enterprises have grown unprecedentedly. In the 1970s, US nonfarm firms in which women held the majority of ownership amounted to less than 5 percent of all firms. By 2016, women are now the majority owners of 38 percent of the country's businesses, up from 29 percent in 2007. It is estimated that there are 11.3 million women-owned businesses in the USA, employing nearly 9 million people and generating over $1.6 trillion in revenues. Meanwhile, firms owned by women of color have increased by 126 percent since 2007, with nearly eight out of every ten (79 percent) net new women-owned firms launched by a woman of color (Womenable, 2016).\nLiterature review: gender, race/ethnicity, and entrepreneurship: Social norm, identity, and disadvantage of women and ethnic minority business owners\nData and methodology: This study is conducted in an emerging immigration destination, Charlotte, North Carolina. Compared to established immigration gateways like New York and Los Angeles, large volumes of immigration have historically been absent from the demographic, economic, cultural, and political landscapes in the US south (except for Miami). However, the past three decades have seen a dramatic growth of immigrants pouring into this region, and Charlotte has been labeled as an \"emerging immigrant gateway\" with \"hypergrowth\" of Latino immigrants (Singer, 2015). The dramatic demographic changes have socially and economically transformed the historic reality of Charlotte as quintessentially southern and biracial, as well as opportunity structures for ethnic entrepreneurship for both men and women.\nFindings: Overall characteristics of the women entrepreneurs in the study area\nDiscussion: This study examines female entrepreneurship in a new immigration destination in the US south. Consistent with national picture in the USA, rates of business ownership differ significantly by gender, race/ethnicity, and foreign-born status. Men have a higher rate of business ownership than women do, especially among whites and blacks. Furthermore, the earned income from work is lower for women business owners than for men, and the rate of business incorporation is lower for women-owned businesses as well.\nConclusion: A majority but not all of our project participants shared discriminatory experiences and, as result, have the perception that they are disadvantaged due to their status as female and/or business owners of color. In addition, balancing between home and work has been a struggle for some of them due to long working hours compounded by familial responsibilities. These experiences reflect the constraints and barriers for women entrepreneurs especially for Asian and Hispanics. At the same time, entrepreneurship has also brought independence, flexibility, and new opportunities for these women. In their daily operations that are overlapped between work and home space, traditional \"female\" assets are leveraged as these women strategically integrating their multiple social roles into their entrepreneurial activities. From business startup, to hiring employees and subcontractors, finding clients, and forming partnerships with other businesses, women entrepreneurs have extensively used their social networks and resources which are highly contingent on gender, race/ethnicity, and community. The intersectionality between gender, race, ethnicity, and perhaps nationality as well, is manifested by how they perceive their multiple social identities and how they creatively cope with different social roles in the entrepreneurial process, even it is not always smooth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how gender, interacting with race and ethnicity, plays a role in women entrepreneurship process and how women entrepreneurs' experiences shape and are shaped by their communities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, five-year 2010-2014 American Community Survey data are analyzed. Then, in-depth interview and focus groups discussion are conducted with 40 women business owners and the data are analyzed using the software package QSR Nvivo.\nFindings: Women entrepreneurs face the challenges and the difficulties of managing both family roles and work. However, they have strategically negotiating with their multiple roles through entrepreneurship to gain independence and purpose, as well as the opportunity to contribute to society. In particular, their embeddedness within local communities provides meanings, opportunities, and functional strategies for their entrepreneurial activities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is based on only one study area. A larger sample size with more cases from multiple study areas can provide further insights.\nPractical implications: Findings from this study have profound implications for practices of equitable growth, community development, and urban planning under the rapid growth of immigration.\nOriginality/value: First, extending focus on the social identity of \"motherhood,\" this study argues for considering multiple social identities of women entrepreneurs and the intersectionality of multiple identities. Second, it extends the traditional focus of entrepreneurship studies from a singular focus on economic growth to include additional dimensions of work-life balance and sense of community. Third, place is not only a context but also acts powerfully into the entrepreneurial process. It argues that women entrepreneurs and their businesses are deeply embedded in local communities as their multiple identities are shaped at both home and work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modelling and analysis of barriers affecting the implementation of lean green agile manufacturing system (LGAMS)	[ "Barriers", "Total interpretive structural modelling (TISM)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The prior concerns for the industry are going to be a quality product, technological advancement conceding the erratic customer demands, non-fouling products and downsizing non-value added time. Despite the fact that espousing a new manufacturing approach is never an easy task, but if facing minor losses can bestow tremendous performance, then it is advised to adopt such methods. To accomplish the required actions, three approaches are used, i.e. lean approach, green approach and agile approach which are explained below.\n2. Research background: 2.1 Lean manufacturing (LM)\n3. Barriers to LGAMS: Thirteen barriers are identified through a review of literature and discussion with experts in the industry and academia. The development of these barriers is done while referring to lean, green and agile strategies to showcase the clear relevance of barriers. The descriptions of 13 barriers are mentioned below.\n4. Methodology: Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) is an established and widely used methodology for identifying relationships among specific items, which define a problem or an issue (Warfield, 1974; Sage, 1977). The model formed portrays the structure of a complex issue or problem (Attri et al., 2013). Expert decisions are collected and used to decide how the variables or factors are interrelated (George and Pramod, 2014). The methodology is interpretive as the judgment of the group decides whether and how the variables are related. It is structural too, as on the basis of relationship; an overall structure is extracted from the complex set of variables.\n5. Results and discussion: After an extensive literature review regarding the three systems, i.e. lean manufacturing system, agile manufacturing system and green manufacturing system, a hybrid system considering all the attributes of the above was developed which was called lean green agile manufacturing system. The barriers from the three systems were selected in order to infer their combined effect on the proposed LGAMS. A mathematical model approach was implemented to bring about the hierarchy among the identified barriers. The barriers were then subjected to industry and academia opinions, and TISM was implemented. Both direct links and transitive links among the barriers defining their influence on each other were taken into consideration.\n6. Conclusion: This research paper identifies the 13 key barriers which affect the modeling of LGAMS. The present model identifies the influence of barriers, mutual relationship, relative importance and interdependence of barriers with the help of TISM and MICMAC analysis. ISM is not able to identify the mutual relation between barriers so, in this paper, TISM model is used to identify the mutual relationship. Finally, integrated model of LGAMS has been developed by using TISM and MICMAC analysis. This mathematical model can be used as an aid to developing a suitable strategy for the designing and implementation of LGAMS in any organization. This finding will allow management to efficiently utilize their resources to focus attention on the most significant barriers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many types of research have already investigated the lean, green or agile manufacturing systems in a discrete manner or as combinations of two of them. In today's competitive scenario, if industry wants to perpetuate its name in the market, then it has to supervene proper thinking and smart approach. Therefore, the combination of lean, green and agile manufacturing systems can provide better and beneficial results. The purpose of this paper is to discern the barriers to the combined lean green agile manufacturing system (LGAMS), understand their interdependence and develop a framework to enhance LGAMS by using total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) and MICMAC (Matriced' Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquee a UN Classement) Analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses TISM methodology and MICMAC analysis to deduce the interrelationships between the barriers and rank them accordingly. A total of 13 barriers have been identified through extensive literature review and discussion with experts.\nFindings: An integrated LGAMS has been presented that balances the lean, green and agile paradigms and can help supply chains become more efficient, streamlined and sustainable. Barriers are identified while referring to all three strategies to showcase the clear relevance. TISM models the barriers in different levels showcasing direct and important transitive relations. Further, MICMAC analysis distributes the barriers in four clusters in accordance with their driving and dependence power.\nResearch limitations/implications: The inferences have been drawn from a model developed on the basis of inputs from a small fraction of the industry and academia and may show variations when considering the whole industry.\nPractical implications: The outcome of this research can contribute to bringing the change to the manufacturing systems used in most developing nations. Also, top managers considering adoption of LGAMS can be cautious of the most influential barriers.\nOriginality/value: A TISM-based model of the barriers to an integrated LGAMS has been proposed with evaluation of the influence of the barriers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Marketing tactics and parents' loyalty: the mediating role of school image	[ "Marketing strategy", "Schools", "Parents", "Taiwan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Educational marketing has been introduced into the compulsory education arena in many Western countries throughout the 1980s and 1990s (Oplatka and Hemsley-Brown, 2004); however, this topic is hardly discussed in Eastern countries despite the fact that the survival of many schools is dependent on their capacity to retain or increase the recruitment of students. This is particularly true of Taiwan, where schools currently face increasing competitive environments due to the dramatic decrease in birth rate, births dropping from 324,980 to 205,721 in the past decade (Ministry of the Interior, 2007). Interestingly, although in education studies a long research tradition exists that deals with the subject of student loyalty (Helgesen and Nesset, 2007; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2001) or parents' satisfaction (Friedman et al., 2006), empirical research which focuses on the incorporation of marketing activities in schools in order to improve school image and thus successfully retain and recruit students is scarce. Furthermore, although the existing literature explores a wide variety of factors relevant to parents' satisfaction with their children's school (Friedman et al., 2007, 2006), the researcher disagrees as to which one best contributes to parents' satisfaction which in turn further influences parents' intention and behavior (Friedman et al., 2007, 2006).For the current study, we focus on some selected elements of marketing tactics. In particular, we select five key elements, namely, product mix, people mix, price mix, place mix, and promotion mix as representative of marketing programs. Our research will investigate whether certain marketing tactics contribute to school image and then to parents' attitudes and behavior. The results will enable school principals to decide whether to initiate marketing plans and how to deliver them most effectively.We seek to answer the following research questions:* Which marketing tactics are most effective for building school image?* Does a favorable school image increase parents' loyalty to their children's school?* Is school image, as a mediating variable, effective in influencing the relationship between marketing tactics and parents' loyalty?\nConceptual model and hypotheses: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between school marketing tactics, parents' perception of school image and parents' loyalty. Figure 1 depicts the research model underlying our study. We separated our model into two portions. Portion 1 deals with parents' perception of marketing tactics and their effect on school image. Portion 2 includes school image as a predictor of parents' loyalty. Below we present the literature review and the hypotheses developed.Research hypotheses\nResearch method: Sample and data collection\nAnalysis and results: Table I contains the factor analysis results of the 26 (see Appendix) marketing tactics indices. The exploratory factor analysis was based on the principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation, eigenvalue exceed 1 and factor loadings exceeding 0.5. The test value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was 0.939 and the p-value of the Bartlett's sphericity test was significant (p<0.001), suggested the use of a factor analysis. In the end, 26 out of 29 items of marketing tactics were identified that had a factor loading over 0.5, and five factors (product mix, people mix, price mix, place mix, and promotion mix) with eigenvalues larger than 1 were extracted. The total percentage of the variance explained for marketing tactics was 64.740 percent. In the social sciences, it is common to consider as satisfactory a solution that accounts for 60 percent of the total variance (Hair et al., 1998). The coefficient alpha ranged from 0.7480 to 0.9319.Table II presents the means, standard deviations, reliability estimates, and correlations among variables. The mean and standard deviation are within the expected ranges. The scales met the generally accepted reliability of 0.7 (Nunnally, 1978). We tested our hypotheses with three separate multiple regression analyses. The first analysis included all of the hypothesized antecedents; the second analysis included the hypothesized consequences; the final regression analysis verified the mediate relationship of school image between marketing tactics and parents' loyalty.We tested each hypothesis by examining coefficients significance. H1, the relationship between marketing tactics and school image was tested in a simultaneous multiple regression model that included all five measures of marketing tactics. The results in Table III show that product mix (b=0.149, p < 0.001), people mix (b=0.248, p < 0.001), price mix (b=0.144, p < 0.001), place mix (b=0.123, p < 0.001), and promotion mix (b=0.292, p < 0.001) all positively and significantly influenced school image, thus supporting H1. Full empirical support was found for the relationship between marketing tactics and school image. H2 examined the relationship between school image and parents' loyalty. The finding in Table III strongly supported the hypothesis, as school image was found to influence parents' loyalty positively and significantly (b=0.801, p < 0.001), thus H2 was also supported.To test the hypothesized mediating role of school image, we first assessed the following conditions for mediation (Baron and Kenny, 1986):* the independent variable (marketing tactics) must be related to the mediator (school image);* the mediator must be related to the dependent variable(parents' loyalty);* the independent variable must be related to the dependent variable; and* the independent variable must have no effect on the dependent variable when the mediator is held constant (full mediation) or should become significantly smaller (partial mediation).The first and second conditions both were supported by H1 and H2. For the third condition, that the independent variable affects the dependent variable as shown in Table IV, the results indicate that marketing tactics (product=0.124, p < 0.001; people=0.216, p < 0.001; price=0.159, p < 0.001; place=0.114, p < 0.01; promotion=0.242, p < 0.001) positively and significantly influenced parents' loyalty. To evaluate the final condition, when \"school image\" was added to the equation, we compared the two models as shown in Table IV. The results showed that product mix (b=0.020, p > 0.05), people mix (b=0.248, p > 0.05), place mix (b=0.123, p > 0.05), and promotion mix (b=0.292, p > 0.05) were no longer significant, though price mix (b=0.60, p < 0.05) was still significant but its strength decreased, therefore the relationship between marketing tactics and parents' loyalty was mediated by school image. This suggests that price mix influences parents' loyalty directly and indirectly through school image (partial mediation), but product mix, people mix, place mix, and promotion mix influence parents' loyalty only indirectly through school image (full mediation).\nConclusion and implications: This study examines the effects of selected marketing strategies on parents' loyalty to their children's school. Specifically, we investigated the relational linkage between five perceived marketing activities and parents' loyalty through the mediating role of school image and found some important implications for the formation of parents' loyalty to elementary schools.Impact of marketing tactics on school image\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to investigate how marketing tactics can enhance parents' loyalty in the educational context. Building on extant research, it proposes an integrated framework in which perceived marketing tactics are related to school image, which in turn is related to parents' loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Five marketing tactics are selected. A questionnaire is constructed, and data are collected from 1,200 parents of schoolchildren studying in 60 elementary schools in Taiwan. A multiple regression analysis is conducted to analyze the data.\nFindings: - The results show that the selected marketing tactics all significantly and meaningfully predicted the perception of school image, however promotion tactics were the most effective strategy. In addition school image is an effective predictor of parents' behavior. Finally school image mediates the relationship between marketing tactics and parents' loyalty.\nOriginality/value: - The finding suggests that school administrators can use marketing tactics in order to enhance school image that in turn leads to parents' school choice and word-of-mouth.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adoption of NPD flexibility practices in new technology-based firms	[ "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Organizational innovation", "Competences", "Technology led strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Defining new technology-based firms (NTBFs) is not a simple matter (Storey and Tether, 1998). NTBFs were firstly defined by the Arthur D. Little Group (1977) as independently owned business established for not more than 25 years and based on the exploitation of an invention or technological innovation which implies substantial technological risks. Shearman and Burrell (1988), defined NTBFs as new independent enterprises which are developing new industries, but this definition seems to be too narrow. It can be applied to the medical laser industry analyzed by the authors but it would not consider new companies operating in new technologies in consolidated industries like information and communication technology (ICT), for instance. Rickne and Jacobsson (1996) propose as a criterion to define NTBFs the level of employee education. This criterion, though, make it difficult to understand whether the \"new\" is referred to the firms or to the technologies. For the purpose of this paper, we will adopt the definition proposed by Chamanski and Waag (2001): new, technology-based firms are new firms developing and serving knowledge and technology intensive products or services.Over the past several decades, NTBFs have attracted increasing interest from practitioners, academics and politicians (Storey, 1998). The key role that new firms and especially NTBFs can play in developing efficient economic systems has been widely recognized, particularly insofar as these firms challenge current technological paradigms and establish new industry segments (Audretsch, 1995). Public awareness of NTBFs rose in the early 1980s, when several traditional industries faced severe problems and other fast-growing new industries began to emerge. NTBFs have thereafter been regarded as the possible answer to ongoing structural changes within economies (Almus and Nerlinger, 1999; Keskin, 2006).From an academic standpoint, NTBFs have gained attention from several scholars, who have conducted many studies related to the determinants that affect their growth and survival (Storey, 1994; Almus and Nerlinger, 1999; Audretsch, 1995; Colombo and Grilli, 2005). Following Storey (1994) and Almus and Nerlinger (1999), these factors can be divided into three main categories: characteristics of founders, firm-specific characteristics and external factors.Despite this focus on NTBFs, how they manage their innovation processes is still an under-researched topic (Yli-Renko, 2001; Motohashi, 2005; Colombo and Grilli, 2005). Contrariwise, the management of new product development (NPD) processes in dynamic technological environments has been widely explored within innovation management field. Many studies have identified practices that can improve the performance of the NPD process under different internal and external conditions. Special attention has been paid in recent years to practices that introduce flexibility into the NPD process (Iansiti and MacCormack, 1997; MacCormack et al., 2001; Verganti, 1999, Boschma, 2005; Georgsdottir and Getz, 2004; Jin, 2001).How NTBFs manage the NPD process and to what extent these firms, that leverage dynamic new technologies, make use of the flexible practices is still an understudied topic. Thus, the main research question of this paper is:RQ0. To what extent do NTBFs apply the methods and tools identified in the existing literature to increase the flexibility of NPD processes and thus cope with dynamic environments.In order to achieve this objective, we studied a sample of 48 Italian NTBFs through a two-stage research process. The first qualitative step was performed through eight case studies aimed at defining and fine tuning the data gathering tool (questionnaire) for the second quantitative step.The paper proceeds as follows. First, we synthesize the existing literature and specify the main research question into three more detailed ones. Then, we proceed to describe the methodological approach used in this study as well as the qualitative results of the first phase (case studies) and the quantitative results of the second phase (survey). The paper closes with the discussion of the results and the conclusions.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 Literature on NTBFs\n3 Research process and methodology: 3.1 Data collection\n4 Discussion: The analyses showed that five out of the seven identified components are managed in significant different ways by high- and low-performing companies in the sample, they are discussed in detail in the present paragraph.Use of open, modular and scalable technologies\n5 Conclusions: This research project aimed to shed new light on a much-investigated type of firm: NTBFs. Past researches have focused mainly on what characteristics impact the chances of NTBFs for survival or growth. The present paper analysed these companies by focusing on their innovation capabilities by focusing on how they manage their technologies, NPD processes and competences. This perspective is important for many stakeholders. First of all, it is important for practitioners because it helps to evaluate the management processes of a firm and provides a list of best practices of the companies in the sample. Second, this approach is important for academics, because it highlights some possible differences between the behavior of NTBFs and other technology-based companies, thus opening the field for new researches. Finally, this paper may provide important insights for policymakers, given the importance of NTBFs in the development of technologies.This study's main objective was to understand to what extent NTBFs apply the methods and tools identified in the existing literature to increase the flexibility of the NPD processes and thus cope with dynamic environments.The first important result (achieved through the eight preliminary cases) showed how NTBFs recognize the relevance of three classes of variables in increasing the flexibility of their development processes:1. management of technology;2. management of the NPD process; and3. management of competencies.The data clearly show that the high-performing companies of the sample behave in a different way if compared with the low-performing ones: in five of the seven identified variables the difference is statistically significant. Still the same companies do not appear to be different from other high-performing technology-based companies and share with them the typical best practices for developing products and services in highly dynamic environments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - New technology-based firms (NTBFs) play a growing role in national economies. Given their nature, it is possible to suppose that these companies should manage their development processes by leveraging on flexibility. Thus, the main purpose of the paper is to understand to what extent NTBFs apply the methods and tools identified in the existing literature to increase the flexibility of new product development (NPD) processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Eight in-depth case studies are conducted in order to draw and test a questionnaire for the extended research. Then, the questionnaire is submitted to 550 firms obtaining a final sample of 48. The first step of data analysis, based on factor analysis methodology, allows to reduce and clarify the practices applied by companies to increase the flexibility of the innovation process. The second step allows, using one-way ANOVA, to understand which practices for managing innovation processes are used in significantly different ways by high- and low-performing companies in the sample.\nFindings: - The first result is that, in their development processes, NTBFs pay major attention to: management of technology; management of the NPD process; and management of competencies. A second relevant result is that high-performing NTBFs, despite their peculiar characteristics, do apply the majority of the best practices identified in literature for technology-based companies.\nOriginality/value: - Even though NTBFs have been studied for some time now, seldom have these studies focused on their innovation management processes. This paper does it by going in the detail of the organizational and process variables that can increase the flexibility of this process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Post-crisis restructuring of the corporate governance of Korean companies	[ "Corporate governance", "Korea", "Conglomerates", "Business structures", "Business groups", "Chaebols" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, Korea underwent enormous changes in corporate governance systems and practices. Though there have been a few general assessments of corporate governance in the last decade, the outcomes and effectiveness of corporate governance reform implemented at this time has not yet been robustly examined.There have been several positive assessments of corporate governance over the last decade. In September 2003, Euromoney a British financial magazine, examined the entire emerging market sector and ranked several Korean companies high in their rating list of good governance (Euromoney, 2003). Samsung Electronics earned second place; other Korean businesses ranked in top positions were KT (8th), Kookmin Card (19th), Daewoo Securities (21st), and POSCO (27th). The very same month, Asiamoney also made an assessment of corporate governance by classifying 120 companies in non-Japanese Asia into ten industries (Haddock et al., 2003). In this assessment, POSCO ranked first in the materials sector, Samsung third in electronics, and SK Telecom third in telecommunication services.However, not all assessments have been positive. For example, the OECD's White Paper on Corporate Governance in Asia (July 2003), states that a majority of Asia's listed firms have failed to break away from the family-centric management. The paper cites SK Global's 2003 window dressing case[1], Samsung Everland's irregular sale of convertible bonds[2], and Hyundai Motor's expedient inheritance. The IMF World Economic Outlook, 2006 describes Korea's corporate governance as the worst in Asia, noting that efforts to reform corporate governance have yet to pay off. Their research includes the composite Corporate Governance Quality (CGQ) index for Asian countries and other major emerging markets, which is a simple average of three indicators:1. accounting standards;2. earning smoothing[3]; and3. stock price synchronicity[4].Korea is ranked lower than its Asian neighbors in stock price synchronicity, the impact of a specific firm's governance quality, financial circumstances, and financial systems on the entire stock market. Korea also failed to score high in earning smoothing, which measures how fully and accurately a company makes public its important corporate-performance indices, such as cash flows and profits.Such mixed assessments on Korean corporate governance system justify a more solid examination and evaluation, which is the objective of this paper. I first outline the backgrounds of the Korean corporate governance structure, particularly with respect to its business groups (chaebols), and then consider problems associated with Korean business-ownership structure. The paper concludes with suggestions for improvement and takes a look at the future of business groups in Korea.\nConcept and significance of corporate governance in Korea: Corporate governance has been defined as a mechanism for overseeing and monitoring corporate management and disciplining the top management. In Western countries, such as the USA and the UK, corporate governance is control mechanism that investors apply to managerial resource allocation decisions, based on the premise that ownership and management are separate. Giannetti and Simonov (2006) find that investors who generally enjoy the benefits of stock ownership only are reluctant to invest in companies with weak corporate governance. However, this definition does not embrace the methods of management discipline in such countries as Japan and Germany, where stakeholders other than corporate investors, including partner companies, employees, and the government, participate in management control. This definition also does not apply to Korean companies because Korean corporate ownership and management are not completely separated. Therefore, I define Korea's corporate governance as consisting of both formal and informal mechanisms for monitoring and overseeing management, with the aim of achieving efficient performance.There is a growing interest in corporate governance in Korea. In the past, conflicts of interest surrounding corporations were not considered a serious issue. Institutional investors were regarded as a stable force for the incumbent management and creditor banks carried out the government-led fund allocation function. Also, conflicts of interest between owners/managers and external shareholders did not receive due attention. However, the substantial disparity between corporate control and ownership rights hit a snag as Korea entered a low-growth period. At this time, the development of the securities market triggered conflicts between owners/managers and outside shareholders as the number of institutional and private investors increased. A slush fund case in 1995 led the Korean government to eagerly take the initiative in reviewing corporate governance. In addition, the Asian financial crisis resulted in an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), raising the profile of corporate governance (Joh and Jung, 2012). Furthermore, as advanced countries have outlined the principles of corporate governance, Korea has become more concerned with the addressing the corporate governance issue.\nTypes of Korean corporate governance and business groups: Governance issues in Korean and Western markets are different, in that the latter emphasizes the largest single owner, whereas the former stresses the controlling shareholders (Jung and Chung, 2003). Most non-financial Korean companies listed on the stock exchange are jointly owned by families and affiliated companies, which makes controlling rights a de facto criterion. In addition, unlike Western countries, Korea has only a limited number of companies with ownership and management separated. Companies without individual controlling shareholders account for a mere 15 percent in Korea. In this paper I will examine and analyze corporate governance of Korean business groups known as chaebols[5]. In 1996, the top 30 chaebols, accounted for 40 percent of Korea's output in the mining and manufacturing sectors and 14 percent of the GNP[6]. Chaebol-affiliated firms maintain substantial business ties with other firms within the group. Baek et al. (2006) argue that an important feature of a chaebol is that it has an inherently weak governance structure, with a single family usually controlling all member firms.Chaebol owners (controlling shareholders) exert a tremendous influence over the entire business group, which they \"own\" in both name and in practice. Owners hold an extremely small portion of the total shares, but wield almost complete control. On average, the ratio of shares held by specific block holders in the top ten Korean business groups is 2 percent, but these block holders/owners exercise complete control because of their equity investments in multiple affiliates within the group. This is known as the circular ownership structures.The effective control ownership, which means the holdings ratio obtained by controlling shareholders with special relationships in the non-corporate-owned shares equals to about 15 percent, and more recently 10 percent. This implies that investments from affiliates (circular ownership) are critical in ensuring control over shareholders' rights. As long as the holdings ratio of affiliates can be maintained, a decrease in the family holdings ratio does not affect the complete control.The circular shareholding mechanism among affiliates is an important factor in the discussion on governance of business groups (Kim and Kim, 2008). If company A invests in company B in the same group, and company B in company C in the group, and again company C in company A, the CEO can control all three companies with few or even no invested shares. Controlling shareholders and related parties can control close to 50 percent of internal holdings with very few shares. This is due to a sizable number of affiliate holdings, which enables block shareholders to control a business group completely. When circular shareholdings by affiliates are either non-existent or small, chaebol owners are not be able to exert the almighty influence.\nHow business groups developed: Korean business groups, chaebols, evolved in a certain way. I explain how Korean business groups developed grouped by era in this section.The development of business groups\nLiterature on ownership structure of Korean business groups: Hattori published a series of papers and books on Korean chaebols in 1982. He classified Korean chaebol ownership structures into three categories within the context of direct ownership by family. His theories met with little criticism and are accepted by Korean scholars as a legitimate argument (Hattori, 1982).The first type of chaebol ownership is owner monopolization, where owners are natural persons directly owning a large number of affiliated company shares. Hanjin Group and Keumho Group are examples of this structure. The second type is core company control, where owners generally have an indirect control over core companies that play a pivotal role in the group's formation. These core companies control affiliates under them, as exemplified by Daewoo Group at the end of the 1970's. The third one is mutual ownership type. Here, core companies own affiliate shares and control the affiliates, but affiliates mutually own each other's shares as well. Well-known examples are the LG Group and the Samsung Group. These differ from Japan's mutual ownership-type chaebols, where ownership has a circular structure among member companies of business groups.Korean business groups' ownership structure has evolved from owner monopolization to core company control and then to mutual ownership. Hattori argues that funds required for business expansion are the major factor influencing changes in Korean business groups' ownership structure. What bolstered Korean companies' growth at a dizzying pace was outside financing through capital investments, but as both the frequency and the size of capital investment increased, owners or their families had a harder time raising funds on their own. Accordingly, owners searched for ways to expand their businesses, while retaining control over companies. This led to the development of the ownership structure of business groups, such as the core company control type. Hattori, however, does not explain what causes business groups to evolve from core company control type to mutual ownership type.Lee (1993) mostly agrees with Professor Hattori, but he uses a slightly different terminology. According to Lee, in the case of the \"core company control type\", there is a single core company, and in the case of the \"mutual equality type\", there are multiple core companies. Lee considers the Hanjin and Sunkyung groups as \"owner monopolization types,' Ssangyong and Hanhwa groups as 'core company control types\", and Samsung and Daewoo groups as \"mutual equality types\".Kang et al. (1991) classify the ownership structures of Korean business groups into \"head ownership type\", \"single core company type\", and \"multiple core company type\". \"Head ownership type\" companies have the head of a business group as a block holder for many affiliated companies and several of those affiliates own other affiliates. Typical cases are Hanjin, Hyundai, Sunkyung, Lotte, and Donga Construction groups. In \"single core company type\" companies, such as Ssangyong and Hanhwa groups, the head of a group owns one company as the core company, which owns other affiliates. The \"multiple core company type\" has not just one, but many core companies. Daewoo and Samsung groups typify the multiple core company type.\nProblems associated with Korean chaebols and governance system: Concentration of economic power and ownership\nHow to improve Korea's corporate governance system: Stronger autonomous supervisory function\nConclusion: In this article, I examine various unique features of the Korean business group structure and how history has affected its formation and growth. I discuss the concentration of economic power and how it undermines fairness and equity in the market. My suggestions for improving current corporate governance include a stronger autonomous supervisory function of the market, better oversight of internal management, and tighter legal and regulatory regimes.Corporate governance is presently subject to scrutiny as an important factor that determines the competitiveness of corporations and sovereign states. Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, Korea realized that corporate governance could make or break companies. Investors now prefer to invest in companies with an organizational structure that guarantees transparent management and shareholder benefits. Given this reality, a study on the current situation of Korea and how its business groups were created can have benefits that reach beyond Korea, helping other emerging markets improve their corporate governance and make their financial markets more sophisticated.I conclude with a couple of remarks on Korean corporate governance. First, the fit between corporate governance and management circumstances needs to be examined. Cross ownership is not a phenomenon unique to specific companies but a universal style of business in the Korean market. If an independent manager-style structure is blindly imposed on companies, the efficiency of Korean firms could be compromised. Corporate governance should be acclimatized to the current management circumstances. Second, the way the market moves needs to be respected. Instead of imitating Western standards, companies should voluntarily adjust their direction and pace to work effectively with market conditions. In other words, the structure of corporate ownership and control in Korea should be left to \"market choice\", and this can only occur under free market economies with transparent management. Government and society must encourage companies to move in this direction.The key to improving Korean corporate governance is chaebol reform. In addition to suggestions for Korean corporate governance, chaebol owners need to realize that these companies are not their own creation and personal property. The appropriate changes outlined in this paper will increase Korea's competitive strength in the world economy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify both the problems and their solutions in the corporate governance systems of Korean business groups (chaebols) in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This is a conceptual paper and includes suggestions for improving international governance systems.\nFindings: - In this paper, the author focuses on how chaebols should be restructured to improve the Korean economy. In order to figure out how they should be restructured, the author explains the positives and negatives of their current structure and how these can be modified/eliminated to make stronger corporate governance.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides conceptual insights into systems and laws, which can be used to improve the corporate governance of business groups.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Beyond artificial intelligence: why companies need to go the extra step	[ "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the context of digital transformation, there has been considerable hype about smart and connected products. This attention is well deserved, but are these smart and connected products actually \"smart\"? Yes, to some degree, but many of these products are not \"intelligent\" enough in light of current discussions about advanced data analytics and intelligent algorithms. To what degree artificial intelligence (AI) may actually replace and extend human intelligence (HI) is not determined by smart and connected products alone. Rather, we currently are experiencing a new wave of transformation that goes beyond what has been termed \"digital transformation\" so far, even if the initial wave of digital transformation is far from over.\nThe need for meta-intelligence: There are multiple reasons for many firms' problems in profiting from their digitalization initiatives in general and in capturing the value of their data in particular. Some of these problems boil down to a limited effectiveness and efficiency in implementing the digitalization programs. Many firms experience difficulties in designing new business models for their digital solutions and services. In addition, many companies pursue a variety of isolated digital projects, but they lack a systematic strategic approach to cover the full strategy space for digital transformation. Another typical problem is the management and steering of the portfolio of digital projects, which often have multiple interdependencies and which tend to complement one another. These implementation barriers can often be overcome by means of better managing the digitalization initiatives.\nIntelligence renewal and recombination: Depending on the extent of renewal and recombination, there are four transformations (Figure 1), which are consistent with extant insights into the transformation of innovation processes and product features (Lichtenthaler, 2016; Hirsch, 2017). Depending on the particular situation and need for change, companies may rely on the independent renewal or recombination of their two types of intelligence. In addition, firms may simultaneously pursue both renewal and recombination to some degree. This leads to the following four transformations: incremental, modular, architectural and radical. First, incremental transformation involves only a limited renewal and recombination of AI and HI. Examples are updates of AI technology to enable new functionalities or the selective implementation of a new creativity technique to better leverage human idea generation and intelligence. Both of these approaches could recently be observed in many large companies as diverse as Facebook and Harley-Davidson.\nWhat to do next?: The wave of digital transformation with smart and connected products is not yet over, and the wave of fully implementing AI is far from reaching its inflection point. We have seen only a marginal impact of transforming a firm's different types of intelligence. Managing the interdependencies of human and artificial intelligence will become a key part of firms' transformation initiatives in the future. Here, a meta-intelligence, which contributes to steering the development and transformation of the two types of intelligence, will be critical. The more executives attempt to leverage the combinative effects of the two types of intelligence rather than merely replacing one by the other, the more important the meta-intelligence will be.\nConclusion and outlook: The impact of AI has only begun to unfold in most companies. With further advances in different technology fields, the application opportunities will continue to grow, but many firms are not well-prepared to leverage these technological evolutions. Hiring a few AI experts and implementing specific solutions may allow for replacing some HI by means of intelligent algorithms. These managerial moves will often enable cost savings, which can be achieved in relatively short periods. However, the full impact of AI will go considerably beyond this type of independent exploitation of advanced data analytics and intelligent algorithms. It will strongly affect the entire intelligence architecture of companies, with a substantial impact on the activities of human experts. Although some firms are relatively open to proactively pursuing the transformation of their intelligence architectures, many others are reluctant to do so based on corporate cultures that are not conducive to major organizational changes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to underscore the need for developing a meta-intelligence in companies based on a conceptual framework for combining artificial and human intelligence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper, which draws on the insights from extant theoretical and empirical research.\nFindings: In light of a growing trend towards artificial intelligence (AI), most companies face substantial difficulties, which often derive from an excessive emphasis on merely replacing human intelligence by means of AI. To capture the complementary benefits of artificial and human intelligence beyond mere cost savings, firms do not only need to enhance their advanced analytics while continuing to develop their human intelligence. Rather, they additionally need a meta-intelligence for transforming their intelligence architecture in line with corporate strategy. Consequently, the firms need intelligence3 - comprising AI, human intelligence and the meta-intelligence.\nOriginality/value: The new concept of a meta-intelligence for renewing and recombining artificial and human intelligence helps to reconcile diverse findings in prior research. Without this meta-intelligence, most AI initiatives will be isolated endeavors, which may have positive effects but likely will not live up to the expectations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge collaboration between organizations and online communities: the role of open innovation intermediaries	[ "Communities of practice", "Open innovation", "Knowledge management", "Innovation intermediaries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Open innovation (OI) has become a significant way for organizations to leverage external sources of innovation through the exchange of knowledge beyond organizational boundaries (Chesbrough, 2003b; Chesbrough and Bogers, 2014; West et al., 2014). More recently, organizations have started uncovering new avenues for OI by engaging with communities of users or consumers as co-creators of knowledge and innovation (Bogers et al., 2010; Piller and West, 2014a; Von Hippel, 2005). Increasingly this happens via innovation intermediaries that host online, web-based platforms where organizations collaborate with user communities (Boudreau and Lakhani, 2009; Colombo et al., 2013; Howells, 2006). These OI intermediaries serve as \"virtual knowledge brokers\" (Verona et al., 2006) to facilitate knowledge flows that enable organizations to co-ideate and/or co-design with members of online communities (Prandelli et al., 2008; Sawhney et al., 2003). However, despite their growing prevalence, we know very little about how OI intermediaries mediate knowledge collaboration between organizations and online user communities (O'Mahony and Bechky, 2008; Verona et al., 2006).\nLiterature review and theoretical background: Open innovation in inter-firm dyads and networks: traditional theories of knowledge transfer\nMethodology: To address our research question, we adopted an exploratory single case study design. This approach is useful in exploring new phenomena such as the role of intermediaries in community-based OI (Yin, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989).\nResults: Our results reveal that the OI intermediary Nexus deploys three categories of knowledge management mechanisms - syntactic, semantic and pragmatic - each addressing the corresponding knowledge boundary, and underpinned by a specific set of practices. Together, these three mechanisms (and associated practices) aid in negotiating tensions at the organization-user community boundary and thus facilitate knowledge collaboration in community-based OI.\nDiscussion: In this paper, we set out to understand how OI intermediaries manage knowledge collaboration when organizations engage with online user communities for OI. We argue for the value in taking a CoP perspective and, in particular, draw on Carlile's (2002, 2004) work on knowledge boundaries to explore the ways in which OI intermediaries negotiate tensions at the organization-community boundary to enable knowledge collaboration.\nConclusion: In this paper, we sought to examine the mechanisms that OI intermediaries deploy when facilitating knowledge collaboration at the organization-community boundary. To do so we used a CoP approach, as this offered a valuable theoretical perspective given its relational view of knowledge exchange. As part of this, we turned to Carlile's (2002, 2004) work on knowledge boundaries and found that syntactic, sematic and pragmatic boundaries identified in intra-organizational settings are also active in community-based OI. Tackling different degrees of complexity in knowledge exchange, we found that all three mechanisms need to be implemented by the OI intermediary to ensure successful knowledge collaboration between clients and user communities. In particular, we found that the intermediary's pragmatic mechanism reinforces both semantic and syntactic mechanisms and is thus the most critical factor in achieving knowledge collaboration in community-based OI. In practice, this means that OI intermediaries need to expand their focus beyond the development of digital platforms and include efforts at building organizational motivation and commitment to community engagement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research paper aims to examine how open innovation (OI) intermediaries facilitate knowledge collaboration between organizations and online user communities. Drawing on a Community of Practice (CoP) perspective on knowledge, the study lays out a framework of the knowledge boundary management mechanisms (and associated practices) that intermediaries deploy in enabling client organizations to engage in online community-based OI.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is based on an exploratory case study of an OI intermediary and 18 client organizations that engage with online user communities on the intermediary's platform. Results incorporate both the intermediary and clients' perspective, based on analysis of intermediary and client interviews, clients' online community projects and other archival data.\nFindings: Results reveal that OI intermediaries deploy three knowledge boundary management mechanisms - syntactic, semantic and pragmatic - each underpinned by a set of practices. Together, these mechanisms enable knowledge transfer, translation and transformation, respectively, and thus lead to cumulatively richer knowledge collaboration outcomes at the organization-community boundary. The findings show that the pragmatic mechanism reinforces both semantic and syntactic mechanisms, and is hence the most critical to achieving effective knowledge collaboration in community-based OI settings.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that OI intermediaries have to implement all three boundary management mechanisms to successfully enable knowledge collaboration for community-based OI. More specifically, intermediaries need to expand their focus beyond the development of digital platforms, to include nuanced efforts at building organizational commitment to community engagement.\nOriginality/value: Drawing on the CoP view, this study integrates the knowledge management literature into the OI literature to conceptualize the role of OI intermediaries in shaping knowledge collaboration between organizations and communities. In engaging with the interactive nature of knowledge exchange in such multi-actor settings, this research extends the firm-centric theorization of knowledge that currently dominates the existing OI research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When the moral tail wags the entrepreneurial dog: the historic case of Trumpet Records	[ "Entrepreneurial accountabilities", "Moral accountabilities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When the story of the blues' formative relationship with rock \"n\" roll is one day told in full, the name of a white woman, wife of a furniture store owner in Jackson, Mississippi, should be remembered as a seminal influence in the growth of music. Dallas (1999, p. 1)\nBackground information about Lillian Shedd McMurry: What is unique about Trumpet Records is that this independent label company was founded by a young Mississippi woman during the de jure Segregation Era. Although this feat may not be considered a noteworthy event today, it was an exceptional achievement during the Segregation Era between 1900 and 1939 (Library of Congress, 2015). First, Ms McMurry's forays into the music industry occurred in the early 1950s, at least one decade before the women's rights movement of the latter half of the twentieth century. Second, while singing played a role in her formative years, Ms McMurry had limited education and no practical experience in the music business. Third, Lillian McMurry, a white woman and avid reader, found success in the music industry by gaining the trust of African-American artistes whom she recorded in the studios of the segregated South. Overcoming any one of these barriers reaches the level of exceptional (Humphreys et al., 2013).\nBackground of trumpet records: The story of Trumpet Records offers a glimpse into the world of record labels of the Mississippi Delta Blues and the broader cultural changes of the 1950s and 1960s (Escott and Hawkins, 1980). Mabry (1990) argues that the rapid growth and decline of entrepreneurial record labels engaged in the production and sale of \"race\" music during the 1950s was facilitated by three main factors. The first factor was the change introduced by technological innovations and advancements. This permitted small independent companies to easily record track songs of their own artist without having to expend significant capital. Second, demographic shifts were created by the World War II. The changes in demography created after the war facilitated migration and congregation of lovers of rhythm \"n\" blues music into areas penetrable by entrepreneurs who owned independent record labels. Lastly, the introduction of television also had a significant impact, as access of television heightened the demand for any kind of music available (Humphreys et al., 2011).\nSuccess of Trumpet Records: As part of her marketing strategy, Lillian placed speakers outside the Record Mart to draw in crowds. In addition, the Record Mart featured listening booths and attracted a crowd of record players-groups of black men \"singing spirituals along with the records. Some of them were really good too!\" (Hannasch, 1984). Though Lillian suggested that her interest began in 1949, archival records report that Lillian's earliest efforts at producing a record dates back to the recording of a black gospel group, the St. Andrews Gospelaires, on April 3, 1950 (Ryan, 2004).\nFailure of Trumpet Records: Despite the financial difficulties of Trumpet Records, recording sessions continued at the State Furniture Company studios in 1954. Country artists such as \"Lucky\" Joe Almond and blues singers, such as Wally Mercer, recorded during this period. According to Ms McMurry, even famed old-time folk and bluegrass artists, The Carter Family, contacted her once for a contract (Hannasch, 1984).\nAnalytically structured history of conflicting accountabilities faced by Lillian McMurry: Entrepreneurs are primarily accountable to their stakeholders (Bucar et al., 2003; Collewaert and Fassin, 2013). However, stakeholders sometimes espouse demands that are incongruent to the entrepreneur's principles (Janney, 2015; Murphy et al., 2006). These incongruences are particularly conflicting when they are related to the entrepreneur's moral principles (Buchholz and Rosenthal, 2005; Solymossy and Masters, 2002), \"core goodness traits\" (Piazza et al., 2014, p. 528) and personal ideals of a virtuous character (Hannafey, 2003; Smothers et al., 2014). In situations of such incongruences, the entrepreneur needs to balance the relaxation of the commitment to his or her moral principles with the risk of not conforming to the stakeholder demands (Harmeling et al., 2009; Steinbauer et al., 2014). In other words, the entrepreneur strives to balance the individual accountability felt toward his or her own ideal self (i.e. good/virtuous person) with the entrepreneurial accountability felt toward his or her venture's stakeholders (Fisscher et al., 2005; Martin and Novicevic, 2010).\nDiscussion from the constructed narrative: Lillian McMurry was an ethical entrepreneur who took great pride in good character (Humphreys et al., 2011), demanded it from others (Ryan, 2004) and maintained an incredible sense of authenticity and fairness in leading those around her (Martin, 2007). She was pragmatic in terms of securing economic interest of her venture, but, because of her intense felt moral accountability, she was committed to paying royalties to various artists' decades after the Trumpet Record label had ceased to exist (Ryan, 2004). Our archival analysis of her handling of these simultaneous, yet conflicting pressures to maintain her moral standards while pursuing her self-interest provides an opportunity to derive a synthesis and develop a broader understanding of entrepreneurial ethics and leadership both in practical and theoretical accountability terms (Table II).\nContributions, limitations and future research: With our analysis of the historical case study of Lillian McMurry and Trumpet Records, we contribute to theory and practice within the domain of conflicting moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities felt by those attempting to lead entrepreneurial ventures. Through our interpretive narrative, we provide applied lessons for contemporary entrepreneurs, as well raise critical theoretical questions. Specifically, even though advocates of virtue ethics advise that a personal character outlook should be exalted to more outcome-based ethical decision-making approaches, our analysis suggests that such a virtue-based perspective could lead to an imbalance in the tensions between moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities. We argue that cultivating specific virtues and using them as the foundation for ethical decision-making could be challenging in an entrepreneurial context due to these competing accountabilities.\nConclusion: In this article, we used the research strategy of analytically structured history to examine the tensions between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry, the entrepreneurial force behind Trumpet Records, a 1950's Mississippi Delta Blues record label. Using archival historical method, we analyzed how these tensions influenced the initial success and eventual failure of Trumpet Records, and to explore the consequences when moral accountabilities dominate entrepreneurial accountabilities. Proponents of virtue ethics suggest that a personal character perspective is more fundamental than traditional, consequentialist ethical approaches. However, based upon our narrative analysis, we argue that cultivating specific virtues and using them as the foundation for ethical decision-making could be challenging in an entrepreneurial context due to competing accountabilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the congruencies and incongruences between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry to provide insights for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Ms McMurry was the entrepreneurial force behind the founding of Trumpet Records, a unique, Mississippi Delta Blues record label in the 1950s.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The examination of this historical case study is grounded in the theoretical examination of the tensions between Lillian McMurry's felt moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities. Using an analytical archival historical method, a narrative explanation of how these tensions influenced the success and, ultimately, the failure of Trumpet Records are developed.\nFindings: The accounting records highlighted a number of issues hampering the commercial profitability of Trumpet Records. Moreover, the archival and documentary sources examined also proved revealing as to conflicts between Ms McMurry's personal character and mercantile determination as an entrepreneur.\nResearch limitations/implications: The approach of using analytically structured historical narrative as a research strategy is but one method of explaining the tensions between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry.\nPractical implications: The proponents of virtue ethics suggest that this Aristotelian personal character perspective is more fundamental than traditional, act-oriented consequentialist teleological and deontological ethical decision-making approaches. A perspective of moral accountability exceeding the norm of the obstructionist stance is required to maintain a sound balance between entrepreneurial accountability and moral accountability.\nOriginality/value: This paper adopts a mercantile perspective, using the accounting and related business records of Trumpet Records, to examine the leadership characteristics of Lillian McMurry. Practical lessons learned for entrepreneurs facing the moral dilemma of competing accountabilities and advance questions to spur future research in this area are drawn.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Graduate entrepreneurship: more than child's play	[ "Ireland", "Australia", "Curriculum development", "Entrepreneurialism", "Higher education", "Business enterprise" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At the turn of the new century, various government initiatives aimed at supporting innovative behaviours within society became increasingly common as a means to secure a more competitive economy. In 2001, the Australian Federal Government released its long-awaited innovations statement, \"Backing Australia's Ability\". This PS1.33 billion, five-year initiative to promote innovation in Australia primarily focussed on three key elements. Firstly, strengthening the ability to generate ideas and undertake research. Secondly, accelerating the commercial application of these ideas. Lastly, developing and retaining skills. Under the third component, 2,000 additional university places were made available to foster a culture of \"enterprise and innovation\" as government deliberately sought to broaden access to enterprise education in Australian universities. Similarly in Northern Ireland because of relatively low-entrepreneurial activity, government launched its \"Accelerating Entrepreneurship Strategy\" in 2003 which sought to \"promote entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity\" and \"encourage more people from all backgrounds\" to think and behave in entrepreneurial ways (Invest Northern Ireland, 2003). For Northern Ireland's two universities, this created a challenge as to how to embrace enterprise education and make provision for increased demand within traditional business schools.In reacting to this renewed commitment of governments worldwide, universities and in particular business schools focussed attention on developing new entrepreneurship programs that were radically different to previous (traditional) offerings. In the not too distant past, business schools tended to streamline existing courses by offering an elective in entrepreneurship (Jones and English, 2004). It is no wonder this formula was not changed considering traditional management programmes were well attended, if it were not for the profound criticism (Pfeffer and Fong, 2002), from various quarters, that courses failed to be relevant to the needs of the changing business environment. With Kirby and Mullen (1990) suggesting that graduates require integrated programmes that teach a \"practical skills set\" a radical overhaul in business and management curricula was eminent. It was further fuelled by the unprecedented global student demand as students sought a style of business education to provide them with the transferable skills necessary to succeed in an increasingly divergent business environment (Cooper et al., 2004).There have been many good examples of new curriculum development, for instance, the University of Glamorgan Business School's conceptually new postgraduate programme, the Diploma in Entrepreneurial Practice (Jones-Evans et al., 2000). However, a drawback of such fast pace changes is that in many cases the supply of these newer programmes as full-blown programmes/degrees was frequently ill conceived. It is argued, that only now are we seeing emergent programmes truly offering effective educational experiences, as evidenced through the two evolving approaches discussed in this paper.Whilst many approaches have been employed to accommodate the inclusion of enterprise as a distinct discipline area, this paper will remain focused upon discussing the value of embedding entrepreneurship education within existing course provision and the importance of developing student-centred approaches to enterprise development. In doing so, this paper aims to build upon the recent UK-based works in the area of career decision-making processes (Nabi et al., 2006a), the pathways of students graduating into self-employment (Nabi et al., 2006b) and entrepreneurial intentions among the graduate pool (Hannon, 2005). This paper also draws upon the accepted framework of success factors (e.g. social, financial and human capital) for nascent entrepreneurship proposed by Aldrich and Martinez (2001). Therefore, the focus of this paper is on specific factors that potentially determine/influence student readiness for start-up activities. The notion of what and who is a graduate entrepreneur is for now, left open for the reader's consideration but revisited in the conclusion. Let us first consider the context of the programmes to be discussed.\nA tale of two programmes: The UTAS approach\nThe emergence of entrepreneurial capacity: The reasonable adventurer\nDiscussion: By observing how the enterprise programmes in each case have been independently initiated and subsequently shaped, several issues emerge for collegial discussion. Some are simple and obvious. First of all, the experiential educational processes students encountered in most instances have developed to a high degree, a common set of enterprising skills including communication, problem solving, initiative, and self-management. Students have demonstrated a capacity to think on their feet, a confidence to use their instincts and express judgement supported by \"street logic\". These attributes not only provide an endorsement for the teaching pedagogies used but also better prepare the graduate for the competitive post-university environment. It is not surprising then that enterprising graduates by and large are well sought after in the labour market, though employers hold varying accounts of what constitutes \"an entrepreneurial graduate\".On a second point, the primary aim of the UTAS and Ulster programmes is to develop entrepreneurial capacity. Basically, this means that as a result of undertaking an entrepreneurship programme, students should be able to actively demonstrate either philosophy of the mind - reasonable adventurer or enterprising mind-set - and develop their skills set based on their own subject knowledge and individual life experiences. It does not mean that students can become certified entrepreneurs as a result of undertaking these programmes. Indeed, the potential of such programmes is rather limited in promoting graduate entrepreneurship considering most students are not entrepreneur-ready. Therefore, whilst the evolutionary approaches reported in this paper demonstrate what educators realistically expected to achieve through entrepreneurship education, there is no security with the outcomes. More specifically, it would seem that there are no guarantees that students will develop sufficient entrepreneurial capacity to support their transition from graduate to graduate entrepreneur. This focuses the question of what the outcomes should be from enterprise education in terms of the entrepreneurial capacity of graduates. In addressing this question, it is useful to revisit Aldrich and Martinez's (2001) classic paper \"Many are called, but few are chosen\". The central thesis of their work is that in order to understand entrepreneurial outcomes, we must first understand the processes at play and the context in which they occur. In accepting this, the implication is that the entrepreneur must possess a unique resource profile relative to the opportunity they seek to pursue. Adopting the logic of their argument, the challenge of creating graduate entrepreneurs becomes chilling reality. Our graduates will instantly be competing in a marketplace that is on one hand unforgiving and unpredictable, and on the other full of opportunity and excitement. For many, the world beyond graduation is merely a mirage, for others it is a truly scary place within which employment offers comfort from the harsh realities of entrepreneurship. In summary, it would seem that the convergence towards personal development in the two programmes discussed is logical, necessary, but insufficient to arm our graduates with the minimal requirements to engage in independent entrepreneurial activity.To understand how best to develop the entrepreneurial capacity of graduates requires explicit consideration of how to assist students in developing a meaningful resource profile through which their future development post graduation is possible. Aldrich and Martinez (2001) with reference to Greene and Brown's (1997) notion of a resource profile, argue that three specific areas of capital (i.e. human, financial and social) are of paramount importance for embryonic entrepreneurship. They argue that nascent entrepreneurs typically rely on improvisation in new industry contexts; use knowledge gained from past employment and constantly battle against a propensity to optimistically misjudge market opportunities whilst acting in haste due to extreme time pressures. Should we expect our graduates, regardless of the degree of personal development they have achieved in higher education, to have sufficient human (know-how) capital upon graduation? The second form of capital is financial. Here, nascent entrepreneurs are equal in one assumed respect; they are all likely to start small. Nevertheless, commencing with insufficient funding cannot be expected to aid the survival prospects of any new venture. Can we assume that graduates are capable of having sufficient capital and/or being capable of raising capital in the likely absence of personal assets? Again, there are considerable barriers for our graduates to become successful entrepreneurs immediately post graduation. Lastly, the issue of social capital provides the glue that may assist nascent entrepreneurs to overcome deficiencies in the other two areas. Should we expect that our graduates would have developed networks within and across their chosen industry? Again, we are being optimistic to assume that the majority of students would do so especially given there is still much to be done to open up social networks to young entrepreneurs, university researchers and graduates. Clearly, adopting the context/process logic of Aldrich and Martinez (2001) casts a dark shadow on current effort to develop graduate entrepreneurs immediately post graduation.The retreat from developing benign academic business plans and from blue sky dreaming within the two programmes discussed, represents a logical pathway away from loading our graduates up with unrealistic expectations. It signals an explicit focus on the individual first and foremost. This focus allows grounding of the student's aspirations in a specific industry context, a context that largely determines the nature of any resource profile and what would be realistically required for an entrepreneur to enter the industry sector and compete successfully. Therefore, the authors arrive at the logical conclusion that as educators we should be able to decipher if students have succeeded in developing entrepreneurial capacity by analysing their resource profile vis-a-vis their chosen industry context. The key issue that has arisen is the importance of allowing students to apply knowledge in relation to their personal development and to their life rather than focussing student attention on case studies that provide access to meaningless contexts. Meaningful development of individual resource profiles that will be of potential value post graduation relies on positioning knowledge within the context of the life of each individual student.\nConclusion: What emerges from this discussion is that the explicit focus of enterprise education needs to be on the individual and the industry-specific context as a result, enterprise education has increasingly become embedded and thus appreciated within university curricula. In relation to the entrepreneur-resources-opportunity model these studies suggest the entrepreneurial individual is most important followed by their resource profile and then the opportunity. This allows for the resource profile factors that matter (that are by and large divorced from the realities of graduate studies) to become the central drivers of the actual graduate planning process.This process may happen several years into employment after the graduate has gained industry experience and acquired capital and/or social networks. Such a process does not downgrade the importance of enterprise education, it simply factors into the equation the time-specific dominant components related to personal development. For some students, the stars will already be aligned, for others it would be prudent for them to reconsider firstly, the nature of their immediate aspirations, and/or secondly, their personal means in order to develop the appropriate resource profile. Enterprise educators have their role to play in assisting students in configuring individual resource profiles but this should also contribute to improving the degree of fit between the role of enterprise programmes and the nature of graduate entrepreneurship.In the Ulster case, it is already apparent that as the centre uses the basic concepts of variation, adaptation, selection and retention to roll out an embedded entrepreneurship agenda university-wide, there is an increasing demand for customised programmes. This provides tentative evidence to suggest that generic enterprise programmes do not work and confirms the need for enterprise education to be learner-centred (connected to individual's knowledge and experience in their here and now) and connected to their field of study (industry-specific context). At UTAS, there is already tentative evidence to support the notion that students feel more inclined to pursue the aspirations immediately post graduation when resource profiles linking aspirations and opportunities have been established. Both studies imply that personal development in the context of enterprise education must go beyond generic attribute skills (e.g. communication, problem solving) to include purposeful reflection that ensures down to earth consideration of the alignment of self and opportunity.Encouraging graduates to defer the immediate pursuit of their aspirations does not lessen the benefit to society. Firstly, it adds longevity to the concept of the entrepreneurial graduate since it presents graduates with the opportunity to continually engage in the process of analysing their resource profile vis-a-vis their chosen industry context and therefore assists them in developing their entrepreneurial capacity. The entrepreneurial graduate is thus better equipped to eke out their role within competitive and dynamic working arrangements and in choosing an individual pathway suited to their needs and/or aspirations. Secondly, it allows industry, as custodians of our graduates, the opportunity to influence graduate resource profiles as well as allowing SMEs the time to put resources in place to create working environments conducive to the performance of the entrepreneurial graduate. Thirdly, it reduces university reliance on short-term rankings and league tables, which rank enterprise outcomes irrespective of the time-dependent processes that matter and should never be ignored.It could be concluded at present (given the overall size of enrolments) that enterprise education does not create many graduate entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland or Tasmania. But can this be attributed to a lack of enterprising effort on the part of the universities or a lack of understanding of the challenge of achieving a fit between entrepreneurial capacity and environmental forces? If we (as educators) accept that the three essential elements for the success of nascent entrepreneurial activity are human, financial and social capital then we must devote sufficient time to consider and capture them in ongoing curriculum development. Within this emergent curriculum, there should be scope for individual learners to apply the concepts - be it the reasonable adventurer or an enterprising mind - to their particular resource situation. This will require an explicit focus on pathways for developing individuals linked to opportunities, which they themselves have identified; however, this is only half of the required story towards graduate entrepreneurship. Without mapping out the graduate trajectory for each individual student to pursue their aspirations, enterprise programmes generally fail students that are too easily swamped in the post-university environment by employers offering jobs that are ill related to their aspirations. Universities now recognise they have a duty of care to their graduates and alma mater. Furthermore, educators functioning as role models need to be able to positively influence and mentor graduates. In summary, these academic aspirations together, proffer much hope for developing graduate entrepreneurship within the contexts of life-long learning and the entrepreneurial university.In conclusion, this paper does not seek to generate predictive nor transferable outcomes given the diverse pedagogies for enterprise programmes and the range of cultural contexts. However, it would seem that in order to justify the contribution of enterprise education going forward, there is a need for longitudinal studies to gain an understanding of how graduates use and adapt their individual resource profiles to progress their career and how this in turn broadly benefits society including for example how it affects competition or consumer choice or to what extent they act as a source for innovation, stability or the seedbed for new industries. This will inevitably challenge the existing notion of the graduate entrepreneur and the authors predict longitudinal analyses will ultimately lead to redefining the concept of the graduate entrepreneur and much rediscovery within the graduate talent pool. The arguments presented within this paper suggest that becoming a graduate entrepreneur is not necessarily conditioned by business creation, but perhaps more related to the pursuit of an opportunity vis-a-vis a specific environment context through the ongoing development of the required resource profile; this process may take several years.The research limitations of this study and future studies is the difficulty of isolating causal relationships between enterprise education and the development of skills and mindsets (i.e. a resource profile) given the exposure of the student to other forms of education before, during and after exposure to enterprise education. Using student reflection journals may go some way towards overcoming this issue since it offers the promise of enabling various different life experiences to be examined vis-a-vis the resource profile of the student at any given point in time. Ultimately, by examining the development trajectory of each individual graduate, we step closer to discovering the true value of enterprise education and developing our understanding of whom and what constitutes the graduate entrepreneur.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - With the unbridled demand for entrepreneurship in higher education, the purpose of this paper is to identify how pedagogy can inhibit students in making the transition to graduate entrepreneurship. Along the way, the concept of what and who is a graduate entrepreneur is challenged.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reports upon the pragmatic development of enterprise programmes in Ireland and Australia. Despite different starting points, a convergence of purpose as to what can be realistically expected of enterprise education has emerged.\nFindings: - This study reinforces the shift away from commercialisation strategies associated with entrepreneurial action towards developing essential life skills as core to any university programme and key to developing entrepreneurial capacity among students. Despite similar government intervention, university policy and student demand for practical-based entrepreneurial learning in both cases, graduates tend not to engage in immediate entrepreneurial action due to the lack of fit between their programme of study and individual resource profiles, suggesting that graduate entrepreneurship is more than child's play.\nPractical implications: - There are practical implications for educationalists forced to consider the effectiveness of their enterprise teachings, and cautionary evidence for those charged with providing support services for graduates.\nOriginality/value: - Given the evolutionary approaches used at the University of Tasmania to develop students as \"reasonable adventurers\" and at the University of Ulster to develop \"the enterprising mindset\" the paper presents evidence of the need to allow students the opportunity to apply entrepreneurial learning to their individual life experiences in order to reasonably venture into entrepreneurial activity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modelling trade-offs in students' choice set when determining universities	[ "Conjoint analysis", "Trade-offs", "Higher-education marketing", "Student choice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground to research: University choice is a high-involvement decision with a significant level of perceived risk (Briggs, 2006). The social and economic context of higher education makes it important for service providers to understand the preferences of respective customer groups for various product attributes. The relative weightings of importance for each of these attributes provide useful cues to explain why different people make different decisions among a range of choices. Most studies on university choice have required respondents to rate or rank numerous attributes that may influence their preferences (James et al., 1999). While many of such studies were conducted in \"English speaking\" universities in \"developed nations\" (Lee, 2014; Ahmad and Hussain, 2017), a growing stream of studies (Chen, 2008; Al-Fattal and Ayoubi, 2012; Ayoubi and Massoud, 2012; Al-Fattal and Ayoubi, 2013; Lee, 2014; Douglas et al., 2015) have sought to narrow and define the preferences in contexts outside of the western world. A few other studies have investigated the relative importance of attributes or social class when determining university choice (e.g. Bruce and Edgington, 2008; Callender and Jackson, 2008). These approaches may seem efficient; however, Jackson (1982) argues that it neglects insights into the trade-offs made between attributes.\nMethodology: The sampling frame consisted of high-school leavers who chose to select a public university. This sampling frame was chosen for two reasons. First, this population makes up the largest segment of universities' prospective students, and they are the major targeted cohort who enters public universities. Second, these individuals can provide accurate information regarding their choice processes because they are in the process of selecting a public university. Indonesian public universities in Java were chosen because that island has the largest population and the greatest number of public universities. Four out of its six provinces were chosen as a sample area based on the level of socio-economic status, the number of students enrolled and the number of public universities. A judgment sample was drawn for the study based on two criteria: only high-school leavers who were actively engaged in the decision to select public autonomous or non-autonomous universities in Java, and individuals who chose a business and economics study program as their first preference. This was done using a screening question administered before providing the questionnaire to the respondent. To encourage more respondents to participate in the study, and to increase the response rate while preserving respect, the study employed a face-to-face method of distributing the self-administered questionnaire. Low consistency scores of the validation sample (minimum Kendall's t=0.40) eliminated some subjects from the analysis to increase the validity and reliability of the model (Burns and Bush, 2010; Hair et al., 2010). A total of 403 complete responses were collected, and were assumed sufficient to ensure valid and robust interpretation of the results.\nFindings and discussion: Socio-demographic profile of the respondents\nConclusion: This study found that the most important determinant of university choice for Indonesian high-school leavers was advice from family, friends and/or teachers, which is in contrast to findings from student choices in developed countries. Interestingly, while that attribute rated highest in importance, there was only a small gap between the highest- and lowest-rated attributes. The highest-rated attribute (advice from family, friends and/or teachers) had a relative importance of 25.490 percent, while the lowest-rated attribute (proximity) had a relative importance of 11.195 percent. This suggests that the students' decision-making process was complicated. While their final choices may have been determined by the most important attributes, they did trade-off between the various attributes when making decisions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing Indonesian students' choice of university by estimating the trade-off students make in selecting a university.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Conjoint analysis was used to examine the relative importance and the part-worth scores of the attributes that influence students' public university preferences in Indonesia.\nFindings: High-school leavers in Indonesia trade off university preferences and view advice from family, friends, and/or teachers, reputation, and job prospects as important factors for selecting a public university. Two different preference-based segments of prospective students were identified from cluster analysis, and classified as either a \"social networks-based decision\" or a \"rational decision\" segment. A choice simulator was employed with three propositions, and the segments were found to have dissimilar preferences.\nResearch limitations/implications: While this paper provides insights on higher-education consumer choice, more research is needed that includes samples from different types of higher-education institutions and fields of study.\nPractical implications: A greater understanding of student choice can help to inform marketing practices and customize marketing strategies for each segment by providing important information to principal parties involved in making university choice decisions.\nOriginality/value: This paper demonstrates the relevance and value of conjoint analysis as an effective analytical tool for the identification of important choice criteria and its potential contribution to the development of more effective marketing strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"It's good." "says who?": the mediating role of professional legitimacy on the relationship between film-extension performance and changes in directors' human brand identity	[ "Human brand identity", "Professional legitimacy", "Economic and critical performance", "Brand extension", "Incongruence", "Quantitative methods", "Brand performance", "Brand co-creation", "Celebrity branding" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Building a strong professional human brand has become a challenge and a strategic goal for individuals who embody these brands (Parmentier, 2011; Parmentier and Fischer, 2012; Muniz et al., 2014) and for internal stakeholders who manage them and confer social recognition on them, i.e. legitimacy (Schroeder, 2005; Preece and Kerrigan, 2015). External stakeholders (e.g. the general public and critics), internal stakeholders (e.g. professional agents and peer institutions) and the human brands themselves interact and co-construct human brand identity. The products that human brands create are inextricably linked to their identities and to their career histories in terms of how their work is \"produced, presented, consumed and positioned and valued in the market\" (Preece and Kerrigan, 2015, p. 1207). The key question of the interplay between human brands, the products they create and their stakeholders in building human brand identity has rarely been addressed in previous qualitative research (Preece and Kerrigan, 2015; Pluntz and Pras, 2016, 2020) and never in quantitative studies.\nConcepts and hypotheses: The film industry is particularly relevant as a field of study, as it contains a wide variety of human brands with different roles and resources at hand (Baker and Faulkner, 1991; Kerrigan, 2010; de Verdalle, 2014), and thus, meeting the criteria required for a fertile research (Parmentier et al., 2013), with multiple interrelated jobs and occupational categories. Among the various human brands that could be studied, film directors provide a complex example, in that they are often viewed as the \"parent\" (father or mother) of the film. They are thus particularly interesting to study (Zuckerman and Kim, 2003; Allen and Lincoln, 2004; Kerrigan, 2010; Pluntz and Pras, 2016). Here, we only consider human brands embodied by living individuals that is film directors who are still alive.\nMethodology: design, sampling and measurement: We designed the study with a view to avoiding internal validity biases - particularly selection bias (sample), testing bias (pre-extension and post-extension coding) and instrumentation bias (coders' profiles and instruments) - and to developing or adapting reliable scales. Variables and measures are presented in Appendix 1, Tables AI and AII.\nResults: The results are presented in Figure 3 and Tables 2 and 3, with standardized estimates, goodness of fit indicators and explained variances for the mediating and endogenous variables and direct, indirect and total effects.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The findings generally supported the hypotheses. All of them were validated with the exception of H4c, with the positive interaction effect between economic performance and congruence tending only to be greater for moderately strong to stronger human brands (high auteurism, low genre eclecticism and high auteurism, high genre eclecticism) than for less strong ones (low auteurism, low genre eclecticism). The central role of professional legitimacy in securing film director identity change is highlighted. Specific and institutional legitimacy have a positive impact on changes in human brand identity. Acquiring internal professional legitimacy is essential if a human brand is to evolve towards a stronger human brand identity. A good example of such a transformative process is provided by the phenomenon of e-artists emerging from the Web, with their many followers. Intermediaries and internal stakeholders help them build social and symbolic capital and foster their human brand identity (Naudier, 2014). Moreover, our findings show that critical film performance and economic film performance are the drivers of the specific legitimacy of directors bestowed by film producers, whereas critical film performance is the driver of the institutional legitimacy of directors provided by elite peer institutions, both of which mediate the impact of performance on human brand identity changes. Professional stakeholders will base and form their judgements on the level of performance that the human brand has achieved in the market. For instance, a film's economic performance will have a greater positive impact on institutional legitimacy for low or middle-status human brands than for high-status ones. This finding is important because in the French film industry, the Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques (which delivers the prestigious Cesar awards) is regularly accused of excluding commercial film directors (i.e. low auteurism and low genre eclecticism directors) with major box-office successes from their panel of director nominees. Our finding shows that this is not always the case and that some good economic performance in a commercial director's work is important for a low auteurism director when seeking to change from low to high auteurism status (e.g. Michel Hazanavicius with The Artist [2011]) and acquire a stronger human brand identity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Building strong human brands inscribed in social and symbolic recognition is a strategic issue for branded individuals. In the context of film director human brands, this study aims to examine the respective influences of the economic and critical performance of films, on the one hand, and the professional legitimacy bestowed by internal stakeholders, on the other, on changes in human brand identity. Contrary to what is generally believed, it shows that the specific legitimacy bestowed by producers and the institutional legitimacy bestowed by elite peers mediate the effects of performance on changes in human brand identity. Brand extension (i.e. new films) incongruence and initial human brand identity moderate the effect of performance on legitimacy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is applied to film director human brands and to their extensions through the films they make. Data were collected for 81 films, including information before and after the brand extension occurs, to capture changes in human brand identity and extension effects.\nFindings: The results show that economic performance influences both specific and institutional legitimacy, whereas critical performance only impacts institutional legitimacy. These relationships are moderated by initial human brand identity and congruence. Both types of professional legitimacies also help reinforce human brand identity.\nOriginality/value: The study challenges the role of performance on the building of human brand identity and shows that the latter is co-constructed by the branded individual and internal stakeholders. It also enhances the key roles of global incongruence and genre incongruence in the model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Territorial capital as a company intangible: Exploratory evidence from ten Italian multinational corporations	[ "Multinational companies", "Intangible assets", "Territorial capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Increasingly since 1966, the concept of an organisation as an \"open system\" has dominated organisational scholars' debate through the establishment of the so-called theories of organisations and environments (Katz and Kahn, 1966; Thompson, 1967; Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978; Carroll and Hannan, 2000; Scott, 2002). According to this school of thought, a company can be seen as a complex structure of elements and activities embedded in and dependent on its surrounding environments (Shafritz et al., 2011). The resource endowment of a territory consists of that bundle of different factors that has been defined as territorial capital: a set of localised externalities, production activities, traditions, skills, know-hows, proximity relationships, rules, and cultural elements and values which attribute sense and meaning to local practices and structures and define local identities. They acquire an economic value whenever they either can be transformed into marketable products - goods, services and assets - or foster the internal capability to exploit local potentials (Camagni, 2008, p. 32; see also: Industrial Commons by Pisano and Shih, 2012).\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1. Company intangibles and territorial capital\n3. Methods: 3.1. Case study method and research setting\n4. Findings and discussion: 4.1. The value-relevance of the territory\n5. Conclusion: The international fragmentation of production and the future global integration of company activity mentioned above seem to delineate a higher geographical specialisation of production activities undertaken by companies. The purpose of international integration is to perform activities in which a company's facilities hold a comparative advantage. Such an advantage is also determined by the territorial assets present in that specific location. Establishing activities there will foster those specific territorial assets that originally generated the advantage itself.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to explore to what extent being located in a territory is value-relevant for a company. Second, to understand if a company is aware of, and how it can sustain, the territorial tangible and intangible assets present in the economic area in which it is located.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study presents an empirical multiple case-study, investigating ten mid-/large-sized Italian companies in manufacturing sectors.\nFindings: The results indicate that the sampled manufacturing companies are intertwined with the environment in which they are embedded, both in their home country and in host ones. The domestic territorial capital has provided, and still provides, enterprises with workers endowed with the necessary technical skills that they can have great difficulty in finding in other places. In turn, companies support territorial capital generation through their activities.\nResearch limitations/implications: To increase the generalisability of the results, future research should expand the sample and examine firms based in different countries and sectors.\nPractical implications: Implications for policy makers: developing effective initiatives to support and guide a sustainable territorial capital growth. Implications for managers and investors: improving managerial and investors' decisions by disclosing a complete picture of the enterprise, also outside the firm boundaries.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to intangibles/intellectual capital literature by shedding light on the importance of including territorial capital in a company's report to improve the definition of the firm's value. Accounting of the territorial capital would increase the awareness of the socio-economic environment value in which companies are located and its use.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of a balanced scorecard-based supplier collaborative performance index	[ "Balanced scorecard", "Analytic hierarchy process (AHP)", "Collaboration framework", "Collaboration Index", "Supplier relationship management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In a competitive business environment, a strong relationship with suppliers is undisputedly important for having an effective collaborative supply chain. Buyer companies adopt different methods of maintaining a good relationship with their suppliers for deriving a strategic advantage from collaboration. Depending on the nature of the relationship between participating organisations, various approaches to collaboration have been identified. These include arm's length (transactional), strategic alliances (common goals without commitment), vertical integration (partnerships), dyadic interaction (long-term commitment) and channel integration (channel leader leads and controls channel partners) (Kampstra et al., 2006).\n2. Research background: In today's globalised and highly competitive business era, manufacturing organisations have begun to realise that it is essential to share resources and expertise with their suppliers in order to deliver higher value to their customers. Further, shrinking product life cycles and increasing competition stimulate sharing of resources and expertise to satisfy the daily growing needs of customers day by day. Business goals seem easy to achieve through collaboration in supply chains rather than through the efforts of an individual organisation. Firms are building collaborative relationships with their suppliers to achieve efficiency, flexibility and a sustainable competitive advantage through investments in relation-specific assets, knowledge-sharing routines, complementary resource endowments and effective governance, which can generate relational rents (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Nyaga et al., 2010).\n3. Research design: To obtain solutions to the research questions stated in the Introduction section, the basic concerns related to supplier suitability to mature to the next level of collaboration were first addressed. This involves the buyers' choice of factors that affect collaboration, the kind of information they need for monitoring and controlling those factors and how such pieces of information taken together can be used for assessing supplier suitability for collaboration.\n4. Research methodology: The entire research was conducted in three stages as discussed above, and for every stage, a relevant research method was adopted. The following sections describe the research method adopted and the sample or research setting that was used for that stage.\n5. Results: The findings from the exploratory study were used to implement the proposed decision-making framework using AHP in a real-world organisation. The results are given in the following sections.\n6. Discussion: Research literature on the factors that influence collaboration and the findings from the interviews of executives (more than 60 per cent of the respondents) in this study recognise trust, long-term commitment, technology and technical competency, ethics, supplier performance, risk sharing, decision synchronisation, information sharing and information technology, innovation and partner development as important factors for collaboration. Similar factors and their importance were observed in work by Walter (2003), Fynes et al. (2005), Cai et al. (2010), Chen et al. (2011), Fawcett et al. (2008), Kwon and Suh (2004), Nyaga et al. (2010), Forslund and Jonsson (2009), Simatupang et al. (2004), Crook et al. (2008) and Zacharia (2009). Also, more than 50 per cent of the executives in the study mentioned audits, payment terms, top management visits and transparency of transactions as important factors which do not have explicit mention in research literature. Hence these newly-identified factors may be of less relevance to some companies, but have been experienced to be influential in establishing collaboration between channel partners. Organisations keen for collaboration can assess the relevance of these new factors to their businesses and adopt them.\n7. Conclusions: This research is significant for several reasons. First, it identifies factors and their factor indicators that influence collaboration in supply chains according to the views of practitioners from multinational corporations operating in India, which meets the first objective of our research. These factors were further mapped to the BSC. This resulted in an extended BSC, wherein the partnership perspective was added. These identified factors and factor indicators could meet the objectives of the BSC developed by Brewer and Speh (2000). Second, a comprehensive BSC-based decision-making framework was developed based on the AHP for assessing suppliers' potential to mature to next level of collaboration. This meets the second objective of research. Third, this framework was successfully implemented in the real world by using a spreadsheet and validated for its initial operational feasibility. This meets the final objective of the research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a balanced scorecard (BSC)-based index for quantifying the suitability of suppliers to mature to the next level of collaboration with the buyer company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A BSC-based decision framework was developed using factors and factor indicators affecting collaboration with the supplier, using exploratory research. The proposed decision framework was implemented as a real-world case study in an Indian manufacturing organisation by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. An 11-step methodology was developed to quantify supplier suitability to mature to the next level of collaboration. This is referred to as the \"supplier collaborative performance index\" (SCPI).\nFindings: The proposed decision-making framework helps quantify the extent of collaboration with each supplier. It serves as an index by using the perspectives that are significant for the strategic performance of the buyer company, the factors that affect the collaboration and their specific factor indicators. The initial results of the implementation of the case study were found to be useful in judging supplier suitability in order to mature in their relationship.\nPractical implications: A comprehensive BSC-based framework for enhancing relationships with suppliers, SCPI will be instrumental in deciding, managing and improving the level of collaboration with suppliers in manufacturing companies, depending on priorities.\nOriginality/value: This approach provides a single index to establish the supplier's suitability to mature to the next level of collaboration with a buyer company. The higher the value of the Collaboration Index for a supplier, the better is the chance to move to the next level of maturity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How do institutional pension managers consider real estate: A perspective from Sweden and Finland	[ "Asset allocation", "Real estate", "Organization", "Market friction", "Pension funds and real estate", "Real estate portfolio construction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The management of an institutional pension portfolio requires the consideration of a multitude of different, sometimes conflicting, factors. These factors vary from the structure and duration of the liabilities, the regulatory framework that the pension fund is subject to and the different types of investment risks that are to be included in the portfolio. These considerations can be divided into two levels of decisions; the asset allocation decision, i.e. the determination of the relative allocation between asset classes, and the portfolio construction or investment decision, i.e. the identification, acquisition and management of the actual portfolio.\nMethod: This paper is based on a series of interviews with senior decision makers at the Swedish and Finnish institutions. The institutions were chosen on the basis of their size and experience with investing in real estate. Initially ten institutions were approached, and seven agreed to participate in the interviews. The responding institutions jointly manage total assets of some EUR280 B with dedicated professional investment staff, and make out some of the largest and most sophisticated investors in their respective countries. The individuals who were interviewed are responsible for the asset allocation process at the respective pension fund, either as chief investment officers or as senior strategists. All the interviewed individuals are well versed in allocation theory and practice, having extensive knowledge and experience from these considerations. In some cases the individuals responsible for the real estate portfolio were also present, extending the discussions to also include real estate specific perspectives. The individuals interviewed are presented in Table I.\nAsset allocation decision: It is not the intention here to give a full-fledged description of the asset allocation process, as that is well outside the scope of this paper. A brief description of the principles is, however, needed in order to understand how real estate fits into the process. The fundamental problem a pension manager has to solve is to optimize a portfolio of assets given a set of future pension obligations under the framework set by regulatory authorities. The structure and duration of these future obligations is individual to each pension fund, and different pension funds are subject to different types of regulations. The future payment obligations are discounted by an interest rate and treated as a liability of the pension fund. As the liabilities varies inversely with interest rates, financial investments in the form of low risk bonds, such as government bonds, are the most efficient in matching the liabilities. Adding other investments, such as equities and real estate, introduces a mis-matching risk to the portfolio through the residual risk, or non-financial risk stemming from operational activities. This residual risk is, however, often required in order to meet future payment obligations.\nPortfolio composition: Private markets are fundamentally different from the traditional asset markets, differences that have significant impact on the portfolio construction process. For the traditional asset classes, the construction of the investment portfolio can be executed through replicating the index describing the asset class through Exchange Traded Funds, an index portfolio or an active portfolio with a tracking error. This replication of the index is possible as the assets constituting the index are divisible, making the index investible. For private markets, the assets constituting an index used in the asset allocation process are not divisible, which in turn means that the index is not investible. Furthermore, the indices that are used in the asset allocation decision making are unlevered indices, whilst at least some of the investments are levered. This is not viewed as a major problem by any of the institutions as its impact can be corrected for.\nDiscussion: Although real estate is possible to include in the asset allocation decision, the inclusion of real estate introduces a complexity that an investment process tailored for the traditional asset classes is not well suited for. However, real estate is actively sought by pension fund managers in order to improve the overall efficiency of the portfolio through generating risk diversification, hedging the risks of changes in the inflation regime and offering higher return potential in an environment where the expected returns to the traditional asset classes are low.\nConclusions: The objective of this paper has been to better understand how real estate is included in the management of an institutional pension fund portfolio. This objective is investigated through interviews with a geographically defined group of institutional pension managers. An important conclusion is that real estate is well understood from an asset allocation perspective by the institutions interviewed, and is expected to contribute risk diversification, a hedge against a change in inflation regime that would impact future pension obligations and as a return contributing investment in a low interest environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The asset allocation decision for a pension portfolio needs to consider several, sometimes conflicting, aspects. Most pension managers use models and processes that are developed for the traditional asset classes for analyzing this problem. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how real estate is included in this process, for what purpose and how the real estate portfolio is constructed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Seven individuals responsible for the asset allocation process were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed with regards to organizational options and their real estate strategy.\nFindings: It was found that real estate is held for three different purposes, risk diversification, inflation hedging/liability matching and return enhancement and that the allocation has increased over time. The allocation strategy has evolved at least in part in conjuncture with the organizational structure set in place to overcome real estate market frictions.\nResearch limitations/implications: The interviews were geographically limited to pension funds domiciled in Sweden and Finland.\nPractical implications: It is concluded that the organizational capabilities of the pension fund of handling real estate is an important consideration for the ensuing real estate portfolio.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper lies in that it is based on interviews with individuals who are responsible for the asset allocation decision at large pension funds. The findings of the paper identify areas of interest for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Conditions for workplace learning in professional work: Discrepancies between occupational and organisational values	[ "Teachers", "Learning", "Discrepant values", "Spatial organization of work", "Temporal organisation of work" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As an example of welfare-sector professionals situated in changing governance contexts, teachers in Sweden work in a context that is characterised by decentralisation, as well as choice, privatisation, marketisation and competition. Similar trends can be found in the Nordic context and elsewhere, such as Taiwan and Australia (Kamp, 2016; Huang, 2016; Parding et al., 2017a). These governance changes can be assumed to influence teachers' working conditions, including conditions for learning and development[1]. This paper aims to examine and discuss how conditions for learning are experienced, in the context of the current decentralisation reforms in Sweden. The research questions are:\nPrevious research and theoretical framework: We combine three theoretical fields, each dealing with learning and conditions for learning in different ways; education, workplace learning and sociology of professions. Even though the education and workplace learning fields do overlap, they have only rarely been combined (Hoekstra et al., 2009), which is an issue that this article addresses. Moreover, using the sociology of professions as the analytical lens for the interviewees' reported learning conditions, we problematise the dissonance between what the literature says about what teachers want to learn and how work needs to be organised to enable this. The literature overview is not intended to comprehensively cover all previous research, but rather to highlight different strands of thought that are relevant to this paper.\nMethod: This article builds on a larger research project of upper-secondary teachers in Sweden, in which the focus is on examining teachers' working conditions in terms of their relation to current education sector decentralisation and choice agendas. The project includes both quantitative and qualitative empirical data. For this paper's purposes, we examine teachers' experiences with conditions for learning within their specific local employing contexts, analysing 30 interviews with upper-secondary teachers. As the larger study examines working conditions in the context of school choice reform, our school selection was strategic. To a large extent, previous research has focussed on the most heavily competition-laden areas. Therefore, we wanted to situate our study in a region where the most common \"market types\" could be found[2]. The interviews included teachers from eight schools representing three different market types, including teachers from both the public and non-public sectors. In the small local centre (SLC), there was only one school such as a public school. The small regional centre (SRC) contained both public and non-public schools. We selected two public and two non-public schools. In the large local centre (LLC), we aimed for the same quota. However, we were only able to find one non-public school that would participate in the study, and we therefore ended up with three schools in total. At each school, we asked to interview four teachers and the principal, and with some variation, that was the final outcome. The interviews were semi-structured, as we asked interviewees about their working conditions, including conditions for learning. The interviews lasted approximately 1 h each; some were individual, and some were carried out in pairs, as it suited the interviewees. All interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim.\nFindings: In this section, we describe the interviewees' views on their learning conditions.\nDiscussion and conclusions: This paper's contribution lies mainly in showing how the interviewees - teachers at upper-secondary level - identify their subjects as the most important to learn more within. Second, we also show that spatial and temporal aspects of organisation of work seem to influence the conditions for subject learning, where the interviewees in many ways contrast their own view to how they describe their work being organised. These findings are supported by Lohman (2006) who examined informal learning among teachers and found that lack of time, lack of proximity to colleagues' work areas and insufficient funds were organisational factors that constrained learning, and Hoekstra et al. (2009) who argued that time and proximity to teacher colleagues (especially subject colleagues) enable informal workplace learning. Moreover, our findings mirror our own previous research (Parding, 2007; Abrahamsson and Parding, 2010), in terms of subject focus and organisation of work. Lastly, our findings also illustrate conditions being experienced differently both between and within workplaces, which can be seen as an expression of a differentiated education sector in which local workplace characteristics shape the learning and development conditions, as we have discussed elsewhere, where we find that geographical conditions, budgetary conditions along with workplace size and age seem to influence the conditions for learning and development (Parding and Berg-Jansson, 2016; Parding et al., 2017b).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine and discuss learning conditions for teachers, in the context of choice and decentralisation reforms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article is based on analyses of 30 interviews with Swedish upper secondary teachers focusing on their experiences of their conditions for learning.\nFindings: This paper shows how teachers at upper secondary level identify their subjects as the most important to learn more within. Secondly, we also show that spatial and temporal aspects of organisation of work seem to influence the conditions for subject learning, where the interviewees in many ways contrast their own view to how they describe their work being organised.\nResearch limitations/implications: Our findings may have currency for other professional groups with similar governance-contexts, and teachers in other similar governance-contexts.\nPractical implications: These findings indicate the need to further develop workplace learning strategies founded upon the understanding of schools as workplaces, taking occupational values into account. Furthermore, these strategies should be seen as a core Human Resource Management issue, as they can potentially enhance the work environment, thus increasing the profession's attractiveness.\nOriginality/value: We show that spatial and temporal aspects of organisation of work seem to influence the conditions for the sought after subject learning, and that the teachers and the school management seem to identify with different and clashing ideals in terms of what, when, how and with whom to learn.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding consumer loyalty to technology-based self-services with credence qualities	[ "Continued use", "MHealth", "Credence qualities", "Model of Goal-Directed Behavior", "Technology-based self-service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Self-service technologies, such as the Internet and mobile devices, have facilitated a radical shift from interpersonal to interactive service delivery (Wang et al., 2013). Technology-based self-service (TBSS), where consumers use self-service technology to perform a service without direct service employee involvement (Dabholkar, 1994; Meuter et al., 2000), enables organizations to deliver additional value to consumers while improving operational efficiency (Hilton et al., 2013; Meuter et al., 2003). Until recently, however, TBSS has been confined to replacing more routine or standard aspects of interpersonal service delivery (Forbes, 2008). Significant technological developments have enabled the transition of complex professional services to TBSS (Schuster et al., 2013), where once they were characterized by low levels of technology and consumer involvement in service delivery (Bolton and Saxena-Iyer, 2009). This new era in TBSS is exemplified by the recent advent and rapid growth of mHealth services, developed by health professionals to provide real-time health advice and personalized support via mobile devices (Whittaker, 2012).\nConsumers' use of TBSS: Extant literature focuses on the determinants of consumers' use of TBSSs that have replaced more standard aspects of service, including information retrieval and order-taking. These TBSSs range from restaurant touch-screen ordering kiosks (Dabholkar and Bagozzi, 2002), supermarket self-checkout kiosks (Wang et al., 2013), job database kiosks (Dabholkar and Spaid, 2012), electronic banking (Curran and Meuter, 2005; Curran et al., 2003; Levy, 2014; Wu et al., 2014), mobile banking and other mobile services (Tojib and Tsarenko, 2012), telephone bill paying (Walker and Johnson, 2006) and railway ticket vending machines (Reinders et al., 2008). A notable exception is van Beuningen et al.'s (2009) study on online investment trading, which shows that increasing novice consumers' self-efficacy improves future usage intentions. However, multiple factors affect continued use of even routine TBSSs (Wang et al., 2013), supporting investigation of other potential determinants of behavioral loyalty.\nModel of Goal-Directed Behavior: There is growing empirical support for the MGB. In particular, it has been shown to provide a basis for explaining technology-related behaviors, including participation in virtual communities (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002) and software learning (Leone et al., 2004). Further, the model has been successfully used to improve understanding of other behaviors such as weight management (Perugini and Bagozzi, 2001), ecological behaviors (Carrus et al., 2008), drinking responsibly (Fry et al., 2014) and self-regulation of hypertension (Taylor et al., 2005). In these contexts, the MGB explains more variance in intention and behavior than the TPB (Leone et al., 2004; Perugini and Bagozzi, 2001; Taylor et al., 2005).\nMethod: Context\nFindings and discussion: Attitude and service continuance\nImplications: Theoretical implications\nLimitations and future directions for research: This study is an exploratory, qualitative investigation and, accordingly, quantitative validation is required for improved generalizability. Further, this study only examined one type of TBSS with credence qualities, the mHealth service myCompass. Although mHealth services are exemplar TBSSs with credence qualities, this narrow focus nonetheless restricts generalizability of the findings. For example, subjective norms could be more influential in cases where consumers use the self-service publicly, given research shows differences in consumers' responses to public compared to private self-service technology (Collier et al., 2014). Overall, however, the study's findings are generally consistent with the MGB and previous research on professional services, suggesting potential for replicability across other TBSSs of this type (e.g. law and education). Moreover, as the study was conducted within Australia, further research should be undertaken across different cultural contexts to account for potential differences in social norms and other beliefs. For instance, Australians are among the world's heaviest users of technological products (Simon and Wardrop, 2002). Investigating the use of more complex TBSSs with credence qualities in cultural contexts where consumers do not have the same level of experience and penchant for technological products may yield further insights.\nConclusion: Complex professional services are increasingly delivered via self-service technologies such as the Internet and mobile devices owing to continued advancements in these channels. Limited research attention has been paid to this emerging category of TBSS with credence qualities that distinguish it from other more standard or routine TBSSs. In particular, limited investigation of the factors affecting consumers' use and continued use of TBSSs with credence qualities has been undertaken. With the aim to contribute to addressing this gap in the literature, this study used the MGB to explore consumers' continued use of a rapidly growing type of TBSS with credence qualities - health services delivered via mobile devices (mHealth services). The findings of the study highlight the unique determinants of consumers' continued use of TBSSs with credence qualities and generally provide support for the propositions derived from the MGB. However, they also provide deeper insight into the constructs of the MGB and the nuances of how these determinants operate within this novel behavioral context. The findings further reveal the potentially important role of social influence beyond that which is captured by the MGB through subjective norms. This research provides an important basis for future research, as advancements in technology will likely see a growing number of professional services, such as accountancy and legal services, delivered through self-service technologies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to use the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (MGB) to examine the factors affecting consumers' continued use of emerging technology-based self-services (TBSSs) with credence qualities. Professional services, which traditionally require specialized knowledge and high levels of interpersonal interaction to produce owing to their credence qualities, are increasingly delivered via self-service technologies. Health services delivered via mobile devices, for example, facilitate self-care without direct involvement from health professionals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mental health service delivered via the Internet and mobile phone, myCompass, was selected as the research context. Twenty interviews were conducted with users of myCompass and the data were thematically analyzed.\nFindings: The findings of the study showcase the unique determinants of consumers' continued use of TBSSs with credence qualities relative to the more routine services which have been the focus of extant research. The findings further provide support for the utility of the MGB in explaining service continuance, although the importance of distinguishing between extrinsic and intrinsic motivational components of behavioral desire and capturing the impact of social influence beyond subjective norms is also highlighted.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to recent research examining differences in consumer responses across TBSSs and behavioral loyalty to these services. It also provides empirical evidence for broadening and deepening the MGB within this behavioral domain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Diffusion of blockchain technology: Insights from academic literature and social media analytics	[ "Technology adoption", "Systematic literature review", "Blockchain", "Diffusion of innovation", "Social media analytics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A blockchain is an open, distributed, peer-validated, transparent, write-only and time-stamped ledger (Aste et al., 2017; Di Pierro, 2017). Blockchain does not provide administrator rights for editing or deleting of data, instead the change of transactions is based on a consensus making protocol (Nakamoto, 2008). Blockchain supports public, private, permissioned and permisionless models of blockchains (Dai and Vasarhelyi, 2017; Huckle and White, 2016). Permission blockchain are the best way to protect client privacy (Nordrum, 2017) and for satisfying regulation standards (Yeoh, 2017). The technical structure of blockchain has been highlighted in the literature (Aste et al., 2017; Ying et al., 2018), where every new entry gets appended to the end of the ledger, by linking to the previous block through a hash value. If something is changed in the block, the hash value of the block changes resulting in breakage of the chain (Aste et al., 2017; Magazzeni et al., 2017). Also, every node has a copy of the ledger which prevents the tampering of a single node (Nakamoto, 2008). The transaction can be a trade or a legal contract. The latter are created by using smart contracts (Buterin, 2014). Blockchain has the potential of bringing a major transformation in economic (Kshetri, 2017a; Manski, 2017; Seidel, 2018; Umarovich et al., 2017), political (Kshetri, 2017a) and social context (Kshetri, 2017a; Scott et al., 2017).\n2. Theoretical basis and research questions (RQ): Diffusion is a process which alters the structure and functioning of social systems by introducing an innovation within a system (Rogers, 1995). An innovation can be an idea, object or practice which is new to the members of the society. According to Rogers (1995), adoption of innovation is determined by five attributes: relative advantage; compatibility; complexity; trialability; and observability. Relative advantage refers to the perceived degree of the betterment of an innovation to the idea replaced by it. Relative advantage can be measured in economic terms, social prestige, convenience and satisfaction. Compatibility is a significant predictor of using a service (Carter and Belanger, 2005) whereas complexity had been negatively related to using a service (Lean et al., 2009). Trialability refers to a degree of an innovation experimentation on a limited basis. Observability is related to outcome visibility of an innovation implementation. Trialability and observability are positively related to the rate of adoption. This study tries to map diffusion of blockchain among different industries. In short, RQ1 investigates the industries which are considering blockchain at present in their ecosystem:\n3. Research methodology: The study tries to give an overview of diffusion of blockchain in different industries by investigating academic literature and content on Twitter. Both systematic literature review and social media analytics are complementary approaches. Figure 1 briefly outlines the research methodology. The systematic literature review will explain the need for the technology, features, challenges, conceptual frameworks and practical implementation whereas social media analytics tries to showcase the technological frame of the users regarding innovation along with popular players in the field and conceptual concepts which can be taken forward in future. Scopus was used to study the diffusion of blockchain from the academic literature.\n4. Results and analysis: This section is divided into the three subsections. The first subsection presents the insights from the literature review. The second subsection presents insights from social media analytics, whereas the third section presents an overview of Twitter users. For this study, North American Industry Classification System had been used for classifying the industries.\n5. Discussion and implications: First, we will discuss the difference in the findings of the systematic literature review and social media analytics, followed by a discussion of the research approach.\n6. Conclusion: Blockchain has been defined as an open, distributed, peer-validated, transparent, write-only and time-stamped ledger (Aste et al., 2017; Dai and Vasarhelyi, 2017; Di Pierro, 2017; Huckle and White, 2016; Magazzeni et al., 2017; Nakamoto, 2008; Yeoh, 2017). Blockchain has the potential of transforming society in the economic, political and social contexts and had been used in various applications such as cryptocurrency, smart contracts, machine-to-machine communication, asset management, online identification, public procurement and many more. Blockchain had been considered in various subject areas other than computer science, engineering and business management such as social sciences, decision sciences, arts, energy and many more.\n7. Limitations and future research directions: The systematic literature review in the study only focused on journal articles; therefore future researchers can consider conferences, white paper and other gray literature for tracing the diffusion of the blockchain. The data from Twitter for determining the diffusion of blockchain in different industries was only collected for two months future researchers can explore the same with larger data set. In future, researchers use the method for visualizing the blockchain or any technology adoption among industries. Blockchain industry-specific analysis can be conducted using social media analytics in future. Future study can be used for mapping user level adoption for various stages in the innovation-decision process. Longitudinal studies can be beneficial for tracing the diffusion of blockchain in various industries. The study list some of the conceptual concepts such as green energy production; autonomous transportation; minerals traceability; home-sharing economy; voting platform; and fraud-free elections; suggested by the crowd on Twitter. The future researchers can investigate whether these conceptual concepts are feasible with blockchain technology or not.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although blockchain is often discussed, its actual diffusion seems to be varying for different industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the blockchain technology diffusion in different industries through a combination of academic literature and social media (Twitter).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The insights derived from the academic literature and social media have been used to classify industries into five stages of the innovation-decision process, namely, knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation (Rogers, 1995).\nFindings: Blockchain is found to be diffused in almost all industries, but the level of diffusion varies. The analysis highlights that manufacturing industry is at the knowledge stage. Further public administration is at persuasion stage. Subsequently, transportation, communications, electric, gas and sanitary services and trading industry had reached to the decision stage. Then, services industries have reached to implementation stage while finance, insurance and real estate industries are the innovators of blockchain technologies and have reached the confirmation stage of innovation-decision process.\nPractical implications: Actual implementations of blockchain technology are still in its infancy stage for most of the industries. The findings suggest that specific industries are developing specific blockchain applications.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge this is the first study which is using social media data for investigating the diffusion of blockchain in industries. The results show that the combination of Twitter and academic literature analysis gives better insights into diffusion than a single data source.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating occupational burnout of food and beverage employees: The case of Cyprus	[ "Hospitality services", "Stress", "Cyprus" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Burnout is defined as \"the syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization of others, and a feeling of reduced personal accomplishment\" (Lee and Ashforth, 1990, p. 743) that has detrimental effects for both the individual employee and his/her organization. The topic has captured the attention of hospitality scholars who have investigated the topic from an array of perspectives (Krone et al., 1989; Reynolds and Tabacchi, 1993; Vallen, 1993; Merritt, 1996; Pienaar and Willemse, 2008). Many of these scholars have focused on burnout causes and effects while others, utilizing, the most widely quoted Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), have sought to measure the level of burnout of employees.Taking into consideration the unique nature of the food and beverage industry, which is characterized by a high degree of physical, mental and psychological pressure, conditions that might lead to occupational burnout, this research sets out to investigate the phenomenon in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. In addition, the study investigates whether variables such as job satisfaction, career progression, job recognition (acknowledgement), organizational environment, job clarity, equality (lack of favoritism), and autonomy are predictors of burnout in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus.\nLiterature review: Definition\nPurpose and research questions: The primary purpose of this research is the investigation of the burnout phenomenon in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. The researchers aim to utilize the findings to inform, thus educate, industry stakeholders as to the current status of the burnout phenomenon, and to develop and propose specific practical preventive measures that mitigate the burnout effects. The following research questions, reflecting the study's primary purpose and objectives were formulated:RQ1. What is the current level of burnout experienced by food and beverage employees in Cyprus?RQ2. What is the profile (suggestive), based on demographics and other relevant data, of the food and beverage employee who is more vulnerable to burnout symptoms?RQ3. Are the variables of: overall job satisfaction; satisfaction with one's career progression; job recognition; quality of the organizational environment; job clarity; equality (lack of favoritism); and decision autonomy predictors of burnout in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus?The seven variables mentioned in RQ3 were shown by the literature review to be elements of an organizational environment associated, positively or negatively, with the burnout phenomenon. In particular, the seven elements were examined by scholars as follows:1. overall job satisfaction (Brewer and Clippard, 2002; Kuruuzum et al., 2008);2. satisfaction with one's career progression (Becker et al., 2006);3. job recognition (Jackson and Schuler, 1983; Murray-Gibbons and Gibbons, 2007);4. quality of the organizational environment (Leiter and Maslach, 1988; Vallen, 1993; Advani et al., 2005);5. job clarity vs role ambiguity (Schwab et al., 1986; Sethi et al., 1999; Kuruuzum et al., 2008);6. equality (lack of favoritism - perceived fairness) (Ledgerwood et al., 1998; Patton and Goddard, 2003; Yagil, 2006); and7. decision autonomy predictors (Schwab et al., 1986; Kim et al., 2007).\nMethodology: Following a comprehensive literature review, a questionnaire - which included the MBI - was developed and administered to a randomly identified sample of 1,000 food and beverage professionals in Cyprus. More specifically, our research population included individuals currently holding full time positions, both at an operational and managerial level, in licensed food and beverage establishments in Cyprus. According to government statistics, cross-referenced with figures provided to the researchers by local hospitality and culinary associations, 4,000 individuals are currently working in such establishments. Because of the typical low response rate of hospitality related studies in Cyprus (Zopiatis and Constanti, 2005), a mix method, which included post mail followed by a telephone reminder and face to face individual distribution, was utilized to administered the questionnaires.Prior of being administered, the questionnaires were pilot-tested for reliability with the utilization of the test re-test method and for validity with a panel of three experts. The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v. 14). Descriptive statistics were primarily utilized to analyze the collected data of the MBI, while inferential statistics, namely reliability analysis (Cronbach's Alpha) was utilized in order to determine the extent to which the items in each sub-category relate to each other, independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA with Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Test (Tukey HSD), were utilized to compare the means and develop a suggestive profile of the burnout-vulnerable, while multiple regression analysis (stepwise) investigated the association between the three burnout dimensions and other variables.\nResearch findings: The questionnaires were distributed to 1,000 professionals currently working in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. A total of 220 were returned to the researchers. Of these, 13 questionnaires were incomplete, and thus excluded from the study, reducing the number of usable surveys to 207. The overall response rate of 20.7 percent was viewed as satisfactory considering the low response rates experienced by similar hospitality studies which investigate so called \"sensitive\" issues (Keegan and Lucas, 2005).Table II displays the demographic profile of the participants in relation to six different variables:1. gender;2. age;3. nationality;4. type of food and beverage establishment currently employed;5. employment level; and6. food and beverage department (service vs production) currently working.MBI\nDiscussion and conclusions: When the workplace does not recognize the human side of work then the risk of burnout grows, carrying it a high price and hurting all parties involved (Maslach, 1982, p. 25).The literature suggests that food and beverage employees are amongst the most stressful occupations in the Hospitality industry due to the nature of their job specifications. Indicative is the fact that in a recent survey from the US Office of Applied Studies (National Survey on Drug Use and Heath; as cited in Pizam, 2008, p. 135), \"food and beverage employees have the second highest rate of major depression incidences\". This research has provided some insights as to the burnout levels of food and beverage employees, an understudied population according to some researchers (Zopiatis and Constanti, 2005; Pienaar and Willemse, 2008). Our findings suggest that one in every three food and beverage employees, currently working in the Cyprus food and beverage industry, experience a high degree of occupational burnout. The study also revealed that women are more vulnerable to burnout related symptoms, and emotional exhaustion and depersonalization is mostly associated with job satisfaction and fairness, while personal accomplishment is mostly related with the quality of the organizational environment, autonomy in decision making, and performance recognition.In today's volatile organizational environment short term operational imperatives often supersede long-term initiatives. Many might consider issues like burnout as merely theoretical disregarding the fact that it could easily disrupt the smooth operation of even the most sophisticated organization. Many organizations are either unaware that the problem exists or believe that if it does it is internalized by the individual who suffers the consequences. Upper management must acknowledge that burnout might \"knock on their door\" and pro-actively intervene to protect both the organization and its members from any negative effects. Managerial employees should be given the proper information, via training and education, enabling them to recognize burnout symptoms and pro-actively intervene to mitigate its effects on both the individual employee and the organization. The long-term cost of such measures is by far lower than the potential loss of revenue caused by burnout effects.It is the responsibility of management to develop and nurture a positive organizational environment in which burnout elements are minimized for all employees. Food and beverage stakeholders who wish to diminish or prevent turnover must first examine their organizational environment by way of a burnout audit (Neuhauser et al., 2004). Creating awareness through an audit is the first step toward intervention. Furthermore, practices such as delegation; mentoring; promotion of teamwork; interest in employees' professional development and personal well-being; health and work-life balance initiatives; employee involvement in the decision-making processes; equal opportunities; flexible working schedules; open channels of upward and downward communication; credible and creditable career progression schemes; performance recognition schemes; and internal recruiting should bestow trust and confidence in employees and reinforce a positive organizational environment.The findings of this research activity may serve as a guide to others outside of the Cyprus specific environment, to investigate burnout within distinct hospitality environments. It is important to recognize that burnout is a multidimensional phenomenon. While quantitative data collection and analysis may reveal some insights, qualitative research, in the form of focus groups in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, is essential in thoroughly investigating the phenomenon's causes and effects. A similar follow-up study, enhanced with reliable qualitative elements, should be conducted in order to identify the degree of burnout compared to the findings reported here.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to investigate the burnout phenomenon in the food and beverage industry of Cyprus. The researchers aim to utilize the findings, first, to inform, thus educate, industry stakeholders as to the current status of the burnout phenomenon, and second, to develop and propose specific practical preventive measures that mitigate the burnout effects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Following a comprehensive literature review, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a randomly identified sample of 1,000 food and beverage professionals in Cyprus. These included individuals currently holding full time positions, both at an operational and managerial level, in licensed food and beverage establishments in Cyprus.\nFindings: - It was found that food and beverage employees in Cyprus score slightly higher in the dimension of emotional exhaustion (34.3 percent), slightly higher in the diminished level of personal accomplishment (29.0 percent) and similar in the depersonalization dimension (25.1 percent) compared with their American counterparts.\nOriginality/value: - The findings of this research activity may serve as a guide to others outside of the Cyprus specific environment, to investigate burnout within distinct hospitality environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teachers' perspectives of a new food literacy curriculum in Australia	[ "Curriculum", "Schools", "Teachers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recently, food literacy has emerged as a framework for food education (Colatruglio and Slater, 2014; Vidgen and Gallegos, 2014). Although there is no universally accepted definition for food literacy, it includes at least four main domains: the food system from production to waste; the effect of food on health and well-being; the wider context of the food system including social, economic, cultural, environmental, and political factors; and development of skills and behaviours related to food (Bellotti, 2010; Cullen et al., 2015; Fordyce-Voorham, 2015; Vidgen and Gallegos, 2014).\nMethods: Study design\nResults: Teachers' perceptions about the new curriculum and its delivery are presented under five themes: need for food literacy education for senior secondary school students; good aspects of the new curriculum; concerns and challenges related to the new curriculum; teachers' training needs in relation to teaching the new curriculum; and resources required by the teachers to teach the new curriculum.\nDiscussion: This study explored teachers' perceptions of the new VCE Food Studies curriculum and its delivery while they were preparing to teach the new curriculum for the first time. Perception studies focus on exploring what people think about a particular stimulus, which could be an object, incident, smell or memory, etc. In these studies researchers try to understand the minds of others through verbal or nonverbal approaches. These perceptions studies are used to explore opinions rather than generating facts (Bodenhausen and Hugenberg, 2009). Often teachers' opinions have been sought during or at the end of an education reform, whereas a unique feature of this study was the examination of teachers' opinions during the pre-implementation period. This provides new insights into curriculum modification, and teacher training and resources development during the implementation stage. As mentioned previously, the new curriculum is not a solid, closed curriculum rather it is an online living document and open to modification. Therefore, it is possible to incorporate teachers suggestions identified in this study in early rounds of curriculum modification.\nConclusions: The majority of teachers were generally happy with the content of the new curriculum, and appreciated the inclusion of nutrition and food system topics. However, they had many concerns and challenges in relation to the delivery of the curriculum including, their lack of awareness and readiness to teach it, their lack of confidence about the new assessment methods, and inadequate resources and training.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Implementation of a new food literacy curriculum provides multiple health and social benefits to school students. The success of any new curriculum execution is partly determined by teachers' perceptions about the new curriculum contents, and barriers and challenges for its delivery. The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers' views of a new food literacy curriculum named Victorian Certificate of Education Food Studies for senior secondary school students in Victoria, Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative study design was used in this study. In total, 14 teachers who were planning to teach the new curriculum were individually interviewed in October-December 2016. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the template analysis technique.\nFindings: The majority of teachers appreciated the inclusion of food literacy and nutrition concepts in the new curriculum. However, half of the teachers had doubts about their readiness to teach it. Most teachers mentioned that they needed more training and resources to increase their confidence in teaching the curriculum.\nPractical implications: These findings reveal that teachers need more awareness, resources, and guidance to increase their confidence in delivering the new curriculum. Provision of more resources and opportunities for training in food literacy concepts and instructional methods could facilitate its implementation.\nOriginality/value: These findings serve as an important first step to gain the perspectives of secondary school teachers' opinions about the new curriculum. Moreover, these opinions and suggestions could inform the future design and implementation of similar food literacy curricula in Australia or elsewhere.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A model of hospitality students' attitude toward and willingness to work with older adults	[ "Older adults", "Ageism", "Age diversity", "Favorable attitude", "Multi-age perspective", "Unfavorable attitude" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Because of increasing life expectancies and decreasing birth rates, the world's population is getting older. This global phenomenon is sometimes referred to as \"The Demographic Time Bomb\" (Magd, 2003). In 2011, approximately 546 million people worldwide were 65 or older. By 2050, that number is expected to rise to 1.56 billion (United States Census Bureau, 2012). In the USA, in 2012, there were 43.1 million people aged 65 and older, accounting for 13.7 per cent of the total population. By 2060, it is estimated that 92 million people or one in five Americans will be aged 65 or older (United States Census Bureau, 2014).\nLiterature review: Age stereotypes and attitudes in the workplace\nResearch methodology and data collection: Survey instrument\nData analysis and results: Data analysis\nDiscussion and conclusions: This study takes a positivist approach to develop and test a robust model for hospitality students' willingness to work with older adults. The modeling results show that MAP is the strongest predictor for hospitality management students' willingness to work with older adults, followed by favorable attitude and then unfavorable attitude. The results suggest that improving MAP and contact quality and reducing aging anxiety will increase favorable attitude and reduce unfavorable attitude, thus increasing willingness to work with older adults.\nLimitations and future research: This study has several limitations. First, as explained above, the survey questions were adapted from a variety of instruments. However, the data analysis included all tests and procedures necessary to ensure that the results were statistically valid. The factor analysis removed eight of the items measuring attitude. The remaining items, divided into five each measuring unfavorable and favorable attitude, will contribute to making a more parsimonious instrument to use in future research. Though the Cronbach's alphas of the three-item aging anxiety scale and the five-item unfavorable attitude scale are 0.7 or over, their AVE in the confirmatory factor analysis are less satisfactory (less than 0.5). Future research should further investigate the convergent validity of these two scales.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to incorporate aspects of existing research to develop a model of hospitality students' willingness to work with older adults. It evaluates whether the addition of multi-age perspective (MAP), a concept adapted from multi-cultural literature which addresses perceptions of different age groups, and separating attitudes into favorable and unfavorable constructs provide better predictive power than previous models.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey combining various measures suggested from the literature was conducted electronically with hospitality students from five US universities.\nFindings: Factor analysis and structural equation modeling resulted in a model of the relationships between six latent constructs: contact quality, aging anxiety, MAP, unfavorable attitude, favorable attitude and willingness to work with older adults. While MAP and contact quality significantly influenced the respondents' unfavorable and favorable attitudes, aging anxiety only affected their unfavorable attitude. Respondents' MAP was the strongest antecedent for willingness to work with older adults, followed by favorable attitude and unfavorable attitude.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research investigated the beliefs of hospitality students studying in the USA and may not be representative of all younger hospitality workers and those in other countries.\nPractical implications: Incorporating MAP into both educational and business contexts through methods such as intergenerational service learning, leadership commitment to age-diversity and reverse mentoring will facilitate cooperation and improved relations among younger and older hospitality workers.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to apply the construct of MAP to hospitality and to separate the constructs of the influence of unfavorable attitudes from that of favorable attitudes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Epilogue - service innovation actor engagement: an integrative model	[ "Service innovation", "Research agenda", "Customer engagement", "Conceptual model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: We are confident this Special Issue will generate scholarly discussion and debate on Customer Engagement in Service Innovation and act as a catalyst advancing further research in this area. We thank each of the contributing authors and, in this paper, synthesize our reflections on the Special Issue.\nTheoretical foundations: S-D logic, structuration theory and engagement: Vargo and Lusch (2016, p. 3) propose the importance of structuration theory as an underlying foundation for S-D logic. We synthesize S-D logic as follows: By integrating resources (Axiom 3), actors derive (perceived) value (Axiom 2) that is uniquely experienced by the recipient (beneficiary) of particular activities (Axiom 4). In so doing, actors provide service, either to themselves or others (Axioms 1; Alexander et al., 2018; Brodie et al., 2016). This generic analysis applies to any type of ecosystem actor, including customers deriving customer (cocreated) value from focal service interactions, employees deducing psychological (e.g. self-enhancement) and financial value from their jobs, etc.\nConceptual model: We next propose a model that can be used to explain or predict actors' (i.e. customers', the firm's, and employees') boundedly volitional service innovation engagement (Baumol et al., 2016). The model also summarizes these actors' positive and negative engagement-related facets, as shown in Table I.\nImplications: This work generates several theoretical and managerial implications. Theoretically, it recognizes engagement's boundedly volitional nature. That is, while engagement may be voluntary for specific actors in particular interactions (e.g. free market-based customer interactions with brands), it may be significantly less voluntary for other ecosystem actors (e.g. employees), thus challenging Hollebeek et al.'s (2016a) volitional nature of engagement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While (customer) engagement has been proposed as a volitional concept, our structuration theory/S-D logic-informed analyses of actors' (e.g. employees') engagement in service innovation reveal engagement as a boundedly volitional theoretical entity, which arises from actors' structural and agency-based characteristics and constraints. In line with this observation, the purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of actor (i.e. customer, firm, employee) engagement with service innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the observed gap, the authors propose an integrative S-D logic/structuration theoretical model that outlines three particular service innovation actors' (i.e. customers', the firm's and employees') engagement, which comprises institution-driven (i.e. fixed) and agency-driven (i.e. variable) engagement facets. In addition, the authors integrate the key expected characteristics of positively (vs negatively) valenced service innovation engagement for each of these actor groups in the analyses.\nFindings: The authors develop a 12-cell matrix (conceptual model) that outlines particular service innovation actors' institution-driven and agency-driven engagement facets and outline their expected impact on actors' ensuing positively and negatively valenced engagement.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors discuss key theoretical implications arising from the analyses.\nOriginality/value: Outlining service innovation actors' structure- and agency-driven engagement facets, the authors' model can be used to explain or predict customers', the firm's or employees' service innovation engagement-based activities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate governance and strategic information on the internet: A study of Spanish listed companies	[ "Corporate governance", "Disclosure", "Boards of Directors", "Internet", "Generation and dissemination of information", "Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The voluntary disclosure of strategic information[1] is gradually becoming a more common corporate practice, owing to the benefits to which it leads, such as its ability to make a company stand out from other corporations (Kohut and Segars, 1992; Santema et al., 2005) and its usefulness in the evaluation processes performed by professional investors, banks, analysts and financial intermediaries (Higgings and Diffenbach, 1985; AICPA, 1994). In this sense, Holland (1998, p. 65) argues that voluntary strategic information was very useful for corporate financing -by reducing external funds costs- and for control decisions - by preventing managers from using budgetary discretion to pursue their own interests. While Boards of Directors - one of the corporate governance control mechanisms - have internal access to this type of information, an improved level of disclosure of future information to current and prospective investors can help them make informed decisions (Cianci and Falsetta, 2008). Moreover, Good Corporate Governance Codes generally recommend that Boards of Directors encourage the disclosure of information that can affect market prices (Lim et al., 2007, p. 556) -such as concerning financial and management risks or innovation activities. Furthermore, recent financial scandals have led to a demand for increased transparency in corporate reporting, in order to restore confidence in the current context.On the other hand, apart from the benefits[2], it can lead to significant competitive disadvantages. This could mean that the factors explaining the decision to disclose such information will potentially differ from those that explain decisions leading to the publication of other kinds of information (Lim et al., 2007).Previous studies have found a high degree of similarity in the contents of the strategic information disclosed[3], when comparing quoted and unquoted companies and amongst different types of firms, according to their product's consumers (Santema and Van de Rijt, 2001). Likewise, the geographic location (Santema et al., 2005), listing status in a foreign market (Gray et al., 1995) and independence of the Board (Lim et al., 2007) contribute to explaining some significant differences in strategic information disclosure practices.In relation to the last factor - the Board - several papers have stated its significant role in the strategic decision-making process (e.g. Pearce and Zahra, 1992; Dalton et al., 1999; Chatterjee et al., 2003) and in the disclosure of compulsory and voluntary information (e.g. Chen and Jaggi, 2000; Willekens et al., 2005; Cheng and Courtenay, 2006), which is why it could be of interest to extend the proposal by Lim et al. (2007) to examine other features of corporate governance effectiveness -mainly, Board independence, activity and size - in order to establish their weight in the corporate decision to disclose strategic information online.In light of the above arguments, the objective of this paper is twofold: first of all, to analyse online strategic information disclosure practices by examining non-financial quoted Spanish firms as the study set; second, as the main and most innovative objective, to establish the factors that explain the volume of strategic information disclosed on the internet. Specifically, we analyse the impact of the Board size, activity and independence on the online disclosure of strategic information through some hypotheses included within several theories (Agency, Signalling, Political Costs and Proprietary Costs Theories) and taking into consideration the confirmed effect of the members of the Board on the disclosure of compulsory, voluntary (e.g. Chen and Jaggi, 2000; Willekens et al., 2005; Cheng and Courtenay, 2006) and strategic (Lim et al., 2007) information through the traditional channels for releasing annual reports. Moreover, we controlled for several variables, such as size, leverage, profitability and industry.We take the volume of information disclosed as a proxy for substantive disclosure. Undoubtedly, this approach involves some limitations in our study. However, we assume that this volume and the indicators displayed should also be qualitative in order to be informative.We have selected the Spanish context for two key reasons:1. the existence of a requirement for Spanish listed companies to provide relevant information on web pages according to Circular 1/2004 of the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV, 2004); and2. the interest in extending the empirical previous evidence, which is generally from Anglo-Saxon settings.In this sense, this country presents several differences that generate a higher interest in analysing the role of the Board on firms' disclosure practices. First, the Spanish economy is characterised by a low proportion of listed companies compared to the Anglo-Saxon markets. Second, the stock ownership is highly concentrated in the hands of non-financial companies, financial institutions and families[4]. Third, Boards of Directors in Spain - as occurs in most European countries - are one-tiered, which means that Board members manage the company and also supervise its activity (Melle, 1999), thus promoting an active participation in the taking of strategic decisions. Fourth, the legal protection of shareholders is not as extensive as that of Anglo-Saxon markets and Spanish stock markets are less developed and play a far lesser role than British or American markets do (Fernandez-Mendez and Arrondo-Garcia, 2007). In this sense, it is necessary to disclose more information, especially of the strategic type, in order to improve the shareholders' knowledge and trust in the firm's behaviour and performance.Our results suggest that upper-level management plays an important role in the decision to disclose strategic information online.This paper is organised as follows: Section 2 discusses information disclosure, emphasising its advantages and disadvantages, the importance of strategic information and the role played by the internet as a mechanism for disclosure; section 3 deals with corporate governance, by describing its role in information disclosure; section 4 describes our hypotheses; section 5 describes the research design, including the creation of a disclosure index, the proposed model and the sample used. Our empirical results are reported in section 6, and we provide a summary and conclusion in section 7.\n2. The disclosure of information: 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of disclosing information\n3. The active role of corporate governance: 3.1 Corporate governance and strategy\n4. Hypotheses: The following are the main research hypotheses related to several factors that may influence the amount of information that is disclosed. These hypotheses will subsequently be researched in the empirical study.Following the hypothesis that an active Board monitors top management and influences their decisions (Johnson et al., 1996), as a consequence of the benefits owing to this involvement (Zahra, 1990), it is a good idea to take into consideration some parameters of Boards of Directors that may influence their control capability over management and their participation in the decision-making process: activity, size and independence. Building upon prior literature, we also explore other key factors of relevance.4.1 Board activity\n5. Research methods: 5.1 Sample description\n6. Empirical results: 6.1 Statistical description\n7. Conclusions: The voluntary disclosure of strategic information is an increasingly common corporate practice for several reasons. For instance, it allows the company to stand out from others and impacts positively on the evaluation of the corporation by finance professionals. In general, the studies performed in other countries have shown that the disclosure of strategic information focuses on revealing the firm's global mission and corporate strategy, and the fulfilment of objectives in prior years; less frequently, action plans are included as well.The reasons that can explain the voluntary disclosure of future information may be very different from other types of reports owing to the competitive disadvantage that could arise if competitors use this data and/or the firms do not achieve the objectives pursued. Moreover, this information will not always be positive; hence, it can lead to a decline in stock prices or in the firm's leverage capacity.In order to observe the level of strategic information disclosed in the Spanish context, we have created an index that includes several items analysed in previous studies and that we have complemented with the contents on this topic from several textbooks. The index was quantified as a binary variable, which takes a value of 1 or 0, depending on whether the data is reported or not.By analysing a new commonly used channel for disseminating corporate information -the internet- this study has found that these companies mainly disclose information about their objectives, mission or firm philosophy on their web sites. Less frequently, they reveal their strategic position in their respective sectors, their strategic plans and information about their production processes. In contrast, data about which firms disclose less information are associated with the annual plan, risks, strategic alliances and the description of the competitive context.We subsequently analysed the explanatory effect that several factors have on the disclosure of voluntary strategic information, through a statistical dependence model - specifically, multivariate linear regressions. To do so, we adopted an Agency Theory framework, although we have included several reflections on the priorities of the responsibilities in the Board. On the one hand, directors have to reduce information asymmetry problems in order to control the executives' actions effectively. On the other hand, outsiders must protect shareholders' interests from proprietary costs (costs associated with the drawing-up of information, litigation risks or negative reactions to bad news in stock prices) that are linked to future data.In order to alleviate multicollinearity problems, we accounted for the marginal effects of Board size, independence and activity on auditing committee effectiveness.Our results show that the most leveraged organisations reveal more information about future projects and their success probabilities, possibly owing to diminishing the agency costs and the conflicts of interest with debtors and to satisfying the demand for information on behalf of investors.With regard to the effect of corporate governance, we have found that companies in which the Chairperson of the Board is the same person as the CEO and in which there is a lower frequency of meetings - less active Boards - disclose a greater amount of strategic information. The positive role of CEO duality and the insignificant effect of non-executive directors could be justified by the stakeholder model hypothesis, in which managers are not opportunistic agents but rather moral individuals and their role is seen as achieving a balance between the interests of all stakeholders (Shankman, 1999, p. 322).Jointly considered, these findings seem to indicate an important participation of upper-level management in the decision to disclose strategic information online in order to satisfy creditor demands and public scrutiny, except in the Transportation industry, which seems to show some opposition to the disclosure of strategic data.These results reinforce those of Babio et al. (2003), who, through interviews, point out that companies disclose a greater amount of voluntary information when the benefits to investors outweigh the costs associated with disclosing to competitors, and when it involves benefits that are related to capital markets - such as increases in stock prices or better access to markets. Moreover, these results could be affected by the characteristics of the Spanish context, such as the strong presence and power of executives who can make decisions without taking independent directors into consideration. In this sense, according to Zahra (1990)'s classification, Spanish Boards would be included in the first level - the less active one - representing and protecting stockholders' interests, without becoming involved in the development and implementation of corporate strategies.As for previous empirical evidence, we have observed that large shareholders do not participate in the decision of disclosing higher volumes of strategic information. These findings are in accordance with those obtained in other countries, such as France and Australia, by Depoers (2000) and Lim et al. (2007). However, unlike Lim et al. (2007)'s results, we have detected that, in Spain (a context featured by a high presence of executives on Boards), the outside directors do not play the r' opinions are the key explanatory factors for voluntary strategic disclosure.As limitations of the current study, we take the volume of information disclosed as a proxy for substantive disclosure. Even though the \"level of disclosure\" is measured by the number of indicators (e.g. quantitative measure), these indicators should also be qualitative in order to be informative. However, our findings would be more robust if a more in-depth study of qualitative features was undertaken.Finally, examining the relation between voluntary disclosure of strategic information and corporate governance has many other future avenues for research. From an international perspective, differences in legislation and institutional factors and their impact on disclosure quality could be addressed. It would thus be of interest to extend the current work to different countries, where the disclosure of strategic information may be voluntary or compulsory.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is twofold: to evidence the disclosure practices of Spanish companies in relation to a voluntary typology of strategic information; and to determine the factors that explain these practices. Among the factors considered, the study seeks to focus on the role of the Board of Directors in depth. According to Agency Theory, strategic information has positive consequences on external funds costs. On the other hand, Proprietary Costs theory limits these practices, given that they can lead to competitive disadvantages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - First, online strategic information disclosure practices are analysed by examining non-financial quoted Spanish firms. A disclosure index is created, and subsequently, certain factors related to corporate governance - Activity, Size and Board Independence - as well as other factors traditionally analysed, are used to explain the volume of strategic information disclosed on the internet.\nFindings: - The results indicate that Spanish companies, on average, give out little strategic information, mainly related to objectives, their mission, and the company's philosophy. \"Company annual planning\" and \"Information on risks\" are scarcely disclosed. The findings also emphasise that companies where the Chairperson of the Board is the same person as the CEO and, moreover, in which there is a lower frequency of meetings, disclose a greater amount of strategic information on their web sites.\nPractical implications: - The findings suggest that the disclosure of strategic information is a decision taken by executives with the aim of satisfying the demands of creditors and investors. The Board of Directors represents the shareholders' interests, but it does not participate in strategic decision-making disclosure, maybe due to the fact that the proprietary costs lack influence.\nOriginality/value: - The link between corporate governance and strategic information disclosed online has scarcely been analysed in previous literature. This study provides interesting insights into how several Board characteristics can affect the disclosure of strategic information on the internet.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A conceptual framework for ecological economics based on systemic principles of life	[ "Ecological economics", "Systems theory", "Nested networks", "Philosophy of organism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today's global economy has put ecosystems and societies into critical distress, and we have to go to the very root of the problems to find new solutions. To solve problems it is not sufficient to make changes within established economics (environmental economics); fundamental changes in economic theory and practice (ecological economics) are required. There is a need for a new transdisciplinary economics which unites opposites and creates basis for peace in ourselves, between people and between people and nature. Today's economy generates conflict in all areas. In this paper, we suggest a new conceptual framework for economic theory and practice based on systemic principles of life.\nFrame of reference - systems thinking: Inspired by dialogues amongst researchers representing social sciences, natural sciences, and the humanities, systems thinking was developed in the 1920s and 1930s (Capra, 1997). Through the exchange of ideas in their interdisciplinary networks the scientists realized that living systems, in contrast to mechanical constructions, are integrated wholes characterized by their relations, their properties being different from those of the smaller parts. Consequently, systems theory involves a shift of perspective from the parts to the whole. This vision was articulated by the now well-known phrase, \"The whole is more than the sum of its parts\". The essential properties of a living system arise from the dynamic connections among the parts. The interconnectedness between organisms and their natural and societal environment has several consequences.\nPrinciples of ecological economics: In the following paragraphs we shall exemplify how our four principles can be guiding principles for a transition to an ecological economics. In a society where the systemic view of life is accepted, the context of economics becomes one where every economic activity should contribute to the development of viable societies within resilient nature. In other words, the economy should give priority to activities that are in harmony with the overarching goal of maximizing the well-being of human beings, non-humans, and whole ecosystems. The only valid purpose of the economy is to serve the life processes in all kinds of social and ecological systems.\nPrinciple 1: economy as a nested system: For economics, the systems view of life is revolutionary. It implies that nature is superior to the economy, not vice versa. In ecological economics, the economy becomes the servant of nature, not the master of nature. The economic system must be integrated into the organic network of reality - the web of life. All actors are integrated in cooperative networks, searching for solutions leading to the enjoyment of life within resilient ecosystems and viable social systems.\nPrinciple 2: economy as networks: According to the systems view of life, the basic pattern of organization of all living systems is the network; and since a network is a particular pattern of connections and relationships, thinking in terms of patterns and relationships is the very essence of systems thinking. As we have emphasized, the study of relationships concerns not only the relationships among the system's components, but also the relationships between the system as a whole and its surrounding systems. The essential properties of a living system arise both from the interactions and relationships among its parts and from the relationships of the whole system to other things.\nDiverse money systems: Another important property of living systems is their resilience. They are able to absorb disturbances, reorganize, and retain their effective functioning. This resilience is closely connected with the system's diversity. A diverse ecosystem, for example, will be resilient, because it contains many species with overlapping ecological functions that can partially replace one another. When a particular species is destroyed by a severe disturbance so that some links in the network are broken, a diverse ecological community will be able to survive and reorganize itself, because other links in the network can at least partially fulfill the function of the destroyed species.\nThe function of banks: Banks play an essential role in economic life where the material basis for human societies is created. In our interpretation of ecological economics one of the most important functions of the banks is to connect money systems to the real economy, or to build a bridge of common interest between the two spheres of the economy. The banks could inspire cooperation between actors by focusing on common purposes in a long-term perspective. The motivation is not narrow self-interest, but the coming together of common interest and personal responsibility. Integrated networks of small-scale local businesses are characterized by diversity in production, processing, distribution, and retro distribution (reprocessing).\nNested networks: Local networks linked together nationally and globally provide the best basis for developing co-responsible human beings, as we have mentioned. The main thing to emphasize here is that individual citizens in the global network should maintain their individuality and dignity. In addition to local, bottom-up initiatives, the development of global democratic institutions (top-down) with the authority to regulate the world economy are of great importance. A combination of bottom-up (personal responsibility) and top-down principles (international treaties) is necessary to secure that the total consumption of natural resources is kept within critical levels. All economic activity depends on access to natural resources.\nPrinciple 3: economy, as an open system: Our systemic principles of life concern two main aspects of living systems: networks and flows. These two perspectives are unified in the concept of metabolism, the central characteristic of life. Metabolism, as we have mentioned, is defined as the ceaseless flow of energy and matter through a network of chemical reactions, which enables a living organism to continually generate, repair, and perpetuate itself. In our discussion of the principles of ecological economics we have until now addressed various implications of the network perspective, and we must now turn to the perspective of flows.\nFrom quantitative growth to qualitative development: In addition to growth and development, the metabolic flows of energy and matter in living organisms are necessary for the continual regeneration and recycling of organic components. There is a significant difference between growth in organic and mechanical perspectives. In both perspectives growth is of central importance. Within a mechanical worldview linear (or exponential) and unlimited growth is common. Natural growth, within an organic system, is characterized by dynamic change where certain parts of organisms, or ecosystems, grow, others decline, releasing and recycling their components which become resources for new growth.\nPrinciple 4: economy as cognitive interactions - a sense of ethics: According to the systems view of life, all living systems interact cognitively with their environment in ways that are determined by their own internal organization. This is our fourth systemic principle of life. In the human realm, these cognitive interactions involve consciousness and culture, and in particular a sense of ethics. Our global economy, by contrast, is a network of financial flows that has been designed mechanically without any ethical framework. In fact, social inequality and social exclusion are inherent features of economic globalization, widening the gap between the rich and the poor and increasing world poverty. It is therefore most urgent to reintroduce an ethical framework within the context of communicative cooperation between co-responsible economic actors on all levels.\nConcluding remarks: To build an alternative economic system along the lines discussed in this paper the basic systemic principles of life must be understood at all levels. In recent years, this understanding has become known as ecological literacy, or \"ecoliteracy.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to refer to ecological economics using two meanings of the term \"ecological\". In the strict scientific sense, ecological economics refers to an economic system that is consistent with and honors the basic principles of ecology, which, ultimately, are identical with what the authors call the systemic principles of life. In a broader sense ecological economics refers to economic theory and practice that see the economy as operating within, rather than dominating, the spheres of nature, society, and culture.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors distill four fundamental principles for ecological economics based on systems theory of life and philosophy of organism. The four principles are; nested systems, self-generating networks, open systems, and cognitive interactions. The authors discuss how these principles can be applied to design an ecological economic system that is life-enhancing on individual, social and ecological levels.\nFindings: The authors argue that ecological economics should give priority to activities that maximize well-being of human and non-human beings, as well as entire ecosystems, and that its central purpose should be to serve the life processes in social and ecological systems.\nOriginality/value: In this paper, the authors connect ecological economics to systems theory and come up with principles relevant for developing economic theory and practice within, rather than dominating, the spheres of nature, society, and culture.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Application of business model innovation for new enterprises: A case study of digital business using a freemium business model	[ "Freemium business model", "Digital business", "New enterprise" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business model innovation is regularly identified as a key to deliver environmental and social sustainability in the industrial system. It has been a significant topic in business practice and academic research. In this study we will discuss one such innovative Business model called the \"Freemium business model.\" This business model follows a pricing strategy by which a service or a product typically an application (such a web services, games, media, software, etc.) or a digital offering is provided without paying anything, but money in the form of premium is charged for additional virtual goods, services or features.\n2. Background: The rapid e-commerce extension with its business models have made researchers segregate different e-commerce business models such as segregation between value chain service providers, value chain integrators, third-party marketplaces, collaboration platforms, virtual communities, e-Auctions, eMalls, e-Procurement, e-Shops, Information Brokers and/or other 3rd parties (Van Bommel, 2011). Corporate sustainability progress is a venture that requires strategic and normative foundations and must be converted into practice via sufficient instruments and concepts that guide entrepreneurs and managers. In addition it is also a question of dynamic ways in which companies conduct various activities. Thus the impacts of aiming for corporate sustainability as showcased by the business model of an organization and vice versa have to be studied. This study helps in elaborating the assumption that business models plays a significant role in maintaining sustainability in core business activities.\n3. Use of freemium business model: The freemium business model helps in driving profit growth and fast recurring revenues in comparison to a paid-only model. It is one of the most popular models for Web-2.0 companies to advertise their products. As per the research conducted by Distimoin, The freemium business model is accountable for a total of 71 percent of revenues of Apple AppStore in the USA. In the year 2012 this percentage was around 50 percent. In order to achieve its business goals almost 32 percent of the SaaS companies used the Freemium model in their customer management category.\n4. Aim and objectives of the study: The main objective of this study is to deeply understand SBM Innovation. It refers to the logical ways a business conducts its day-to-day activities and explains ways to capture, deliver and create value. The aim is to examine concepts and existing theories related to networks, sustainability and stakeholders (Searcy, 2014). In general there is no common agreement on the basis of business models. Innovation in business models have changed the way customers communicate with companies and thus with their products. The increasing use of the internet has drastically changed the idea of the business model and its practical implications for both society and business. There is a need to develop and conquer new ways businesses are adopting to generate revenues, to offer products and distribution.\n5. Review of literature: The evolution of e-commerce and internet technology has explored new possibilities for firms to do business (Den Ouden, 2012). Also there is a significant change in business models. The traditional business models, exchanging money/goods have been replaced by new forms where businesses are earning money indirectly. One such example is \"GOOGLE\" which offers search services free of cost but earns money with paid third party advertisements. Blending sustainability into business models demands systemic view considering different elements and a global perspective of the system and its interrelations. Google started with an innovative technology offering providing a search engine free of cost to the customer and this proved wildly successful for the fast, accurate, relevant and precise search results but without an immediate revenue generation option. Subsequently the firm released an innovative technology offering to sell space to third party advertisers on the users' search result web pages. The advertisers became the main source of revenues, and Google users enjoying the free service turned out to be a part of Google's value proposition (Kesting and Gunzel-Jensen, 2015). Recent advances in information technologies lead to new ways to create, deliver and capture value, which have offered scope for the creation of unconventional exchange mechanisms and transaction architectures (Amit and Zott, 2001). From the conclusion of research on the freemium model (Bekkelund, 2017), there is the possibility to create a SBM using the freemium strategy. Firms can use this strategy as a marketing tool to reach out to the maximum number of users and with premium offerings, gradually free users can be converted to paid users to attain growth. The business model opted by Flickr (www.flickr.com) considered as \"a poster child forWeb 2.0 [offering] users a way to share photos easily\" (Shuen, 2008). Flickr's attractive user friendly web interface, free photo management service with storage offerings is a best use of Web 2.0 \"freemium\" (free and premium) business model (Teece, 2010), characterized by Fred Wilson as:Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, etc., then offer premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base.\n6. Research methodology: The following study has been established to recognize the effectiveness of business models innovation by using a freemium business model. The research method chosen is based on qualitative facts. The intention was not to build theories but to enhance the understanding on the basis of concepts and categories induced from explorations. Appropriate evidence from the market are chosen for the same (Searcy, 2014).\n7. Business analysis with 4V model: Business research must address the role of innovation and technology in developing SBMs. To provide future growth for research, different kinds and blocks building \"business-model-innovation\" needs to be recognized particularly tools, frameworks and practitioners to support business model innovation. Hence the existing tools (business model canvas) need to be evaluated in terms of their extended potentially and suitability (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010). Moreover open innovation can take a central role. Through different collaborative and innovation tools, the co-creation of business models would not be possible. This would affect the stakeholders- citizens, consumers, businesses and the government to participate in the process of value creation for the society (Figure 1).\n8. Conclusions and implications: New enterprises entering in to digital business are selecting the freemium business model specifically to allow customers to trial and use their service. This research suggests that this business model is based on the service offerings that combine the demonstration of innovation, a fair chance of attracting new users with peer network, growth strategies with increasing user base, ability to retain the existing customer with a new product feature for a free trial, that are discussed in in this paper. The key points of the freemium business model for the internet startups and digital business are below:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the details of new age digital business using a freemium business model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Study of the various prospects of various digital business firms like revenues, customer base, share price, ranks. Uses of freemium business model to hold on to existing customers and attract new customers.\nFindings: Innovative service or product offerings and growth strategy is the base of this business model. So businesses must assess innovation strategy before deciding whether to opt the freemium business model or not. Retaining the existing user and constant addition of new users are the founding stone of the freemium business model. So, the value offerings have to be well perceived by the customer so that switching costs will be increased for them and the customer will remain loyal.\nOriginality/value: Analyzing consumer behavior with recent analytical tools and techniques such as web analytics, bigdata analytics are required in order to get deeper market knowledge. It is crucial to get the knowledge of recent trends of markets, the perception of customer and customer's journey mapping in order to run a business with freemium model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Married couples' perceptions on women's autonomy and subjective well-being in Lao PDR	[ "Autonomy", "Subjective well-being" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Women's autonomy is generally defined as a woman's ability to access and use information to make decisions about private matters (Dyson and Moore, 1983; Anderson and Eswaran, 2009). Women's autonomy is considered essential for a country's development. According to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the political, social, economic, health and educational empowerment of women enable them to not only share childcare responsibilities and household chores with men but also lead to a productive and reproductive life. An increase in women's autonomy in the household, which is generally measured by decision-making power in household matters, enhances welfare of family members.\n2. Methods: 2.1 Study settings\n3. Results: 3.1 Descriptive statistics\n4. Discussion: This paper examined the association of married couples' perceptions of women's autonomy with life satisfaction among wives in semi-urban matrilineal communities in Lao PDR using data collected from 198 matched couples with children under 12 years old. A cross-tabulation analysis of responses revealed there was both agreement and disagreement within couples regarding the wife's decision-making autonomy in four specific household matters. The level of concordance within the couples was consistent with previous studies in which the percentage of spousal agreement on each household decision ranged between roughly 50 and 75 percent (Jejeebhoy, 2002; Becker et al., 2006; Ghuman et al., 2006; Allendorf, 2007).\n5. Conclusion: This study offered new empirical evidence on the relationship between a wife's autonomy and her subjective well-being in the matrilineal society of Lao PDR by focusing on the perceptions of couples. Our results indicated both agreement and disagreement within couples regarding the wife's decision-making autonomy. Regression results showed a positive association between a wife's self-reported autonomy and her subjective well-being, whereas no such association was observed for the husband's perception or the couple's concordance on the issue. These findings imply that implementing interventions that increase a woman's autonomy would improve the woman's well-being even in women-centered societies. Our results also re-emphasize the importance of considering responses by both the wife and husband when conducting an empirical analysis of women's autonomy, since these perceptions could be quite different and tend to have differing effects on the woman's well-being. Understanding the different perceptions of spouses can help us better understand the woman's relative power and the couple's dynamics in household decision making.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of married couples regarding women's autonomy and the association of these perceptions with the subjective well-being of wives in Lao PDR.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was conducted in semi-urban communities in Vientiane Capital of Lao PDR. Data were collected from 198 matched married couples with children under 12 years of age. Cross-tabulation analysis and multivariate regression analysis were used to assess the association between couple's perceptions regarding women's autonomy and the subjective well-being of wives.\nFindings: Results from regression analysis revealed a positive association between the self-reported autonomy of wives and their subjective well-being. In contrast, neither the husband's perceptions nor the couple's concordance regarding the autonomy of the wife was associated with the level of the wife's subjective well-being.\nResearch limitations/implications: The survey was conducted in four small communities in Vientiane Capital. Thus, larger and more representative studies covering the entire country would be preferable for future policy orientation.\nOriginality/value: The study sites belong to the Lao-Lum group, which follows a matrilineal inheritance system under which wives generally enjoy a relatively higher social status than do women elsewhere in the world. The findings suggest that, even in women-centered settings, interventions aimed at increasing a woman's perception of her household decision-making autonomy can improve her subjective well-being.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intimate knowledge initiators: Bonding the suppliers and buyers in the online group-shopping environment	[ "Consumer marketing", "Buying behaviour", "Community networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The initiator is the key person in the consumptive process of group buying (Cheng and Huang, 2013; Hsu et al., 2013; Ku, 2012). On the buyers' side, the initiators need to connect with their supplier to get the product that buyers want, ensure the product's quality, and negotiate prices. On the suppliers' side, the initiators should help obtain a sufficient quantity of products and provide information about the buyers' real demand. Thus, initiators have a big responsibility because they serve as a bridge between suppliers and buyers in the group-shopping environment. Previous researches have discussed the characteristics of initiators (Chung, 2013), their trust (Weisberg et al., 2011; Ku, 2012) and perceived risk (Kauffman et al., 2010; Yen, 2010), and their bargaining power (Ku, 2012; Janssen and Sol, 2000). Because there is a lot of uncertainty in group buying, initiators need to have adequate knowledge of how to get the buyers' trust and reduce their risk. However, few researches talk about the relationship between suppliers and initiators and how this affects the relational benefit.\n2. Theoretical background and literature review: From the perspective of signaling, and based on the information that the initiator delivers in online group buying, a research model of the advantages of the cooperation between initiators and suppliers in an online shopping environment was developed in this study, as shown in Figure 1. Based on signaling theory, a particular act will pass on other importation information, and a sign can be spread in many ways through different activities. In this study, the initiator plays the role of issuing orders. The initiator can provide supplier information to buyers and also serve as a communication channel between suppliers and buyers. Therefore, in the whole group-buying process, the relationship between the initiator and supplier is very important.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1. Data collection and sample characteristics\n4. Results: Internal consistency reliability refers to the accuracy or precision of a measuring instrument; it has to do with the extent of unidimensionality, that is, that the detailed items (questions) measure the same thing. In this study, the internal consistency reliability was assessed by calculating Cronbach's a values. The internal consistency of the construct was 0.868, which is above the acceptable threshold.\n5. Conclusions and implications: In the virtual online shopping environment, the initiators become more important as a criterion for attracting and retaining buyers; thus, many firms are increasingly focussing on building a relationship with initiators to increase their performance. This study focussed on the signaling of initiators in group buying and discussed the partnership between suppliers and initiators as another important factor for consideration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how marketing capability, dysfunctional conflict, and relationship value affect relational benefits through the relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators in a group-buying web site.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The initiators selected were those who conducted group buying more than ten times in the group-buying web site. In total, 9,000 invitation e-mails were sent to initiators, of which 389 were returned; the model and hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: In online group buying, initiators can know about a new product only through the web site; the marketing capability of suppliers and the relationship value of initiators are positively associated with the relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators. And, the results indicate that the dysfunctional conflict of initiators is not positively associated with the relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators. Finally, The relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators is positively associated with the relational benefit between initiators and buyers.\nPractical implications: The supplier and the initiator can work together in brainstorming new products; moreover, initiators can assist suppliers by helping them identify buyers' demands and giving them relevant feedback.\nSocial implications: The suppliers' marketing capability is important for initiators because it can help increase the latter's ability to catch buyers' attention. In addition, the initiator and supplier together can think about product innovation and new product designs.\nOriginality/value: Initiators, as key persons in the group-buying process, serve as a bridge between suppliers and buyers and have a positive impact on group buying. The findings suggest that certain facets of initiators are helpful in explaining the expected product performance of buyers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The servitization of manufacturing: A systematic literature review of interdependent trends	[ "Services marketing", "Manufacturing", "Management", "Service", "Servitization", "Product-service systems", "Service science", "Systematic literature review" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Competing strategically through service provision is becoming a distinctive feature of innovative manufacturing firms (Spring and Araujo, 2009). Integrated product-service offerings can be a means of differentiation and provide a robust market defence to competition from lower cost economies, particularly in the manufacturing sectors where there is a high installed product base (Wise and Baumgartner, 1999). Consequently, there is a growing amount of research interest in the role of services in sustaining the competitiveness of manufacturers. The term \"servitization\" was coined by Vandermerwe and Rada (1988) to describe this phenomenon and subsequently become known as the \"servitization of manufacturing\".\n2 Communities engaged with servitization research: Research in the field of servitization has, for some time, taken place in five principal research communities (Baines et al., 2009a). However, the constitution and focus of these communities continues to evolve. In this section we introduce each community and summarise their origins, evolution, and unique disciplinary perspectives.\n3 Research methodology: Based on the proposition that servitization is being addressed by different research communities, this review seeks to obtain a more detailed understanding of knowledge production both within and across them. As a multi community research activity its nature, boundaries and interactions are yet to be comprehensively defined. Therefore, the aim of our work has been to provide an integrative and organising lens for viewing the various contributions to knowledge production from research communities addressing concerns associated with the servitization of manufacturing.\n4 Knowledge stocks and flows within servitization research: 4.1 Evolution and activity of research communities\n5 Generic research concerns within servitization research: The thematic element of our analysis involved a detailed review of the content of each research article by creating a coding framework to catalogue the textual content and summaries of each paper. The coding framework evolved inductively as the analysis progressed. Records were kept of the frequency with which specific words and terms (e.g. language, synonyms, homonyms, phrases, arguments and assertions) were used, and this was taken to reflect their relative importance.\n6 Conclusions and future implications: 6.1 Summary of contribution\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The servitization of manufacturing is a diverse and complex field of research interest. The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative and organising lens for viewing the various contributions to knowledge production from those research communities addressing servitization. To achieve this, the paper aims to set out to address two principal questions, namely where are the knowledge stocks and flows amongst the research communities? And what are generic research concerns being addressed by these communities?\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using an evidenced-based approach, the authors have performed a systematic review of the research literature associated with the servitization of manufacturing. This investigation incorporates a descriptive and thematic analysis of 148 academic and scholarly papers from 103 different lead authors in 68 international peer-reviewed journals.\nFindings: The work proposes support for the existence of distinct researcher communities, namely services marketing, service management, operations management, product-service systems and service science management and engineering, which are contributing to knowledge production in the servitization of manufacturing. Knowledge stocks within all communities associated with research in the servitization of manufacturing have dramatically increased since the mid-1990s. The trends clearly reveal that the operations community is in receipt of the majority of citations relating to the servitization of manufacturing. In terms of knowledge flows, it is apparent that the more mature communities are drawing on more locally produced knowledge stocks, whereas the emergent communities are drawing on a knowledge base more evenly distributed across all the communities. The results are indicative of varying degrees of interdependency amongst the communities. The generic research concerns being addressed within the communities are associated with the concepts of product-service differentiation, competitive strategy, customer value, customer relationships and product-service configuration.\nOriginality/value: This research has further developed and articulated the identities of distinct researcher communities actively contributing to knowledge production in the servitization of manufacturing, and to what extent they are pursuing common research agendas. This study provides an improved descriptive and thematic awareness of the resulting body of knowledge, allowing the field of servitization to progress in a more informed and multidisciplinary fashion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Parent-adolescent sexual dialogue: Does content and approach matter in adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviors?	[ "Adolescents", "Parents", "Communication", "Adolescent sexual health", "Sexual behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Adolescent risky sexual behavior is of national concern in the USA, with teen pregnancy noted as one of the top ten health concerns for kids in 2017, falling under the heading of a \"big problem\" according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. Although many health programs and initiatives target these outcomes, many teens continue to engage in risky sexual behavior. A 2017 survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 40 percent of high school students reported engaging in sexual intercourse at least once. Of those who reported having sexual intercourse in the three months prior to taking the survey, 46 percent reported that they did not use a condom the last time they had sex, and 14 percent did not use birth control methods such as the pill or Depo-Provera to prevent pregnancy the last time they had sex (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). These and other risky sexual behaviors contributed to the approximately 8,090 cases of HIV in 2017 among young people in the USA between the ages of 13 and 24 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Moreover, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 make up almost half of the 19m new STD cases reported each year, and over 400,000 teen girls between the ages of 15 and 19 gave birth in 2009 (Weinstock et al., 2000; Hamilton et al., 2010). These statistics demonstrate an imminent need for more information on how to influence teens to make healthy sexual decisions.\nMethod: Participants\nAnalyses and results: The purpose of this study was to determine whether adolescent sexual attitudes and sexual behaviors varied based on parent approach to conversations about sexual activity and the focus or content of parent-adolescent conversations about sexual activity. In addition, relations between frequency of parent-adolescent conversation and level of conversation focus on making healthy sexual choices were examined. Means and standard deviations for the primary study variables are included in Table I.\nDiscussion: This purpose of this study was to examine whether adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors differed according to parent approach to communication and the focus of conversations about sexual activity. We also explored the relations between frequency of parent-adolescent conversations about sexual activity and the amount of focus on different content areas. The focus on parent approach to communication and specific content of sexual conversations presents a unique contribution to the collection of research on this topic, as many studies focus primarily on frequency and amount of parent-adolescent sexual dialogue.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how the content and approach of parent-adolescent communication about sexuality were associated with three adolescent sexuality variables (sexual attitudes, combination of all behaviors and advanced behaviors).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey research with adolescents was conducted in classrooms at school. Participants were 473 adolescents (196 males, 253 females and 24 unreported) in grades 9-12 from two high schools (one urban and one suburban) in a large midwestern city.\nFindings: Adolescents who described their parents' communication approach as open, or who did not engage in conversations about sexuality with their parents reported lower rates of sexual behavior, when compared to adolescents whose parents dictated such conversations. Females were found to have more conservative sexual attitudes than males, and both mothers and fathers were found to have a direct role in talking to their children about sexuality.\nOriginality/value: Findings from the study may offer guidance to parents and help adults aiming to empower youth to make healthy sexual decisions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service quality at the London 2012 games - a paralympics athletes survey	[ "Performance measurement", "Paralympics", "Service quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the World Academy of Sport (WAoS) launched a study in 2012 to capture the \"voice of the athletes\" during the London 2012 Paralympic Games. This research was designed to help measure and understand what was critical, in terms of the services provided, for the athletes competing at the Paralympics. The objectives were to appreciate which criteria were important to optimise the Athletes' experience. It starts to establish a valid evidence base and establish how London 2012 performed against multiple key criteria. The questionnaire was designed by the IPC and the WAoS with direct support and facilitation from the University of Huddersfield (UoH). The research was then undertaken and facilitated at London 2012 in August and September 2012. This utilised a team of four IPC Academy Interns led by an IPC Academy Research Fellow. This paper is structured as follows: it provides an overview of the Olympic and Paralympic movements followed by a brief review of aspects of quality and service quality; the research methodology is explained and outlined; the key findings and outcomes from the survey results are presented followed by the discussion and conclusion.\nLiterature: Successful Olympics and the Paralympics\nMethodology: The study was conducted by using a mixed-methodology embedded in a case study containing multiple units of analysis (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2009). A survey instrument was designed, as the primary research method, by a joint team from the IPC, WAoS and UoH based on a review of the SERVQUAL literature and the IPC aims and objectives (International Paralympic Committee Strategic Plan, 2011-2014). The survey sought to provide an evidence base against two primary objectives: first, identifying what are the specific Paralympics Games criteria impacting the athlete experience, and second, establishing a baseline against each of the core criteria by measuring the performance of the London 2012 Paralympics. From this process, ten criteria were ultimately identified and developed: Paralympic village; competition venues; transport; catering; volunteers and staff; ceremonies; pre-game information; medical and healthcare; arrival and departures; and anti-doping. For each criteria between four and 12 items were defined to form the survey, a total of 73 were created. The survey was a combination of closed, fixed-response questions using a five-point scale (1=very satisfied, 2=satisfied, 3=neutral, 4=dissatisfied, 5=very dissatisfied) and open dialogue boxes for respondent opinion and suggestions. The developed survey was facilitated through a dedicated web application. Moreover, it is relevant to note that the survey has an exploratory purpose rather than an explanatory one, which was appropriate to address the two research questions.\nThe findings: Descriptive analysis\nTheme by themes analysis: In this section we present, in greater detail, what the athletes considered as important and how the London 2012 Paralympic Games performed in each.\nDiscussion: The survey sought to provide an evidence base against two primary objectives: first, identifying what are the specific Paralympics Games service quality criteria impacting the athlete experience? (RQ1), and second, can a valid baseline be established to measure the service quality/performance of the Paralympics? (RQ2).\nConclusion: This research has demonstrated that although the athletes were delighted by the games organisation, the themes considered as the most important did not perform the best. In any system there are always AFIs, which should be actively targeted. This research has highlighted the following AFIs:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on aspects of service quality at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, from a rather unusual perspective, the athletes. To date there has been little evidence captured about athlete's satisfaction at sporting events, and specifically about their perceptions of the service quality provided.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Unique \"full\" access to the London 2012 Paralympics allowed to the collection of data directly from the athletes. The study reports the questionnaire findings from a sample of 250 respondents.\nFindings: From this study an operational assessment and performance framework has been generated composed of ten criteria and 73 items or sub-criteria, which can be used as a benchmarking tool to plane, design and compare future sport mega-event. Moreover, the study evidence based the high quality of the 2012 Paralympics Games, as he athletes rated, on a five point Likert scale, 64 items in the \"very satisfied\" category, a very positive set of feedback for the Games organisers.\nResearch limitations/implications: The methodology applied was appropriate, generating data to facilitate discussion and draw specific conclusions from. A perceived limitation is the single case approach; however, this can be enough to add to the body of knowledge where very little evidence has been captured so far and where the objectives were to explore the Paralympics games service quality and performance.\nPractical implications: This research provides a tangible evidence base to support future sport event decision makers, planners and designers in this highly complex \"arena\". In any system there are always areas for improvement, these are highlighted within the paper for further investigation.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to identify and synthesize aspects of sport mega event service quality from the athletes viewpoint and informs how well designed, organised and managed the London 2012 Games were from a primary user perspective. The paper makes a defined contribution by developing evidence based recommendations for this important yet under researched area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Overseers down under: Director and officer culpability for health and safety offences in the UK and in Australian jurisdictions	[ "Health and safety", "Consent connivance and neglect", "Director duties", "Directors and officers", "Health and Safety at Work Act", "WorkSafe" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: There is no disputing the strong link between effective safety leadership and improved organisational culture. This paper seeks to compare the approach taken in the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 (\"HSWA\") of imposing an implicit duty on directors with the positive duty of due diligence imposed on officers in the model Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (the \"Model Act\") enacted by the Commonwealth Government of Australia and replicated substantially by most of the state and territory governments of Australia. The paper will first summarise generally the operation of Section 37 of the HSWA, and then the operation of Section 27 of the recently implemented Model Act. A fundamental purpose of the Model Act is to provide the framework for nationally consistent workplace health and safety legislation to be adopted throughout Australia.\nIntroduction: The Centre for Corporate Accountability (2007) released a paper entitled \"International comparison of health and safety responsibilities of company directors\" Research Report 535. The International Comparison focused on a number of jurisdictions with a variety of director duties including:positive safety obligations placed directly on company directors as in Queensland, Australia;safety obligations placed directly on a person who is either a company director or senior manager as in South Australia;significant duties placed upon directors through the creation of particular offences as in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and the capital territory of Australia; andjurisdictions with implicit duties upon directors through offences similar to Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 such as in the UK, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.Additionally there were those jurisdictions which imposed duties upon employers or supervisors which could apply to directors but do not in practice, as well as those which imposed no duties on directors or senior managers. Both of these latter categories were not represented by the UK or by Australian jurisdictions.Since that study was completed, six out of eight Australian jurisdictions have introduced the Model Act which places a positive safety obligation directly on company officers. The author has previously called for a similar duty in the UK, perhaps by way of an amendment to Section 37 HSWA or by the introduction of a new section (Safety and Health Practitioner, 2012b).\nSection 37 HSWA: Section 37(1) HSWA currently provides:Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate who is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who is purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.Use of provisions containing the terms consent, connivance and neglect (CCN) provide for the criminal culpability of persons in positions as listed in Section 37, as well as those who purport to \"act in any such capacity\". The principal authority for identifying somebody with such authority is R v. Boal [1992] 95 Cr App R 272 in which it was held that the intention of a (similarly-worded) section was to attach criminal culpability to those persons in the workplace who were in a position of \"real authority\". CCN is intended to attach to those decision-makers within a company who have both power and responsibility to decide corporate policy and strategy. CCN is not intended to \"strike at underlings\".It will be noted from the wording of Section 37 that an offence must have been committed by a body corporate (employer) in the first instance. These are usually offences under Sections 2 or 3 HSWA, failing to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of employees or members of the public. Section 37 is therefore a predicate offence.It is the prosecution that must prove all elements of Section 37 against the defendant, including an employer's offence. There is no requirement that the employer be prosecuted or convicted. However, where an employer is convicted, Section 74 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 can be used to evidence the conviction.Once the prosecution has proved that a company has committed an offence, it is a relatively short step for an inference to be drawn that there was connivance or neglect on the part of a director. Indeed, in the Republic of Ireland the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 contains Section 80(1) which turns this short step into a presumption (similar presumptions also existed in New South Wales, Queensland and Australia prior to the introduction of the Model Act). Section 80(1) provides that where an employer has committed an offence (which need not be evidenced by conviction), it is presumed, until the contrary is proven, that the offence was committed with the CCN of the director. It is then for the director to show that the offence was not attributable to his CCN, rather than for the prosecution to show what it was. The Irish offence is punishable with imprisonment for up to two years.This reverse burden of proof makes uncomfortable inroads into the presumption of innocence and we will see that the new Australian provision in respect of directors is perhaps preferable to that step against tradition.CCN are not mutually exclusive alternatives and what amounts to CCN can be determined with reference to case law.Consent can be established by inference as well as proof of expressed agreement. As noted by Matthews and Ageros (2010), and the Attorney General (1996), a director must be proved to know the material facts which constituted the employer's offence and to have agreed to the conduct of the employer's business on the basis of those facts, knowing that there was a reasonably practicable step that the employer could have taken to reduce the risk. Ignorance that such conduct on behalf of the employer was illegal is no defence.It is self-evident that the more remote the director's sphere of responsibility from the breach, the harder it will be to draw an inference of any kind regarding his responsibilities.Connivance is something different to consent and has been described as \"wilful blindness\" to facts that a director did not want to acknowledge (Gipps v. Gipps and Hume [1861] 11 HO Cas 1 at 14). It can be said to be a state of mind in which a director is aware of what is going on within the organisation but does nothing to stop it; his agreement is tacit.Unlike consent and connivance, neglect requires a causal connection to the offence. The offence by the company should be partly attributable to the director's neglect (Wotherspoon v. HM Advocate [1978] JC 74).Following the case of R v. P [2007] All ER (D) 173 (July) the Court of Appeal has ruled that neglect requires either actual knowledge on the part of the director or the \"turning of a blind eye\" by the director to the material facts of an employer's breach. The court said that in any case deciding whether a director had been negligent, the court must look to whether the director failed to take some steps which fell within the scope of the functions of his role to prevent the commission of an offence. The director should know of the need for action or the existence of a state of fact requiring action before it could be said that he \"ought to be aware\".There is no need for the prosecution to prove that the defendant actually knew the material facts, it simply has to be his responsibility to know. In a sense, this has increased the ease with which a director can be prosecuted under Section 37, utilising the neglect argument. As reported by the Safety and Health Practitioner, it may have led to an increase in the number of prosecutions under Section 37 HSWA.Conviction for an offence committed by way of Section 37 can result in a six month term of imprisonment in the Magistrates' Court or a fine of up to PS20,000, or a period of imprisonment for two years in the Crown Court as well as an unlimited fine. The sentencing court can also disqualify directors. However, disqualification is rarely used and periods of imprisonment are extremely rare.\n(a) Criticism of Section 37: This author has previously written at length regarding the shortcomings of Section 37 and the indirect duty of directors (Safety and Health Practitioner, 2012a). In short, it is felt that there is a lack of equality in HSWA which imposes duties on employers, manufacturers and employees, but not on those who stand to benefit most from any business: its employees.The UK currently adopts a voluntary approach to director duties, with HSE and Institute of Director publication on director responsibilities only being guidance. Research by Databuild Limited for the Health and Safety Executive (2010) has shown that a minority of directors are aware of it, much less read it, and so their businesses do not operate in accordance with it. They are not required to.Other critics have included Donaghy (2009) in her publication \"One death is too many\". The response of trade unions to Baroness Donaghy's report was \"overwhelmingly positive\". It also received support from the Work and Pensions Committee (2009).Section 37 HSWA does not give rise to a positive duty in the way that Sections 2, 3 and 7 HSWA do. It is what the CCA termed an implicit duty in International Comparison. \"Bringing justice to the board room\" states that Section 37 \"does not impose any positive obligations upon directors\". This means that ensuring health and safety compliance by their companies is effectively a voluntary task for directors.At best it imposes a duty upon directors to take action if they are aware that their company is committing an offence and are aware of the reasonable and practicable steps that can be taken to avoid it. This implicit duty exists because if directors did not act in such a situation, they could potentially be prosecuted for conniving \"in the commission of the offence\".However, no director is required to ensure employers comply with their health and safety duties. There is no requirement for a director to take reasonable care neither for the safety of his staff through the management of health and safety, nor to exercise due diligence to ensure that a company does not commit an offence.This is to be contrasted with the position involving employees who according to Section 7 HSWA are obliged by statute to take reasonable care for health and safety on behalf of others, a duty which does not attach to directors under Section 37. When one considers that it is directors who can best affect the culture of a workplace and who benefit most from a company's work, this inequality of burden is a glaring omission in HSWA and one the author believes is worthy of rectification. As noted by Databuild Ltd (2010) the benefit would likely be improved health and safety compliance as the regime moved away from a voluntary one in which a minority of directors have regard to the leading health and safety guidance, to an enforced obligation to actively manage the employer's compliance with the law.In 2010, the Right Honourable Frank Doran MP, a Solicitor, proposed a Private Members Bill seeking to introduce positive duties. He cited The Centre for Corporate Accountability for UCATT's (2007) \"Bringing justice to the board room\" in his submissions to the House of Commons as justification for imposing positive duties on directors (Hansard, 2010). That Bill, which would have imposed a positive duty on directors to ensure that companies complied with health and safety duties, was not passed. In April 2011, the Health and Safety Executive confirmed that further regulation in the area of director duties would not be pursued.Stone (2011) suggested that further evaluative work should be conducted to determine the most effective levers for encouraging director involvement and leadership on health and safety. He correctly highlighted that the danger of relying on data from the UK was that surveys, studies and comments may be biased or flawed.It is hoped that the new Australian Model Act may be influential in this regard.\n(b) The Australian position: Introduction\nSection 27: Officers\nAssessment: The critical assessment of any health and safety legislation surely has to be accident statistics. They have little use in the UK given the inaccuracy of accident reporting (Tombs and Whyte, 2010) but Australian reporting could possibly be more reliable given that it includes vehicle incidents unlike the UK.SWA reported that as of the 31 December 2012 192 Australian workers were killed whilst at work. During the same period in 2011, 166 deaths had occurred according to SWA (2013). Given the recent introduction of the Model Act it would be unfair to attribute the increase in the number of fatalities in 2012 to a weakening of health and safety legislation by the Model Act. Indeed, it will be some years before we see the full effects of the legislation. It should be borne in mind as well that at the date of the release of those statistics four Australian states had still not implemented the most recent legislation.It is also difficult to assess the impact of the introduction of the positive duty on directors given that the legislation was a wholesale change and not simply an amendment of one section as the author has called for previously in relation to Section 37. It will therefore be difficult to assess the efficacy of Clause 27. It may be that statistics on prosecution of officers will be some kind of indicator but how remains to be seen.What can be said of the Model Act is that it is robust and thorough, at least in respect of officers. It is believed that there will be a benefit to all stakeholders, even if only small. The counter-argument against reform that a \"small\" benefit is not worth the effort could easily be rebuffed by highlighting what that benefit means: improved health and safety which in turns means fewer accidents and in turn fewer deaths.It has been suggested in the UK that reform of Section 37 might only improve health and safety outcomes by 5-10 per cent (CCA, 2007). 5 per cent fewer accidents each year for a reform that will cost very little is attractive by anyone's estimation, particularly where it can involve life and death issues.As the UK's Coalition Government continues on a course of de-regulation and attack on the \"health and safety monster\" (The Guardian, 2012), it is unlikely in the extreme that we will see an amendment to Section 37 any time soon. Therefore, an analysis of the Australian position, if at all possible given the wholesale changes rather than an incremental improvement through the addition of director duties, may provide support to the calls for positive duties in the UK. If the Australian experiment does not yield obviously positive results, then overseers in the UK may continue to be almost devoid of obligation to those they oversee.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to examine and contrast director duties in health and safety in the UK and Australian jurisdictions, the former influencing the latter's health and safety regime until Australia introduced a new more progressive regime.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors are practitioners who have combined desk based research with professional knowledge of how the law in both jurisdictions is applied. The approach was a comparative study of the underlying principles behind the enforcement regimes.\nFindings: - The paper found that the UK position could be strengthened but whilst the new Australian position could be a preferable development, it is too early to tell whether or not the Australian model would be more effective.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Research was desk-based only.\nPractical implications: - Practitioners in both jurisdictions should consider potential developments in the area of director duties, particularly in the UK where Section 37 could arguably be strengthened.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first comparison of the UK and Australian jurisdictions in respect of health and safety and examines an alternative to the consent, connivance and neglect model used in the UK to attach culpability to directors and officers. It also examines the possibility of introducing due diligence in the UK.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Getting people involved: The benefit of intellectual capital management for addressing HR challenges	[ "Intellectual capital management", "Human resource management", "Organizational development", "Change", "Participation", "Intelligent organization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: the importance of \"intangibles\": Economy and thus markets are changing constantly; society and values more slowly, but they do. Socio-economic factors and organisational changes have an impact on how to manage human resources (HR) in an organisation. With the shift from an industrial to a knowledge economy, intangible factors gain importance, as products, resources and mediating factors for intelligent businesses.With the shift from tangible to intangible entities, we are increasingly faced with blurred lines between concepts and terms, complex interactions in a network of multidirectional influences among a multitude of factors that are, on top, hard to define. To act professionally in such an environment and to handle these intangible \"goods\" successfully, we need new metaphors, mental models, managerial approaches, methods and instruments, skills, competences and language. This implies a deep cultural shift that cannot be imposed, is hard to initiate, steer and bring forward. In this context the capacity to tolerate ambiguity, undertake decision making in circumstances of insufficient information or in an ill-defined environment, communication skills, etc, gain importance. Only considering tangible and intangible resources can lead to success, whereas disregarding either one or the other can have fatal consequences.HR experts, especially in HR development, are familiar with dealing with intangibles and related difficulties in a profit-oriented environment. What is the financial benefit (ebit, ROI) of a certain training program, or of a coaching initiative? How should change management be reflected in corporate financial balance sheets? These are questions that are asked for a good reason, which are not easy to answer. (Producing numbers is not the major challenge, however delivering good quality numerical indicators to decision makers and a comprehensive and well-founded interpretation is.) Positioning HR as a business partner is a task that has entered agendas, but many organisations still have a long way to go to implement it satisfactorily.Among others, two somehow contradictory aspects need to be considered:1. HR and success are closely linked.2. Many decision makers do not give HR and intangibles a role in the corporate decision-making process.Practical experience shows that HR is still the target for criticism in the sense that although it might support training activities and administration, it is not considered as a key strategic unit that should be closely integrated into the strategic decisions of the organisation as a whole. Taking the relevance of HR and intangibles (in general) as a given and considering strategic organisational development (OD) to be an on-going mission, this paper proposes to use management practices with the following characteristics:* foster a future-orientation;* align all actions with strategic statements;* take a participatory approach;* make use of knowledge and experience; and* contribute to transforming intangibles into reportable indicators.Applying and refining these kind of practices raises the probability that intangibles will find their way into decision-making; especially as a wide variety of methods for intellectual capital reporting (ICR) are available. Nevertheless, it will still take time before either the contribution to organisational development that these methods can make, or their usefulness as a source of information for decision-making and the implementation of strategies, is clearly appreciated. Taking a practical point of view, this paper discusses the benefits of intellectual capital (IC) reporting and management for HR challenges. Based on the match of HR challenges and ICR contributions, it proposes using IC Reporting, or the more complete IC management, to support strategically anchored HR development. It provides a starting point for elaborating on this idea and may stimulate (empirical) research.Challenges of HR work today\nIntellectual capital management as a participative approach: Reporting and development of IC\nLinking HR work and ICM: Why should IC management now be linked to HR work? There are several arguments to do so, but the core link is the relevance and role of human beings and their knowledge and intelligence in organisational development. Bleicher (2009) stresses the importance of knowledge sharing in building an intelligent organisation. To explicate the value of IC management for HR work, the notion of participatory approaches for holistic strategic implementation and continuous adaptation is the anchor. Not all ICR models include participatory components (e.g. the Austrian way of delivering ICR in Universities according to the \"Universitatengesetz\" of 2005). InCaS and the German framework (see www.akwissensbilanz.de) are based on workshops with a certain composition of participants, representing the respective organisation. Here, much emphasis is put on how to prepare and facilitate the workshops and how to use the results as a basis to deliver an intellectual capital report. Those are the models that are refered in this paper when, in the following sections, the previously mentioned challenges of HR work are used to explain the contribution of IC management and identifying aspects to be considered in practical application.Empowering employees and making use of their knowledge and experience\nConclusions and a glance ahead: The contributions of IC management to HR work and organisational development are manifold, especially by providing a method to align individual perspectives and actions to enhance organisational success. Participatory methods for IC management offer great potential for organizational development and HR management by opening up employee knowledge for strategic development, valuing individuals as important knowledge holders and making them part of the process for strategic development. At the same time it fosters strategic thinking, which is part of successful leadership. Aligning everybody's action and way of thinking contributes to organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, transparency of strategic direction of an organization, its values, measures for development and ways of participatory strategic management to external parties and individuals makes an organization more attractive to potential employees, and thus sustains recruitment of those who not only look for a job to make some money, but want to be part of a strategic enterprise.Intellectual capital statements and the process of producing them have been discussed so far with respect to benefits for external reporting and organizational development. Social and psychological mechanisms have not been in the focus of discourse so far. Establishing IC assessment and the entire process of cultural change towards more participation in strategically relevant issues, intense knowledge sharing and empowerment of employees in strategy implementation, might show effects in the individual regarding satisfaction at the workplace, organisational commitment, work-related activity, etc. IC management is well worth investigating these kinds of effects.This paper has presented some hypotheses, derived from and written for practical work, identifying matches between HR challenges and IC management benefits. The literature on IC management and strategic HR work has not been linked so far, although the benefits of IC management for some strategic HR challenges and change management seem to have great potential. This paper can only be a starting point that triggers deeper analysis of specific questions and possibly empirical studies, e.g. to identify the most relevant factors, and to prove the effect of participatory IC management with respect to its individual, psychological and organisational effects, including well-being, trust and individual contribution to corporate success, employee retention, organisational commitment, and successfully living change in organisations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore the benefits of intellectual capital assessment for facing current challenges of human resources work and organizational development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper takes findings of studies on challenges in HR work and maps them with features of intellectual capital assessment methods. It is thus a theoretical paper, based on practical experience, and findings of practice-oriented studies. It can serve as the basis for formulating new hypotheses to be further investigated and discussed.\nFindings: - There is a considerable overlap of HR challenges and potential benefits of IC assessment in several areas of human resources' work, closely interlinked with organizational development.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings of this paper may stimulate research on organizations as social systems and in applied research on human resources. It provides a starting point for further investigation of psychological, social and organisational success factors and to the practical challenge of building intelligent and sustainable organisations in a continuously changing environment.\nPractical implications: - Using participatory IC assessment approaches may change practices in HR work and enrich the portfolio of methods used and enlarge the application of IC assessment.\nSocial implications: - The paper fosters the value of expertise and experience of people in organizations. This may lead, in the long run, to changes in organizational cultures.\nOriginality/value: - In research and practice, IC assessment and HR work are mostly disconnected. This paper proposes to establish a link and explore synergies. This may have considerable impact on research and practice in these areas.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Develop.evaluate.embed.sustain: enterprise education for keeps	[ "United Kingdom", "Universities", "Curricula", "Enterprise education", "Sustainability", "Cyclical evaluation", "Enterprise contexts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nProject aims: This project was undertaken in a former Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) based within Leeds Metropolitan University (Leeds Met) known as the Institute for Enterprise. HEFCE funded the Institute for Enterprise's mission for a total of five years. The rationale for the project was following unsuccessful attempts at evaluating enterprise education and entrepreneurship education using a pre-designed instrument.The main aim of this case-study project was to provide evidence-based research to enable and aid the sustainability of enterprise education curriculum within schools and faculties at Leeds Met through a model of evaluation. The key underpinning aim was to undertake exploratory research to investigate a notion that we had that \"contextual factors\" should be central to and the trigger for evaluations undertaken on enterprise education and entrepreneurship education curriculum. Current approaches to evaluating such curricula are commonly based on questionnaires distributed en masse to students and while they are designed to evaluate impact they are also done on a generic, global basis and are not \"specific\" to the module or its content, i.e. \"contextual factors\". This, we argue, is not a suitable approach for evaluating such curricula. We discuss our argument further in the following sections.\nBackground: The Institute for Enterprise's mission was to embed enterprise education across all subject disciplines within Leeds Met and over the five-year lifespan of the institute. A key achievement expected of the institute was that enterprise education would have become embedded within the curriculum and gained momentum before the end of the five years. On this journey it became evident that enterprise education comes in many different guises from formalised mainstream curriculum, extra-curricular offerings, implicit curriculum, project-based and more newly emergent forms of curriculum (evolving pedagogies) including the use of technologies. The role of research in the institute was to evaluate the impact of the formalised mainstream curriculum on students' learning. The research approach originally adopted to evaluate the mainstream curriculum was longitudinal, using a specifically pre-designed existing questionnaire, but our experience of using that instrument resulted in the decision to change the research approach.Therefore this project was developed as a consequence of a longitudinal study, initially undertaken in the Institute for Enterprise, which attempted to evaluate students' experiences of enterprise and entrepreneurship education. Due to a number of reasons the research design of the longitudinal study was changed and the study subsequently focused on looking more closely at \"contexts\" rather than using a less focused, broad brush, generic method. The experiences associated with the longitudinal study prompted us to go back to basics and re-visit the literature on enterprise and entrepreneurship education and as a consequence we changed the project design. Three key factors prompted the change to the project and research design - these were that: first, enterprise education is not always explicit; there are elements of it that are implicit, suggesting that students do not always necessarily know that they are the recipients of enterprise education, or that curriculum that is enterprise education is not always called that; second, as a consequence of this implicitness and the intangibility of some learning inputs and outcomes, to assess any impact of such curriculum on students' learning, evaluations need to consider these implicit and intangible elements; third, in the light of these two findings we concluded that enterprise education is not the same as entrepreneurship education.In relation to the three points above and in particular point 2, we suggest that assessing impact is done most effectively by evaluating the intangible and implicit elements in the context of important inputs and outputs from the module, such as module learning outcomes, learning and teaching inputs, assessment methods, and the teachers' own perspective and placing these firmly within the subject discipline, the latter being the key context.We decided to test this proposition and undertake a project to assess relevant \"contexts\" prior to undertaking any evaluation with a view to enabling the embedding and sustainability of enterprise curriculum.\nProcess: The process taken to undertake this exploratory piece of research consisted of a number of actions that were necessary to re-design evaluation methods that met with our proposition that contextual factors were key to achieving real results to enable sustaining enterprise education curriculum. These actions are discussed below.Update literature review\nMethodology: The evaluation tool was designed around the individual contextual factors for each module and so was different in each case.Business Enterprise module\nResults: Business Enterprise\nOutputs: For the Business Enterprise module the outputs are tangible and explicit in the form of an evaluation tool (questionnaire) that can be used in the future to evaluate the module.Unlike the Business Enterprise module, the outputs for the Database module are less tangible (no questionnaire), although nonetheless significant in terms of impact. The evaluation method adopted for this module can be applied again because for this module the essence is in the data and their interpretation in their implicit sense. However, we have identified a limitation to this approach which is discussed in the section on research limitations, relating to feedback from students concerning any positive or negative aspects they identified.\nImpact: The notion of cyclical evaluations\nGeneral conclusions: We have a number of conclusions that relate to the design of the evaluations and the concept of enterprise education itself, as well as the actual results.In general, with the knowledge that we have, these evaluations have proved very useful for a number of reasons. Most importantly we have highlighted the added value and impact these modules have had on the students, which is a good base to start from when assessing the need for any improvement or change as a consequence of a module evaluation. However, the most distinct feature of this piece of research is that our conceptual proposition of designing evaluations that are underpinned with the correctly identified contextual factors can and do have a direct impact. We believe that these individually designed evaluations have more impact on maintaining degrees of sustainability than would a global, generic evaluation. The key difference is that any feedback from the respondents can be directly related to the actual module content and teaching inputs and is specific only to those contexts. Global, generic evaluations (usually questionnaire based) that are distributed via a blanket approach can only generalise about particular aspects of the curriculum and not be specific about important contexts. We can see not only real results from the contextual approach but the added value this evaluation approach has brought.In relation to the notion of cyclical evaluation and our proposition that the cycles will sustain enterprise education, we are unable to say categorically that this will be the case, purely because time constraints have not allowed us to undertake a second evaluation of each module. However, based on the results we have had from the two contextual evaluations we have done to date, we believe that our notion and proposition are both sound approaches that combine together in a duplex model: \"cyclical evaluation of contextual factors\".Evaluation design\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the proposal that curriculum designed for and about enterprise education can be sustained via a cyclical model of evaluation. Such an approach takes into consideration an important aspect of enterprise education which is \"context\", a significant aspect overtly linked to the differing subject disciplines offering such curriculum.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The design of this research project was driven by the authors' suggestion that to evaluate the impact of enterprise education pedagogy different factors to those that are currently prescribed need to be taken into consideration. Current evaluation practice is to take a global, generic approach, often utilising quantitative techniques, but the authors argue that evaluation of enterprise education should consider local, contextual factors only - key contextual factors being subject discipline, along with the lecturer's own context, teaching and learning materials and implicit and explicit notions of enterprise education. The research utilised two different modules and approaches to evaluation: first, a questionnaire designed using module materials such as learning descriptor and module outcomes which produced quantitative data that could be linked directly to the module learning and teaching inputs as well as lecturer's approach; and second, a focus group-type approach undertaken with students on a completely separate and distinct module returning qualitative data, The former module was explicitly enterprise education and the latter module had a very implicit nature in relation to enterprise education. The students for the latter module were not aware of the enterprise connotation of the module.\nFindings: - The authors' notion that contextual evaluation has real value was upheld in each case. Both lecturers used the data collected to improve and make productive changes to their module content and teaching and learning materials for the following cohorts of students.\nPractical implications: - It is the authors' belief that contextual evaluation offers enterprise education pedagogy the opportunity to be evaluated in a more useful and practical forum, with results not only illustrating the impact on students but also on the module content and how this has been instrumental in the students' progress.\nOriginality/value: - Those wishing to embed and sustain enterprise education by keeping the topic up to date on an annual basis will find this case study useful and, upon request, may have access to the evaluation methods used by the authors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Psychological contract and knowledge sharing: CSR as an antecedent and entrepreneurial orientation as a moderator	[ "Vietnam", "Corporate social responsibility", "Knowledge sharing", "Cai Luong (Renovated theatre)", "Entrepreneurial orientation", "Psychological contract" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cai Luong (Renovated Theatre) is the creation of southerners in Mekong Delta of Vietnam on the premise of \"Don ca tai tu\" (informal performance by singers and musicians of traditional music in the southern communities) and \"Ca ra bo\" (\"Don ca tai tu\" plus dances) (Luu, 2014). However, it has left behind its golden time in the 1960s-1970s with Cai Luong stars such as Ut Tra On, Minh Phung, Thanh Sang, Phung Ha, Thanh Nga, Bach Tuyet, and Le Thuy (Luu, 2014). The uniqueness in their acting and singing that made their names is a rare phenomenon in the current generation of Cai Luong actors. The transfer of performance secrets from generation to generation as well as within Cai Luong theatre companies is less widespread than it was in the golden time of Cai Luong art (Do Hanh, 2010). Besides national initiatives to revive Cai Luong theatrical art, knowledge sharing is one of the means to build new Cai Luong stars and touching scripts which attract the audience to theatres. Nonetheless, knowledge sharing reflects organizational members' ex-role behaviour beyond their assigned roles and duties in their formal contract with their organizations. Without psychological contract that reflects social exchange (Robinson et al., 1994) between members and their theatre companies, they are less inclined to transcend their self-interests to share their acting and singing skills with their peers. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the predicting role of psychological contract for knowledge sharing among members in Cai Luong theatre companies. This investigation adds to knowledge management literature psychological contract as its antecedent that still has been under-researched. Prior studies on knowledge sharing have tended to look at predictors such as leadership (Yang, 2007), culture (Yang, 2007), interaction (Connelly and Kelloway, 2003), and trust (Renzl, 2008). Moreover, resorting to a sample from Vietnamese Cai Luong theatre companies helps further test western theories in Vietnam - an emerging context that is deemed collectivistic (Nguyen et al., 2013). This cultural attribute of Vietnamese context may help organizational members reach high perception of psychological contract more readily than participants in other contexts, making Vietnam an interesting context for academics to test this research model.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: CSR and psychological contract\nResearch methodology: Sampling and data collection\nFindings: Descriptive statistics of the constructs are shown in Table I. The data garnered from the questionnaire survey was analysed through LISREL 8.52. The measures' reliability was potentially enhanced through the use of multiple-item measures (Neuman, 2000). The reliability of each construct and its specific dimensions was measured through Cronbach a coefficients. The composite reliability of each research variable ranges from 0.72 to 0.81, above 0.6 as Fornell and Larcker (1981) and Bagozzi and Yi (1988) suggest. Convergent validity was also attained as the resulting average variance extracted for each measure ranges from 0.521 to 0.692, above 0.5 from Fornell and Larcker's (1981) view.\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The survival and sustainable growth of Cai Luong (Renovated Theatre) theatre companies as well as Cai Luong theatrical art in Vietnam necessitate the sharing of acting and singing skills between generations of actors. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of theatre members' perception of psychological contract in predicting their sharing of knowledge. Another research purpose is to assess if corporate social responsibility (CSR) of theatre companies can activate the effect chain through psychological contract to knowledge sharing. The last research purpose sheds light on the moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) for the relationship between psychological contract and knowledge sharing among members of Cai Luong theatre companies in Vietnam setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data for SEM-based analysis was collated from 226 respondents of Cai Luong theatre companies in Vietnam.\nFindings: Research results unveil the predicting role that CSR played on the relationship between psychological contract and knowledge sharing among members in Cai Luong theatre companies. This relationship was also found to be moderated by EO.\nOriginality/value: Research results extend knowledge management literature through the inclusion of CSR and psychological contract as antecedents of knowledge sharing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding Chinese consumer engagement in social commerce: The roles of social support and swift guanxi	[ "Trust", "Relationship quality", "Social commerce", "Emotional support", "Informational support", "Swift guanxi" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The rising popularity of social media has led to the emergence of a new type of e-commerce, known as social commerce, which involves commercial activities performed via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WeChat (Zhou et al., 2013; Chen et al., 2016). Social commerce adds support from a large number of online peers to the shopping process (Chen and Shen, 2015). Since social commerce is a combination of social media and e-commerce, it is different from traditional e-commerce (Huang and Benyoucef, 2013). Specifically, it adds social interactions to the traditionally existent commerce features (Zhang et al., 2014; Busalim and Hussin, 2016). This has changed the role of customers from recipients of information to content producers (Curty and Zhang, 2013), and allowed customers to gain insights and support via social interaction with others (Hajli and Sims, 2015). Hence, while purchase decisions may be considered in a similar fashion on e-commerce and social commerce platforms, the social interactions on social commerce sites add another important source of information for consumers, which in turn can help them making purchase decisions. One relatively unexplored aspect of these social interactions is the possible formation of informal relationships between buyers and other members of the social commerce sites and the effects of these relationships on the subsequent purchase decisions.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Trust transfer theory\n3. Research model and hypotheses: This study explores the drivers of social commerce intentions from the Chinese guanxi lens and based on the social-relational factors. Figure 1 shows the research model, which represents the effects of social support in enabling and enhancing relationship quality, and the impacts of relationship quality on social commerce intentions. In this section, we discuss the pivotal interrelationships between the variables.\n4. Research methodology and data results: 4.1 Scale development\n5. Discussion: This study describes an initial attempt to investigate the drivers of social commerce intentions from the Chinese guanxi perspective. A research model is developed and empirically examined with survey data and PLS analyses. The results provide adequate evidence to support the proposed hypotheses and the implied model. This study contributes to research in social commerce and relationship marketing by discussing important findings, related to the Chinese context, and to the key role guanxi plays in commerce in China.\n6. Contributions and implications: 6.1 Theoretical contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Building on the Chinese guanxi perspective, the purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model that explains the indirect effects of social support from friends on social commerce intentions, as mediated through the relational aspects that potential buyers develop with sellers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hypotheses are tested with partial least squares (PLS)-graph applied to data collected via a survey of social media users (n=511). SPSS and PLS-graph are the statistical analysis tools used in this study.\nFindings: Relationship exists in social commerce interactions and its quality can be captured by swift guanxi and trust. These swift relationships matter as they drive users' behavioral intentions on social commerce sites. The informational and social support people receive from friends helps in improving the relationship quality and can indirectly influence user behaviors on these sites.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study has relied on a convenient sampling and this may limit the generalizability of the findings. Future research should employ broader and more random sampling techniques to re-validate and extend the findings.\nOriginality/value: The interpersonal aspect of relationship quality has received little attention in the social commerce literature. This study develops a theoretical model that explains consumers' intention in social commerce. The findings reveal the mechanisms through which different types of social support indirectly influence social commerce intentions. They provide a unique glimpse into consumer behavior in Chinese settings, in which the guanxi aspect of relationship quality highly matters.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of multinational corporations' socially responsible supplier development practices on their corporate reputation and financial performance	[ "Financial performance", "Social sustainability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is intense complexity in supply chains (SC) due to growing globalization and continuous outsourcing, especially to firms in developing countries (Rodriguez-Serrano et al., 2017). At the same time, although the demands for strong economic performance of the SC are on the rise, companies should also take responsibility for their partners' and suppliers' environmental performance and social performance (Seuring and Muller, 2008). Previous studies have shown that problems in companies' social and environmental practices have negative effects on their financial performance (e.g. DiSegni et al., 2015; Yawar and Seuring, 2018). This effect is more prominent in organizations such as multinational companies (MNCs) which market consumer-brand products, due to their proximity to the public eye (Hartmann and Moeller, 2014). Furthermore, Sancha et al. (2015) found that suppliers' poor sustainability practices will not just damage the buying firm's reputation but also impact the operation's performance in the long run. As such, this raises the need for MNCs to re-evaluate both social and environmental issues that are present in their SC. In light of this, attention is subsequently starting to turn to methods in which suppliers can be encouraged to engage in social and environmental practices (e.g. Klassen and Vereecke, 2012; Yang and Zhang, 2017).\nLiterature review: Sustainable supply chain management\nConceptual framework and hypothesis development: To address the gaps in the literature, the present study investigated the impacts of supplier monitoring, supplier development, incentives and supplier collaboration on suppliers' social performance. The study also proposed corporate reputation as a factor that may explain the relationship between MNCs' social performance and financial performance (Figure 1). The rationales for the proposed relationship are elaborated based on the literature in the next sub-sections.\nResearch methodology: Measurement of constructs\nResults: Descriptive analysis\nDiscussion: According to our results, supplier monitoring has no significant impact on suppliers' social performance. This result is not in line with the findings of Zimmer et al. (2016), who found that continuous monitoring was an effective way to embed social responsibility values through suppliers' activities and to enhance suppliers' social performance. Some scholars believe that monitoring practices only help to improve the reputation of the buying firms by avoiding reputational damage, as they project the firm as a socially responsible member of society (Sancha et al., 2016; Foerstl et al., 2010). Huq et al. (2016) concluded that third-party audits were only for symbolic compliance, as they found evidence of suppliers' unacceptable social practices, such as hiding or duplicating records. The monitoring practices had no effect on suppliers' social performance, as monitoring might only be beneficial to the MNC to ensure that suppliers are adhering to social standards. However, suppliers might choose to do so only during audits or evaluation rather than maintaining a consistent social standard throughout, causing failure to develop sustainable social performance. Furthermore, Normann et al. (2017) stated that governance mechanisms based on codes of conduct and auditing may hurt buyer-supplier relationships, resulting in reduced supplier compliance with social sustainability requirements. Klassen and Vereecke (2012) also highlighted that although monitoring helps in measuring the suppliers' degree of compliance with standards and codes, it is weakly geared toward implementing these standards and codes.\nTheoretical and practical contributions: In terms of academic contribution, this research answers recent calls for more empirical research in social sustainability in SC (Hoejmose and Adrien-Kirby, 2012; Quarshie et al., 2016), especially in emerging economies, which has clearly been lacking (Hoejmose et al., 2013; Sancha et al., 2015). The findings of this study extend the literature by determining the socially responsible supplier development practices that have significant effects on suppliers' social performance. Supplier monitoring, supplier development, incentives and supplier collaboration have been recognized, mostly in qualitative studies, as the practices that buyers can adopt to enhance the suppliers' social responsibility. However, the lack of empirical work in the literature on the impacts of these four practices on suppliers' social performance has left the question on effectiveness of these practice unanswered. The results of this study showed that although supplier development and supplier collaboration, which need MNCs' direct involvement, have significant effects on the social performance of suppliers, supplier monitoring and the provision of incentives, which are passive modes of involvement, have no effect. These findings indicate that behavior-based contracts of agency theory are more effective in enhancing suppliers' social performance in comparison to outcome-based contracts. The findings also confirm that suppliers' social performance is a valuable resource that can create competitive advantage and consequently enhance the financial performance of MNCs. The findings extend the literature on the relationship between MNCs' social and financial performance by introducing MNCs' corporate reputation as one of the reasons for this relationship.\nLimitations and future studies: In the present study, social sustainability in SC was investigated from the MNC perspective. This could be a biased viewpoint, as we did not include the viewpoint of suppliers as the receivers of these initiatives. A supplier perspective would also be useful in either supporting or challenging the relationship of MNCs' initiatives in social performance and its overall impact on SC performance. We would suggest that future studies obtain data from both suppliers and MNCs. Based on our findings, supplier monitoring and incentives have no effect on supplier social performance. Future research needs to test the moderating effect of these two factors on the impacts of supplier development and supplier collaboration on social performance. Furthermore, power dependency, trust relationships, organizational distance and the age of the buyer-supplier relationship (Bonte, 2008; Hoejmose et al., 2013) may affect the effectiveness of supplier development practices. Future studies should control for the potential effects of these factors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the literature on sustainable supply chain management, the social pillar of sustainability has received relatively little attention, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to test empirically the impacts of supplier development practices on suppliers' social performance. Furthermore, the impact of suppliers' social performance on MNCs' social performance was investigated and corporate reputation was proposed as a potential explanation for the relationship between MNCs' social and financial performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were obtained from a survey of 141 multinational companies (MNCs) in Malaysia which were listed in the Federation of Malaysia Manufacturers' directory 2017. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results show that among the four proposed practices, supplier development and supplier collaboration have significant effects on suppliers' social performance and consequently on the multi-national companies' social performance. According to these results, multi-national companies' corporate reputation mediates the relationship between their social and financial performance.\nPractical implications: These results will be useful in helping managers of MNCs to realize that simply monitoring suppliers and giving them incentives are not effective ways of enhancing social responsibility among suppliers; instead, supplier development and collaboration such as technical support and training are needed.\nOriginality/value: The results extend the literature on socially responsible supplier development practices by testing empirically the impacts of four popular practices in the literature and showing that supplier monitoring and incentives have no effect.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Creating a vision boosts the impact of top management support on the employment of managers with disabilities: The case of sport organizations in the USA	[ "Senior management", "Disabled workers", "Equal opportunities", "Employee counselling", "Sports" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Scholars are convinced that leadership from top management is vital to effective organizational transformation (Bennis and Nanus, 1985; Boyd, 2008; Nutt and Backoff, 1997). The term, top management, has been defined as, \"... the set of individuals at the top of the organization responsible for the strategic and organizational decisions that affect the direction, operations, and performance of the company as a whole\" (Helfat et al., 2006, p. 45). Those authors operationalized their definition of the top management team as all executives companies listed in their official filings and reports, which include the CEO, the second in command, often entitled, \"President\" or \"COO\", and other executive levels, such as Executive Vice President and Senior Executive Vice President. Smaller organizations generally have fewer layers of management and fewer titles as a result.Top-level managers are key agents of organizational change (Cole et al., 2006), and management's beliefs about change influence the perspectives of the staff (Leiter and Harvie, 1997). Organizational change creates uncertainty and ambivalence among employees (Herzig and Jimmieson, 2006), and for this reason, leaders must offer a clear rationale for change if it is to gain acceptance from the rank and file. In a rich case study, Boyd (2008) documented that organizational members become more accepting of change when they understand how the change will achieve organizational goals and how it will affect the work environment. In a qualitative study of six change initiatives, Roberto and Levesque (2005) emphasized the importance of the context created by top management for supporting effective change processes. These and other studies demonstrate that the key processes that help to create lasting organizational change flow downward from the actions of top managers (Cole et al., 2006).Although the importance of top management support to change effectiveness has been well documented, relatively little empirical research has examined the change leadership process. Transformational leadership is positively associated with performance according to meta-analytic research (Judge and Piccolo, 2004); however, the actions leaders take to effectively support and guide change remain understudied. The extant research on the role of leaders for creating organizational change relies primarily on qualitative work (e.g. Eriksen, 2008; Herzig and Jimmieson, 2006; Roberto and Levesque, 2005; Yeo, 2007) and case studies (e.g. Boyd, 2008; Lakshman, 2005; Massey and Williams, 2006; Sadler and Hinterhuber, 2005). As a result, this area of research enjoys the development of a proliferation of ideas but lacks an integrated perspective on the process of effective change leadership that is supported by empirical data.One of the more influential models of change leadership that has developed from qualitative study is presented by Kotter (1996). Kotter's (2007), \"Eight Steps to Transforming Your Organization\" highlights the importance of communication, participation of key stakeholders, empowerment of employees, and eventually, consolidating and institutionalizing the change. Crucial to all of these steps, however, is the creation of a clear vision to guide the change effort. Without a clear vision, it is quite difficult for leaders to redirect the members of large complex organizations toward a new set of activities.Research has supported and extended Kotter's (1996, 2007) views on the importance of top management for effective organizational change. For instance, Herzig and Jimmieson's (2006) interviews with 30 middle-level managers found that ongoing two-way communication between senior- and middle-level managers was critical for both motivating the change and reducing uncertainty about the impact of top-down change programs on the practical aspects of the operation. Yeo's (2007) interviews with 45 employees in a single firm supported the importance of creating a shared vision and empowering employees to fulfill the vision. Open communication from senior leaders was a critical mechanism for aligning employee actions with the change goal. An empirical study by Jones et al. (2008) showed that executives view changes more positively than staff do, supporting Kotter's (1996, 2007) emphasis on communication during the change process. Hence, qualitative research strongly supports the importance of clear communication from top management of the intention and implications of the change program as a key aspect of effective change leadership.The particular type of change we study in this paper is the employment of persons with disabilities in sport organizations. There are multiple reasons why top managers are likely to be concerned about employment equity for persons with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers not to discriminate against persons with disabilities in hiring decisions and to provide reasonable accommodation to allow this demographic group to participate fully in employment. Given these regulations, the legal and human resources departments of US organizations oversee staffing decisions in an attempt to ensure compliance by hiring managers. Some organizations are more active in their attempts to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities than others (Balser, 1999; Woodhams and Corby, 2007), and it is likely that these differences are due to the amount of support and vision provided by the top management team.There is evidence suggesting that this demographic group is not being fully utilized in the US labor force. According to US employment statistics for 2006, 42 percent of men and 35 percent of women with disabilities were employed compared to 86 percent of men and 71 percent of women without disabling conditions (Houtenville et al., 2007). Studies have shown that two-thirds of those with disabilities want to and can work (cf. Barrett, 2008). Furthermore, people with disabilities have lower rates of turnover and absenteeism (Barrett, 2008) than workers without disabilities. These data suggest that persons with disabilities constitute a talent base with the potential to contribute considerably more value-added work to organizations than is currently the case.Our study builds on extant knowledge of the change leadership process by investigating the potential positive interactive effects of communicating support for the employment of persons with disabilities and creating a vision of the change. Prior empirical work has demonstrated that leadership vision is positively associated with organizational effectiveness (Zaccaro and Banks, 2004); however, empirical work linking leadership vision with effective organizational change is lacking. We suggest that having a clear vision of the change is a critical foundation for change leadership such that vision enhances the effectiveness of other change leadership behaviors. For instance, a vision is essential to the ability to communicate the change clearly and effectively. A clear vision also enhances alignment around implementation processes. When people understand the end-state intended by the change, they are able to calibrate their implementation efforts more effectively to fine-tune change initiatives so that the desired outcome is achieved. Hence, we argue that top management support for change must be combined with a clear vision for effectiveness at enhancing diversity and inclusiveness.Previous research has documented the importance of top management support for workplace diversity change programs (Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2006; Combs, 2002; Dass and Parker, 1999; Gilbert and Ivancevich, 2000; Konrad and Linnehan, 1995; Leonard and Grobler, 2006) but has not examined the possible interactive effects of top management support and vision. Authors suggest that top management support is also a vital component in changing the organization to accommodate workers with disabilities (Bruyere et al., 2000; Kennedy and Harris, 2005; Schur et al., 2005); however, we are unaware of any empirical studies examining this claim in a quantitative analysis.In summary, this research contributes to knowledge on organizational change leadership by examining how top management support, vision, and practice combine to create employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Our research setting is the sport industry, which lags in the employment of a diverse workforce in the areas of gender and race/ethnicity (Acosta and Carpenter, 2008; Lapchick, 2008). From these statistics and the fact that there are no known investigations regarding the employment of individuals with disabilities in the sport industry, we theorize that career mobility into the managerial ranks within this sector presents a challenge for those with disabilities.\nConceptual framework: Our conceptual model of predictors of the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in work settings is shown in Figure 1. Consistent with research documenting the importance of leadership support for effective organizational change (e.g. Cole et al., 2006; Zaccaro and Banks, 2004), we depict top management support for disability diversity on the left-hand side of the model as a key driver of the employment of persons with disabilities. Top management support results in changes to organizational systems and processes to improve access to employment for persons with disabilities, which we label supportive practices. The development and implementation of supportive practices removes barriers and facilitates change, resulting in a positive impact on the employment of persons with disabilities. Hence, the impact of top management support for disability diversity on the employment of persons with disabilities is mediated by the supportive practices which top management puts into place. Previous research has supported both the link between top management support for diversity and the implementation of supportive practices (Konrad and Linnehan, 1995; Milliken et al., 1998; Moore et al., 2001; Ng et al., 2005; Rynes and Rosen, 1995) and the link between the presence of practices and diversity in employment (French, 2001; Holzer and Neumark, 2000; Konrad and Linnehan, 1995; Leck and Saunders, 1992; Leck et al., 1995; Leck, 2002; Leonard, 1984, 1985, 1986). The dotted line linking top management support directly to employment outcomes allows for the possibility of partial mediation, where top management support has a direct effect on the employment of persons with disabilities beyond the impact of supportive practices.The more innovative portion of our conceptual framework concerns the role of top management vision for disability diversity. We depict top management vision as having a direct effect on supportive practices beyond the effect of top management support. Supportive practices, in turn, are associated with the employment of more persons with disabilities. The dotted line linking top management vision directly to employment outcomes allows for the possibility of partial mediation, where top management vision has a direct effect on the employment of persons with disabilities beyond the impact of supportive practices. We also depict vision as moderating the effect of top management support on the implementation of supportive practices. This interactive effect implies that top management support is more readily translated into the development of supportive practices if top management also creates a clear vision for organizational members. These associations are justified in further detail to develop specific hypotheses for this research.Organizational practices and employment outcomes\nMethods: Instrumentation\nResults: Model fit\nDiscussion: Scholars and practitioners have argued that top management support is critical for diversity initiatives (Hambrick and Mason, 1984; Combs, 2002) and that top management support toward employing persons with disabilities is vital to achieving greater representation of workers with disabilities in employment (Bruyere et al., 2003; Stone and Colella, 1996). This study is the first to put this premise to empirical testing by examining whether top management support is predictive of both the implementation and effectiveness of diversity programs targeting persons with disabilities.An original contribution of this investigation is that vision moderates the linkage between top management support and practice. This finding supports our conceptual argument that practice embodies the values of the organization and it is through its vision that top management is able to link practices to organizational values. When top management provides support for an initiative that has not been customary, it is important to articulate a vision for the rank and file to carry out through the development of new practices (Zaccaro and Banks, 2004). The vision gives employees a clear understanding that a disability-friendly climate is a priority of the organization. By comparison, statements of support from top management that are not accompanied by a clearly articulated vision often result in an informal and fragmented set of activities created by individual units. For this reason, lack of vision means that top management's supportive values become more difficult to carry out through practice. Worse, in some organizational units, lack of vision can result in an acceptance of stereotypes and position segregation (e.g. the representation of individuals with disabilities is skewed toward low-level positions) that legitimizes a discriminatory rather than an inclusive climate (Colella and Varna, 1999). Within this type of an environment, attitudes would likely serve as a barrier to career mobility for individuals with disabilities (Smith, 2002).Our findings also support the proposition that an important component of top management's effect on employment statistics results from the implementation of formalized practices designed to increase organizational diversity (Konrad and Linnehan, 1995). Although top management support and vision had significant direct effects on the employment of managers with disabilities, their indirect effects through our measure of supportive practices were significant as well. The impact of the interaction between top management support and vision on employment statistics was also mediated by supportive practices. As such, top management vision and top management support have a moderated mediation effect on the linkage between supporting practices and the representation of managers with disabilities. The close fit between the partially mediated model and the data (i.e. when the \"vision\" and \"support\" variables are not constrained to zero) supports the conceptual importance of practices for creating effective change in the area of workplace diversity (Konrad and Linnehan, 1995).This study suggests that top management support is the key facilitator of the inclusion of persons with disabilities in sport organizations. A key implication of these findings for practice is that the support of top managers is required if persons with disabilities are to be effectively integrated into the managerial hierarchy. Results of this study suggest that when top management is supportive and shapes a clear vision, practices are implemented which result in the employment of more managers with disabilities. A second practical implication is that top management vision moderates how well support facilitates the design of disability-friendly practices. Hence, for senior managers interested in increasing the employment of persons with disabilities, visioning activities are recommended among the top management group for explicitly articulating the ideal view of how the organization should be. A third practical implication is that actions by middle-level managers that are not supported by a clear vision created at the highest organizational levels are less likely to be effective due to coordination problems. For issue champions who are truly committed to hiring and advancing employees with disabilities, generating support and involvement among senior organizational leaders is recommended for creating systemic change that will move the entire organization forward.Limitations and directions for future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to examine the effect of top management vision on top management support, practice, and the employment of managers with disabilities within the sport industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A questionnaire was developed to collect data on perception of top management vision, top management support, supportive practices, and representation of managers with disabilities in sport organizations and sent to 500 collegiate and professional sport organizations in the USA. In total, 196 respondents (39 percent) returned their completed survey forms, of which 190 forms were useable. Data were analyzed using path analysis.\nFindings: - The results indicated a significant path between supportive practices and the representation of managers with disabilities (b = 0.15, p < 0.05). Top management vision was also shown as a significant positive moderator of the relationship between top management support and supportive practices.\nPractical implications: - Results suggest that top management vision is an important addition to top management support for facilitating the implementation of supportive practices, which, in turn, increase the representation of persons with disabilities in managerial positions.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first known empirical investigation examining the role of top management vision and top management support in creating managerial opportunities for persons with disabilities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Unethically keeping the change while demeaning the act	[ "Consumer ethical intention", "Consumer ethical judgment", "Consumer ethics", "Unethical consumer" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ethical consumer decision-making continues to be an important stream of research because of the many continued instances of consumer misconduct. Whether it is shoplifting, using expired coupons, check fraud or buying counterfeit goods, consumer \"misbehavior\" costs retailers billions of dollars every year. One such area ripe for deviant behavior is the simple handling of cash. The US Retail Fraud Survey provides an extensive review of retail fraud each year. The latest survey (Leinbach-Reyhle, 2015) showed cash theft and bookkeeping errors represented the second biggest area of retail store loss. According to James Harris of Volumatic, a cash-handling provider, \"cash remains the cheapest, fastest, and most popular way for retailers to accept payment\" (Volumatic, 2016). Thus, opportunities for theft and handling errors will continue by both employees and consumers. This research investigates how consumers react to cash handling mistakes and attempts to explain consumers' ethical judgments and intentions toward this common misbehavior in the retail environment.\nConceptual background and hypothesis development: The motivation to engage in unethical behavior\nStudy 1: Participants and design\nStudy 2: While Study 1 provided evidence to support our hypotheses, it is important to examine whether our findings can be generalized to other types of businesses. To increase confidence of the generalizability, we replicated the study with a larger sample size and a different type of retail business. If the findings of our first study hold, we expect to see identity overlap moderate the estimate of ethical intention as well.\nGeneral discussion: In this research, we investigated why consumers may choose to act unethically against a business even when they recognize that the behavior is unethical. Across two studies, we asked participants to judge an ethical scenario where the actor purposefully keeps the unintended surplus change from a busy and distracted cashier. Regardless of whether the incident was described as taking place in a large impersonal retail chain or a local business, participants all indicated that the actor's behavior was unethical and wrong. Whether the actor in the scenario was socially similar with participants did not make the respondents feel that her behavior is more or less unethical. However, participants indicated that they would be more likely to do the same thing as the actor if they perceived that the actor had a very similar social identity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In this research, the authors aim to identify a situation when a consumer's judgment of unethical behavior is not consistent with their intention to act ethically.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Across two studies, participants were asked to evaluate how ethical an actor's behavior was when the actor knowingly kept surplus change from a distracted cashier. The identity of the actor was manipulated to be of either high or low similarity to the participants. The business where the distracted cashier worked for was described as either locally owned or a chain. Participant's intended action in similar situation was assessed after their evaluation of how ethical/unethical the actor's behavior was.\nFindings: While participants generally find the actor's behavior to be unethical, identity overlap between the participant and the actor is found to moderate how likely one is to emulate the actor's behavior in a similar situation. Identity overlap is found to positively predict one's likelihood to act like the actor in the scenarios. Whether the business was locally owned or a chain was not found to affect one's ethical judgment or ethical intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: Identity overlap is found to positively predict one's likelihood to act like the actor in the scenarios.\nPractical implications: Whether the business was locally owned or a chain was not found to affect one's ethical judgment nor ethical intention. While participants in general do show that they judge the actor's behavior as unethical, identity overlap between the participant and the actor moderates how likely one is to act like the actor if put in the same scenario.\nSocial implications: The research suggests that consumers are more likely to act unethically when they identify with \"similar\" others, regardless of how unethical they consider that behavior to be.\nOriginality/value: This research suggests that even when consumers acknowledge that certain behavior against a business is unethical, their intention to engage in the unethical behavior may not be predicted by their judgment of how unethical the behavior is. Instead, consumers are likely to emulate unethical behavior of those whom they consider similar to themselves, regardless of how unethical they judge that behavior to be.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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